Have you ever pondered this question about your life? Why am I here? The simple answer for this question is—It’s because God chose you. That’s why you’re here. You might think this could not possibly be true, but it is. God chose you. Actually, the Bible says that God chose you before the foundation of the earth (Ephesians 1:4) before a single man or woman was on this planet. God already knew you and chose you above all the other millions of possible combinations of boy or girl babies that could have been born when your mom got pregnant. God analyzed all the possibilities way in advance and He chose you for life.
That’s the truth. It’s in the Bible. That’s why you’re here. There’s more to the story. If you continue reading, you will find answers from a broader perspective. Hopefully you will seriously consider the information your eyes see written here.
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If you could step into eternity past, you would find God in the midst of Heaven enjoying His perfect creation. It was a universe filled with complex structures and eternal inhabitants experiencing God’s abundant life. The pillars of His nature—love, joy and peace, permeated the whole of creation and the brilliance of His presence filled the cosmos with light. What could possibly have been better? Actually, nothing could have been better.
But a certain created being named Satan was not happy about the situation. Filled with pride and jealousy, Satan wanted to be equal to God. The darkness of sin entered Satan’s heart and with an agenda of lies, he was able to convince one third of the angels in heaven to follow him in his rebellion. This led to Satan and his cronies being cast down to the earth and God withdrawing His light from the universe. As the Bible says, “What fellowship does light have with darkness?" (2 Corinthians 6:14) Hence, darkness was upon the face of the deep.
In the opening chapter of the Bible, God is moving with deep emotion over the surface of the earth and the earth is covered in darkness. It’s a fitting environment for Satan but God has a plan. He determines not to leave the world in darkness. God begins to create a habitat for a new living being He is going to create called “Man.” God rebuilt the earth, planted a garden, and seeing that everything He created was very good, said “Let us make man in our own image” (Genesis 1:26). So, God formed man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Just as God is a triune being, God the Father – God the Son – God the Holy Spirit, so is man a triune being, body – soul – spirit. Man is made in the image of God. He placed the man in the garden and knowing it would not be good for man to be alone, God formed a woman from one of the man’s ribs and brought her to the man. Once again, God found everything He had created to be “very good” (Genesis 1:31).
When God made man, He gave him the ability to choose. Placing the man and woman in the garden, God warned them not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil saying, “In the day that you eat of the fruit of this
tree, you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). Nothing could have been more clear than this warning. The man and woman lived in the garden, clothed in the light of God’s Glory, while experiencing the love, joy and peace of God’s unlimited abundance.
Then one day, Satan slithered into the garden to propagate his agenda on the man and woman. They had the ability to listen to God and obey His warning, or listen to Satan spew his vile agenda which was designed to steal, kill and destroy. Satan hates God and he hates God’s creation. He has but one agenda and that is to steal, kill and destroy. He will steal, kill and destroy you if you let him. Espousing his vile lies, Satan enticed the woman and the man to ignore God’s explicit warning. Being deceived by Satan, they ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Immediately, the poison of sin entered the human race and the spirit of God’s presence in the man and woman died. No longer did they experience the light of God’s Glory covering them. It was a sad and tragic day. Sin had entered the human race and would forever change the course of human history.
Following this event, the man and the woman were cast out of the garden into the hostile environment of Satan’s deadly agenda. Things became so bad that the Bible finally records, “…that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).
Sin infected everyone. The Bible sets the record straight saying, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). "There is none righteous—no not one” (Romans 3:10). It’s heartbreaking what happened to God’s beautiful and perfect creation of love, joy and peace after Satan’s dirty work.
Seeing man’s dilemma, God moved to intervene. Realizing that no number of good deeds could ever reconcile man to God, God had a plan to save man from the penalty of sin. That penalty, by the way, is death. Many people believe there is a grand set of giant scales out there in the sky somewhere and that one day, when one stands before God Almighty for judgment, God will simply dump all the good deeds on one side of the big scale and put whatever little bad stuff there happens to be on the other side of the scale.
The thought is that obviously, the good stuff will far outweigh the bad stuff and God will simply hand out a judgment of “Good enough! Go on into Heaven.” Unfortunately, no tally of good deeds in a person’s life will ever solve the wicked infection of sin in one’s heart. As the Bible says, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27-28).
The idea here is to somehow not have to experience the judgment!
