Wallace G. Smith

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Do You Really Know the Devil?

Red horns, pitchfork, pointy tail—the stereotype of the Devil as some sort of cartoonish figure has little to do with the reality. Satan the Devil is a powerful spirit being of immense influence in the world around us.

Not just a “symbol” of evil or a mere abstract representation of sin or temptation, Satan is a real, living, personal entity devoted to resisting the plan of God, corrupting the true faith, and destroying humanity.

Yet, for all people know about the Devil, or THINK they know about the Devil, one question inevitably arises, and today, we’ll answer that question. Join us for this episode of Tomorrow’s World where we ask and answer the question: “Where Did Satan Come From?”

Satan’s Greatest Trick—Convincing the World He Doesn’t Exist?

Now before we answer our question today, we should perhaps first address a larger question: Is Satan the Devil REAL? Increasingly, people say “No.”

In July of 2023, The Hill reported on a Gallup poll asking Americans if they believed in certain ideas or beings rooted in religion, such as God or angels.

Results showed that belief in these ideas has diminished in the United States relatively consistently for more than 20 years, reaching a record low in all categories in 2023. And belief in the Devil was lowest of ALL—at only 58 percent. More than four out of every ten Americans believe Satan the Devil IS NOT REAL (“Belief in God, the devil falls to new low: Gallup,” July 20, 2023).

And I guarantee you, the Devil PREFERS it that way. It is far easier for him to influence society on every level—entertainment, education, government policy, science, and religion—if we think he does not exist in the first place.

How can we know if the Devil is real?

By turning to God’s word. Because if anyone knows whether Satan is real or not, it is the God of the Bible, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. In fact, if the Devil is a created being—and he is, as we’ll see in a few moments—then God CREATED him! Or, at least, created what BECAME him.

So, let’s turn to Scripture, the divinely revealed mind of God in print, and see what He has inspired in its pages that can teach us about the very real Satan the Devil. As we consistently tell you here on Tomorrow’s World, don’t just believe us—believe your Bible.

And that Bible is FILLED with warnings about the Devil—warnings that, frankly, few people believe, including, believe it or not, most who consider themselves “Christians.” Let’s read some of those warnings.

In the book of Revelation, chapter 12 and verse 9, the Apostle John speaks of a war to come in heaven and describes Satan in a manner that we MUST understand:

So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him (Revelation 12:9).

We learn several things from this. For instance, there are fallen angels who choose to follow Satan. We’ll discuss them later in our program.

But we also learn that Satan the Devil has deceived the WHOLE WORLD. My friends, do you believe what the Bible says, or don’t you? If you do, then you MUST accept that when God inspires His word to say that the Devil has deceived “the whole world,” it means just that! That means most of the people around us—including the one looking back at us in the mirror.

Now, it’s easy to conclude, “No, that couldn’t be ME! I believe in JESUS! I’m a Christian!” Well, that might be fine if the Devil always came across demonically, but he doesn’t. Frankly, he is quite focused on IMITATING JESUS CHRIST and convincing those who are following HIM [Satan] that they are following Jesus. Look at the Apostle Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 11 [vv. 13–14], where he explains how the DEVIL, not Jesus Christ, is behind many so-called “Christian” ministries. He says there plainly:

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.

No, not a red cape, “bad guy” mustache, and pitchfork. Rather, an “angel of light”! he is the MASTER of lies and deception! Read this description of him in John, chapter 8 and verse 44, where Jesus is addressing the religious leaders of His day and condemning them:

You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

The Devil truly HAS deceived the ENTIRE world! In 2 Corinthians 4:4, the Apostle Paul calls him “the god of this age,” and THREE TIMES in the book of John, no less an authority than Jesus Christ calls Satan “the ruler of this world.”

Does that shock you? Luke 4:6 makes this explicit during the temptation of Jesus. During that trial, the Devil offers Christ all the kingdoms of the world if only Jesus would worship him. Yet, Jesus never disputes with the Devil about that or tells him he has no authority to do that. Quite the contrary!

How did Satan come to possess such authority in the world? Why would God allow that?

Did God Create Satan to Become the Devil?

The first smaller question we should address as we answer the overall question, Where did Satan come from?, is whether Satan was CREATED or not. Some philosophies or religions like Zoroastrianism claim good and evil as eternally co-existing and some claim that God and the Devil must somehow exist forever together, as eternal representatives of those two forces.

The Bible, on the other hand, reveals that to be nonsense. God is the Creator, and all that exists—in both the spirit and the physical realm—came into existence because it was created by God—the two persons we now call God the Father and Jesus Christ. In fact, Ephesians 3:9 tells us that God the Father created all things through Jesus Christ.

