Is There a Purpose for Life?  Can We Know It?     

        Is there a purpose for life on Earth?  Are we headed for some sort of grand finale?  Or will we puff out into nothingness?  Why not ask the atheists and let them tell us?  Do you remember how they defined evolution from start to finish with homo-sapiens being the crowning act, the end-game, of evolution?  It was said that homo-sapiens were the end-game of evolution with Cro-Magnon man taking centre stage.  These were modern humans[1]. With natural selection consequently gone, our future development will be cultural and determined by sexual selection among other things[2].  While the above readings are by admission speculative[3], there is another source that is clear and specific as to the future of the human race.

        If atheists feel they have the right to express themselves loudly with such preposterous and impossible postulations, better called ‘Nancy Stories,’ we Christians have even more reason to tell what the future really holds from our perspective.  This challenge between the Christian worldview of life and that of the atheist is significant and very crucial.  Only one could be right while the other is dead wrong.  The significance is this: if the atheist is correct, then we all puff out and die at the end.  There is no future for life and for our planet.  If on the other hand, the Christian worldview is correct, then the loss to those who disbelieved will be colossal and heart-rending.  The Epicureans have made famous the expression, ‘let us eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die[4].’  And this would be the desultory status of atheism and disbelievers.  Have you ever wondered whether there might just be a ‘day after tomorrow’ where death is pushed back to a later stage so we can be prepared for the consequences of the return of Jesus Christ to this earth?  Taking a stance like the Epicureans or accepting the atheists’ falsehood that there is no God and an uncertain future for human beings, is like putting all your ‘eggs in one basket’.

        For those who subscribe to the biblical worldview, we understand that there is a purpose in life and that we can and ought to know it.  Before continuing with this article, here’s a question I would like to pose.  I understand that some people hold a different worldview from mine as a Christian.  Some believe in no God while others like me, believe that there is a God with the Bible as His written instructions to humanity regarding how to live a restored, Godly life here on earth.  So my question is, must we be at loggerheads with each other?  I believe the answer of course is no.  As objectionable as a worldview might be, each one should have the freedom to believe and articulate his or her views.  It is in the spirit of this freedom of expression of one’s views that I continue this article.  It should also be noted that worldviews hold consequences that can be negative as perceived by either side.  These negatives should not mean that there must be hatred towards the proponents of the opposing view.  For the atheists and unbelievers, the untraceable future of our earth could well be extinction.  For the born-again person, the restored and now sinless person will live forever in a universe with God and all the heavenly beings where only peace, harmony and happiness will exist without end.  Each worldview carries its own consequences.  And in a free society, one must be free to articulate these consequences without fear or favour.

        From a biblical worldview, then, let us look at the purpose of life.  When we observe nature, each being, whether, trees, animals, or fruits, serves a purpose.  Each one benefits the other. Inanimate processes also demonstrate a symbiotic relationship with all that exists on earth.  The rain gives us water and life-saving proponents.  The earth in turn returns the water to the atmosphere, to the benefit of the world, and so the eternal cycle of rain and sunshine continues unabated.  The Bible tells us that God made this world perfect, with no sin, evil, wars, immorality, and violence. He made the world for His pleasure and for us to enjoy our services and worship of God as Creator and benefactor, Rev. 4:11, Isa. 11:9.  In Genesis 1:31 we read: “And God saw — everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good,” Genesis 1:31.  In many ways, this beneficent  and necessary cycle can be disturbed or broken by humans, but the Creator of the universe promises us that despite man’s destructive ways on earth ^“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” Genesis 8:22. 

        And should man think that he can destroy this earth without God’s intervention, God says that He will return to, among other things, “destroy those who will destroy the earth,” Revelation 11:18.  From the above passage, we deduce that God’s purpose for creating this world is for humans and all other life forms to live in a perfect world where there is no tooth, fang and claw destroying one another.  As Jesus said when asked in Mat. 13:28, how did weeds suddenly appear among the wheat? Jesus assured them that “An enemy has done this.”  This, my friends, is the legacy our first parents left us.  But the legacy that God left us through Jesus Christ is life eternal, see the story in Genesis 3, Rom. 5:12, Rom. 5:8 and John 10:28.

        Sin and evil came into our universe through the renegade actions of the greatest angel that God had made, in so doing this angel, called Lucifer, seemed to thwart the purposes of God in creating a harmonious paradise for all beings on earth and the universe (Revelation 12:7-9)[5].  Yet God pledged to sort things out in His time and reveal the nature of sin, and the nefarious actions of Lucifer.  Revelation 21:1, 3, 4-5 tell us: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.” Verses 3-5 add “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. ⁴ And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.  ⁵ And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. Revelation 21:3-5.” Revelation 21:4-5.

