Welcome to answers to the big questions. I'm your host, Allen Sonter, and I'm glad you could join me. Our question today is is there some purpose to the universe? In our last episode, we touched briefly on the issue of the origin of life, and I pointed out that most scientists believe the theory of evolution.
If the theory of evolution were correct, then all life on the planet and indeed in the whole universe would be the result of random physical and chemical processes. Because this theory is so widely accepted, most people don't even think about whether there's any purpose behind the observable universe. Planet Earth and the uncountable myriads of stars that we see in the sky at night are, according to evolutionary theory, nothing more than the result of mindless combinations of atoms that were set in motion by a Big Bang sometime in the very distant past.
And the Big Bang theory can't even explain why anything banged in the first place. So the logical conclusion of belief in the Big Bang and Theory of Evolution is that the whole universe is totally without purpose. It has no reason for being.
But as we have seen in the last episode of this series, the theory of evolution is simply without foundation. Indeed, it's impossible for all that we see around us to have evolved from nothing. We were created by God, and God is going to step in very soon to put right all that is wrong with this world of sin and death, with its pain, sorrow, suffering and hopelessness.
If God created the universe, it makes sense to ask ourselves why? What's the purpose for which God made the whole universe? And why did he create this Earth and all living things on it? The answer to this question requires us to go right back to the beginning when God first began to create. God Himself has no beginning and no end. He is eternal.
We cannot really understand a being who has no beginning, because in our minds, everything began at some time. The Bible tells us in one John 416, that God is love. To gain some idea about God and love, we need to understand what God says about it.
He says that we are to love Him with our whole being, and we need to love others in the same way as we love ourselves. He then goes on to give ten commands or rules for living that give substance to this love that he talks about. These ten commands are the basis for God's government.
The first four commands are about worship. The first is that we worship only the Creator God and no other. The second is that we are not to make any image that purports to portray God.
The third is that we do not speak or act in a way that demeans God's name. The fourth is that we observe the 7th day each week as a reminder that God created the Earth. In one week.
The last six commands govern our relationships with other people. The fifth Command tells us to honor our parents. The 6th forbids murder, the taking of human life.
The 7th forbids sexual immorality, especially adultery. The 8th forbids stealing, the selfish taking of the property of others. The 9th forbids the giving of false testimony against another person.
The 10th forbids the coveting of anything belonging to someone else, as this creates a state of mind that is selfish and unloving. God commands us to worship Him because he is the infinite Creator. He is the highest power in the universe.
We all tend to become like the God we worship. So if we are to become the greatest beings possible, we must worship the Creator God, because there's no one greater than he. To worship anyone or anything else is to degrade ourselves.
Since God wants the best for us, he says to worship Him alone. God also knows that there is no object or creature that can be made to depict the infinite God. So he forbids us to make any image to worship, because that image will degrade our concept of God.
When he ruled the Hebrew nation in Moses'time, he appeared only as a bright cloud which had no form or substance that would enable the people to imagine what God looked like. We can never picture the infinite Creator whom we worship. God also forbids the irreverent use of his name, because this also demeans Him in our minds.
Finally, the Fourth Commandment gives a continuing practice to remind us that God is our Creator God. If every 7th day we stop doing the work that we usually do every day, then we are reminded of our God. God created us as beings who need to worship.
God is not being proud when he asks us to worship Him. He requires worship for our own good, to elevate our minds. If anyone else wants to be worshipped, it's a sign that they are proud and they're trying to be like God.
Thus, it is rebellion against God for anyone else to ask to be worshipped. It's interesting to note that throughout history, all people and cultures have made something to worship. Only in our modern secular culture do we find people who claim that they don't worship any god.
But in fact, they have made a God of their science, as they believe science as the answer to all their problems. So in the ten Commands, or commandments as we usually call them, god has spelt out what love is, and these commandments are the basis of his government of the universe. By keeping these commandments, we create the greatest possible joy.
