[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]
What Is The Meaning Of Life?
It is one of the most profound questions of human existence, and virtually no one knows the answer—or if an answer even exists at all: “What is the meaning of life?”
On this episode of Tomorrow’s World, you will learn the answer to that question—and that answer will transform your life forever! Get ready, because it all starts right now!
Can Mankind Find The Truth On Its Own?
Greetings, and welcome to Tomorrow’s World!
In his popular book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, humorist Douglas Adams described a race of hyper-intelligent beings who felt burdened to finally answer the question of life, the universe, and everything.
After building a massive computer that spent 7 and a half million years calculating, the computer concluded that the answer was simply, “42.” As you can imagine, that answer brought little comfort.
But the meaning of life isn’t just a question for fictional philosophers.
Even King David, the poet-warrior of ancient Israel, famously asked in the Psalms,
“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, WHAT IS MAN that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?” (Psalm 8:3–4).
What is the meaning of life? Do our lives have purpose?
Philosophers have sought the answer, only to come up empty.
For instance, Albert Camus, the famed French philosopher and Nobel Prize laureate, examined this question. In his book The Myth of Sisyphus, he notes that life clearly seems to have no purpose at all and wrestles with how then to justify living day by day.
“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.” (The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays, p. 3).
Philosopher Loyal Rue decided that we must somehow “invent” a meaning (what he called a “noble lie”) to DECEIVE OURSELVES into thinking that life is worth living.
“That which we have most deeply feared (that is, being deceived) is now presented as the ultimate source of our salvation from psychological and social chaos. The paradox of the human condition is that we are both damned and saved by deception…. The universe just is. [That is, it has no meaning.] The challenge of a noble lie is to reenchant the universe by getting us to perceive, in spite of ourselves, that its significance is objective.” (By the Grace of Guile: The Role of Deception in Natural History and Human Affairs, p. 279).
But if we leave the ivory towers of the philosophers and head into the world of hard science, we find little comfort there, either.
The late William Provine, popular evolutionist and biology professor, stated the conclusion of many of his fellow scientists very plainly:
“There are no gods, no purposes, and no goal-directed forces of any kind. There is no life after death. When I die, I am absolutely certain that I am going to be dead. That’s the end of me. There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning in life, and no free will for humans, either.” (“Darwinism: Science or Naturalistic Philosophy?—A debate between William B. Provine and Phillip E. Johnson at Stanford University, April 30, 1994,” Access Research Network, accessed November 1, 2018).
His views match those of Nobel Laureate in physics Steven Weinberg, who famously stated,
“The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless.” (The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origins of the Universe).
Such scientists often argue that one can simply make his or her OWN “meaning in life,” but what makes that “meaning” any different than the “Noble Lie” recommended by Loyal Rue? We aren’t just talking about what makes us temporarily happy or feel good about ourselves. We want to know the REAL MEANING of LIFE! We need to know that we’re fulfilling our purpose for being alive—that our place in the world has significance that lasts, that is rooted in those things that are real, eternal, and true. We need to know the meaning of life!
Philosophy and science give us nothing but cause to think that there is none. But they are wrong. In our next segment, we’ll begin to reveal and examine life’s very real meaning—a meaning that will change your life!
But first, let me give you an opportunity to get a copy of today’s free resource, Your Ultimate Destiny. This free guide allows you to explore the meaning of your life and to prove that meaning beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Your life is NOT meaningless! You DO have a purpose—a purpose that transcends life as you know it and is grounded in those things that are eternal and true. YOU WERE CREATED BY GOD TO HAVE AN IMPACT ON ETERNITY FAR GREATER THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE! Don’t let this opportunity pass by when you have the chance to learn so much. Just reach out to us by phone, email, or our website and get your own copy of Your Ultimate Destiny. There is no cost, no strings attached, and your information will not be given or sold to anyone. There’s nothing to lose and literally everything to gain.
The Bible Holds The Secret To Life’s Purpose
Welcome back! In the first part of our program we saw that philosophy and science, alone, cannot reveal the real meaning of life. While many great thinkers recognized that we need to believe life has meaning, the best most of them offer is that we should lie to ourselves about what that meaning is!
But hope built on lies is a lie, itself. Is there a real meaning to life?
YES! There IS a purpose for human life—yours and mine! That meaning is revealed to us by the CREATOR of life. Philosophers and scientists who will not recognize that they have a CREATOR are blind to the PURPOSE of their creation, and that meaning of life eludes them!
Yet the meaning of life ALSO eludes many who believe in a Creator! Most religious teachers can sometimes provide helpful insights into some aspects of life, but, frankly, the MEANING of life escapes the vast majority of them, too! Those who believe in God will often speak of going to heaven, or simply existing in God’s glorious presence forever.
Yet the true meaning of life, as revealed in their Bibles and yours, they fail to see. And those who do see it often reject it and declare it heresy—proclaiming it too great and glorious for God to allow!