        In the above passage, we see clearly, that humans and all life were made for a purpose. First, for God’s pleasure and glory[6], Rev. 4:11.  God made us because He delighted in sharing his love and character with a new order of beings called humans[7].  Secondly, when mankind rebelled against his Creator, God purposed that everyone who was born into the world was given the choice of accepting God’s forgiveness and His restoration of their lives to the divine image, “for in Adam all die, but in Christ shall all be made alive.” 1 Cor. 15:22.  A component of this new life is that, when mankind accepts this forgiveness and restoration, he is then given the privilege to communicate this message of restoration and forgiveness to others, Mat. 28:19, 20, after which Jesus will return for His people.

The final part of our title to this article is, Can we know God’s purpose?  The answer to this is a resounding, Yes, we can!  An argument in support of this answer is from nature.  There are many there.  We select only one example, Have you noticed that all forms of life on our planet do not die out and become extinct?  Although this may happen with man’s intervention.  Every species, barring bizarre climatic changes, always reproduces themselves and God assures us that ‘seedtime and harvest’ will always be there; now if seedtime and harvest will always exist as long as there is the earth, that means that through procreation that God gave every species life will continue.  So is it God’s purpose that we only live and let live and nothing more?  In more than one place in the Bible, we find this clarion call “Cast away from you — all your transgressions, whereby you have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, O house of Israel?  ³² For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, says the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live,” Ezekiel 18:31-32.  Oh, friends, isn’t this clear enough? Can’t we see the anguish God has for us?  How many times has your heart longed for a father, mother, child or loved one who was either on the point of death or was leaving and ‘going into the world’?

        Years ago I received a phone call from a dear individual across the world, who cried out to me saying, “Ron, you are a pastor, please, can you help me?  My wife is leaving me, I love her and I do not want her to leave.  Can you do something, Ron, please”?  On another occasion, a lad called me from across the world and said, “Dad, I really love [ca…] but she does not want a relationship, can you please pray”?  Finally, the saddest was when I was told by one of my members speaking of what happened to a young lady, “She just got home from work and walked through the door and picked up a note on the dinner table that read, “Honey, I am gone, I am going with Jane to another part of the country.”  Once a dear person said to me, “I am divorcing….’ The pain and anguish of that divorce stayed with me for years!   Oh, friends, unless we have walked in those shoes we can hardly imagine the anguish in the hearts of these four individuals. 

        A moving illustration of this is found in the story of Joseph being sold by his brothers into slavery to Ishmaelites.  When the tables had turned after thirty years, the eleven brothers were discussing this episode in the audience of Joseph whom they had not recognized as their ‘lost’ brother, they repeated a line that cut to the heart of Joseph afresh and brought him to convulsive sorrow and tears, “we saw the anguish of his soul when he begged us, and we would not hear”, Genesis 42:21.  Yes, friends, we know the purpose of God is for us to ‘look and live.’  My appeal to you, folks, is to open your lives to the indwelling of the all-powerful Holy Spirit who will keep you sealed, safe, and secure.  Remember that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and no man that comes to Him will He cast away.  His love for us is everlasting and will endure forever.

        What is your response, my friend?  Your response will determine His response to you.  Yes, for the relationship and there will be a transformation and an enduring relationship.  No, to the overtures of the Holy Spirit on your part and sadly, that is the way it will be. My appeal to you is to “look and live” and we will never part again.

[1] ScienceDaily, July 16 200 8; Public Library of Science. “Europe’s Ancestors: Cro-Magnon 28,000 Years Old Had DNA Like Modern Humans.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 16 July 2008. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080715204741.htm>.

[2] Big Think (owned by Freethink Media), Future evolution: from looks to brains and personality, how will humans change in the next 10,000 years? Original article from “The Conversation” pub. March 1, 2022.  (The Conversation Canada launched in June 2017). https://theconversation.com/future-evolution-from-looks-to-brains-and-personality-how-will-humans-change-in-the-next-10-000-years-176997.

[3] Ibid, Big Think

[4] Epicurus: Greek philosopher 342?-270 b.c. 

[5] Revelation 12:7-9 says: And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and  the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Revelation 12:7-9

[6] The S.D.A Bible Commentary 1:1082. TA 48.7. After testing and trial the human family might become one with the heavenly family. The vacancies made in heaven by the fall of Satan and his angels will be filled by the redeemed of the Lord.­­-The Review and Herald, May 29, 1900. TA 49.1

[7] Ellen White:) Review and Herald, February 11, 1902. TA (Truth about Angels) 48.1

If you have any comments or questions please contact Pr. Ron Henderson at ronhende@outlook.com.

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