Now, a bit of insight for you. When God describes the activity of creating the universe and all that is in it, He says it’s like the work of His fingers. Basically, there’s nothing to it. It’s finger work for Him. But when He describes the act of achieving Salvation for man, the plan He endured to bring your Salvation and keep you from having to appear before the judgment seat of Almighty God, He describes it as the heavy lifting of His strong arm. The Bible says it clearly, “To whom has the strong arm of the Lord been revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1) In other words, it was not easy or cheap. It took the strong arm of Almighty God to perform and achieve this amazing Salvation for all who would humbly accept it.
This is how God’s amazing plan of Salvation unfolded: Two thousand years ago, Jesus, God’s only Son, came to this earth being born of a young virgin girl in Israel. He did not have a sin nature like all the descendants of that first man back in the garden. Jesus knew no sin. He lived a perfect sinless life. He went to the cross. He took the sins of the whole world upon Himself. He died a cruel death. He died, not for Himself or for something He had done—He died for man and man’s sins. He was buried in a tomb. After three days, Jesus rose from that tomb.
He is alive. He came out of that grave with a flash of brilliant light and great power. He conquered death. He achieved Salvation for you. He did this so you could have eternal life. He did this so you would not have to stand before Almighty God at the judgment. He did this so that you can choose to receive the amazing Salvation Jesus purchased with His own blood.
Here's that question again, “Why am I here?” It’s because God wants you to have eternal life. He wants you to forever enjoy everything He has planned for those who love Him and accept the free gift of Salvation purchased by Jesus. It’s that simple. You may be considering what you will do. Will you accept God’s Salvation or will you wing it on your own hoping that big scale in the sky tips in your favor? Before you procrastinate on this all-important decision, consider what follows…
The Bible is full of prophecy. The unique thing about the Bible is that every word, every event, every promise, every prophecy is 100% accurate. How can that be? The reason is quite astounding. It’s because nothing shall be impossible with God. Those words are in the Bible. They were spoken by an angel who exists eternally in God’s presence. His name is Gabriel and He knows God very well. He’s telling you, “Nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). Since those words are in the Bible, they are absolute truth. Nothing is impossible with God. It will happen just as God says it will.
When Jesus’ disciples asked what would be in the future and what would be the signs of Jesus’ second coming to earth, Jesus sat down and began describing events that would immediately precede His return. Every single thing Jesus told His disciples is happening today. These things have come to pass or they are now in process with 100% accuracy. One of the most obvious prophetical events, the one that is pressing hard against the time-clock of our day, is the word Jesus spoke concerning Israel.
He said when you see Israel become a nation again, know that I am right at the door, ready to return. He capped the prophecy by saying the generation that saw Israel become a nation again would not pass away before everything Jesus described would come to pass (Matthew 24:32-34; Mark 13:28-31; Luke 21:29-33).
The word “Generation” is noteworthy. The Bible defines a generation as 70 to 80 years. We are already well into the generation that saw Israel become a nation on May 14, 1948. The real problem is that the last 7 years of this 70 to 80-year period is an event known as "The Great Tribulation." It’s the 7-year time period when Satan takes over unbridled control of planet earth and implements his reign of terror. He will be forcing his “Steal, kill and destroy” agenda on every person on the face of the earth. People will die by the billions. The planet will be destroyed. It will be a horrific 7 years. The Bible says it will get so bad that men’s hearts will actually be failing them for fear of those things transpiring on planet earth (Luke 21:26).
Consider this an overview for the roadmap of life. There are just two roads: The “Road to Heaven” and the “Highway to Hell.” That’s it: Two roads. Satan would have you believe that there are many, many roads out there and that one road is just as good as another—that they all wind up in the same place somewhere in the sweet by-and-by.
That philosophy is a lie from the pit of hell. Satan concocted that little gem just to lull people to sleep in the hope that folks would disregard the magnificent Salvation Jesus purchased 2000 years ago.
Here’s a truth for your portfolio of things to believe: Satan is a liar. He is the father of lies and he is the reason this world is in such a mess today. Do not believe him. He hates you with a passion and his agenda is to destroy you and have you miss the huge blessings God has for you in eternity. All roads do not lead to heaven!