And God created the angels, as well. In Psalm 104, in which King David praises God for the many beautiful aspects of His creation, the warrior poet writes in verse 4, God “makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.”

In fact, the Bible speaks of a very specific angel’s creation in Ezekiel 28. There, God is inspiring the prophet to preach against the leader of Tyre—but, as the words make plain in a number of ways, the focus shifts from the human leading the nation to the spiritual power behind the throne, as if the human is only a prince, while the angelic power is the real king. Let’s read, beginning in verse 12:

Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you’” (Ezekiel 28:12–15).

Isaiah 14:12 names this being “Lucifer,” and he is the fallen angel that became Satan the Devil.

But notice in this passage that he was clearly a REMARKABLE creation! Clearly, God created him wise, beautiful, skilled, and PERFECT IN HIS WAYS. But a time came when iniquity, or sin, was found in him. The nature of that sin is addressed in more detail in Isaiah 14, but first, let’s take some time with this one here in Ezekiel—because it answers some important questions that many people ask about God and the Devil.

For instance, some ask, “If the Devil is so evil, why did God make him in the first place? Why would God make an evil angel?”

And we see here in Ezekiel that God DID NO SUCH THING.

God didn’t create the devil as some sort of evil enemy of all that is good. He created him wonderful, glorious, and good. Look again: Ezekiel writes that before iniquity was found in him, Lucifer was “the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.” He was even “the anointed cherub who covers” God’s throne, and he was “perfect in [his] ways from the day [he] was created.”

God did not create an embodiment of evil—He created something GOOD and BEAUTIFUL. Any claims that God would make someone inherently evil by design misunderstand the Bible.

In Revelation 15 and verse 3, at the end of this age, we read a song sung by the resurrected and glorified saints, and they say something important about God:

They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: “Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints!”

Yes, great and marvelous are His works, and just and true are His ways!

He did not create an evil Satan. Lucifer was created beautiful and with the potential for good things. In fact, doesn’t the Bible say the same about us? Ephesians 2:10 says to you and me, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Yes, you and I, too, are created for GOOD WORKS. Yet human history—and, if we’re honest, even the record of our own lives—reveals that being created with the POTENTIAL for good works and actually CHOOSING TO DO those good works are two very different things.

Lucifer may have been created with the potential for great good, but, as the passage in Ezekiel noted, eventually “iniquity was found in [him].”

What sin was found in Lucifer that could bring him so low? What was able to cause a beautiful, perfect being of such wisdom and majesty—as this angelic being was—to become the bitter, demonic Satan the Devil, utterly corrupt and wholeheartedly intent on destroying, if he could, the plan of God and the people of God?

Why Did Lucifer Fall from Heaven?

When the Bible first introduces the Devil, he is the serpent of Genesis 3, who tempts our first parents to sin in the Garden of Eden. That is, even in the Garden of Eden, he’s already the villain! Yet, we also read that he was not always that way, and that, eventually, “iniquity was found in [him].” We read that he was good, perfect, and beautiful. What transformed him?

If it can be summarized in one, single word, that word would be “pride.”

In the first century, the Apostle Paul advised Timothy about appointing men to authority in the Church, telling him to choose “not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil” (1 Timothy 3:6).

Yes, even the greatest of angels can be subject to pride. This is explained in Ezekiel 28 and verse 17, where, speaking to the Devil, God says, “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor….”

Today’s free DVD, “The Occult and the Spirit World” goes into much more detail concerning angels and demons, but for now, I will refer you to that DVD for more details and simply point out that God created the angels as free moral agents. Like human beings, they can choose right or wrong for themselves.

In fact, the Scriptures tell of angels who defied God and abandoned the assignment God gave them. One place we read of that is Jude 6:

… the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day.

We learn more about this “proper domain” in another passage we will read in a moment. But first, notice that the Apostle Peter refers to these angels in 2 Peter 2:4:

… God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell [or, in the Greek, Tartarus, a place of restraint] and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment….

In Lucifer’s case, his pride led him to be discontent with his assigned place and to stage a rebellion against God and Heaven itself! We read of that rebellion in Isaiah 14, beginning in verse 12.

How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.” Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit (Isaiah 14:12–15).

Notice, too, a glimpse of the “proper domain” to which Jude referred. When Lucifer decided to attack God’s throne, where was he at the time? Read verse 13 carefully: “For you have said in your heart, ‘I will ascend into heaven…” and in verse 14, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds….”

