OUR FATHER'S WORD
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."
Psalm 119:105

________________________________________________________________________________

What Is The Meaning Of Life?

by Jim Lisenby

________________________________________________________________________________


During the sixties decade a popular song asked, What's it all about Alfie?  The question still doggedly hangs on and nags us.  What is this life all about anyway?  What are we doing here, and what is the meaning of life?  Man has been asking  himself these questions since the beginning with little results apart from God's word.  Let's see if we can make some sense of it.

This website is called Our Father's Word, and I will use the Bible as a focal point, but science has been able to provide much reliable information about the cosmos in recent times and most of it agrees with God's Word.  With those things in mind, let's continue.

Setting some prerequisites.

A couple of things need to be established, or at least assumed, up front before we get into our lesson.  
One is that the universe and the Earth are very old.  This is so elementary that it is taught in elementary school.  Secondly, even though we are here in the flesh, there is the possibility that our life has a higher meaning than just to be born, eat, reproduce and die like all the other animals.

If you don't believe these things, or disagree with them in any way, set aside your feelings and continue with me anyway.  This is not a big lesson, and it won't take much of your time.

Why are we here from a Biblical perspective?
Revelation 4:11  Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Now, if you are a Bible believer this verse tells us why we are here.  But it doesn't answer some other  questions in our mind like, what are we doing here in the flesh?  It's corruptible, subject to many evil things, and it dies, so it is not the most desirable vessel to in which to exist.  Why are we here in the flesh like all the other animals?

In keeping within the purposes of this lesson, there are two possibilities that come immediately to mind that we can work with.
1)  There is no God, and we are the carnal product of evolution with no higher purpose.

2)  There is a Creator God, and we are spirits living temporarily within a flesh body designed by that Creator.

When was our origin?

Here is where there is a big rub between fundamental religionists and evolutionists.  This thing has been bantered back and forth for a long time now and people will believe what they want to believe, but let's get into it and see what falls out.

You undoubtedly have seen and heard this matter discussed many times on the Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, PBS, and many other such available sources, as well as being taught in our schools at all levels.  It other words, information abounds on this subject so I am not going to spend much time on it.

The universe and the Earth are indeed billions of years old.  This has been determined by dating methods called radiometric and relative dating, as well as by many other scientific protocols.  They aren’t perfect but they are reasonably accurate.  At least accurate enough for me to state with confidence that the Earth is much, much older than 6,000 years (as some believe), or even 6,000,000 years.

For those who believe the 6,000 year thing I submit the following.  In the seventeen century a man called Archbishop Ussher concluded that Adam was created about 4,000 years before Christ was born. His calculation was determined by carefully counting all of the years from Adam to Christ as recorded in the Bible.  It was essentially the only documentation that he had to work with in those days.

I believe his calculations, at least I believe that they are reasonably accurate from a Biblical perspective, and from the creation of Adam.  So what?  That doesn't prove that the Earth is only a few thousand years old.  When Adam was created is definitely important, but it has nothing to do with the age of the Earth or the universe.   Or even when the first human walked the Earth.  There were hominids before Adam, long before.

Some of you are undoubtedly laughing about those who believe that the Earth is only a few thousand years old.  Don't laugh.  I can emphatically tell you that there are some who do believe that very thing.  I personally know one man who does, and probably several more.  You may also.  Sadly, there are also some out there who believe that the Earth is flat.  Go figure.

Now, as to how long man has been around, it depends on what your definition of man is.  Hominids with rudimentary reasoning capabilities that walk on two legs, possessing articulate hands with four fingers and an opposable thumb, may have appeared as much as three to four million years ago.  Other more advanced species, such as Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon, appeared as recently as a hundred thousand years ago.

It is my confident assertion that none of what I have just stated disagrees with the Bible in any way.

Were they our ancestors?

They were not in at least one case, Neanderthal.  Recent DNA testing has determined that there is no link between Neanderthal and modern man.  The DNA samples showed enough differences that it led the researchers to say, "Neanderthal was an evolutionary dead end".