In doing so, they reject the very purpose for which they, too, were created, and rob themselves and their followers of the greatest source of hope they could ever know!
Although the meaning of life is only truly understood by putting together Scriptures throughout God’s word, we get a glimpse of it in particular passages. The free resource that we’re offering today, Your Ultimate Destiny, will walk you through all the relevant passages, step-by-step, in a way that will make the meaning of your life undeniable! But today, let’s begin with baby steps.
Consider statements such as that of Ecclesiastes 12:13. King Solomon declared,
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.”
The Bible contains many similar statements. For instance, Deuteronomy proclaims,
“…what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good?” (10:12–13).
Jesus Christ mirrored these statements when He identified God’s greatest command to mankind:
“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.” (Matthew 22:37–38).
Those who believe that Jesus came to ABOLISH God’s commandments TOTALLY MISUNDERSTAND the purpose of God!
Rather, Jesus’ teachings were consistent with the Ten Commandments, and He emphasized passionate devotion to them.
But how do they tie into the meaning of life? Is our purpose simply to obey God’s commands so that this life goes well for us? It can’t be. The Bible and human history are filled with faithful men and women, utterly devoted to God and His way, who were tortured and martyred for that devotion. How did God’s commands bring meaning and purpose to their suffering? When you or your loved ones are going through times of anguish, how is keeping God’s commands supposed to add purpose to your heartache or meaning to your suffering?
We must dig deeper. Jesus commands us not simply to keep God’s laws with our bodies, but with our minds and hearts.
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment…. You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:21–22, 27–28).
Jesus elevated the Ten Commandments such that we must strive to keep them with our minds and hearts! But why?
Because God’s goal is not to simply control our bodies, but to TRANSFORM OUR MINDS! Paul makes this PLAIN when he admonishes all of us in Philippians 2:5,
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…”
God longs to RADICALLY and FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE WHO WE ARE over the course of our lives!
But why? What is His purpose in doing so?
THAT is the question few ask! And yet that is the key to unlocking life’s purpose and meaning! Understanding why God seeks to make us more like Him in our hearts and minds lies at the very heart of life’s meaning! In our next segment, we will explain why that is and how that knowledge can provide us hope in even the most devastating trials.
First, I want to give you another opportunity to request your own copy of today’s free resource, Your Ultimate Destiny. This free guide will show you IN DETAIL, exactly what the purpose of life is. Order your own free copy of Your Ultimate Destiny today, and I will be right back to show how obeying God ties into the very meaning of life itself!
Your Destiny Is To Be Born Into The Family Of God
Welcome back! In the last segment, we discussed how we are to develop the very mind of Christ in our lives and how obeying God’s commands transforms us from the inside. Indeed, King David once wrote:
“The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul….” (Psalm 19:7).
But what is God seeking to accomplish in this transformation?
Even most Christians have no clue! Yet it is the very word of God.
GOD’S PURPOSE FOR YOUR LIFE AND MINE IS TO REPRODUCE HIMSELF—to ADD us to His glorious and eternal family! The Father and the Son are working now to create new Sons and Daughters of God, and THAT is the meaning of life! God made you and me to one day be GLORIFIED, living life on the same plane of existence that the Father and Son now inhabit, being granted power, glory, and honor forever, and inheriting the universe as His children!
Don’t let that idea fly by you. Regrettably, a lot of religious pablum gets shouted aloud today, and, as a result, some of the Bible’s most amazing things, these truths, are written off as religious mumbo-jumbo. Many speak of being a “child of God,” but those who throw those words around so easily almost NEVER FULLY GRASP what the Bible ACTUALLY SAYS!
If you have children, aren’t they growing up to be human beings, just like you are? Not something lesser, like chickens or dogs. But human beings! You know sometimes people tell my sons that they look like me—which mortifies them, since I think they hoped to be better looking!
REAL LIFE tells us that our children grow up to be LIKE US.
Then WHY would we think that when the Bible says we are to become CHILDREN OF GOD it means anything LESS than we are to become LIKE GOD HIMSELF! Existing in glory—possessing power and might—experiencing life at a completely different level, as a FULL CHILD OF GOD!
THAT is the plain teaching of your Bible, the meaning and purpose of life! Yet it is resisted by many who claim to believe the Bible.
How could they miss it? Often because they will not read the Scriptures AND accept what they plainly say, in the manner a child would. Consider these passages.
In 2 Thessalonians, Paul says we were chosen for salvation, quote, “to which He called you by our gospel, for the OBTAINING of the GLORY of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
(2:14).
Paul follows what it means to be children of God to its logical conclusion—noting in Romans 8, verses 16 and 17, that God’s Holy Spirit “…bears witness with our spirit that we are CHILDREN OF GOD, and if children, then HEIRS—HEIRS of God and JOINT HEIRS WITH CHRIST, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be GLORIFIED TOGETHER.”
Notice: What Jesus Christ inherited, WE will inherit—and notice, too, that God wants to GLORIFY us together with Jesus Christ.