If you ascend above the clouds to leave your responsibility, then that responsibility is below them, here on earth! Before human beings, this world was Lucifer’s!

That explains why he told Jesus Christ in Luke 4 and verse 6 that earth’s kingdoms were given to him by God. This was his assigned area of responsibility, and it is the Devil whom Jesus will replace when He returns!

Lucifer’s rebellion was devastating to the earth before the recreation week of Genesis 1 and 2, leaving it in ruins—“without form and void.” He was no longer Lucifer, the light bringer, but Satan, the Adversary.

Satan is the God of this World—For Now

Now he, and the fallen angels he corrupted, are what we know as demons and evil spirits.

We’ve also noted that the earth was given to him as a region of responsibility. This explains WHY Jesus did not disagree with him when the Devil said that authority and the kingdoms of the world “[had] has been delivered to [him]” (Luke 4:6), WHY Jesus calls him three times in the book of John the “ruler of this world,” and why Paul calls him “the god of this age,” as we noted earlier!

So, does that mean God has given up the earth to the Devil forever? Not at all!

In fact, in 1 John 3:8, the Apostle writes of a very important purpose for Jesus’ coming: “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”

By living in the hearts of converted, Spirit-begotten Christians, and living His life of obedience to God’s laws AGAIN in and through them, Jesus has already begun doing just that. And when He returns, the glorified Christ takes one giant step forward toward freeing all of mankind from the Devil’s influence. We read of that step in Revelation 20:

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while (vv. 1–3).

During these 1,000 years, the world will be turned into a paradise! As Isaiah describes this marvelous time, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9).

Though, as Revelation 20 says, he must be released for a short time at the Millennium’s end, his ultimate fate is the Lake of Fire, never to influence another individual ever again. God will ultimately solve the problem of Satan the Devil.

But we don’t have to wait 1,000 years. We don’t even have to wait a day! We can begin the process right now of experiencing the work of Jesus Christ as he destroys the works of the Devil in our own lives—agreeing to seek God’s laws and ways in all things, obeying His commands, and asking God the Father and Jesus Christ for the help we need to be more like Them. Asking them for the strength to embrace uncomfortable truths—about ourselves, our beliefs and practices, and our faith—rather than allowing ourselves the luxury of comfortable lies.

For those who seek God’s help, with all their heart, in turning away from their sin and disobedience to God’s laws, and turning to obedience, submission to the will and authority of God and Jesus Christ over their lives, rest assured that the ears of God are open to such requests.

If you’d like to learn more about today’s offer of the free DVD “The Occult and the Spirit World,” you can get that by going to TWTV.org/Spirit, or just click on the link in the description.

All of us here at Tomorrow’s World work very hard to help you understand your world from the pages of the Bible, and we hope that you’ll come back. If you’d like to see more videos like this, just click on “Subscribe,” and if you want to be notified, just click on the bell.

Thanks so much for watching!

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Three Hard Questions About Scripture

We live in an amazing time where the Bible, God’s word, is one of the most widely available books on the planet. Whether on a bookshelf in your home or on an app on your phone, most of us have a Bible easily within reach.

But that doesn’t mean it’s always easy to understand. The truths of the Bible are simple, but that doesn’t mean we don’t still have questions.

The good news is that God has answers! Join us on this episode of Tomorrow’s World for another installment of “Your Questions, the Bible’s Answers!” as we tackle three common and challenging questions and answer them directly from the pages of your Bible!

Who Was Cain’s Wife?

Greetings! Welcome to Tomorrow’s World, where we help you make sense of your world through the pages of the Bible.

You know, the Bible isn’t just a book—it’s the inspired word of God. The night before He was crucified, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, told His Father in prayer, “Your word is truth” (John 17:17).

However, that doesn’t mean it is always easy to understand. And—when you think about it—why should the Bible always be easy to understand? Its words are intended to convey to us the mind of God! And as our Creator tells us in Isaiah 55:8, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways.”

Yet the Bible can be understood with God’s help and a little effort. And comprehending God’s word is worth that effort!

But today, we’re going to focus on three specific Bible questions and, in each case, not only explain the Bible’s answer, but also highlight the broader principles you can use in the future to answer Bible questions for yourself.

Our three questions today are:

1. Where did Cain get his wife?
2. Which are the right “Ten Commandments”?
3. (And) Are Enoch and Elijah in heaven?

So, let’s get started!

Our first question is a favorite of atheists who seek to discredit the Bible, but also a legitimate question sometimes asked by sincere people simply trying to understand.

