When Tomorrow Becomes Today

I often think of the relentlessness of time—second by second, the future turns into the past and plans become memories. Every human being equally experiences time’s unrelenting “forward march,” which is always a constant pace, with seconds, minutes, and hours marking the transition of tomorrows into todays and todays into yesterdays.

So how and when does “tomorrow” become “today”? According to most people’s reckoning of time, it seems like “tomorrow” simply morphs into “today” when we wake up. We know that technically, the new day “begins” at midnight, as soon as the clock ticks over from p.m. to a.m. in most modern countries. However, most of us never quite think of it that way, any more than we truly accept the idea that it’s “yesterday” or “tomorrow” across the international date line when we’re traveling over it in an airplane.

Our organization is called Tomorrow’s World because we focus on preaching the gospel (or good news) of what the world will be like when Jesus Christ returns and establishes the Kingdom of God. The late Herbert W. Armstrong, our predecessor in this Work, called this “the world tomorrow.” There is a special tomorrow coming; maybe we could call it the “tomorrow of tomorrows.”

So much of the Bible points to this tomorrow. That major turning point in history will occur on the day Jesus Christ returns in power and glory.

The verse that best succinctly describes this awe-inspiring turning point is Revelation 11:15: “Then the seventh angel sounded: and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’”

The prophet Zechariah also wrote about this special day: “And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east…. And in that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem…. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be—‘The Lord is one,’ and His name one” (Zechariah 14:4, 8–9).

Jesus Christ’s return, accompanied by His imprisoning of Satan the devil, will occur on some real day in the future, some real hour between a rising and setting of the same sun we each likely saw or will see today (or maybe tomorrow).

The Bible also says Christians must work to be ready for that future tomorrow, because although God’s people will have a good general idea of the timing of Jesus’ return, they won’t know the specific day or the hour. Jesus explained, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father…. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning—lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping” (Mark 13:32, 35–36).

On some unknown day in the future, after some unknowable tomorrow, after the day Jesus returns from the clouds just as He ascended to them, He will implement the great change of today’s world into tomorrow’s world. His world is the good news all of God’s prophets and apostles wrote and preached about, and will be the time of “restoration of all things” (Acts 3:19–21).

Consider a small sample of hundreds of scriptures that contrast the difference between the world of today and the world after Christ’s return.

Today, some deserts, like the Sahara Desert, are getting bigger. Tomorrow, they will blossom like roses (Isaiah 35:1). Today, men metaphorically beat their plowshares and fishing hooks into swords and spears, which will be reversed tomorrow (Joel 3:10; Isaiah 2:4). Today, mankind suffers from famine and disease. Tomorrow, the sick will be healed, and the harvests of food will be so great that the man plowing will pass by the man still harvesting the previous crop (Amos 9:13; Isaiah 35:5–6). Today, Satan reigns over this world as the ruler of darkness, the father of lies, the king of pride, and the original murderer (John 8:44; Ephesians 6:12; Job 41:34).

Tomorrow, Christ will reign as the “Prince of Peace,” the bringer of light, the restorer of truth and life, and a king with a heart to serve and the strength to administer justice (Isaiah 9:6; John 14:6; Matthew 20:28). Today’s world is full of sorrow, tears, pain, and death, but one day the last tear of sorrow will fall, the last wince of pain will mark someone’s face, and death itself will die (Revelation 21:4; 1 Corinthians 15:26).

These spectacular things are part of Jesus Christ’s main message, which was the gospel of the coming Kingdom of God that will change the world. We look forward to that one future tomorrow with a hope that almost—almost—seems too good to be true. But thanks be to Almighty God that it is true—all of it. We hope for the tomorrow when Jesus Christ literally descends from the clouds and changes our world completely. One day, we will finally call that most longed-for tomorrow “today.” Oh, what a day it will be!

If you would like to read more about the abundant time of tomorrow’s world, please consider ordering or reading online our booklet The World Ahead: What Will It Be Like?