How interesting!  The DNA evidence is for Neanderthal only but still I ask the question, could it be that modern man was created very recently and did not descend from any species that had previously existed?  Could those hominids who lived then have been prototypes only?  Don't be too hasty to reject this idea, it is not so outrageous, nor is it new to us.  It is common practice for man to develop and improve things through prototypes, why not the supreme Creator?

Evolutionists would have you believe that we are the progeny of those earlier species, but they don't believe in a Creator.  The Bible, a dubious and suspect source of information to some, clearly indicates that we were deliberately created, and did not just come into existence through some bizarre cosmic accident or biological happenstance.  The universe is orderly, not chaotic, and it is very carefully controlled which implies that there is a Controller.

What happened to those hominid prototypes, some of which are called homo sapiens?  Something catastrophic happened on the Earth in the recent past, lets say maybe 25,000 years ago, more or less, and they all died as that Earth age came to a close.  See my articles, In The Beginning, and Jericho, Rahab And The Return of Christ for further amplification of this subject.

The answer as to when.

When did God begin to create modern humans, now called  homo sapien sapiens by anthropologists and biologists?  Perhaps 8,000 - 10,000 years ago, maybe slightly longer, but not much.  There were many species created, some teach that there were as many as 70 races, all different but capable of interbreeding.  I don't know if there were that many, but there were more than three or four, look around you.

Wait a minute, you say?  You thought we all came from Adam (with a capital A)?  Sorry, hate to burst your bubble but we did not.  The many different species of men (adam, mankind) were created and placed in their respective areas of the Earth as the Creator worked on the sixth day of creation.  The specific man whom God named Adam was not created until after He had rested on the seventh day.  How much time passed after He had rested only God knows.  We all came from adam with a small a   but not all came from Adam with a capital A.

For further study on Adam (the Adam) versus adam (mankind), consult The Companion Bible.  See my article on Study Recommendations.  If you don't have access to The Companion Bible then carefully study the verses on the creation of man in the KJV.  They are found in Genesis 1:26 through all of chapter 2.  Note especially how Eve came into being as opposed to being created like the other females in Gen. l:27.  God used Adam's DNA to make Eve, He didn't create her with her own genetic makeup.

How long were these days of creation?
2 Pet. 3:1  This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:

2 Pet. 3:2  That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:

2 Pet. 3:3  Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

2 Pet. 3:4  And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

2 Pet. 3:5  For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

2 Pet. 3:6  Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

2 Pet. 3:7  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

2 Pet. 3:8  But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

2 Pet. 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

2 Pet. 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

2 Pet. 3:11  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

2 Pet. 3:12  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

2 Pet. 3:13  Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

I have deliberately inserted most of the third chapter of 2 Peter here for your perusal.  Study it carefully and you will see that he is covering several things very briefly here.  The world (age) that was and it's destruction by water, this present world (age), which is allotted 6,000 years from Adam and it's destruction by fire, and the new world (age) to come.

Using his yardstick of time (l day = 1,000 years) the creation described in Genesis 1:2 through 2:3 took 6,000 years to accomplish, 7,000 years if you want to count the day of rest.

Whoa now!  Doesn't that fly in the face of accepted knowledge that the Earth is billions of years old?

Well, not really.  Most of the creation story in the book of Genesis is a re-creation.  Genesis 1:1 is a statement concerning the creation of the universe, and from there on it is talking restoration of the Earth and it's ecology after being destroyed by a catastrophe, and the resultant flooding as described by Peter.

This present Earth age  is also going to end violently just as Peter describes it here!  See my articles, Jericho, Rahab And The Return Of Christ, and In The Beginning for more.

Aren't we really just animals?

What is our position with relationship to the animals from a biblical perspective?
Psa. 8:4  What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Psa. 8:5  For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Psa. 8:6  Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

Psa. 8:7  All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

Psa. 8:8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
Ecc. 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

Ecc. 3:19  For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.