Genesis 1 and 2 are plain that the first human beings God created were Adam and Eve. And Genesis 4 speaks of their sons, Cain and Abel: “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, ‘I have acquired a man from the LORD.’ Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground” (Genesis 4:1–2).

You may know the story of Cain and Abel. Both brothers made offerings to God, but Cain’s offering was not as worthy as Abel’s. Instead of seeking to learn and improve, Cain became filled with anger, and, eventually, he killed his brother, Abel. Murder started early for the human race!

After God curses Cain for his sin, we read in Genesis 416–17, “Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch” (Genesis 4:16–17).

And THIS brings us to our first question! Many ask, “Where did Cain get his wife?” After all, Adam and Eve were the first humans, and the only two children mentioned here are Cain and Abel—two boys, one of which is dead. So, just whom did Cain eventually marry? Surely not a giraffe, or an oak tree! People marry people! And who was there for Cain to marry?

To answer this question, we need to consider the first principle we will apply for answering Bible questions: Examine the context around the verse or passage.

So, let’s examine additional verses near this tale in Genesis 4 to see if we can get more details. And, indeed, we can—right next door in Genesis 5! Beginning in verse one of Genesis 5, we read,

“This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created. And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters” (Genesis 5:1–4).

Now note that: Adam lived another eight hundred years and continued conceiving sons and daughters. Yes, Adam and Eve’s family did not just consist of Cain, Abel, and Seth. Instead, when God commanded them in Genesis 1:28 to “be fruitful and multiply,” they did exactly that! And for how long? Notice that Genesis 5:5 says that “all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years”—that is a long life! Given that the events of Genesis 1, 2, and 3 were about 6,000 years ago, Adam lived almost one-sixth of that time! And that is plenty of time to have many children.

So, the answer to “Where did Cain get his wife?” is plain: Cain married one of his sisters.

Now, of course, today no one should marry his sister! But remember, we’re talking about the very beginning of humanity! God directly created Adam and Eve, personally designing every feature of their bodies and biology. The genetic problems that plague children of close kin today would not have been a problem in the beginning. And while God later forbids such relationships in His law, as seen, for example, in Leviticus 18:9, it simply wasn’t necessary at the beginning. In fact, after Adam and Eve, but before the laws of Leviticus, the patriarch Abraham was married to his half-sister (Genesis 20:12).

The point is that there need be no difficulty at all in understanding the Bible’s statement. Yes, Cain had a wife, and that wife was his sister—another descendant of Adam and Eve. Simply reading a little more of the context around the passage immediately clears up the question.

Which Ten Commandments are the Right Ones?

Our next question has not only been used by some in attempts to discredit the Bible, but has also been a source of confusion in different denominations claiming to be Christian. It might be called “The Case of the Battling Commandments.”

If you’re a longtime viewer of Tomorrow’s World, you’ve heard us teach about the vital importance of the Ten Commandments numerous times in the program. Jesus Christ loved the commandments, and Christians everywhere are commanded to live by them.

Yet, just what are the Ten Commandments?

Well, the answer you get will vary depending on whom you ask! The list of ten commandments given in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 is parsed differently by different groups. Here are the two main approaches:

For example, many would give the following summarized list of the Ten Commandments:

1. You shall have no other gods.
2. You shall make no graven images.
3. You shall not take God’s name in vain.
4. You shall remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
5. You shall honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness.
10. [And] You shall not covet.

Yet, if you ask a Roman Catholic, you might get this list of summarized commandments:

1. You shall have no other gods.
2. You shall not take God’s name in vain.
3. You shall remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
4. You shall honor your father and your mother.
5. You shall not murder.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
10. [And] You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.

You’ll surely notice that those two lists are not the same. The first one has a commandment against the use of idols, the Second Commandment. But that commandment doesn’t show up at all in the second list, the Roman Catholic one. And, in the first list, the last commandment is against coveting. But in the second list, the Roman Catholic one, that command is split into two commands: not coveting your neighbor’s wife and not coveting your neighbor’s goods.

So, that brings us to today’s second Bible question: “Which are the right ‘Ten Commandments’?”

We know that there are ten because the Bible says so, itself. We see this in Exodus 34:28, Deuteronomy 4:13, and Deuteronomy 10:4.

But which are the Ten?

To find the answer, you might look at Deuteronomy 5, which lists all ten commandments. There we see the final passage stated this way in verse 21: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

But should “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife” be broken out as a separate commandment from “you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, etc.”? The verse numbering was added by scholars later, so that doesn’t help.

Looking at the verse, it seems that there is no way to tell—so is the answer to the question, “Which are the right ‘Ten Commandments’?,” “It depends on whom you ask”?

