The short answer to this question is "no one knows."  In fact, the Bible literally tells us in Mark 13:32, "32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

There is much confusion though as to what is meant by the Second Coming of Christ or the Return of Christ because like the phrase "The Day of the LORD" in the Old Testament, it refers to a number of different events that will take place in the last days.  First, there will be a day that this verse in Mark 13 refers to when Jesus will return for the Church and take them to heaven for what is called The Marriage Supper of the Lamb (it is the completion of the meal that He had with His disciples at what we call The Last Supper which He intentionally left unfinished with a promise to finish it when He returned for them.  This is why the celebration of the Lord's Supper (The Eucharist) looks back and looks forward).  Before this happens, the gospel must go forth to all people groups (often translated as "nations," but it is more correctly seen in light of "The Table of Nations" in Genesis 10.  God promises multiple times that there will be people from every tribe, tongue and nation, making one people out of all the people that were divided at the Tower of Babel.  We start to see this fulfilled on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit of God came upon the Jewish people who lived in all the nations close enough to Israel to make the required pilgrimages, but that still left a lot of the world to be covered as most of the world was populated by Gentiles.  We see the gospel going forth to the Gentiles as the book of Acts progresses and the book of Acts is left open-ended as we are still continuing in that mission of taking the gospel to the whole world today.

There is another event that people are usually referring to when they talk about Jesus coming back, and that is when the Lord comes back riding on the white horse to make war with the enemies of God, destroy the wicked and establish His Kingdom here on earth.  There are lots of various opinions on exactly when this is going to happen, but it would seem from most of the passage I read that this is coming at the end of the time of Jacob's Trouble that we call the Tribulation.  The Antichrist and the False Prophet will be thrown into the Lake of Fire, but Satan will be held in a place called the Abyss or the Bottomless Pit for 1,000 years.  At the end of this time, he will be released to turn the hearts of those born during this 1,000-year reign of Christ on this earth (The Millennial Kingdom) against Jesus.  As I read the text, none of those born during this time will be saved--all of them will join Satan's final rebellion in the battle that many call The Battle of Armageddon.

At that time, Jesus will put an end to this creation (again, there are various opinions on whether the heavens and the earth go up in a huge nuclear explosion of sorts and nothing remains or whether they are simply "cleansed" with fire and the earth remains, but is formless and empty like in Genesis 1:1-2).  It is at this time that God (we know from other passages that this will be Jesus) judges the wicked at the Great White Throne judgment.  All those who stand there will not have their names found in the Lamb's Book of Life and they will be judged by their deeds and found guilty and cast into the Lake of Fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Also as this time is when The New Heavens and the New Earth are revealed (The New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ, comes out of heaven and heaven and earth are one once again).  This is both a place made of a people and a people made for a place.  What makes this place and people different is that it is eternal and incorruptible.  There will be no more sin, death or disease.  Death and Hades (literally "The Grave") have been cast into the Lake of Fire never to be seen or heard from again.  This is usually what people are longing for when they say "When is Jesus going to come back?" (to fix the brokenness and make all things right and just).  There are many things that must still happen before this, but we are already living in the beginning of the sequence of events that must take place.  We have been living in the Last Days since the time of the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus (He returned back to heaven 40 days after His resurrection and promised that He would return for us).  It's been even clearer that we were living in the Last Days since 70 A.D. with the destruction of the Temple.  This was the first of many "signs" that Jesus told us to look for.

We are told that in the last days there will be earthquakes and all kinds of natural disasters, wars and rumors of wars, a great time of both revival and apostasy.  We are seeing all these things, especially the part about wars and rumors of wars.  Jesus said when we see all these things we should think of them like a woman feeling contractions that knows she is about to go into labor.  Once they start, the baby is definitely coming, but no one knows exactly how long until the baby comes.  The contractions will become more intense and more frequent as the delivery gets closer, and there is no stopping the process.  That is how it will be in the last days.  We know that it is most urgent for people to make a derision which side they are on now because there is not much more time left for them to make that choice, even if death does not take them first.  Any day now the last person that the Father is waiting for to make a decision to submit their lives to Jesus will repent and believe and the Father can turn to the Son and say "Go get your Bride and bring them home to the place you've prepared for them."

I'll summarizes some of the main points of the video here.  This is largely a question of if the authority of Scriptures, the reliability of the translation of  Scripture, the infallibility of Scripture (as communicated by God the Holy Spirit to the original authors) and the clarity with which God communicated His message to His intended audience.  I typically follow the Historical-Grammatical approach to Biblical Interpretation (see How to Interpret the Bible which speaks of the various approaches to biblical hermeneutics).  With that in mind, a key verse here would be Exodus 20:11 (the justification for the fourth commandment), "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."  This leaves no room for Progressive Evolution, The Gap Theory, or any other Theistic Evolution model that tries to insert millions, billions, or even trillions of years into the Bible (what some people call "deep time").

Without the creation account of Genesis 1, the story of Adam and Eve which gives the foundation of law, government, family, and the good work that God calls us to to "keep" (protect and cultivate) His creation don't make sense.  We then also can't explain the existence of sin and death which are explained by Genesis 3, and then the whole gospel falls apart because if there is no First Adam, there is no need for a Second Adam. 