When we look into the Bible, which is the account of how God created everything we see around us, and the story of what has happened since creation, we see that God had a purpose in all that he did. Ultimately, the purpose for which God created the universe was to make beings who could experience joy by loving and worshipping Him and by loving and helping one another. As far as this world is concerned, god Himself tells us in Isaiah 45, verse 18, that he made it to be inhabited, and it was to be inhabited by beings who could love Him as their creator and love one another.
But there's another aspect of this issue that we need to consider. So at this point, we need to take a look at something that came in and spoilt what God wanted to happen. Sometime after God created the angels in Heaven, who he made to keep him company and bring joy to Him and themselves, one of the leading angels, Lucifer, decided that he wanted to be as great as God himself.
So he began to talk among the angels and spread the idea that angels did not need God's laws, as they were perfect beings who could decide for themselves what was right and what was wrong. Lucifer suggested that he had a better form of government than God did. Under God's government, everyone was to love everyone else, as love was the motive behind everything that was done in God's government.
The angels experienced the greatest joy in helping and loving one another, not in looking after only themselves. God had built his universe on the principle that love was the most important motive. God made it clear that the ultimate purpose in life was to maximize joy.
And this joy was the result of loving God and loving his laws, and of loving and helping one another. Lucifer's form of government put self first. He said that if we look after ourselves, we will experience more joy than if we help others.
These two forms of government were the opposite of each other, and Lucifer invited the angels to follow him instead of God. By his clever arguments, Lucifer persuaded one third of the angels in Heaven to follow him and he openly rebelled against God. It seems that this rebellion came about soon after God had created the planet Earth, and Lucifer, whose name was changed when he rebelled against God, became known as Satan.
Satan decided that he would try to get Adam and Eve, the two humans God had created on Earth, to join him in rebelling against God. Because God uses only love as a motivation, he didn't force Adam and Eve to obey Him, but gave them a test to see whether they would choose his government or Satan's. He put a certain fruit tree called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden, which he made to be the home of Adam and Eve.
And he told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit of that tree. He told them that if they ate the fruit of that tree, they would die. He also warned them that Satan would try to deceive them into obeying Him and eating the fruit of that tree.
Satan made himself look like a beautiful serpent and took his position in that tree. When Eve came near the tree he spoke to her and told her that if she ate the fruit she would not die. Eve believed the serpent Satan and ate the fruit.
She then took some of the fruit to Adam and gave it to him. And he ate it too. Because Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the fruit god sent them out of the garden and put angels in place to stop them getting back in and eating of another tree the Tree of Life that would have kept them alive.
So because they had disobeyed God and eaten the fruit he told them not to. They were kept away from the Tree of Life, so they eventually died. It wasn't long before Adam and Eve realized that Satan had lied to them and that they were going to die.
They confessed their sin to God and he put a plan in place that would make it possible for them to be saved from death. The plan, called the Plan of Salvation had been worked out by God before humans sinned because God knows everything even before it happens. And by this plan, God himself, in the person of his Son Jesus would come down to this earth and live among humans.
He would then die so that everyone who wanted to be saved from eternal death could be forgiven their sins and accepted back into God's new kingdom which would begin when Jesus came back to Earth the second time. To put an end to Satan's rebellion. Now let us return to the issue of purpose.
God's purpose now is to put an end to Satan's rebellion but to do it in such a way that the whole universe will see that he is loving and good and will not fear him, but love him. God has existed from eternity in the past and will exist to eternity in the future. And he has set aside a period of time during which he will deal with the rebellion of Satan in such a way that rebellion will never again occur through all eternity.
To accomplish this, he set in motion the plan of salvation to save those humans on Earth who want to be on God's side in the war between God and Satan. I've already explained something of this plan. The Bible explains all this how Jesus came to die in our place so we can be saved.
Then Jesus is coming back to this earth as a king to get those who are waiting for him to take them to heaven. Those who have died while waiting will be resurrected to go with him to heaven. Those who have rejected God's salvation but are still alive at his coming will be killed by the events at that time.
Then, for a thousand years Satan and his angels will be confined to this Earth which has been destroyed by earthquakes and fires at the second coming of Jesus. During this thousand year period, God will hold a detailed inquiry into the lives of all who have rejected his offer of salvation. And at the end of that time, the whole universe will agree that God is just in destroying the rebels who have caused so much trouble in the universe, particularly on this Earth.