Nonsense! Because the truth is not determined by Roman Catholic councils or Lutheran synods or Evangelical conferences. The truth is determined by the word of God, and when it comes to His commandments, He makes the answer plain.

To discover it, we just need to use another helpful principle for understanding the Bible: Examine other scriptures that cover the same topic.

Jesus Christ said in John 10:35 that “the Scripture cannot be broken”—meaning God’s word does not contradict itself. So, if two passages of the Bible speak about the same subject, including the Ten Commandments, they must both be true.

In this case, we should ask ourselves: Is there any other passage that also lists the Ten Commandments, other than Deuteronomy 5?

And, yes, there is! The Ten Commandments are also listed in Exodus 20. In fact, that chapter comes before Deuteronomy 5, and is the chapter most would turn to first to read the Ten Commandments in the Bible. There, we can read the end of the commandments in verse 17: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Notice one very important difference from the way Moses worded the ending in Deuteronomy 5: When God spoke these words in Exodus 20, the part about not covering your neighbor’s wife is placed inside the rest—after the part about your neighbor’s house!

So, when God spoke the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, did He accidentally mix them up? Did He start by going from the eighth commandment and skipping the ninth to give part of the tenth commandment, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house,” then jump back to the ninth commandment, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,” only to suddenly jump forward again to finish the tenth? That’s ridiculous! If anyone understands the Ten Commandments, it’s the divine One who spoke them aloud at Mount Sinai!

And these two passages, Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, cannot both be right if the commandment against coveting is split into two pieces—coveting your neighbor’s wife and then coveting everything else. They only work if there is only one commandment—the tenth commandment—against coveting anything that is your neighbor’s!

So, which Ten Commandments is the real Ten Commandments? The one that includes an explicit second commandment against making and worshiping idols and that has one unified tenth commandment against coveting.

And you don’t have to take my word for it. Take the Apostle Paul’s, who summarized the single tenth commandment himself as, simply, “You shall not covet.”

So, if you are wondering who gets the Ten Commandments right—your local clergyman or the Creator of the Universe who thundered them to His people at Mount Sinai—I’d stick with your Creator!

What Happened to Enoch and Elijah?

Our third question involves two famous individuals in the Bible: Enoch and Elijah the prophet.

Now in the case of Enoch, Genesis 5 gives us an interesting tale concerning this ancient patriarch. Amidst many who were sinning and living unrighteously, we read of him beginning in verse 21: “Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Genesis 5:21–24).

The phrases “he was not” and “God took him” have led many to believe that Enoch was removed from earth and taken into heaven. In fact, when I was a child, I had a popular children’s Bible that told its version of the story of Enoch and titled it “The Man Who Walked into Heaven”! This understanding is bolstered in the eyes of many by the fact that the passage does not mention his death explicitly, and the Apostle Paul, writing in Hebrews, said that Enoch was “taken away so that he did not see death.”

Like Enoch, another biblical figure is thought by many to be in heaven: The prophet Elijah. In chapter 2 of the book of 2 Kings, we read how the time came for the mantle of prophetic leadership to be passed from Elijah to his protégé Elisha: “Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11).

Part of the challenge in these passages is that the language is ambiguous and open to interpretation. Nowhere in the story of Enoch are we told where he was taken, and nothing explicitly and clearly says that he did not die. And in the case of Elijah, the Bible speaks of three heavens: the air above us where birds fly and clouds move, the space above that in which the stars shine, and then what Paul calls “the third heaven” in which God dwells. Whenever “heaven” is mentioned in the pages of your Bible, it’s vital to keep in mind these three different possibilities and determine from the context which one applies to the passage. Which one applies here to Elijah’s chariot ride is not immediately clear.

All of this brings us to the common question: “Are Enoch and Elijah in heaven?”

That is, are Enoch and Elijah still living up in heaven, in the presence of God and the angels?

The details of what happened to Enoch and Elijah after their disappearance is a larger topic than we have time for, but the answer to the question itself is actually very easy—and it involves a third fundamental principle that is eminently helpful for anyone trying to understand the Bible: Use plain scriptures to help explain those that are more ambiguous.

In this case, the tales of Enoch and Elijah have ambiguities that we need to resolve. Yet, there are very plain passages that are far easier to understand. And these passages leave us no doubt as to whether or not Enoch and Elijah are alive in heaven.

Let’s look at one—spoken by none other than the Son of God, Himself: Jesus Christ! Speaking to a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who himself may have believed Enoch or Elijah were in heaven, Jesus is very plain, saying in John 3:13, “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.”