Allow yourself to accept what that means. Jesus Christ is now glorified, sitting at the right hand of His Father. The book of Revelation says that His eyes now burn like fire and His voice sounds like the sound of many waters. Yet as Jesus Christ now is, the Bible says the faithful are destined to become! Paul explained this in 1 Corinthians 15, noting that “…as we have borne the image of the man of dust [that is, Adam], we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man [that is, Christ]” (v. 49). This is why he says in the very next verse that “…flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” (v. 50).
The Apostle John makes this understanding plain. In 1 John, chapter 3, beginning in verse 1, he writes,
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (vv. 1–2).
The picture is absolutely plain! A child in the womb IS YOUR CHILD, but it’s not until BIRTH that your child finally sees you! The child is finally free to begin the life he was meant to live and he sees you for the first time: the parents the child was created to resemble.
So, too, according to John, do Christians not see what THEY are destined to be until the return of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the saints. Then, like children emerging from the womb, we will FINALLY see our destiny! As John says, “…when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
The biblical passages that paint this picture are far too many for today’s program! You need to get a copy of today’s free booklet, Your Ultimate Destiny, and take the opportunity to go through all the verses yourself! Seeing is believing!
But let’s summarize, my friends, noting that—if the purpose of our lives is to SHARE CHRIST’S GLORY, HIS INHERITANCE, HIS RULERSHIP UNDER HIM, HIS IMAGE, HIS APPEARANCE, HIS FORM, AND HIS FATHER—isn’t the Bible making our purpose plain?
The meaning of your life, your purpose for drawing breath, is to one day become a LITERAL, FULL CHILD OF ALMIGHTY GOD. Not a “metaphorical” child of God, not an “in name only” child of God, not some watered-down “religious talk” child of God. A FULL-FLEDGED CHILD OF GOD, sharing the same divine, dynamic, powerful life and plane of existence as your Father and Jesus Christ!
THIS is life’s meaning, and when we understand the full implications of it, it transforms EVERY ASPECT OF OUR LIVES. We’ll discuss that next.
But first, let me give you one last opportunity to request your own free copy of this life-altering free resource, Your Ultimate Destiny. This free guide will show you in detail exactly what the purpose of life is. You need to know YOUR meaning. Don’t let this opportunity pass. So call the number and get your copy right now, and I’ll be right back to explain how this understanding revolutionizes life.
Our Greatest Hope: Joint Heirs With Jesus Christ
When you understand that the meaning of life is to become a LITERAL child of God for all eternity, experiencing life like He does, the answer to King David’s question about why God cares for man begins to be clear. That question and its implications, are discussed in the book of Hebrews, in chapter 2:
“For [God] has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. But one testified in a certain place, saying: “What is MAN that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You take care of him? You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put ALL in subjection under him, He left NOTHING that is not put under him. BUT NOW WE DO NOT YET SEE ALL THINGS PUT UNDER HIM.” (Hebrews 2:5–8).
Many scholars recognize that this is speaking of the entire UNIVERSE—that God will give the entire universe to us. But they do not understand the REASON WHY.
God DOES intend for humanity, for YOU, to take dominion of all things, the entire universe, under Him and under Jesus Christ, who is King OF KINGS.
Let’s read further:
“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him… BRINGING MANY SONS TO GLORY, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them BRETHREN…” (Hebrews 2:9–11).
Though many will not see it, the Bible makes the meaning of life very plain to those who will trust its words like a child.
Understanding the meaning of life provides hope, purpose, and perspective. The Apostle Paul commented on this perspective in Romans, chapter 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.” (v. 18).
In fact, he says that the glory God intends to reveal in YOU is actually the hope of the entire universe:
“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.” (vv. 19–21).
Understanding this destiny gives meaning to our struggles in life. When your burdens feel as though they may crush the life right out of you, when temptations grow so strong that they begin to feel as though they cannot be resisted, when sickness, despair, or heartache seems to be all you will ever know…
Understanding that God has destined you for so much more—that there is MEANING in your life, and that seeking the mind of Jesus Christ in those troubles, seeking to face them as He would and to grow through them to reflect Him ever more perfectly in your patience, your character, and your love for others… That will stir your determination, solidify your devotion, and strengthen you to stand up again and FACE your challenges, knowing that Your Father is working WITHIN those very circumstances, lovingly creating something remarkable within you…something that is destined to change the entirety of Creation, itself.
There IS a meaning to life. YOU HAVE MEANING AND PURPOSE. And I pray that you will come to see it, believe it, and embrace it. Because once you do, you will never be the same again.
We’ve barely scratched the surface. Please don’t forget to request today’s free offer, Your Ultimate Destiny.
And please don’t forget to come back next week. Gerald Weston, Richard Ames, and I, as well as our guest presenter Rod McNair, will be here waiting for you, ready to share the end-time prophecies of the Bible, the true teachings of Jesus Christ, and the good news of Tomorrow’s World. Take care.
