There are many questions that might be asked about the creation and the general purpose of life and God. The man generally looks for excuses mostly when he doesn’t accept or understand something. On the other hand, we have questions. One of them might be: “Why am I here?” “Why do I exist to suffer?”, “The life is so unjust,” etc. Let me tell you something. We must be grateful for this life, even if this might sound hard to you. The life we have is a valuable opportunity, and it should not be wasted or dismissed. In a way, we are unique, and in God’s hands, we are unique and special. If we throw away or despise our life, then it can get really complicated. The life we are living is a gift from Him, but what happens is that our sufferings come from a fallen world with lost mankind and the corruption and sin we are surrounded with, committed by us and the rest of the people.
Yes, we have questions, but what we need to do is to be disposed to believe and not look for a loophole in God‘s creation or a negative way of seeing things. If we anyway have questions or wonder about something, we mustn’t be ashamed of it. At the end of the day, we are all humans, and we are all limited, and I’m sure that God is not having a problem with us having questions. People can ask: “Why is that God created me if I am probably going to hell? Why am I here to suffer only?” Yes, these are questions that people might have when going through tough times.
As we said before, sometimes we don’t even realize the opportunity we have, and we just look at it from a negative perspective. There is not a clear answer to all the questions we have, but here, we will try to give an answer based on what the Bible says about this topic. We need always to look for answers to our questions there. If we don’t find it at the moment, it doesn’t always mean that there is not an answer. Yes, indeed, we will find all the answers, and we will see all clearly when we stand one day in front of His throne, but He wants us to look for answers and solutions in His Word today. It happened to me to find an answer to certain questions after a long period of time but at the right moment.
Looking at the whole meaning and direction of the scriptures, the Bible generally speaks about the opportunity that God is giving us. That‘s why He sent His Son to die on the cross for us so that we can believe in Him and be saved. This is an opportunity.
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
We obviously know that not all people will come to repentance, but here we see His heart and desire for the people to be saved. This should let us think that He didn’t create the man so that he could be overwhelmed with tough times, but He created him with a purpose, giving him opportunity.
His thoughts toward us are for good as well as His purposes for us. (Jeremiah 29:11) So we conclude that He wants to save us, and this life is an opportunity given to us, as the Bible represents it.
1 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
6 He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ 8 But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ” (Luke 13:1-9)
Looking at the beginning of this passage, we notice that it speaks about some Galileans that have been killed by Pilate, and it mentions some other people upon whom a tower fell and they also have died. Then, after this, Jesus tells them and warns them that they also need to repent and that those people who have perished are not worse sinners than them. To those people present who were listening then were simply given an extra additional opportunity. The same one that those other people had, but just extended, just more. Looking at this, they had obviously to make use of it. What do we mean by this? Life itself is an opportunity, as here in the story, it speaks about life and death. It tells us about people who had died and other people who were still alive and had, in this way, an opportunity to repent. Many people's lives end for different reasons, caused many times by the consequences of what they do, but we need to consider that every moment we live is an opportunity to turn toward God. What we don’t know for sure is when exactly each one’s life will end. That’s why we need to be careful, appreciate each second, and be grateful. Because of Christ, we have this opportunity.
So, we see again God’s heart here. We can conclude that He wants to give us opportunity.
Looking at this point, we can see that we wouldn’t have this opportunity without this life.
Let's take some time to discuss an interesting question: “Where would we be if we assume that we were not born?” Because this is one of the questions people might ask, “Why am I born?” and “What is the purpose of life?”. Looking at life and its meaning, as we see it in the Bible, we could assume that we were probably going to exist but away from God’s presence. And away from God’s presence is not a good place to be. And why is that if we haven’t done anything bad at that stage? Well, the separation from God is not provoked just because we have or we haven’t done anything wrong, but because by nature, we are out (far from) of His ways, presence, and justice. We do not comply with His perfect order and way of doing things. This is because we don’t have Him in our life and because we haven’t accepted the sacrifice of His Son. We are meant to coexist with Him, being part of Him and He being part of us. We are together with Him. This is how life is meant to be. This is its purpose.
So, we haven’t done anything wrong before being born to be condemned, but if we look at it from this point, we also haven’t done anything good so that we can go to heaven. And obviously, it is not by any good deed that we can go there because the greatest of all good deeds, and the one that is redeeming us, has already been done, and that is the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Only by accepting and believing in it can we go to heaven.
Because since Adam and Eve have sinned, the sin and the separation from God go from generation to generation. We all inherit that. Why? This is about God’s nature and the way things work. Even He cannot just change it. Here is where the verse says that the sons pay out the consequences for the sins committed by their parents.
“’The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgressions; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.’” (Numbers 14:18)
We can see His character toward sin here. This is how far He wants to keep it from Himself. Anything that is even close to sin or has to do with it cannot stand in His pure presence because He is pure and Holy. In the Old Testament, we read passages for persons that even having contact with or touching something considered sinful or unclean; they were defiled by it and, therefore, regarded as unclean. (Leviticus 15:31, Leviticus 15:10, Numbers 19:14) Obviously, today, we do not live by some of these laws, and we are not just defiled by anything unless it defiles us spiritually because this is what is really important – our heart and spirit.
Some of the commandments of the Old Testament are just a shadow of the things that had to come, and what is really sinful comes out from our hearts. Still, from these examples given in the Old Testament, we can generally see His attitude toward sin, that He cannot be even close to it or to anything else that is also defiled by sin. It is not part of His nature; it doesn’t have to do with it. He is so pure, and this is His nature. It works in a similar way to any other nature that cannot accept certain things. When we speak about our natural reactions, we speak of something that isn’t influenced by what we like or do not prefer. There are some things that we can bear and others that we cannot. By nature, our bodies reject certain foods or substances and accept others. The same is true with God’s nature toward sin. He cannot accept it.