There you have it from Jesus’ own mouth: no one has ascended into heaven. Jesus Christ, the Son of Man and the Son of God, is the only man to have traversed both heaven and earth. He didn’t say “No one but two…” or “No one but Enoch and Elijah….” He said “No one.” And that leaves no room for our two Old Testament friends.

In fact, we can go further. We mentioned earlier that Enoch is mentioned in Hebrews. That passage, Hebrews 11, is called by some the “Heroes of Faith” chapter, and Enoch is mentioned in verse 5. But later, in verse 13, we are told very plainly what has happened to all of these “heroes of faith”: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises….”

“These all” would include Enoch, eight verses earlier. In fact, of course Enoch and Elijah have died. Romans 3:23 promises us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and Romans 6:23 tells us that “the wages of sin is death.”

More could be said, but no matter what tale we might speculate about concerning Enoch and Elijah, these plain verses limit us to what must be true: That Enoch and Elijah are now dead, awaiting their reward, and are not in heaven. To claim otherwise would be to disagree with the declaration of Jesus Christ Himself. In this case, the plain verses of the Bible add clarity to those that are more open to misinterpretation and misunderstanding.

How to Study the Bible

Concerning where Cain could have gotten his wife, we’ve seen that Adam and Eve had many children, including daughters, easily providing a wife for Cain.

Concerning which collection are the right “Ten Commandments,” we’ve seen that skipping the second commandment about idols and splitting the tenth commandment about coveting into two different commandments violates the word of God.

And as for Enoch and Elijah, we have determined that, no, they are not in heaven—trusting Jesus Christ when He says that He is the only man to have trod both heaven and earth at this time.

But more than simply answering three questions, we’ve also illustrated three solid principles that you can use in your own Bible study:

• Examine the context around the verse or passage.
• Examine other scriptures that cover the same topic.
• [And] Use plain scriptures to help explain those that are more ambiguous.

And studying your Bible is worth the time you invest. As the Apostle Peter told Jesus Christ after His Master had just delivered a challenging message that was difficult to understand, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

And the inspired words of the Bible are just that: the words of eternal life. Your effort to understand them will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams!

Thanks so much for watching. If you’re interested in the first four lessons of our free 24-lesson Bible Study Course, I hope you’ll go out to TWTV.org/study and request those four lessons yourself. Or, of course, you can click on the link that we’ve provided in the description below.

And we hope that you enjoy what we make here at Tomorrow’s World, we really do want to help you understand your world through the pages of your Bible.

If you did enjoy it, we hope you’ll consider clicking on subscribe, and if you want to be notified when something comes out, just click that bell!

Thanks so much.

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Mission to Mars?

Elon Musk wants to put human beings on the planet Mars. He’s not alone. NASA aims to send astronauts to Mars as well. But what if we make it? What sort of world would we turn Mars into? Actually, we already know the answer—and there’s a lot we can learn by exploring just how we know.

Join us for this episode of Tomorrow’s World where we explain “How to Build a New World.”

What Would Life on Mars REALLY Be Like?

Greetings, and welcome to Tomorrow’s World, where we help you make sense of your world through the pages of the Bible.

And “your world”—for right now, at least—consists of only ONE world: the one we enjoy right here on good ol’ planet Earth. But many are looking to expand that list of possible worlds to include the planet Mars.

Would you like to travel to another world? Well, some very wealthy, very powerful individuals and organizations are very invested in trying to make such a possibility a reality—and possibly within your lifetime.

Multibillionaire Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla, suggested in 2022 that he would land a manned mission to Mars as early as 2029 and released a video in 2023 depicting one of his planned Starship spacecraft landing on the planet and joining a thriving and growing human colony (“Elon Musk hints at a crewed mission to Mars in 2029,” NPR.org, March 17, 2022).

But Mr. Musk isn’t alone. America’s NASA is working on its own efforts to put a manned mission on the Red Planet. Through their Artemis program, NASA plans to establish humanity’s first long-term base on the Moon. And there, they plan to learn what it takes to establish a base on Mars (“How NASA is planning to get humans to Mars,” TheWeek.com, April 17, 2023).

I’ll be honest—I find these missions fascinating. From the earliest days I can remember, the idea of mankind placing colonies on another world has gripped my imagination. Yet even for a relatively close planet like Mars, the technological challenges are formidable. For one, the trip to Mars could take six to seven months, during which the European Space Agency estimates astronauts would be potentially exposed to 700 times the amount of radiation we’re normally exposed to on earth (“The radiation showstopper for Mars exploration,” The European Space Agency, ESA.int, May 31, 2019).