Ecc. 3:20  All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Ecc. 3:21  Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

Now we are getting into the real meat of the matter.  (Sorry.  I couldn't resist saying that).  So, the flesh is like the other animals but there is a difference of spirit.  Our spirit is our mind, our distinct personality, our ego, our id, it is who we really are.  Why do we need the flesh body to exist then?  We don't, but we do need it to function in this physical world.

Right about now you may be asking yourself another question.  Why are our bodies like the earlier hominids if we didn't descend from them?  Answer, there was no need for the Creator to change the pattern.  He may have refined it a little for us, but it was good enough to temporarily dwell in during our brief sojourn in this world age.

Okay.  We are a spirit, a personality, within a flesh body.  So why are we, and why are we here on Earth like this.

Good question, and you know what?  The answer is simple.  We must be tested.

The world that was.

We once existed as spirit entities and something happened that caused our Creator to reconsider our position.  What could have happened to cause this?  It was disloyalty on our part, not being faithful when tempted by a maverick cherub named Lucifer.  Consider the following verses.  They reveal the problem.
Ezek. 28:11  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Ezek. 28:12  Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

Ezek. 28:13  Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

Ezek. 28:14  Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

Ezek. 28:15  Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

Ezek. 28:16  By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

Ezek. 28:17  Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

Ezek. 28:18  Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

Ezek. 28:19  All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
Rev. 12:3  And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

Rev. 12:4  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

Lucifer, symbolically depicted as the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28 and the great red dragon in Revelation 12, rebelled against God and taught others to do so.  The verses in Revelation show the result.  Fully a third of us followed Lucifer willingly, and with the exception of a few percent, the remaining two-thirds stood around like spectators and took no positive action on behalf of our Father.

Look at these sad words taken from The Apocrypha, An American Translation, by Edgar J. Goodspeed, Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, Inc., New York, 1959.
2 Esdras 9:18   For there was a time in the ages of eternity, when I was preparing for those who now are, before the world was made for them to live in, and no one opposed me then,

2 Esdras 9:19  for there was no one else; but now those who have been created in this world which is provided with an unfailing table and an inexhaustible pasture, have become corrupt in their characters.

2 Esdras 9:20  So I considered my world, and, behold, it was lost; and my universe, and behold, it was in danger, because of the devices of those who had come into it.

Surely, you have heard of the fall of man, but you thought that it happened in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned, right?  Well, that also was a case of disloyalty with Lucifer being involved but it occurred in the flesh, not the spirit.  The real fall of man came long before the Garden of Eden incident.

We once held a high position like children with our Father in Heaven and we failed Him to the extent that He felt the need to test us.  How?  By temporarily moving us to a lower position, a physical environment, which is more conducive to testing and building character.

When did it happen?

This present world age has existed for perhaps 10,000 years  since the sixth day creation of the races, 15,000 - 16,000 if it began when God started to restore the cosmos.  So, our great sin in the world that was had to happen before then.  Perhaps long before then.  

It all boils down to the fact that nobody in the flesh really knows when we fell precisely, or exactly what we were doing that infuriated our Father and hurt Him so badly.  But regardless, God made the decision to salvage those of His beloved children who were willing to be saved rather than destroying them.  God is very natural, supernatural in fact, so He carefully prepared the Earth for us to live in and that includes this carnal vessel for us to dwell in as we each pass through this age.  I am not talking reincarnation here.  You only come in the flesh one time.
Heb. 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

We existed before this world age.
Ephesians 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Paul is talking about a specific group of people here who were chosen, and predestined to do specific things in this world age, but they were picked before the foundation of the world.  Who are they?  I believe that they were selected from the group that stood with our Father against Lucifer when he rebelled.

They are special, they proved themselves faithful in that world age.  All the rest of the souls whom God had created, and considered His children, either followed Lucifer or did little or nothing at all on His behalf.  Did God need their help?  Of course not, but how pleased He must have been with those that stood with Him.

