[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]
A Never-Ending Struggle?
For so many of us, life sometimes seems little more than a “stress machine.” News stories remind us that our social structures and systems of government are fracturing. The world around us seems almost a different planet in many ways since the pandemic began. Our personal lives, our health, our jobs, our relationships—all face mounting pressures that seem unrelenting. And the demands on us to somehow make “everything work” seem impossible to satisfy.
What we desperately need to move us forward, from one day to the next, is HOPE. But it seems that, no matter where we look, there is little REAL hope to be found. Yet I’m here to tell you today that there IS hope—REAL hope. There are solid reasons why you should look forward in confidence and face your challenges with courage and hope for the future.
Let us explain why the burdens you bear are not as heavy as you think they are. Join us right now on Tomorrow’s World as we give you “The Hope You Need!”
No Hiding From Reality
Greetings, and welcome to Tomorrow’s World, where we help you understand your world through the pages of your Bible. Thank you for joining us.
Is there no reason for hope in the world anymore?
One could be forgiven for asking that question, as the world around us seems unraveling at the seams.
But there are reasons for hope. Not “pie in the sky” hope, not the sort of “self-delusional” hope rooted in fantasy and avoiding reality. But real hope, grounded in the most fundamental truths we could ever hope to learn or understand. We are going to address three of those sources of hope today.
But first, let’s wrestle a bit with reality. Because real hope isn’t built on fantasy. It isn’t found in avoiding life or running away from our troubles—whether we literally run away from them by avoiding the things we fear, or whether we seek to hide in different ways, such as through alcohol and substance abuse, or filling our minds with all the diversions and distractions this world has to offer, so that there’s no room for reality to slip in and remind us of what we face in the real world.
No, if we want to embrace real hope, then we have to embrace real life, and accept it for what it is.
Not that I would blame anyone for wanting to hide. Our world is not the most encouraging place to live.
Our daily news feeds have little to offer us that is encouraging. Partially, this is because negative news sells more newspapers and captures more viewers. But, frankly, it is also because our world is truly in trouble. National systems of government that have served as models of stability and peaceful deliberation are crumbling. Of course, in democracies, the nature of governments and the nature of their citizens are intimately connected, and, sure enough, the problems we see in government reflect the problems of the people. Anger, violence, unrest—reflections of instability and uncertainty are on the rise.
Our program is viewed all around the world, but I live in the United States, and I can attest that our society is beginning to head in directions that are making it unrecognizable. Fault lines are widening and even the smallest of differences between people are prompting neighbors to treat each other as enemies—stirring up hatred with an almost animal-like viciousness.
Yes, tensions are high between nations, as the United States, Russia, and China compete for as much control as they can muster over an increasingly volatile and unpredictable world. But we don’t need to look to international news to see conflict, strife, and hatred. We are seeing it in our own cities and among our own neighbors.
Not a lot of hope to find there.
And that’s all besides the frequent stresses and concerns of our personal lives. Health problems, challenges at work, financial troubles, and relationship difficulties—sometimes even when we’re trying to do the right thing, it can seem like it doesn’t make a difference; as if no one sees our struggles and cares what we are going through; as if our efforts seem pointless, and we have no hope that there’s any meaning in it all.
We need hope that our efforts matter in this world. But where will we find that hope?
Science provides none. We have parted the curtain on the natural world and learned wondrous things, but nothing that provides transformative hope or true meaning to life. And as we noted earlier, the world of politics seems to be where hope goes to die, these days.
Modern living in developed nations provides virtually non-stop entertainment and distraction for those who can afford it—and while they can take our minds off of our troubles for a while, in the end, without real hope, those distractions leave us feeling emptier than we were before.
We need hope. Real, lasting, significant, profound hope. A hope rooted in things that transcend the world around us and provide deep, eye-opening meaning to our lives and experiences.
And, my friends, such hope really does exist.
A Living God, the True Source of Hope
Now we want to look at three sources of the hope you need. Now on first glance, they may seem trivial, but they represent the foundations of the only real hope that can make a significant difference in our lives. When we embrace these truths and all that they imply, the entire world—every aspect of our lives—begins to mean something different. And in that difference, we find the hope we need.
The first source of hope is this astonishing truth: God is REAL.
