Three Questions You Must Answer Before You Die

Three Questions You Must Answer Before You Die

There are three vital questions every human being must answer before he or she dies, or else be found a fool:

1. Where did I come from? (the question of origins--the past).
2. Why am I here? (the question of purpose--the present).
3. Where am I going? (the question of destiny--the future).

The Word of God, the Bible, answers all three of these crucial questions in plain and easily understood language. This is because God wants us to know the answers, because knowing the answer to each of these questions is vital to our fulfilling the purpose for which we were created.

1. Where did I come from (the question of origins--the past).
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1).

"You created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being" (Rev. 4:11).

From the first book of the Bible to the last, God makes it clear that he is the source of all that exists. The Genesis passage states, in the plainest of language, the source and origin of the universe. It does not answer the question of where I came from, except in a general sense in that I am part of the universe. For a more specific answer to my own unique existence, other passages of Scripture must be consulted.

"You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb" (Ps. 139:13).

"All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be" (Ps. 139:16).

"Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Mt. 10:30).

All these verses show that I am created by God and that he knows me intimately and personally. This is a far cry from the impersonal and mechanistic deception of evolution. That falsehood says that I am a product of chance. The Bible says that I was created by a living and personal God.

2. Why am I here? (the question of purpose--the present).

But there must be more to life than mere existence, or else that existence is a curse and not a blessing. I must know why I was created in order to have purpose and meaning in my life. One of the best and shortest biblical answers to the question of purpose for my existence actually answers the first two questions together.

"All things were created by him and for him" (Col. 1:16).

This verse deserves far more attention than it is commonly given. The by tells us how we came to be; the for tells us why. Here in just a few short words, we have God's plainly revealed answer to two of the most important questions that every human being needs to answer before dying, in order to live a full and rich life: We were created by Jesus and for Jesus.

Some people desperately search their whole lives to learn this truth that is simply and plainly stated in this one verse from the Bible. How grateful we should be that God makes it so easy for us to know what we need to know! If someone, then, should ask us why we exist or what the purpose of our existence is, we can answer in a single word, one name: Just say, "Jesus".

Other Scriptures confirm this central truth about our existence:

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" (1 Jn.3:1".

"Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He says, 'I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.' And again, 'I will put my trust in him.' And again he says, 'Here am I, and the children God has given me' (Heb. 2:11-13).

We who believe in Jesus are children of God and brothers of Jesus, the Son of God. We were created for this very reason, that he might have brothers and sisters and that the Father would thus have many more children. We were created to be children of our loving heavenly Father.

3. Where am I going? (the question of destiny--the future).

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" (Jn. 14:1-3).

"We who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words" (1 Ths. 4:17,18).

These are indeed encouraging words for us who believe in Jesus, who will return to this earth to take us to be with him and the Father forever. But this is only for those who have indeed surrendered their very souls to Jesus. Those who have not have a very different destiny:

"Then he will say to those on his left, `Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
"They also will answer, `Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
"He will reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life" (Mt. 25:41-46).

In answering a very deep and very complex question about the eternal destiny of human souls, the Bible, once again, is very clear and cuts away the excess verbiage of human answers to the question by giving just two words: heaven or hell. If we want to know which of these two places will be our dwelling place for all eternity, all we have to do is answer one question: Do I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, surrender my very soul to him, trust what he did on the cross to save me and get my soul to heaven? Then I will go to heaven. If not, I will go to hell.

I love how God gives simple, easily understood answers to these three complicated, complex questions of life. In fact, all that has been said above can be reduced down even further to a single word, one name: Jesus. If that is done, here is how the three answers God gives us in the Bible to the questions can be stated:

1. Where did I come from? (the question of origins--the past).
Answer: Jesus.
2. Why am I here? (the question of purpose--the present).
Answer: Jesus.
3. Where am I going? (the question of destiny--the future).
Answer: Jesus (either for judgment and hell or salvation and heaven).

This is a wonderful and gracious gift from God to us, and I thank and praise him for giving such precious knowledge to us.

The Danger of Crowds and Peers--Ex. 23:2

The Danger of Following
the Crowd and Peers--Ex. 23:2

THE DANGER OF FOLLOWING CROWDS AND PEERS--Exodus 23:2


"Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong" (Ex. 23:2).

