What is prophecy and why is it so important to us? How does a knowledge of what will happen in the future affect our lives now? Questions like these have been asked by Christians for centuries. Tony Evans, in The Best Is Yet to Come, tries to answer these and many other questions. He wrote this book "to communicate the prophetic program of God from eternity past to eternity future in a logical and progressive way." His desire is "to cause all believers to fall more deeply in love with the God who holds eternity in His hands."
He sets about doing this by looking at the history of fulfilled prophecy, focusing on its importance, the key to prophecy, prophecy and human history, prophecy and the covenants, prophecy and the Gentiles, and prophecy and Israel. Once he has established the validity and historicity of prophecy, Evans looks to prophecies about the future, and why we can trust them to come about. He looks at end-time prophecy, specifically those prophecies about the church, the rapture, and the judgment seat of Christ. He also looks at prophecies about the return of Christ, and the related prophecies about the antichrist, the tribulation, Armageddon, the millennium, and the great white throne. Along the way, he answers several questions about eternal life, including what happens when we die, what heaven is like, what hell is like, and, most importantly, how we should live today.
It is that today living that is the focus of The Best Is Yet to Come. Evans paints a picture of an eminently faithful and loving God who will bring about what He has promised. In light of this, Evans calls believers to greater faith and obedience, to living as if Christ was coming back today. For Christ is indeed the ultimate focus of prophecies, from beginning to end, and when He returns, all will truly be said and done. What we learn of Christ through prophecy, and what we learn about God's plan for history, should make us so grateful that worship simply flows out of us. As we live in confidence that Christ is coming back, Evans calls us to continue to point people to Christ, the key and fulfillment of prophecy.
