What are life’s biggest questions, and how does the Bible answer them?

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The Bible answers some of life’s biggest questions. These are the questions the people all over the world seem to be asking: • Does God exist, and, if so, what is He like? • Who am I? • Why am I here? • What is my purpose in life? • Why is there so much pain and suffering in the world? • How can I live a joyful, meaningful life in a world with so much evil? • What happens after I die? • Is history headed somewhere? Most religions attempt to answer these questions. Even anti-religions like atheism, naturalism, and secular humanism still offer answers to these kinds of questions, even though sometimes the answer they provide is that there is no answer. (For example, in answering, “What is my purpose in life?” the naturalist might well answer, “You don’t have one” or “You make it whatever you want it to be.”) The Bible answers Does God Exist? in its first four words: “In the beginning God . . .” (Genesis 1:1). In other words, at the beginning of the universe and all life as we know it, God was there already. What is God like? is answered through the rest of the Bible, but two of the dominant features are that God is loving but also holy. Since He is holy, He must punish sin; but, since He is loving, He wants to forgive sin as well. This is a dominant theme that is developed in Scripture. Who am I?, Why am I here?, and What is my purpose in life? are also answered in the first chapter of Genesis. Genesis 1:27–28 says, “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’” We are here because God created our first parents and put them on earth. We are created in God’s image, and our purpose is to act as God’s representatives on the earth, living in obedience to and fellowship with Him. How we respond to others is a good measure of what we think of the One they represent. When we work, cultivate, invent, explore, innovate, have children, and love others, we are doing what God put people on earth to do. However, if we do these things but are not in fellowship with Him, we are missing the key component. Why is there so much pain and suffering in the world? is addressed in Genesis 3. God had given our first parents, Adam and Eve, the whole world and only one prohibition—there was one tree from which they were not supposed to eat. He warned them that, if they ate the fruit, they would die. However, in disobedience to God, they ate the fruit. As a result, they immediately felt shame and isolation from each other and from God as evidenced by their fashioning “clothing” from fig leaves and hiding from God when He came to meet with them as He had been doing daily. Because of their sin, pain and death were introduced into the world. Eve would have to experience pain in childbirth. Adam would have to work hard and experience pain in order to provide food for his family. And both of them would grow old and die. All of creation “fell,” and all of the pain we see around us was introduced because of sin. Even the animals were affected. One of Adam and Eve’s sons, Cain, killed his brother Abel (Genesis 4). The pattern of pain and suffering and death continues as people live in rebellion against God. How can I live a joyful, meaningful life in a world with so much evil? God did not abandon Adam and Eve and their descendants. God continued to reach out to people and provided a way for them to be made right with Him in the midst of an evil world. God chose Abraham (Genesis 12) to be a special conduit of blessing for the world. Through Abraham would come the people of Israel, who gave us the Scriptures that show us what God is like. Ultimately, Jesus Christ, who would save us from sin and its penalty, was born into the world through the people of Israel. Jesus was God in human flesh; He lived a perfect life and died to pay for the sins of human beings. (This was foreshadowed in the animal sacrifices that God prescribed for Israel.) But, unlike the animal sacrifices, Jesus rose again from the dead, guaranteeing that His sacrifice was sufficient. On the cross, God punished sin but made it possible for the sinner to be forgiven—both God’s holiness and His love were combined in this one event. In Christ we can be forgiven of all our sins and made acceptable to God. We can also begin to be reconciled with other people and truly begin to live the kind of life that God wants us to live. Because God’s Spirit lives within the believer, he begins to experience love, joy, peace, and a multitude of other virtues that make life better for everyone. This is a small taste of what is to come. What happens after I die? is also answered in the Bible. Hebrews 9:27 says that “people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” For those who have been reconciled to God by faith in Christ, there is no condemnation (Romans 8:1). For the Christian, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8), but, for those who do not know Christ, there is only a “fearful expectation of judgment” (Hebrews 10:27). Death is only a transition to eternity. People, made in God’s image, will live forever either in God’s presence or banished from Him in eternal punishment. Death is not the only end in sight. The Bible tells us that history is headed somewhere. God intends to create new heavens and a new earth—a replacement for the one that was spoiled by sin. The new one will be filled with God’s righteousness (2 Peter 3:16). Christians are told to wait patiently for that day, since Christ could return at any time and bring all of God’s plans for earth to culmination.