Also, the end of Revelation doesn't make much sense without a literal interpretation of Genesis as the end is a better version of the beginning.  We see the Tree of Life as bookends of the story--Adam and Eve are kept from the Garden so that they might not eat of the Tree of Life after they sinned, but the Tree of Life is available for all to eat freely in the New Heavens and New Earth.  The video makes other good points, but these were a few that I wanted to highlight.

First, let's discuss what makes ethics different from morality.  The Bible has much to say on both topics.  Morality is defined as things that you "shall" or "shall not" do, usually under threat of punishment or a promise of blessings for obedience.  Ethics on the other hand or what you "should" or "should not" do or "ought" or "ought not" do.  It is more an issue of character and reputation and it is shameful to act unethically.  The two ideas often overlap, though we have many situations in which we must decide to act ethically where there is no explicit moral commandment to tell us what we should or should not do--only guiding principles for what we ought to do and what kind of conduct is considered shameful by God or by our culture.

Let's talk about some guiding principles when it comes to biblical ethics.  First, we always ought to do what is morally right and avoid doing what is morally wrong when there are explicit commandments.  Though we see cases where people lied to do what they thought was ethical in the Bible, these stories are descriptive and not prescriptive, and we should not look at the LORD blessing the midwives in the book of Exodus for Egypt who lied about the Hebrew women giving birth so quickly that they did not have time to kill the babies as they were giving birth so that the women would think they were giving birth to stillborn children as either moral or ethical.  We should not walk away from that story thinking that it teaches "it's okay to lie in order to protect life" (though that is exactly the way many teach that passage).  Obey God, and trust Him with the consequences is something we see throughout the Bible.  We don't have this ethical dilemma of putting our own ethics and convictions above the Law of God if we start from a place which says that we always ought to be obedient to God's Law first.

Next, at every opportunity where man's law is not in direct conflict with God's law, we ought to be obedient to every earthly authority that has been put over us, whether that is in the home, at school, the workplace, or at church.  All earthly authority is derivative and rebellion against these earthly authorities is seen as rebellion against God who put them in authority over you.  The Bible has several passages (especially in the book of Daniel and the book of Acts) that help us understand what to do when the law of God and law of man are in conflict, and it comes back to our guiding principle--obey God, and trust Him with the consequences.

Next, we need to understand our biblical role as ambassadors.  We are always representing our King and His Kingdom in everything we do, therefore, we are called to act with dignity, integrity, and in a way that does not besmirch or bring shame to the name of the Lord or His Kingdom in everything we do.  People will revile us without cause and there is little we can do about that other than live a life that is above reproach so that no one will believe the accusations that are levied against us, but remember that you not only bring shame on yourself when you act shamefully, but on the Church as a whole and on the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

We can focus our ethics first and foremost around the two greatest commandments--Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the second is like this, you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself.  Immediately the one questioning Jesus trying to justify Himself said, "And who is my neighbor?"  We then have a great teaching on biblical ethics in the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  There wasn't a law compelling the priest or the Levite to render aid (in fact, it probably would have made them ceremonially unclean and unable to perform their duties), but Jesus gives the principle that it is always right to do good to others, especially those who we count as the outcasts and undeserving of grace or mercy--the widows, orphans, strangers, and those in prison.  Jesus speaks specifically of thee groups of people in Matthew 7  when He rewards some people for how they treated Him and they do not realize they did these for Him (though that passage may indicate that Jesus is specifically talking about "the least of these my brothers" because Jesus lives inside of all those who are his "brothers.")  How do we treat people who can offer us nothing in return?  That is often a question of ethics.  We should see that all men and women are made in the image of God and therefore have inherent dignity and value and their lives should be protected from conception to natural death.

Note that I'm only speaking of us in our personal relationships with each other here.  There should be no instance in personal interactions other than to protect your life or the life of others where violence of any kind should be appropriate.  The ethical dilemmas for those in authority for things like just wars and capital punishment are outside the scope of what I want to cover in this article as I think I should start first with how we ought to act in our everyday relationships.

Another overarching principle that goes along with us being an ambassador is that we should always be working to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom, and, along with that, we should always be acting in such a way to bring even more glory to God.  We are also to act as priests who mediate between God and man.  We see the effects of sin in the world and we seek for God and Man to be reconciled.  We should be willing to let ourselves be taken advantage of and mistreated (give up our rights) so that this may be accomplished.  We hold our pastors and priests to a higher standard, but we should not do that, for the same word is used for all of us--we are all ministers (priests) in the New Covenant, and all of us are called to the same lifestyle to live above reproach.