The Bible says “There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Proverbs 14:12). You can either serve God or you can serve Satan. Those are your only two choices. You can’t just “Wing it” and hope to get by. One day you will find yourself standing before God’s throne for judgment. Anyone whose name is not found written in "The Book of Life," will find themselves on the “Highway to Hell” and be cast into the Lake of Fire for eternal torment. It’s not a very pleasant reality to consider, let alone, experience. If you are on that highway, it’s time to change lanes and take the next exit.
At this point, hopefully you’ve ruled out Satan’s option and you’re thinking that God’s option is the way to go. Good. Excellent. Once you’ve made this decision and you’ve asked Jesus to come into your life, to forgive you for your sins and to save you from the destruction that is coming, your name is automatically written in "The Book of Life." You have an amazing eternity in front of you. The process for becoming a child of God is easy enough that anyone can do it. Here are the steps:
A - Admit you’re a sinner
B – Believe that Jesus died for you
C – Call upon the name of the Lord
See how simple that is? You can do it. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. It costs you nothing. The Lord’s Salvation package is a gift. It’s all wrapped up and all you have to do is receive it. Here’s a bit of additional information for you to consider…
If you’ve been living with yourself for very long, you know you have a sin nature. Admit it. Did you ever steal anything? Did you ever tell a lie? Did you ever cuss and take the Lord’s name in vain? Did you ever do anything else that was wrong and you knew it was wrong? All those things are evidence of the sin nature that all men and women are stuck with. No amount of good deeds will ever compensate for the fact that humans are rotten at the core. That’s the problem. That’s why Jesus came to this earth and died in our place. He knew we could never do anything to rid ourselves of the sin that is in man’s heart. Something had to be done. Someone would have to pay the price for the sins of mankind.
That’s what Jesus did. He came to this earth as a perfect, sinless, little baby. He grew into a man and at the right time, He freely gave Himself to die a horrible death to pay the penalty for your sins. That’s it. He died in your place. It would be like you received a traffic ticket and had to appear in court. When you stand before the judge, you know you are guilty of speeding and you’re just waiting to hear about the fine you know you’re going to have to pay. The judge pulls the paperwork. He looks at it intently. He drops his glasses. He looks you straight in the eye. Then he says, “You’re free to go. Someone else already paid your fine.” That’s exactly how it is with Jesus. He already paid your fine (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:1-9; Isaiah 53:5; 1 John 1-9). He died on the cross for you. You are free to go if you accept His kindness toward you. He paid the fine. Be grateful, humble yourself and accept His gift of Salvation.
You admit you’re a sinner. You believe that Jesus died for you; He died in your place. All that’s left is for you to call upon the name of the Lord. The Bible puts it simply and powerfully, “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13-15; Joel 2:32; Proverbs 18:10). Consider that little statement in the verse, “And it shall come to pass.” If there was ever a time when that little phrase was true, it is now. The time has arrived. This is the time the Bible was referring to when that phrase was written. This is the time. “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 2:32; Romans 10:13-15; Proverbs 18:10).
That “whosoever” person is you and the time is now. Invite Jesus to come into your life this instant. Do not procrastinate. The time is now. Jesus said it this way, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock and if any man hears my voice and will open the door, I will come into their life.” Do not think it is too late for you, that too much time and too many circumstances have happened in your life; that it’s too late for you. Once again, that is a lie from the pit of hell. Satan does not want you to ask Jesus into your heart because he wants to destroy you. Don’t listen to him. Jesus is waiting with open arms and He will joyously receive you and save you from destruction. He loves you so much that He died for you. What more could He do? Nothing, actually. Invite Him into your life now.
Serving God should be the way you have chosen to go. You will have eternal life and experience the abundance God has for you in His kingdom where love, joy and peace are the foundational standards.
You will never be hungry or thirsty or lack for a beautiful place to live. The Bible says that “Eyes haven’t seen and ears haven’t heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Corinthians 2:9).
Should you decide that you’re going to “wing it” and hope everything works out okay, that you’ll just take your chances with that great big scale in the sky, be advised that during this next 7 years Satan plans to have every person on the face of the planet under his dominant control.