Then God will bring his new Jerusalem, the Holy City, which is now in heaven, together with all those who have spent the thousand years there with Him, and return to this Earth to bring the whole episode of rebellion to a final end. At that time, all those who have rejected salvation will be brought back to life, and together with Satan and his angels, they will try to attack the Holy City. But God will totally destroy all who have persisted in rebellion in a lake of fire that will burn up every trace of sin and rebellion.
After that fire has burned out, god will recreate the Earth in its former beauty and will set up his government on this Earth made new. You can see that the purpose of God's activity now is to get rid of rebellion and sin. But once that has been accomplished, at the end of this 7000 year experiment with Satan's alternative government, god will return to his long term purpose for the universe, and that is to maximize joy and love.
The Bible has over 180 references to the fact that God wants us to be joyful. Can you imagine what it would be like to live forever if you were suffering pain? It would be unimaginably terrible. But of course, in God's new Earth, there will be no pain, only utter joy and happiness all the time.
What a wonderful world that will be. So to sum up the answer to today's question, is there some purpose to the universe? The answer is definitely yes. The purpose to the universe is for all living creatures to experience the most possible joy by worshipping the Creator and loving one another, helping one another, and enjoying the wonderful new Earth that God will recreate from the ruin of this old Earth we are now living in.
And in that new Earth, there is the Tree of Life from which we can all eat, and we will live joyfully forever. What a wonderful purpose God has for us all. Don't you want to be part of that new world where there's no pain, no sorrow, no crying, and where there's no more death? You can be part of this new world if you accept the free salvation offered by Jesus.
He is waiting to accept you as one of his children right now, so you will be ready to meet Him when he returns to the Earth soon to take his people to be with Him. If you have any questions or would like to know more of God's great plan of salvation, you can contact three ABN for more information. You've been listening to answers to the big questions.
I'm Allen Sonter, and I hope you can join me again next time.
if you have any questions or comments in relation to today's program, you can call 3ABN Australia Radio within Australia on 024-97-3456 or from outside of Australia on country code 6124-973-3456.
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I dreamed of a city called it was so bright and so as I entered the gate holy. The angel welcomed me down.
They kept me from Manchester. All I hold on my knees and cry the holy holy. Holy.
Holy sang glory. Glory to the Son of God. I sing glory to the Son of God.
And once again the scene was changed. New earth there seemed to be. I saw the holy city beside a title it be the light of God was on its reach.
The gates were open wide and all might enter. And no one was denied no need of a moon or the star by night, nor the sun to shine by day. It was a new Jerusalem.
That not by the way it was on the Jerusalem. God would not it all in the high hold on forever hold on in the high end ho forever I want to thank Jesus for the plan of salvation. Just to say, Lord, I love you for you.
Understand? I want to be there every judgment to touch all the nail prince in his feet and his name one morning at daybreak a crowd slowly gather they were walking, my Lord, old Calvary's Heel so sad was the scene there the birds hushed their singing like a lamb. He was humble to his mother's own wheel. I want to thank Jesus for the plan of salvation.
Just to say Lord, I love you for you, understand? I want to be there that great judgment for me to touch all the nail prince in his feet at his head I want to thank Jesus for the plan. Of salvation just to say Lord, I love you for you, understand? I want to be that great judgment for me to touch all the nail prince in his feet and his hands to touch all the nail grace in his feet. Ram, you come every soul by Santa press.
There's mercy with the Lord. And he will surely give you rest by trusting in his word. Only trust Him only trust Him only trust Him now he will save you he will save you he will save you now Lord Jesus shed his precious blood rich blessings to be stolen arms now into the crimson flood that washes white as snow only trust Him only trust Him only trust Him now.
He will save you he will save you he will save you now. Yes, Jesus is the truth the way that lead you into rest. Believe in Him without delay and you are fully blessed.
Only trust him. Only trust him. Only trust him now he will save you he will save you he will save you now.
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