And surviving the long, lonely, and dangerous trip there isn’t the hardest part. Mars may be the most earth-like planet in the solar system, but it is not even close to hospitable. Even at the relatively “temperate” equator, the temperatures drop to negative 100 degrees Fahrenheit (or minus 73 degrees Celsius, for our metric friends). The air on Mars is as thin as you’d find 21 miles above the surface of the earth, and 96% of it is carbon dioxide, with oxygen making up less than two-tenths of a percent.

But, for the moment, let’s set all of that aside. Let’s suppose that we made it. Let’s imagine that humanity—whether the United States, or Elon Musk followers, or anyone else—has been able land craft on Mars and build a permanent settlement. In fact, imagine that settlement 100 years in the future. Even 500 years. All technological challenges met and surpassed—a large, thriving, new outpost for humankind. That is, imagine we’ve achieved our wildest dreams, conquered the final frontier, and successfully transplanted humanity and human civilization from planet Earth to the planet Mars.

In such futuristic outposts, what should we expect to see?

And let me be clear: I don’t mean what technology should we expect to see. That could be anything—domed cities, environmental reengineering machinery, new forms of transportation. No, I mean in terms of the civilization, itself—the people—the citizens of our new interplanetary metropolises, their lives, their relationships. What should we expect to see concerning human life on this new world?

Or maybe I should ask the question differently. Is there any reason we should expect life on Mars to be fundamentally different from life here? Troubled relationships? Broken families? Government corruption? Educational confusion and nonsense? Political rancor? Crime? Theft? Murders? Rapes?

Because no matter what new and fantastic technology we might invent and deploy there, the one common element in our imagined civilization on Mars and our very real civilization here on Earth is us. Human beings.

And thousands of years of experience teach us an important lesson: We don’t know how to live together on our own world—how would we expect to know how to build a new one?

If we one day begin building new worlds on other planets, the key import we will bring with us is ourselves. And with us, we bring all the same spiritual problems we have allowed to corrupt and corrode our civilization here: Lust. Greed. Hate. Envy. Covetousness. Deceit. Pride. Malice. Arrogance. Bigotry. Cruelty. Hedonism. Selfish ambition.

No matter where we take ourselves in this universe, those terrible facets of human nature will ride alongside us as unwelcome, but inevitable, stowaways.

Why is that? Why are such self-destructive vices so inevitable in our world? Is there a way to build a truly better, new world?

Yes, there is. But understanding how to do that will first require us to answer a different question: why is our current world the way it is?

Believe it or not, the answer to that question is a simple one. And understanding that answer points us to the only way to create a new and better world.

Human Nature in Rebellion to God

Experience teaches us that wherever we go, we take our problems with us.

The key to solving that problem is to understand why our world is the way it is. And the reason why has to do with the foundation on which our world is built.

In Psalm 11:3, King David asks, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

The answer is assumed to be obvious: “Nothing.” If the foundations are broken, then nothing of lasting value can be built upon them. And as we will see, the foundations on which we continue to try to build our world are utterly broken.

To understand why, we have to go back to the beginning of our civilization—the very beginning.

We see that beginning in the book of Genesis, when God created the first man and woman, Adam and Eve.

In Genesis 1 and verse 26, we read, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’” (Genesis 1:26).

Man was to be given full control over the whole world and everything in it.

That was because humanity had a very special purpose to fulfill. Continue in verse 27: “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

Unlike all the animals, each created according to their kind, man was created after the God kind—designed to reflect his Creator and, ultimately, to become fully like his Creator. But becoming like the Creator requires more than being in His likeness and image. It requires building His own character. And building character requires choice.

So, God planted two trees in the Garden of Eden that would present man with a choice: to obey or to disobey: “And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. … And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’” (Genesis 2:9, 16–17).

And, if you know the story, then you know Adam chose to eat of the wrong tree. His wife, Eve, was deceived by the devil to do so, but when she gave fruit from the forbidden tree to Adam, the Apostle Paul tells us that “Adam was not deceived” (1 Timothy 2:14). He knew what he was doing, and he willingly chose to disobey God.

That single act laid the foundation for all of human history and civilization. God had given Adam and Eve, the first humans, all they could ever want—a safe, beautiful paradise, honest labor, fellowship with their Creator, and a future family to grow and nurture. They had only to obey their Creator’s loving will.