A long line of scientists, philosophers, and social engineers would love to convince you there is no God, no Designer, no Creator—that there’s nothing more to existence than what you can see.
My friends, that is a lie. Those who proclaim the lie may sincerely believe it, but a lie sincerely believed is still a lie.
In the Bible, King David expresses his opinion of those who deny the obvious truth about the existence of an Almighty Creator. He writes in Psalm 14 and verse 1,
“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”
And some of the best evidence for God’s existence can be found today just as readily as King David was able to see it. Consider the remarks of the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 1:
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (vv. 18–21).
Note that Paul speaks of those who plainly see the evidence that we live in a universe created by an omnipotent, all-knowing God—the stars above our head, the orderly world around us, the intricate and complex designs of life. He notes that, just like one can detect the fingerprints of a master craftsman in the work He has created, those who look with open eyes and consider the evidence with humble hearts can see the fingerprints of their Creator.
In fact, Paul condemns those who suppress the truth they see and substitute lies, noting that they are without excuse for their rejection of the God they were unwilling to glorify.
That is a very real reaction to the created world and the obvious evidence of its Creator. We see it reflected in the words of Francis Crick, legendary biologist and co-discoverer of the exquisite structure of the DNA molecule. A die-hard evolutionist, Crick was writing about the mindset his fellow biologists must take as they examine the remarkable design and engineering of life:
“Biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved” (Francis Crick, What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of Scientific Discovery, 1988, p. 138).
Similarly, famous evolutionist Richard Dawkins has written:
“Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose” (Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker, 1986, p. 1).
Why must biologists, quote, “constantly keep in mind” that what they are looking at was not designed? Why is it that we must assume life only has, quote, “the appearance of being designed for a purpose”?
Because the evidence points overwhelmingly to life having been designed for a purpose.
The proofs of God’s existence are profound and more numerous than we can cover in this brief program. But I encourage you to explore our website, TomorrowsWorld.org, where you can find a number of resources to help you prove the existence of God for yourself.
So why is God’s existence one reason we can have hope?
There are many answers to that question, and some of them are tied to what’s coming later in today’s program. But think about it for a moment.
So much of modern science—even when it does not say so explicitly—tends to communicate a sense of meaningless. Hopelessness. If there is no God, there really is no meaning—we really are alone, sometimes, in a cruel world in which no one cares.
But… if God does exist—and He does—then we need never feel alone. If God does exist, then even in our greatest moments of despair, we have someone to cry out to for help, for mercy, for understanding! We have someone who understands what we’re going through, who sees our trials, who is willing to go through them with us.
In fact, in Genesis 16:13, when the Egyptian handmaiden Hagar is fleeing from the anger of her mistress, Sarai, she notes God’s encouraging presence, and calls Him “El Roi”—The God Who Sees.
God’s willingness to be with us in our most difficult trials was illustrated in the life of His Son, Jesus Christ, who is God just as His Father is. He is not distant, aloof, and above our sufferings. Rather, Jesus Christ came to this world to live among us and experience what we experience. The book of Hebrews explains this aspect of Jesus’ life, noting that
“… in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:7–8).
God is real. He knows our suffering, our trials, and our burdens. Nothing we do happens in some lonely vacuum—instead, the One who wove our very lives together understands what we are going through, and is open to hearing the cries, fears, and requests of all who are willing to open themselves to Him.
You are not alone. God is very real.
There are profound implications of this, and those implications provide additional hope in our lives.
Jesus LIVES for Your Future
The second reason for hope is the beautiful truth that Jesus Christ is RETURNING.
Many mainstream “Christian” churches fall into one of two ditches—either they focus so much on “spiritual” things that they do little earthly good, or else they focus on trying to change this world through politics and policymaking, as if Jesus Christ were interested in ruling this broken world through its broken, carnal mechanisms. The former make the truths of the Bible seem unconnected to the world we live in today and the lives we live in that world, and the latter inevitably end up corrupted themselves, forgetting that the real Jesus Christ calls us to something very different than participating in the ways of this world.
Yet, Jesus Christ has not abandoned this world to its own devices. The news we see can sadden us, frustrate us, even anger us. All around us we see the guilty going free, those who do harm not held to account, and a world that is increasingly brutal—more like the animal world than the world of human beings.
But after Jesus Christ was resurrected, as He ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives, His disciples were told something very important—the only real source of hope this world has for its future.