As far as biblical ethics go, think about how your words and actions not only impact you, but also the name of God, the name of all Christians, your family, your co-workers, you local congregation, your friends, and your community you live in.  Do your actions help bring glory to God and make His name great throughout the earth and cause people to want to worship Him?  Do your words and actions promote the work of the Great Commission to take the gospel to all peoples and make disciples of all nations so that there will be citizens of God's Kingdom from every tribe, tongue and language gathered around His throne worshiping Him?  Do you do what is good to those who can give you nothing in return?  Do you do what is right even when you think no one is looking?  Do you live above reproach in both your public and private life or do you act shamefully and think "this doesn't hurt anyone" when there are usually plenty of other people that are being hurt or can potentially be hurt by your unethical actions? Do you submit to earthly authority or rebel against it?  These are just the start of some ethical questions that you can find guiding principles for in the Bible.  As I said, there is much overlap between what we "must" and "must not" do and what we "should" and "should not" do, but they are different topics and some people have worldviews where they try to come up with rules of ethics that trump the laws of morality.  The world will want to push the limits of your morals and ethics and try to get you to compromise, especially if they can put you in what appear to be no-win situations.  Again, obey God and act in the way that is most concerned with His reputation and character, then is concerned about the reputation of your brothers and sisters in Christ, and trust Him to take care of you.  He will have the final word on your reputation when day when everyone will hear whether you acted in way that brought much honor to your God and King or whether you were a wicked servant who acted shamefully and dishonored yourself and your king by your words and conduct.

There are several different categories of "Law" that we could talk about, but I want to talk about the topic at a very high level here.  What I am not talking about here would be "The law of the land" kinds of laws that are passed by legislatures or by the edicts of kings, dictators, monarchs, etc.  Instead, I'm talking about things that are the rules by which we see the universe operate which we can observe through science (like the Law of Gravity) and laws which we cannot observe but we know to be true like the laws of logic or mathematical laws like 1+1=2.  In both cases, the law that I'm talking about is independent of the one observing the law.  It is not true because the observer acknowledges that it is true, it simply is true because it is.  You don't have to agree with the Law of Gravity for it to have an effect on you if you were to jump off of something.

There are two big categories though that I'd like to make here, and I've already started to sort the laws I'm talking about by them.  The first would be laws that came into existence at the time of creation.  They are "natural laws" that describe the way that objects within this creation interact with each other without outside interference.  It is these laws that are suspended when we see something that is truly miraculous happens.  Other laws predate creation and will be around forever because they come from the very mind of God Himself.  Thes would be laws like the laws of logic and mathematics that I referred to earlier.  In both cases, the source of the law comes from God, the Lawgiver, but the first category are laws that are temporary (as this creation is not eternal) and can be suspended by God to do miracles, which the second category is so intertwined with the nature and character of God that they cannot be violated.  (God can't make a round square or a rock too big for Him to pick up because these things violate the laws of logic that are a part of who God is.  He must be true to who He is at all times).

Because we see miraculous things happen, we know at a minimum that there exists something or many somethings outside of our universe that don't obey the same laws that we do.  They may have other laws that they have to obey, but only a creature outside of our system of natural laws could walk through walls, disappear from one place and appear in another place at will, control the weather, turn water into wine, feed more than 5,000 men, women and children with only five loaves and two fish, or raise men from the dead.  Of course, I speak of the "signs" that John speaks of in the New Testament that are things that only God could do that tell us that Jesus was no ordinary man.  He had to be God in the Flesh because no man could simply calm the storm and sea by saying, "Peace be still."  Only God could do that.  It is logical that creation must obey its Creator and that if Jesus exercised power and authority over creation that only the Creator should have, that He must be the Creator and the Lord of all Creation.

However, there is another category of Law that comes from God that I've intentionally avoided to this point and that is the Moral Law.  People like to try to argue that morality comes from the mind and heart of man, but it does not.  It comes from the mind and heart of God.  When God finished creating, He called everything "very good", and he placed man (Adam) in the Garden of Eden and He gave Adam one particular moral law--"Do not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil."  There was other law that existed before this, because the LORD had commanded all creation to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth.  However, this was the first commandment that came with a penalty attached to it, "For in the day you eat of it, you will surely die."  The one who makes the Law is the one who must also judge those who are lawbreakers.  So, God must not only be the Lawgiver, but the Judge.  Only one who sees all and knows all and is Righteous and Just in all His was is qualified to make and enforce such law.  The Law (we usually mean the Mosaic Law when we say this, but really it refers more broadly to all the laws given in the first five books of the Old Testament) is a reflection of who God is.  I will not try to parse the Law into laws that we need to obey today and laws that have been superseded or abolished.  Maybe that is a conversation for another time, but the very existence of such Law-and we know such law does exist, for it is part of our conscience to know not to murder--necessitates the existence of God, the Lawgiver.

So, if we study and understand the laws that God made, we might better understand the God who made those laws.  It is for that reason that so many people who have studied theology have also studied logic, mathematics and science.  They desired to better understand God by understanding the laws of God.

Only now that we have discussed this kind of law are we ready to talk about civil laws that are derivative in nature because the authority of the civil governments is delegated to them by God Himself.  The civil authorities are to make law that promotes good and punishes evil, and, in all ways possible, make a culture where it is more likely for people to worship the LORD and less likely from them to worship false gods.  That gets more into the discipline of Politics though.  As I said, that is not the topic of the day.  It is usually what people think of with law though as they typically think of legislators, police officers and judges that compel people to obey the law under threat of fine or imprisonment.  We wouldn't even have such ideas though were it not for the Lawgiver and Judge of the Law that He made.