The word translated foundation in this verse by the KJV translators, and in like manner in nine other verses in the New Testament, is interesting.  It is the Greek word katabole (Strong's No. 2602) which has it's roots in the verb kataballo.  The definition of kataballo is to throw down or to cast down.

The Greek word themelios (Strongs No. 2310) is the word for foundation, so why did Paul use this particular word katabole here?  It refers to the casting down of the world that was, and its destruction.  That is why the first chapter of Genesis is talking about a restoration of the cosmos.  Regardless of whether you believe that or not, it should be clear to you that Paul is referring to the time before this present world age.

How do we get back to where we once were?

To be raised back to where we once were as Children of God with eternal life, we must be resurrected. This would explain the need for a resurrection but not like you have been taught.
Rev. 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

There are two kinds of resurrections in the Bible.  One is the restoration of physical life to someone who has died, such as Lazarus in Luke 16.  It is the revitalization of a dead cadaver.  That kind of resurrection is not permanent.  Lazarus died again sometime after that.  He may have even been murdered.  See my article Lazarus! Lazarus! at ourfathersword.org.  The point is, those who were revitalized, or raised from the dead in the Bible, died again later just like all the rest of us have, and will.

There is another kind of resurrection mentioned in Revelation, and it is inferred in other places, that is much more important.  It is absolutely critical in fact.  It is a resurrection to eternal life.  Those who are in either of the two great general resurrections, one at the beginning and one at the end of the coming Millennium, will never die.  That is the promise, but there is still more talk to it that just that.

Consider the following verses.
Ecc. 12:7  Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

Rev. 6:9  And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

Rev. 6:10  And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

Rev. 6:11  And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

John 11:25  Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

John 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

These verses raise questions.  Like, if our spirit is already with God then why do we have to be resurrected?  Resurrection from the dead doesn't make a whole lot of sense if we are already alive.     The spirit doesn't need resurrecting if it is conscious and aware with its memories intact.  So what is this promise of a general resurrection of those who have qualified for eternal life when they are already alive?  It must have another meaning, and it does.

Well, not only will we be alive forever but we will be restored (resurrected, raised back up to) to our old position as Children of God, and we will once again be part of the Kingdom of God.  That is what ensures our life eternal.  Like the word resurrection  implies, we will be raised back up to that glorious position we once held as part of the Family of God with all of the power and authority that comes with it.  But we have to qualify to be worthy.

How do we qualify for restoration to the Kingdom and to eternal life?

You are here in a physical, flesh body and you are very familiar with the temptations that come as a result of being carnal, and if you have been taught the ways of Christianity you know about the adversarial position of  Satan, and even perhaps about the shenanigans of the fallen angels, and how this all affects us.  Living in the flesh, and living within the ungodly system that he and his children have set up are the negative things we must overcome.  We must also come to love God and our fellow man either naturally or through effort.  That is how we qualify.

How we do in this physical environment is really up to us.  Each of us is an individual with the ability to make decisions on our own and our Father has granted us free moral agency.  He has also given us all the means necessary to qualify.  He has given us an instruction manual for living, His Word, and teachers to help us understand it.  He has even given us a Saviour to cover our sins if we repent.  But, in order to qualify we must be willing to listen to Him, obey Him, and most important of all, to love Him.  Having the right attitude covers a multitude of sins.

That is the meaning of life.

That is why we are here in this flesh body.  To be rigorously tested in our character, to see if we are worthy to once again be called the Children of God.  To actually be part of the Family, or Kingdom of God once again.  It is all in our Father's word.  Study it daily.

God bless with understanding of His word. 

Home  /  General Bible Studies  / Revelation Bible Studies  / Genesis Bible Studies

email:  ourfathersword@yahoo.com

www.ourfathersword.org

Copyright © 2004 by Jim Lisenby.  All Rights Reserved