Her Hope Is Real

Earlier this year a high school girl in New Jersey prepared an essay for school. The assignment was: “If you traveled to the future, how far would you wish to go? Name the year. Describe how the world would look. Describe how the people would look. Describe their lifestyles; what they do for a living; what they eat; etc.” This 15-year-old​—one of Jehovah’s Witnesses—​wrote:

“With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: ‘Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.’ And the One seated on the throne said: ‘Look! I am making all things new.’ Also, he says: “Write, because these words are faithful and true.’”

“For many years I’ve studied the Bible, and this particular passage has fascinated me. I’ve gone over every word of this scripture and have always wondered if these conditions could really be on the earth in the future. So, like no other human, I built a time machine and traveled into the future.

“The ride was smooth. I traveled at the speed of 10 years per minute. As I remained stationary, the world around me changed greatly. I saw horrid things happen: earthquakes, wars, famine, lawlessness, just as described in Matthew 24:6-8 in the Bible. But these things flashed before my eyes. Next, I saw a total destruction of everything around me. People were being destroyed by something, not their own war devices, but by extreme forces of nature used by someone far greater than man.

“I tried to move in time slower so I could see all these fantastic things happen. Next, I saw people working hard, cleaning, building and remodeling everything. They were obviously spared from the destruction and therefore were cleaning up the ruins. They were working all together, in harmony. As this passed, I saw many more men and women on the earth. I didn’t know where they were coming from. I watched until I saw a man that resembled my grandfather​—in fact, it was my grandfather. He had passed away in 1972. I checked all my equipment to make sure that I wasn’t going backward. I was not. I was actually moving forward, yet seeing people who had died. Then, I recalled the text in the Bible at Acts 24:15: ‘There is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.’ I was actually seeing the resurrection.

“I traveled at a greater speed now so that color and light were only a blur. I decided to stop. The place in which I stopped was, of course, the same place as I took off from, just in the future. . . .

“In the distance I could see a young boy playing with a large animal. . . . he was actually playing with a . . . LION! I wanted to run to warn him of the danger he was in, but something stopped me. The lion was tame, acting like a pussycat in the child’s arms. As I traveled on by foot, I saw more of this peace between man and animals, and between animals themselves. But the most fascinating harmony was that between mankind. All races of people were speaking the same tongue and getting along as if brothers and sisters. . . . I saw that these people had no flaws. They had no maladies, no diseases. They were perfect in form. Then something came as a shock to me. They were the same people I saw 400 years earlier in my travels, but they looked the same age. No one was sick, old or dying. . . .

“I really enjoyed myself in this wonderful time in the future. Now, I’m home, back in my own time. I cannot convince anyone of what I saw. At least everything I read in the Bible is now firm in my mind. I really would like to go back again and live there forever with those people. But then I thought of a passage in the Bible which assured me that I may get to see it, and soon. It’s at Psalm 37:10, 11: ‘And just a little while longer, and the wicked one will be no more; and you will certainly give attention to his place, and he will not be. But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.’”