The Law is not bad--in fact, if you read Psalm 119, you see that it is very good.  It teaches us who God is and that we are not Him.  It reveals our inadequacies, and it shows a way of salvation--the need for substitutionary atonement.  The Law gives blessing to those who are God's people who obey Him and punishes those who break covenant with the LORD and live in rebellion against Him.  There is no lawyer that can get you off on a technicality, the only way for the guilty to be forgiven under God's system of law and justice is for someone innocent to be punished in the place of someone guilty.  That is "penal substitutionary atonement."  Since all of us are guilty under the Law, God Himself had to come down and live as a man without sin so that He alone could be the one to take our place.  All men "fell" when Adam sinned, and we were born as sinners who naturally did what was evil and wicked.   Through Christ we can be made new so that we might not sin, and one day we will be freed from the very presence of sin.

I spent most of my time on the issue of moral law and sin because it is at the center of the gospel.  The other kinds of law are important, but it is the moral law that condemns all of us to eternal death and punishment if Jesus did not take our place.  This is what it means that Jesus is the propitiation for our sins--He satisfies God's Law and Justice.  

The last of the fundamental questions of a worldview that I want to cover is the question of Destiny.  " He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end." (Ecclesiastes 3:11).  God has made us different than the other creatures in that we have part of us that is eternal.  We instinctively know this and have thoughts about what will happen to us after we die--not so much our bodies as that part of us that is really "us."  What will happen to that part of us that we know survives after the body dies?

The Bible is clear that there are only two choices for our destiny, and Jesus wraps up The Sermon on the Mount by putting everyone into one of these two categories.  Those who are truly His disciples and are citizens of the kingdom of God will have a certain kind of faith, will live in a particular way, and they will be given eternal life and live forever in the presence of God.  Those who not His disciples and are kingdoms of this world will be judged for their wickedness and rebellion.  That judgment is described as both darkness and fire and those in judgment there have a thirst that can never be satisfied.  It is described as torture and all who live there will experience all the just consequences of the choices they made.  The only other option is to trust that Jesus took all the punishment that you deserved upon Himself when He died on the cross and was buried for three days.

Jesus is the Firstfruits of what we can expect if we are in Him.  This is, we can expect that we will be resurrected to eternal life with a body that will be incorruptible without hint or stain of sin, and it will be a body made for the New Heaven and the New Earth that is described in the book of Revelation and by the Old Testament prophets.  The LORD will fulfill all his covenants that He has made to His people and He will make all things new--including heaven and earth.  

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”​ (Revelation 21:1-4)

11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.  (Revelation 20:11-15)  

There are more passages, but these are the two choices. lie before us.  "It is appointed man once to die, and after that the judgment."  There is no purgatory, no reincarnation, and no annihilation.  We cannot go somewhere for a while and be purified from our sins until we are pure enough to enter heaven--we either are dressed in the righteousness of Christ, or we are dressed in the filthiness of our sins.  There are no do-overs in life.  We should not put off the call that the Spirit makes for us to be saved today, because we are not promised tomorrow (or even the rest of today) and we are stuck with whatever decision we made when our body dies.  There will be no telling God that you meant to make a decision later--that won't cut it, nor will you be able to say that you would have made a different choice if given another chance.  We all must be told that we too, like Nicodemus, must be born again and unless we are born again, we can never enter the kingdom of heaven.

We also can't do anything to change the decision that someone else has already made, nor can we make the decision for anyone else, nor can anyone else "inherit" the decision that we have made (you can't be saved from birth because of a decision that your parents made).  Each person must individually trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and receive the eternal life that only He can offer to those who belong to Him.  He has gone to prepare a place for us that belong to Him so that where He is, there we can be with him also forever and ever.  Being in the presence of God is the most important thing about heaven--more important than the walls of precious stones or the gates made of solid pearls, or the streets of gold or the crystal see, or the River of Life and Tree of Life.  All those things would be meaningless if God were not there.  Without Him, it wouldn't be heaven, for heaven is His throne room.

Those in what we call Hell (The Lake of Fire) cannot escape His presence, though many think that hell is a place where the presence of God is absent.  He is present everywhere at all times, and He is actively punishing those in rebellion for their sins.  Whether or not you choose to believe in hell or a god that would send you to hell is irrelevant.  Hell is the destination for all those who are not in Christ.  It is the destiny for the devil, the demons, the Antichrist, the False Prophet, and all those who are part of the kingdom of this world--the kingdom of darkness--who follow and devil in rebellion and are known by the works of their flesh (their sinful passions and desires).