It should be obvious to anyone that we are not to do wrong, but this verse singles out doing wrong by following a crowd. Why? Because it is often so much easier to do wrong when you are in a crowd than when you are alone. For in a crowd there is often a real pressure to do what they do or risk being subject to ridicule, or worse, actual physical attack in the case of political uprisings and mob mentality or riots. Nevertheless, Scripture is clear: Whatever the risks, we are not to go along with the crowd in doing wrong.

Teenagers are especially vulnerable to this because they may not yet be secure enough in their own person to stand alone for what is good and right and are often still seeking approval from their peers to avoid the pain of loneliness or other perceived social hurts. If you want to see a good example of how important this truth is--that being in a crowd is seldom where God wants a person to be when dealing with the inner man--look at the prophet Elisha's instructions to his servant, when he sent that servant to anoint Jehu King of Israel. This is what he told that servant:

"Go to him, get him away from his companions, and take him into an inner room" (2 Kings 9:2).

It is in the inner room of the soul that God can speak to a person's heart. There there is no interference from outside influences of the world and worldly people, and the still, small voice of the Spirit of the Lord can better be heard. But amongst a crowd, the voice of the world and those who belong to that world can all too easily drown out the quiet whispers of the Lord. Is it any wonder that in the Middle Ages so many clergy retreated to monasteries, away from the clamor of the world so that they could better hear the voice of the Lord?

Now, I do not mean to imply that this is the only way that God can speak to a person, nor that we should all drop our God-designed places in the world and remove ourselves from the world. If all did that, who would be left to spread the gospel in the marketplace and the world, the very place we are meant to go and spread the gospel and the very place that so desperately needs it? No, to withdraw entirely from the world is not our prerogative but God's. Only at death or the rapture will we be entirely removed from this world. Until then, we must stay in the world and reach out to it with God's Word.

But there still remains a place for temporarily removing ourselves from the world, whether in retreats or Sunday morning church services or daily quiet times with the Lord. Those are the times that we can reassess how the world has affected us during the day or week and be restored to intimacy with our God. Jesus himself knew this and did this:

"When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place" (Mt. 14:13).

"Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed" (Lk. 5:16).

There is another example I wish to bring to your attention, about how it is unwise to follow a crowd in doing wrong. Numerous times, I have seen a documentary on television about a journalist traveling to different parts of the world to report on and experience the various regional customs of the world. To these secular reporters, this is an exciting adventure that shows the diversity of the human race and they are enthralled with the strangeness of some of the customs of the peoples of this world. Some tribes paint their faces and perform strange rituals for various reasons and at various seasons in life; others hold carnivals or parades when the participants dress up in costumes and make noise and have great revelry; yet others quietly light candles and set them afloat on sacred waterways, or move beads on prayer strings, and so forth; the list is seemingly endless. And it is customs such as these and many others that mesmerize many people in this world. But what does God think of all these things? He says plainly in his Word:

"This is what the Lord says: 'Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are worthless'" (Jer. 10:3).

These are all outward ceremonies or activities that can perhaps best be described in the famous words of Shakespeare’s Macbeth: "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

The world is full of such sound and fury, many cultural goings on that occupy the attention of the world. But God is not interested in all this noise. He seeks an intimate relationship in the quiet depths of the soul and spirit with every human being that he has created. When the Lord told Samuel to anoint a king, he said to him:

"Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart" (1 Sam. 16:7).

Elsewhere, Scripture confirms this way of the Lord so different from the easily dazzled eyes of the world’s people:

"Let not yours be the outward adorning with braiding of hair, decoration of gold, and wearing of fine clothing, but let it be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable jewel of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. So once the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves and were submissive to their husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are now her children if you do right and let nothing terrify you" (1 Ptr. 3:3-6).

Let nothing terrify you . . . Sound familiar? This is the same thought quoted previously in Jeremiah 10:3: "This is what the Lord says: 'Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are worthless'" (Jer. 10:3).

Whether it be signs in the skies or signs and customs of the peoples who live beneath those skies, we who belong to God are not to be affected as they are by those signs and customs, for as Scripture has revealed to us, those customs are false--and false customs and signs lead people into doing wrong. We are not to follow the crowd in doing wrong.