But Adam chose otherwise. In choosing to purposefully eat from the forbidden tree, Adam told God, in effect, “Not Your will, God, but mine.” Adam rejected God’s will in favor of his own. And, really, if you and I are honest about it, we’ve made the same choice ourselves from time to time. Choosing our own will over God’s express will is sin. And the Bible assures us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

And that statement—“Not Your will, God, but mine”—is the fundamental basis of virtually every human institution we see around us today.

In government, we see lip service paid to God—in America, for instance, politicians like to say things like “God bless America,” but they don’t want to seek His blessings in their laws and policies. In the ivory towers of academia, credentialled elites tend to believe they’ve outgrown God and constantly come up with humanly devised codes of ethics and morality that result in little more than continued moral rot. Calling the entertainment industry a cesspool is an insult to cesspools. And—as shocking as this may seem—our religions, even the vast majority of so-called “Christianity,” is filled with ideas and philosophies of mere human beings and pagan superstitions—not a devotion to the word of God over human tradition.

The foundation of our collapsing society can be summed up in that single phrase: “Not Your will, God, but mine.”

Building on the Foundations of God’s Will

For millennia, man has sought to build its own world his own way—never committing to do it God’s way—not fully!

Since we can’t build a new world on a broken foundation, we have only one choice: Remove that foundation and replace it with a good one. And Jesus Christ provides that foundation!

We see it revealed in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night Jesus was to be betrayed and ultimately delivered up to crucifixion.

As His disciples slept that night, Jesus pleaded before His Father in prayer. Knowing the pain and agony to come, He knelt there in the garden and asked His Father if there was any other way that Their great plan could be accomplished. Like any of us would, He did not want to be tortured to death for hours! He did not want to go through the agonizing trial and cruel, lonely, excruciating death that lay ahead!

Yet, in all His passionate pleading His focus and resolve never wavered. Even in the face of one of the cruelest executions mankind has devised, He told God in prayer, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).

That is the foundation on which new worlds can be built!

Surrounded by paradise and comfort, Adam told God, “Not Your will, but mine.” Yet, facing agony, suffering, and a torturous death, Jesus told God, “Not My will, Father, but Yours.”

That, my friends, is the only foundation on which a new world of true, unending peace, joy, hope, and love can ever be built! It is the very opposite of the foundation today’s world is built on—but it will be the rock-solid foundation of tomorrow’s world!

Suffice it to say that what God intended the world to be, illustrated in the abundant and beautiful Garden of Eden, will be restored! It will be, in a very real sense, a new world—built by the returned Son of God and His glorified followers, guiding, directing, and teaching mankind for 1,000 years.

Instead of the broken, plagued world we’ve always known, mankind will experience a world of peace, joy, health, and abundance all because the new world ahead will have been built on a NEW foundation: “Not my will, God, but Yours.”

How we long for Christ to return and that day to come, as Jesus Christ taught us to pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9–10).

Repentance and New Life—In This World and Beyond

The only foundation on which a truly new world can ever be built is an utter and complete submission to the will of God in obedience and love. As Jesus Christ said, “Not My will, but Yours.”

And unless Elon Musk or NASA plan on building on that foundation, expect any civilizations we build on Mars to be mere reruns of the horrors we’ve created here on earth. Different planet, same humanity, and same devastating problems.

But the world Jesus Christ will establish after His return will be built on that new foundation—transforming the world and then, afterwards, the entire cosmos.

As Paul tells us in Romans 8,

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:18–21).

Indeed, eventually all of creation—the entire universe—will get to experience the liberation that comes with being ruled by the divine Family of God, which will include the glorified followers of Jesus Christ, who are eager to build on the new foundation that their Savior had laid. So, yes, even Mars may finally get its shot!

But we do not have to wait until Christ returns to begin knowing the joy of building a new world. None of us may control a whole planet right now, but we each have our own world—our own families, our own spheres of influence, our own lives—in which we can begin to build anew. We can experience, in our own worlds, now, a taste of the joy, hope, peace, and happiness that awaits the rest of the world at the Savior’s return.

All that is required is to begin building that new world in our lives now is the choice to begin building on that new foundation: “Not my will, God, but Yours.” We need only to repent. Give up our sins. Ask God for forgiveness. Give up our devotion to doing things our way, and ask God to help us begin doing things His way—the way Jesus Christ would do them. And with every step we take in doing so, we will find the blossoms of that new world growing beneath our feet, and bringing with them the aroma of the world tomorrow that Christ is bringing with Him.

Thanks so much for watching!

All of us here at Tomorrow’s World work hard to help you understand your world through the pages of your Bible.

If you’re interested in what we offer today, our free resource The World Ahead: What Will It Be Like?, you can just click on the link in the description, or you can go to TWTV.org/Ahead.

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