It's pretty much that simple.  Even if you think that you will spend eternity without God because you hate Him and think by going to hell that you'll somehow be somewhere where He is not, you are wrong.  You can never go anywhere to get away from God.  I'm sure that's part of what makes hell what it is--people there hate God and want to escape His presence, but they never can because He is omnipresent.  Read Matthew 7 if you have any question about the fact that there are only two paths--two roads--one that leads to life and the other to destruction.  There is no third option.  We either call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation or we die in our sins.  We either are transformed into the image of Christ, or we live like the devil--the one who is the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning.  We are either in Adam or in Christ (see Romans 5).  We are all called to choose today which destiny we want, but we can't have Jesus as Savior without also making Him Lord.  If we are saved, then we will be transformed--we talked about how we should live in a previous post.  Let those of us who are in Christ live as citizens of the kingdom that yet to be revealed to us and not as citizens of this world, for the end of this world is destruction as the elements will melt with fervent heat.


2 Peter 3:10-18
English Standard Version
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Let's be honest.  A lot of people's objection to God and the Bible is a moral objection.  Satan's first temptation to Adam and Eve was to attack God's moral law and at the same time attack the character and nature of God, since His Law is a reflection of His nature and character.  We want to be like God knowing (and choosing) good and evil for ourselves (see Genesis 3:5).  If God really is the Creator of all things (the question of Origins), then He is Sovreign and has the authority to tell His creatures (all of us, even those who don't want to be a part of His Kingdom) how we are to live, and He has the authority to enforce those laws and execute justice.  Yet, we don't want to be held accountable--though we want others to be held accountable for the wrong we perceive that they've done to us.  Yet, we don't even have an objective standard for "right" or "wrong," "good" or "bad," "righteous" or "wicked" unless we use the standard that God has given us in the Bible.  Why is it wrong to lie?  Because God is Truth and it a violation of His nature.  Why is it wrong to murder?  Because God is the giver of life and the only one with the authority to end it.  Why is it wrong to worship idols?  Because the LORD our God, the maker of heaven and earth is the only God--He is a Jealous God and He will not allow the worship that only deserves to go to Him to be given to any of His creatures (including angels, demons, or humans).  He will not share His glory with anyone.

So, much of our morality has to do with who we believe God to be, or better yet, do we believe we are to be made in God's image, or do we try to make gods for ourselves in our own image or make ourselves to be gods.  If we believe we are truly made in God's image and are to be His image-bearers, and the Law is also an image of His character and nature, then it follows that Law is way that an image-bearer of God should "naturally" behave if it weren't for our sin nature getting in the way.  Since we all fell and were broken and became sinners when Adam sinned, we do not desire the things of God or to be like God or do what pleases God.  We desire to obey and serve our own "fleshly" desires (our lusts and passions) and whatever we believe will make us happy in the moment or what we believe will help to acquire the power, glory, praise, and wealth that we may desire in the moment--none of these things will truly satisfy us, which is the key theme to the book of Ecclesiastes and I think we talked about this already in the article on Meaning and Purpose.

If we love God, we will obey Him.  That is made clear throughout Scripture and is stated quite clearly by Jesus in John 14:15, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."  Which commandments are His though?  People try to play lots of games with this, but really there's no reason to believe that Jesus isn't talking about all of them.  There's some additional teaching later by the Apostles to the Church as to if a Gentile needs to become Jewish in order to be a Christian, and the answer to that was "No."  With that in mind there are some commandments to the Jewish people on what it means to be a Jew--a special, peculiar, covenant people living a special, peculiar, covenant Land, for a special, peculiar, covenant purpose.  Not all of us are called to be citizens of that physical kingdom in the physical Land, and those of us who live other places are called to obey the laws of our land that we live in as long as those laws do not ask us to violate the laws of God.  For instance--please don't hate me for saying this one--but we are to obey the speed limit signs and other traffic laws because we recognize that God has given authority to the government to be his representatives to make good laws for the people they govern and the government is within its right to impose fines, seize assets, imprison people and in the worst cases, put people to death for violations of the law.  The government leaders will need to answer to God for what they did with the authority that He gave to them, and it is up to God to place government leaders into power and to take their power away from them--He doesn't need the help of us rising up in revolution every time we disagree with the government on issues of things like taxation (in fact, the Bible clearly teaches us to pay our taxes and to pay them honestly, so that too is a moral issue).

I've been hitting on an issue that I want to deal with more directly now.  The other world religions often express themselves in the form of "Do good works, and you will be saved."  The problem then is defining what exactly is "good" and how much "good" is "good enough."  Jesus tells us quite plainly in the Gospels that only God is truly good and that unless our righteousness was to exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees, we have no chance of entering God's kingdom on our own merit (He was the only one whose righteousness exceeded that of the scribes and Pharisees because He was absolutely perfect, because He was God and was truly "good").  Christianity is structured altogether differently because it is not like the Tower of Babel where men are trying to by their own means build something that gets them back to heaven.  No, instead it is like Jacob's Ladder where God has made the way of salvation for us by building the Way to heaven for us--Jesus is that Way--the only Way.  Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No man comes to the Father except through Me."  So, it is not about what we can do to make God love us or get enough points in the "plus" column to get in on our own merit--we have much of the Bible that teaches us that we are spiritually bankrupt and could never pay off our sin debt on our own because even one sin condemns us of being as guilty as the worst sinner--we are Law-breakers at that point and guilty of eternal, spiritual death and damnation.  Separation from God and an eternity in the Lake of Fire that was created for the devil and his angels--since we choose to rebel against God just like they did.  Instead, we must depend on the finished work of Jesus and His righteousness to be sufficient for us when it is imputed (given to us without merit) by faith.  "He who knew no sin became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21). So, our morality cannot be in hopes to be saved or stay saved.  That is not why we keep His commandments.  We keep His commandments because we love Him for what He has done for us and because He has made us new--given us a new nature that is consistent with being the image-bearers that He originally created us to be.

