Why?

John 1:51 “And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

This question has been posed a million times and has eluded the minds of many.

Why are we here?

Answers to life’s questions are ones that seem elusive from their inception and yet can be accessible when sought from the One from which they were secured.

Who secured the answers to life’s riddles?

The Creator ~Jesus~

All of history has been a demonstration of God’s glory as revealed through His Son. The Son, who is the image of the Father, has demonstrated a consistency in how He interacts with His Creation…..He never changes.

God takes a vested interest in His Creation

Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse.”

The qualities of God’s manifold presence have been demonstrated in every facet of life. Each story told is either a depiction of His intervention or a demonstration of those who have rejected His power and divine love.

*To understand the depths of the mysteries of life— you must approach the source of life.

Please don’t get me wrong, I have no misconceived notions that I have somehow comprehended the depth of the knowledge of God. The knowledge that is attainable is only that which has been revealed. Personally, I believe the Lord only reveals knowledge by the measure which we can both understand and receive that knowledge.

“My mouth will declare Your righteousness and Your salvation all day long, though I cannot know their full measure.”

Psalm 71:15

Back to the question…why are we here?

We can gain insight by first recognizing the meticulous interest the Lord places in His Creation. He didn’t just set it then let it go—-as some have surmised, He has measured everything according to its order.

Isaiah 40:12-13 “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,
Measured heaven with a span
And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?
Weighed the mountains in scales
And the hills in a balance?
Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, Or as His counselor has taught Him?”

The answer to Isaiah’s question of who has taught the Lord, the answer is—no one. All of Creation is and was His idea. We cannot define the world apart from Him, just as we cannot separate ourselves from its narrative. We are incorporated into the framework of His mastery and must relegate our future to His design.

There is no one who is above Him and no one His equal.

*Any goodness displayed in mankind is a reflection of the Creator.

*Any knowledge is that which has been endowed.

*Any hope that is substantial, rests alone on His shoulders.

There is nothing we can offer to Him but ourselves.

Our Worth

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.”

Our value or worth is not found in the measure of our actions but in the substance of our being. We certainly can benefit His Kingdom, through obedience and by His power, we can also impact our world for His glory. Would God be glorified without us?—Of course He would. He was glorified in Creation before us and He will be glorified once again.

By His mercy He allows us to partake of His glory.

As the glory of the Lord is revealed, we see glimpses of His glory exhibited in our world. His divine attributes are for the most part, beyond our understanding. We only have a glimpse of His glory as displayed in what we can see, measure, or test. He abounds beyond our reality….we only have a small picture by which to draw our conclusions.

Isaiah 40:28-29 “Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.”

Do you see the picture He has painted?

The magnitude of God’s glory mixed with His interest in us….from a basic premise, it just doesn’t make sense. Why would an Awesome God care about us? Why would He bother with anything we are or do? We contribute nothing to Him, only to what He has created. We can encourage the lowly, lift up the down trodden, give water to the thirsty, comfort the afflicted….all of these things only affect our reality, not God directly.

He loves us so much because He embodies the very center of what love represents, He then calls us to do the same.

Fore-Knowledge

Think about this for a moment….when God decided to create us, He knew He would have to die that we might be redeemed back into His fold.

Why are we here?

How could it be that He delights in us? That we actually bring Him joy? He says that He takes pleasure in His people, a broken and sinful people. We know that He loves us enough to set His throne among us in the Kingdom to come.

Proverbs 8:30-31 “Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman;
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,
Rejoicing in His inhabited world,
And my delight was with the sons of men.”

Why are we here?

Could it be as simple a reason to just know God and glorify Him?

What about In how we love Him and others, or in the Christ-like attributes we exemplify? Could it be in the ways we follow Him or by bringing Him pleasure?

When we glorify God, He says He will glorify us. All of these attributes show forth a meaning and a purpose for how we relate to Him.

2 Timothy 2:11-13 Here is a trustworthy saying:

For if we died with Him,
We shall also live with Him.
If we endure,
We shall also reign with Him.
If we deny Him,
He also will deny us.
If we are faithless,
He remains faithful;
He cannot deny Himself.

The attributes of God are so incredible, to live by faith is to live simply by what we know and have seen, while trusting Him for what we don’t. We have to trust His promises, trust His provision, and trust that the same God who has proven faithful before will remain faithful forever.

I don’t know if we will gain a full understanding of a question like ‘why are we here?’, I do know that God loves to create and whatever He creates is good. When He invests His love into His Creation, He confirms His plans for His people.

God’s nature, His character, His mighty attributes all contribute to the answer—We don’t know all of these attributes in full so we will not fully understand the question until we know Him in full.

Until then….