If you decide to take your chances with Satan, you will be forced to have a mark in your hand or on your forehead. Without that mark, you cannot buy or sell anything. You will also be forced to bow down and worship him. You will either receive the mark and worship Satan, or you’ll be murdered or starve to death. That’s the plan he has for you. It’s destruction. The Bible says that anyone who receives Satan’s mark (it’s 666) in their hand or on their forehead and worships Satan, will be cast into the Lake of Fire that was
prepared for the devil and his evil demonic horde. This is eternal torment and eternal death. The fire never goes out and there is no way to escape it. If you stay on the “Highway to Hell,” you will end up in the Lake of Fire. Get off that highway now!
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What you read next will put some options on the roadmap ahead as you’re pressing toward eternity with God in Heaven. There is a global event coming known as “The Rapture of the Church.” This event is at some undesignated moment and it can happen at any time. The Bible says that no one knows the day or the hour for the rapture, not even Jesus. Only God the Father knows when it will happen. We just need to be ready. The Bible says, “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). It is believed that this event will occur before the 7 years of "The Great Tribulation." Those who are taken to heaven at the rapture will not have to experience Satan’s 7-year reign of terror on planet earth.
To explain this rapture event more fully, understand that the Bible says the dead in Christ will rise first (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). That’s all the Christian people who died before—like the Apostle Paul, Peter, James, John, maybe your parents or grandparents or even a child that died young. All those folks will come out of their graves. The Christians who died in WWII, the sailors buried at sea, all of those who were trusting Jesus for Salvation will rise. Every single believer and innocent child will be coming out of their graves. With a flash, it will happen and each of them will be given a new, eternal body similar to the one Jesus was seen in after He rose from the dead. Once that is completed, the rest of the living Christians will be changed in the twinkling of an eye and receive their new bodies and they will rise to meet Jesus in the air. What about the children who have not achieved the age of accountability? What about them? They will also change in the twinkling of an eye and receive their new bodies and rise to meet the Lord in the air. It’s a big group. Many millions of people will be removed from the earth in a single global event that will leave the world staggering to regain its balance.
Then, the seven years of "The Great Tribulation" will begin. What happens if you received Jesus as Lord and Savior and the rapture event has already occurred? You are still saved by Jesus. Follow the steps above and give your life fully to the Lord.
Understand that it will not be easy to cope with events during Satan’s 7-year reign of terror, but God will give you the strength to endure whatever comes. You may end up being among the dead during those days, but you will definitely have eternal life. You will spend eternity with God and not be cast into the Lake of Fire so long as you stand firm in your commitment to Jesus. Your name is written in the "Book of Life" and you will be saved.
What if you are trusting Jesus for Salvation and you’ve asked Him into your heart and to forgive you for your sins, but you have been blessed with evading Satan’s “Steal, kill, destroy” agenda for all 7 years of his reign of terror? You are one lucky person if you find yourself in that situation. At the end of the 7-year "Great Tribulation," if you are still alive, you will see Jesus’ return to the earth for “The Millennial Kingdom.” This is Jesus’ 1000-year reign on Planet Earth. What a glorious time that will be. The Bible says, “Men shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4) and “Of the increase of His government and peace, there shall be no end” (Isaiah 9:7).
It will be pure glory days for all the inhabitants of the earth. Jesus will return to this world and separate the good people from the bad people. The good people will go into the Millennial Kingdom and the bad people will not be seen until the "White Throne Judgment" at the end of the 1000 years.
What about old Satan? What will happen to him? At the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom, he will be bound in chains, cast into the bottomless pit and incarcerated in darkness for 1000 years. After that, he will be released for a short time to spin his tale of lies to all the folks who happen to have been born during the Millennial Kingdom.
Satan will try to deceive them into believing and following him so that those folks would miss out on God’s eternal life. After that, Satan will be cast into the Lake of Fire and all men, great and small, living or dead, will appear before the judgment seat of Almighty God.
Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord at this White Throne. Whosoever’s name is not found written in the "Book of Life," those who never accepted Jesus as Lord or asked for His forgiveness, will have reached the end of the “Highway to Hell” and be cast into the Lake of Fire.
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Once again, that question: "Why am I here?" It’s because God wants to pour His grace upon you and give you eternal life in His kingdom.
May you fall on your knees this day and thank Jesus for the Salvation He purchased on that cruel cross for you. Eternal life is yours for the asking. Humble yourself and pray and seek His face. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. God bless you. See you in Heaven!
References
The Holy Bible: New International Version. (2011). Zondervan. (Original work published 1973).