As His ambassadors and representatives of His kingdom here on Earth, we are expected to conduct ourselves in a certain way.  We are to live in a way that identifies us as citizens of another kingdom.  It should be obvious to others that we are "in the world, but not of the world."  Pilate was not surprised when Jesus told him, "My kingdom is not of this world." (Jesus was not a political threat to Pilate like the Jews wanted Pilate to think--the gospel is not about political revolution).  The gospel is about transformation and making us citizens and ambassadors of a new kingdom, and we therefore walk in a way where we understand the rules our King makes are the best way for us to live--for our King wants the best for us, and we live in obedience to the King not only because we are his subjects and servants, but because this is the way in which we do homage to Him and bring Him much honor and glory.  Our obedience is one of our greatest acts of worship.  We cannot say that we love God and live in rebellion to His Law and it is disingenuous to go to "church" on Sunday and say we are worshiping the Lord there while we are living our lives in such a way that it is clear that He is not our Lord--for if He was our Lord, we would obey Him--that is a huge definition of what the Lord/Master-subject/servant relationship is.  We are but slaves to righteousness (the Bible is clear about this) and we love to do the will of our Master expecting no praise or honor of our own, but simply recognizing that we love to do it because we love Him and we want to please Him (and it is our duty to do so--we cannot call ourselves His servants if we are not willing to serve Him).

I hope I've addressed some of the main issues of how obedience is tied to life and blessing and disobedience is tied to death and cursing, that we are to be good citizens of the earthly kingdoms we belong to all while being citizens and ambassadors of a heavenly kingdom, and that our obedience is not in order to try to save ourselves by our own merit, but it is because of our love for the one who loved us supremely.  "Love so amazing, so divine--Demands my soul, my life, my all."


Galatians 5:13-26
English Standard Version
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

​25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.


1 Peter 1:13-25
English Standard Version
13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for

“All flesh is like grass
    and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
    and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

Romans 6:15-23
English Standard Version
15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is one of the five fundamental questions, and it is probably one of the most attacked by today's culture.  We are told that "identity" is something completely opposite of what it has always been known to be, so let's start there.  If I had to give you the key components of identity it would be that your identity is immutable (unchanging)--more on this later, is descriptive of your core essence and is of the same substance and nature as you, has the idea of an equivalence or equality that everyone knows who you are talking about because of the name or characteristics that you are using to describe that person.

Now, I said first that things that have to do with identity are immutable characteristics, though it's probably a bit more accurate to say that there are some things that will happen in life that will become a part of your identity and you will never get rid of them being a part of who you are and what people think about when they think about you.  Some examples of this would be adoption into a new family, getting married, and having children.  You can probably think of some other life-altering events that change the way a person thinks about himself or herself and everyone else around them thinks of them, however there is only one event that I know of that is able to change someone's identity (speaking from the authority of God's Word here) and that is the event that we generally call "salvation" but more specifically the part of that called "regeneration."

Paul does a good job in Romans 5 laying out the two different kinds of identities that we can have--and there are really only two camps we can fall into.  We can identify with our human, sinful side and be "in Adam," or we can be "born again" as Jesus described in John 3 and be transformed into the character, nature and image of God the Father and God the Son through the work of God the Holy Spirit.  Other passages that are helpful in seeing this "new creation," "transformation" are Romans 5, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 5:16-26, Ephesians 2:1-10ff, Ephesians 4:17-31.  Notice that a lot of these passages on our new identity also have to do with a new way that we should conduct ourselves--a new morality that tells us how we should live (that will be the next topic I take up here).  See how all the answers to all these questions are all interconnected?

So, my identity is in Christ and is secure in heavenly places.  No one can change the fact that God has adopted me into His family and prepared an inheritance for me--note that an inheritance is not earned, and that in the time this was written, adopted children could not be disinherited.  The fact that the father loved them enough to adopt them was assurance enough that they would receive an equal share of the inheritance with any of the biological children from the family.  "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:6).  This is just one of many verses that speaks to our certainty of receiving everything that the Lord has promised for us and is preparing for us.