What is the meaning of life?

In our humanistic culture, people lose sight of the meaning of life. They pursue many things, thinking that in them they will find meaning and purpose. Some of these pursuits include business success, wealth, good relationships, sex, entertainment, and doing good to others. People have testified that, while they achieved their goals of wealth, relationships, and pleasure, there was still a deep void inside, a feeling of emptiness that nothing seemed to fill. The author of the book of Ecclesiastes looked for the meaning of life in many vain pursuits. He describes the feeling of emptiness he felt: “Meaningless! Meaningless! . . . Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). King Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes, had wealth beyond measure, wisdom beyond any man of his time or ours, hundreds of women, palaces and gardens that were the envy of kingdoms, the best food and wine, and every form of entertainment available. He said at one point that anything his heart wanted, he pursued (Ecclesiastes 2:10). And yet he summed up life “under the sun”—life lived as though all there is to life is what we can see with our eyes and experience with our senses—is meaningless. What explains this void? God created us for something beyond what we can experience in the here-and-now. Solomon said of God, “He has also set eternity in the hearts of men” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). In our hearts we are aware that the “here-and-now” is not all that there is. In the book of Genesis, we find a clue to the meaning of life in the fact that God created mankind in His image (Genesis 1:26). This means that we are more like God than we are like anything else. We also find that, before mankind fell and the curse of sin came upon the earth, the following things were true: 1) God made man a social creature (Genesis 2:18–25); 2) God gave man work (Genesis 2:15); 3) God had fellowship with man (Genesis 3:8); and 4) God gave man dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26). These facts have significance related to the meaning of life. God intended mankind to have fulfillment in life, but our condition (especially touching our fellowship with God) was adversely affected by the fall into sin and the resulting curse upon the earth (Genesis 3). The book of Revelation shows that God is concerned with restoring the meaning of life to us. God reveals that He will destroy this present creation and create a new heaven and a new earth. At that time, He will restore full fellowship with redeemed mankind, while the unredeemed will have been judged unworthy and cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11–15). The curse of sin will be done away with; there will be no more sin, sorrow, sickness, death, or pain (Revelation 21:4). God will dwell with mankind, and they shall be His children (Revelation 21:7). Thus, we come full circle: God created us to have fellowship with Him; man sinned, breaking that fellowship; God restores that fellowship fully in the eternal state. To go through life achieving everything we set out to achieve only to die separated from God for eternity would be worse than futile! But God has made a way to not only make eternal bliss possible (Luke 23:43) but also life on earth satisfying and meaningful. How is this eternal bliss and “heaven on earth” obtained? The meaning of life restored through Jesus Christ The real meaning of life, both now and in eternity, is found in the restoration of our relationship with God. This restoration is only possible through God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who reconciles us to God (Romans 5:10; Acts 4:12; John 1:12; 14:6). Salvation and eternal life are gained when we trust in Jesus Christ as Savior. Once that salvation is received by grace through faith, Christ makes us new creations, and we begin the progressive journey of growing closer to Him and learning to rely on Him. God wants us to know the meaning of life. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). A “full” life is logically one that is meaningful and devoid of aimless wandering. The meaning of life is wrapped up in the glory of God. In calling His elect, God says, “Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them” (Isaiah 43:7, NLT). The reason we were made is for God’s glory. Any time we substitute our own glory for God’s, we miss the meaning of life. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it” (Matthew 16:24–25). “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).ANSWER What is the meaning of life? How can purpose, fulfillment, and satisfaction in life be found? How can something of lasting significance be achieved? Many people have never stopped to consider these important questions. They look back years later and wonder why their relationships have fallen apart and why they feel so empty, even though they may have achieved what they set out to accomplish. An athlete who had reached the pinnacle of his sport was once asked what he wished someone would have told him when he first started playing his sport. He replied, “I wish that someone would have told me that when you reach the top, there’s nothing there.” Many goals reveal their emptiness only after years have been wasted in their pursuit.