What do I mean by this? As we descend from our fathers who are sinners and we are born in a sinful world, then somehow we have to do with sin, and we are already defiled. How can we then draw close to Him? Only by His son’s sacrifice who paid for our sins. So, from these passages, we see how He looks at sin.
In the next passage we will see something similar, but yet different.
“Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?’ Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live. The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” (Ezekiel 18:19, 20)
As we see from this passage, everyone shall bear his own guilt, being a father or son. What is interesting is that this was a prophecy about a future time at that time. This prophecy is accomplished nowadays. The time we live in today is the time of the New Testament, which is marked by the coming of Christ and His sacrifice. Ezekiel, being a prophet of God, declares His statutes and prophesies about the work that God was about to accomplish. In these present days, each person has to answer for himself and face the consequences of his own sins. I mean that even if someone had inherited the sin from his fathers, he could still change his direction by listening to the good news (the gospel), repenting, and turning away from his ways. That’s why the desire of God is that everyone can hear this news today. The good news declares that Jesus Christ came, lived amongst us, died for our sins, and, after three days, was resurrected. Those who accept it will enter into His promises. There is no other way by which someone can observe God’s law and commandments. Christ is our righteousness. By accepting Him with faith, we become righteous and accepted by God. His Holy Spirit also helps us to follow Him on the way and observe His commandments. This is how someone changes and starts to keep God’s statutes, as it is said in Ezekiel 18:21.
“But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has commited, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die.”
Christ is our righteousness, and by His sacrifice, we can enter into His righteous way. Trying to observe His commandments with our strength only is impossible.
These passages that we see in Ezekiel speak about how God really wants things to be done after the coming of Christ and His sacrifice. He wants everybody to hear about this good news, about the gospel, so that everyone can have an opportunity and be judged no longer by the sin of his fathers that he inherited, but by his position in front of Jesus’ sacrifice. It is about his acceptance or refusal of that sacrifice. It is about his righteousness (which is accepting the sacrifice and the righteousness of Jesus) or about his own wickedness and sin, which is the refusal of that sacrifice. On the day of judgment, when people appear in front of God’s throne, they will not be judged anymore just by what they have done, but also if they have accepted God’s sacrifice on the cross. The first question won’t be anymore: “Why have you done these wrong things?” but “Why haven’t you accepted the sacrifice of my Son?”
This is how God’s nature is. He really abhors sin and everything related to it. In a way, sin is like a disease expressed in not having a relationship with God. People are not born having already done something good or bad, but they are born without a relationship with their Creator. And Christ’s sacrifice is what is going to redeem them and restore that relationship. This is what everyone needs. Why? Because we are meant to be with Him. Christ came to reestablish this broken relationship with our Creator. This is what accepting His sacrifice does. Because what everyone needs is to repent. If not for something wrong he has done (even if everyone has done something wrong), he needs to repent for his unbelief and for not trusting in God and not having a relationship with Him.
That’s why Jesus speaks about the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32. The parable speaks about a son who asked his father to give him the inheritance and, after that, left for a far country away from him. Here is where his relationship with his father was broken. Obviously, this parable doesn’t speak only about the relationship between a father and a son but also about the relationship between us and God. When Jesus was telling this parable, He was referring to all the people in general who are sinners and haven’t reconciled with God and, in consequence, don’t have a relationship with Him. When speaking this, He also spoke to the Jews, in that case, being religious persons as the Pharisees and the scribes who “apparently” were close to their father God, by trying to keep the law and live in a religious way, but in their hearts, they were far. They were representing the older son in the parable. The one that was always there, but in his heart, he was complaining. They, of course, were also sinners but did not recognize it. They were thinking of themselves as righteous in front of God. “And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:2)
Even though they didn’t break the law as the rest of the sinners, as the tax collectors and prostitutes from that time, they were still sinning in their hearts, and a lack of a proper relationship with the Father caused this.
When we read the parable of the prodigal son, we see that at the end, after the older son got upset as he saw how his brother who came repenting was treated, the father explained to him that it was right to rejoice for his brother because he was lost and now is found (Luke 15:25-32). We see that even though he was close to the Father, he still didn’t know some very fundamental parts of His character. Would it be because of a lack of a relationship with Him? So, we understand that to have a relationship with God is not a question of living an apparently “religious” or “godly” life but truly repenting.
Another important fact to know about God’s perfect design and plan, the purpose of life, and how precious it is that He knew us before our birth and before the foundation of the world.
“just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,” (Ephesians 1:4)
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)
These passages speak about Him knowing us before we were born. It means that somehow, we already existed. If not physically, then in His plans, but we need to know something: When God decides to do something, when His mind has projected something, then it means that this thing will surely happen. He speaks things to existence, but in His mind, they were already done according to His project. He is God, and He accomplishes His plans and purposes. It means that if we were projected to be before the foundation of the world, then it would happen, no matter what, and nothing would have prevented it. Same as the sacrifice of Jesus. People and the devil himself tried to prevent it, but it happened. Hadn’t Adam sinned, then maybe we would have been born in a perfect world. Probably. We don’t know that, but what we do know is that the life given to us is an opportunity that mustn’t be despised or taken as something granted or just an accident. We are not an accident. We are God’s perfect creation that could have a purpose in this broken world when we live by faith and accept His sacrifice to save us.