Now, there's something special about our identity as Christians.  It's really less about who we are, and more about who God the Father and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are, and it's not so much about what we do as what They have done, are doing, continue to do, and will do in the future.  Everything I am is tied up in the story and plan that God had for me from before the foundations of the world--to be conformed into the likeness of His Son.  " For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." (Romans 8:29).  There's a lot of theology in that verse that I can't totally unpack right now, but you can read my Journal Article on that passage for a bit more about it.  It essentially says that God knew me and chose me before He ever created anything with the express purpose (that was our last article) to look like and act like His Son, Jesus, and to be a member of His family (that's our identity--we are children of God, and therefore, we should act like it--our next article).  An important part of our identity is that we are eternal beings--because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, we have eternal life and are citizens of the kingdom many of us call "heaven" (it is called the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, the New Jerusalem, the New Heaven and the New Earth, the kingdom of his marvelous light, and the kingdom of His Son, and a few other phrases) and we are no longer citizens to the kingdom of darkness.  Notice the change in citizenship that is part of our change in identity.  We once were under the authority of a certain ruler (sin) and now we are under the authority of a different ruler (God).

So, if it seems like Christians are as different to you as meeting someone from another country with a different language, culture, politic, and all-around different identity, you'd be quite correct.  The Bible tells us that we as Christians are "in the world, but not of the world."  We live among people who are, for the most part, not like us.  Not only are we citizens of the kingdom of God, but we are told that we are ambassadors of that kingdom--we are to represent the King and His Kingdom, and we are to help others who want to change their citizenship.  This is one of the key "identities" of a Christian.  We are also called to be "witnesses" (see Mattew 28--the Great Commission) to everything we have seen, heard and experienced about how Jesus has saved us and can save others.

We identify with this new identity at the time of baptism (much like how a wedding ring doesn't make you married, but identifies you as being married).  At the time of salvation, the Holy Spirit comes upon us and indwells us, and we become the very dwelling place of God--He is literally God with Us (not that we are God, but He is with us everywhere we go, and nothing can separate us from Him or His love for us).

We have a new family (not just God the Father and Jesus the Son) made of all our other adopted brothers and sisters that we call "The Church."  We are a family that in many ways are closer to each other than those who are related by flesh and blood.  We have a unity in that we all have a common faith, and the same Spirit of God indwells all of us, and we have a common inheritance, a common mission here on earth and all the other things that I've already mentioned.

Perhaps now you see why the issue of identity is under attack and why the world wants to tell you that you should choose for yourself who you are--even in opposition to natural law and biology sometimes.  You see, if God is the one who not only made us, but He is the one who gives us purpose and identity, and He gives us a moral code to live by, and we look forward to being with Him and being one with Him as our destiny--well, that is far different than the kind of life that comes from a worldview where one is on the throne of their heart and tries to answer these questions for themselves (and almost certainly fails in finding adequate answers as we know God has created us to be something more and better than anything we can be apart from Him).

This article can only scratch the surface of what it means to have our identity "in Christ."  Much of the Bible explains how the people of God are to have a different nature, identity, and behavior than the people of this world who are still in darkness and sin and controlled by "their flesh."  That is to say that evil people do evil things because they are evil, but if we have the Spirit of God who is good within us, then we should be the good things that God is and do the good things God does as we let Him work in and through us.

This is probably the hardest one to explain to others.  It's hard to tell someone what it's like to be married, but they understand what you meant after they get married themselves.  It's hard to explain to someone what it's like to be a parent, but there is understanding after the person becomes a parent themselves.  Likewise, it is hard for someone outside the family of God to understand how life is better under God's authority than under our own authority (at least, that's who we assume is in control if we don't submit our lives to God--though that's only partly true and mostly false).  Which kingdom are you a citizen of?  Are you in Adam, or in Christ?  When someone looks at you and talks about you, is their first thought that you are a Christian and that it is obvious in everything you say and do and are?  (It should be!) Have you experienced regeneration and been "born again"? If all this sounds like something that you want to know more about, please ask me.

I rarely include songs with these Faith and Culture blogs, but I love this one and think it cover some of the things that we've talked about in our change in identity (and origins, meaning, morality, and destiny).

This is one of the "Big Five" that every worldview needs to answer.  The question may be posed as in the title, "Why am I here?" or it may be posed more as in "What is my purpose?" and "How can I find that purpose and meaning?"  I'll try to address these questions biblically in this article.

The first answer that I can give you to the reason we are here is that God made man special, "In His image" to be able to be His viceroys here on earth.  That is that all power and authority still resides with the LORD, but He made Adam and Eve stewards and caretakers of everything He had created and gave Adam (and Eve) dominion over the plants and animals.  But that's not all we learn from the Creation account.

We also learn that we are different because God put His breath or His Spirit within in so that we would be eternal creatures who would understand spiritual and moral truths and so that we could have an eternal relationship with him.  He gave us a unique ability to speak with Him, to learn about Him, and to obey Him (or disobey Him as we see in Genesis 3).  The choice to love and obey Him is key to our relationship with Him and it is that relationship that is such a huge part to our meaning in this world.  The Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it this way, "The chief end [purpose] of man to worship God and enjoy Him forever." (References given for this statement are I Corinthians 10: 31, Romans 11:36, and Psalm 73: 25-28).