As the Savior of mankind rose higher and higher into the sky and the disciples watched on, angels appeared next to them to declare some remarkable good news:
“Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).
This is important, because this foundational truth of true Christianity has been spiritualized away and diminished by so many of the different strains of counterfeit Christianity that currently fill the churches of this world.
The angels were explicit: In the same manner in which he ascended to heaven, He would one day descend back to this earth. Just as He physically ascended, He will one day physically return.
And that event, the return of Jesus Christ, will be the turning point of all of human history. It is the heart of the true gospel—or good news—preached by Jesus Christ during His three-and-one-half year ministry on earth. For when He returns, He will establish the Kingdom of God here on earth, which will grow to reign over every square inch of this planet.
All the horrors and injustices and heartbreaking suffering that we see streamed in our newsfeeds will become things of the past, tossed into the dustbin of history, and replaced by the glorious reign of Jesus Christ and His glorified saints under God the Father.
The horrific suffering of this present world—suffering that pricks our hearts and prompts us to search for even the smallest reason to hope that somehow something will change—that suffering is caused, ultimately, by Satan the Devil, called by Jesus Christ Himself the “ruler of this world” no less than three times in the book of John.
In fact, it’s the Apostle John who highlights this vital element of Jesus Christ’s mission, noting in 1 John 3 and verse 8 that
“For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”
All the suffering, all the injustice, all the wars, all the greed and filth and malice that corrupts this world and causes us such grief—all of it will be taken away with the coming of the Kingdom of God and the reign of the Son of God.
The prophet Isaiah characterizes that reign, noting that those living in Tomorrow’s World will look at their new ruler and be moved to praise Him by the lives they now live, noting,
“His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
Later, in chapter 35, Isaiah describes that soon-coming world by noting the great miracles, healings, and even geological rejuvenation that will take place, saying,
“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert” (vv. 5–6).
When the news we see on our screens seems to be sliding into a state of almost permanent despair, and we begin to think that there is no hope, we can rest assured that nothing escapes the eyes of God and Jesus Christ. No injustice, no wrong, no harm, no suffering—and we can pray to God all the more fervently as Jesus taught us, saying, “Your Kingdom come.”
Jesus IS returning to this world and will not leave it doomed to mankind’s folly. And that is, indeed, a great source of hope.
A Future You Can Believe In, a God You Can Trust
Today we’ve discussed two fundamental sources of the hope you need to face the future—and the present—with courage and confidence:
- God is REAL.
- (And) Jesus Christ is RETURNING.
But there is one more we want to discuss that is intimately tied to these two and to your future:
- Your life has a PURPOSE.
You were made by God to one day be a member of His own family—experiencing life and reality just as He and His Son do now, and inheriting not only the Earth, but the entire universe as your possession, reigning and ruling as a Child of God forever.
It seems beyond belief—the stuff of science fiction. But I stand here today telling you that it is the firm declaration of God’s word—no matter how many misguided philosophers, preachers, and theologians try to hide it or dilute it, and no matter how incredibly shocking it might seem.
And understanding this transforms the first two sources of hope. Because God is real, His plan and purpose for us is real—and if anyone has the power to make His purpose for us come to pass, it is Almighty God. And when Jesus Christ returns, He brings with Him our reward: Transformation into the glorified Children of God, with divine power to make a difference—first in this world, reigning under Jesus for 1,000 years, then throughout the entirety of Creation, as we inherit all things, forever.
You were created for so much more than this life.
The mind-blowing purpose God has for your life has been hidden in plain sight—under your nose all the time, just waiting for you to discover it.
Discover your purpose—and discover an unending and undefeatable source of the very hope you need.
And I hope that this program has been a blessing to you. Please join us again next time—Gerald Weston, Richard Ames, Rod McNair and I will be right here waiting for you, ready to talk about the true teachings of Jesus Christ, the end-time prophecies of the Bible, and the truly good news of the Kingdom of God. Until we see you again, take care.
Thank you so much for watching! We here at Tomorrow’s World really do work hard to help you make sense of your world through the pages of the Bible. If you’d like today’s free offer, there is a link in the description where you can find it, and if you’d like more of this material and to be notified when it comes out, then click the “subscribe button” and be sure to click on the little bell. Again, thanks for watching, and we’ll see you again.