So, God has given men and women a special role in creation to be stewards of all that He made, to have dominion over His creation (to rule over it) and has made us unique in all of creation so that we can love Him, obey Him, and have a relationship with Him.  He has created us with inherent value because we are made "In His image" and we are made with a desire to know Him, worship Him, and obey Him--at least, that was the original design.  So, what went wrong?  Why is it that we feel more like the lyrics of the song (quoting from several passages of Scripture), "I am a flower quickly fading--here today and gone tomorrow.  A wave tossed in the ocean.  A vapor in the wind."  All these things are but momentary in the grand scheme of things.  Like the Psalmist David we look at the universe and wonder, "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?" (Psalm 8:3-4).  David's son Solomon would say that without a relationship with the LORD, the answer to the question of Meaning is "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!" (There is no purpose--everything is vain and empty without God to give it meaning).  "13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil." (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

See, the LORD has put it in our hearts that this world is not all that there is--that there is something more than this.  He has, "put eternity in our hearts." (Ecclesiastes 3:11).  We know that we are to fear the LORD and to obey Him.  My answer is bigger than that though.  My value and worth are found in my new identity--what God has made me (a new creation).  So, perhaps that will be the next major questions that I will tackle.  "Who am I?"

It is our job to be discerning and to be able to divide truth and error.  We know as Christians that we hold truth claims up to the Word of God, but are there other ways that God has given us to discern truth and error since you will not be able to evaluate all truth claims this way?

There are a couple of other ways in which we can evaluate a worldview.  The first method is to see if the worldview is internally consistent or inconsistent.  That is, does it make truth claims that contradict each other which the worldview claims are both true?  This presumes the Laws of Logic that we have already discussed are in place as we are asking if the worldview passes the test of the Law of Non-Contradiction.  If it cannot pass this test, then the one holding the worldview must explain how the apparent contradiction is not a contradiction before we proceed. I give a little grace here instead of saying you must outright reject the worldview immediately because there are many that believe that the Bible has these kinds of contradictions in them, and I would prefer they ask about them and give me the chance to explain how the Bible is coherent and does not contradict itself.  If I want that from others, then I should be willing to give them the same opportunities.  We also want to be careful about any claims that are made which by nature are not falsifiable as truth claims should be able to be held up to scrutiny and tested to be proven true or false for the purposes of the evaluations we are talking about (not everything a person believes will be able to be tested as there are axioms that are at a low level of what people believe that they believe without any proof or evidence because they are necessary for building the foundation of their worldview.  We have talked about the issue of axioms in other articles, and they can be held up to the next test).

We then need to ask if the truth claims of the worldview comport with reality as we know it.  Things that are true should comport with other things that we know to be true.  That is that if we know something is straight and level if we measure it against something else that is known to be straight and level.  This is especially helpful with axioms and other things that we can't falsify with the first test, but which we know do not comport with reality.  For instance, the statement "Man is inherently good" (born good) is not something we can put in a test tube to try to falsify it, but we can nevertheless see that it does not comport with reality as we don't have to teach children to be bad--we have to use discipline to teach them to not be bad and to be good.  There is a difference between their innocence and their goodness when they are born.  

The last test that we can look at is similar to the second but different in that it holds the life of the person making the claims up against the claims they are making.  If a person truly believes something, they should live according to that truth.  If their lifestyle denies that truth, then perhaps we should believe the way they live and not the words that write or speak.  This is the biggest argument against Christians as we say many things on Sunday morning that we don't live in the workplace and marketplace and at home.  Many of us live lives that are walking, talking contradictions to the statements of faith that we ascribe to, but that really doesn't invalidate the statement of faith as much as it invalidates us calling ourselves disciples of Christ.  I'd be careful about changing my life to comport to a worldview that someone who claims to be a "true believer" was not willing to change their lives to comport with.

I encourage you all to test yourselves using these tests.  Hold yourself first up to the Word of God (and use it to ask these questions of yourself).  Do you say you believe things that are in direct contradiction with the Word of God?  Can you truly say that the Bible best explains what you see going on in the world around you?  Can you say that you obey the Bible in a way that shows that believe it to be true and others should take what it says seriously?  This last one is hard because we are called to live a life of suffering and persecution.  How we deal with that will tell everyone much about what we really believe.  Jesus said those that would recant and deny Him before people on Earth do not belong to Him and He will deny them before His Father in heaven when the final judgment comes.  Let us evaluate ourselves and wisely evaluate the truth claims that others make remembering at all times that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  All truth must comport with His nature and character because He is Truth personified.

This is how the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America ends.  But where did that idea come from?  It is biblical, but it can only take place through the blood of Jesus.  There all men are freed from slavery to sin and all men live free to serve God.  We are free to be slaves to Christ.

There is equity and justice for all because all men are equal at the cross.  We all stand condemned, and we are all under the death penalty, but it is by the blood of Jesus that our debt can be paid in full, and justice can be served as the wrath that was due to us was poured out on Jesus.

We go forth then and declare that we believe that all men are created equal, that Christ died for all mankind, and that God wants everyone to come to salvation--to be set free from the curse of sin and death and experience the peace and blessings that come as a result of knowing Christ and His suffering.  For He who knew no sin became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of Christ.

Everyone living in the United States have a safe and happy Independence Day, and even if you live somewhere else in the world, I pray that you know the freedom that comes only by knowing Christ and Him crucified and through the power of His resurrection.