Wallace G. Smith

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

The Fourth Commandment Explained: The Sabbath Day

Longtime viewers—and even most new ones—are aware that we here at Tomorrow’s World are passionate about keeping the Ten Commandments, including the Fourth Commandment about keeping the seventh-day Sabbath.

• Jesus kept the seventh-day Sabbath.
• His first-century followers—both Jew and Gentile—kept it.
• And a continuous line of faithful Christians throughout history have kept it, as well—just as God commands.

But exactly HOW do you keep the seventh-day Sabbath?

Well, today we’re going to give you God’s own answer to that question.

The Sabbath Was Made for Man—Not Just for Jews

But first, I want to highlight two ditches to avoid.

The first is believing we should look to Hebrew or Jewish practices and Judaism to understand how to keep the Sabbath.

This is a mistake for a number of reasons.

First, over the centuries, Judaism added many additional man-made regulations, restrictions, and conditions that God never intended to be part of Sabbath-keeping. In fact, one of the themes of Jesus Christ’s ministry in the first-century was His confrontations with the Jewish leadership about how they’d made God’s Sabbath a burden.

For instance, let’s look at His example and instruction in Mark 2, beginning in verse 23.

Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” (Mark 2:23-24).

Now, you can search the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation and see no passage at all in which God says you can’t feed yourself by plucking a few heads of grain on the Sabbath day. Now you’ll find instructions not to use busy times of the year, such as plowing and harvesting times, as an excuse not to keep the Sabbath—that’s in Exodus 34:21. But no one would rightly call what Jesus and His Apostles were doing “harvesting.”

God Created the Sabbath as a Blessing—Not a Burden

They were violating the overly strict, unbiblical regulations of Judaism, but they were not guilty of breaking the Fourth Commandment. If they were, then Jesus was too—yet we know that He never broke even one of God’s commands.

So after highlighting how the high priest in King David’s day had done a better job of administering God’s law according to its intent, Jesus concludes in verses 27 and 28:

“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28).

There are multiple insights to be gained here, and we’ll touch on some later. For now, note that Jesus pointed out that the Sabbath was created by God to benefit man, not the other way around. And the unbiblical requirements that the Jewish authorities had added to the Sabbath command were turning it into a burden God never intended it to be.

Such examples of Jesus’ instruction to the supposed experts concerning proper Sabbath keeping abound in the gospels. The scribes, Pharisees, and priests may have been experts in Judaism, but that doesn’t equate with being experts in how to keep God’s laws as He intended. And that is still true today.

Paul spoke of his fellow Jewish citizens as “hav[ing] a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (Romans 10:2). It is God’s Spirit working through the ministry of His Church, the Body of Christ, that brings truth and understanding of the Scriptures—not an obsession with any one historical language, culture, or people.

Keeping the Sabbath doesn’t mean adopting practices rooted in Judaism or the teachings of various so-called “Hebrew roots” movements. God’s commands are often far simpler than people give them credit for. To keep the Sabbath, no one needs to adopt Judaism or any of the many movements that seek credibility by imitating it.

Saturday Is the Sabbath Day—Set It Apart

The other ditch we need to identify at the beginning is the mistake of treating the Sabbath as if it were a generic principle of “one day in seven,” and not the specifically designated seventh day of the week—the only day of the week God set aside as the Sabbath.

We saw earlier in the book of Mark how Jesus said “the Sabbath was made [or created] for man” (Mark 2:27) This points to a profound truth about the Sabbath: That it was directly created by God. Let’s read about that creation in Genesis 2. When we do, we’ll see that the Sabbath was very unique—something God made by NOT working.

Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made (Genesis 2:1-3).

Here we see that God did not set apart just any day of the week, but the seventh day specifically.

Remember the Sabbath and Keep it Holy

We see this reflected in the Fourth Commandment itself in Exodus 20, beginning in verse 8.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God (Exodus 20:8-10).

We’ll read the rest of the commandment later, but notice how plain it is that God, who alone has the authority to designate holy time, set apart the seventh day of the week specifically as the Sabbath. To observe any other day of the week is simply not Sabbath-keeping. Resting? Sure. Taking some “me time”? Perhaps. But not keeping the Sabbath.

The Fourth Commandment | Exodus 20:8–11

Let’s begin our look at three keys to keeping God’s Sabbath by starting with the Sabbath command, itself. This time, though, let’s read it in full.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it (Exodus 20:8–11).

The Sabbath Rest Means Stop Work

There are several things worth noting in that commandment, but for now, let’s focus on the fact that:

1. We should cease from our work on the Sabbath.

We saw earlier that God did this Himself at creation.

On the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work (Genesis 2:2).

So, too, He commands us to cease from our own work on the seventh day.

In today’s busy world, it’s easy to find ourselves working 24/7. But God commands us to pause and cease from our labors when the seventh day begins.

When Does the Sabbath Begin? At Sunset Friday

By the way, when does that day begin? As Genesis 1 and other passages of the Bible reveal, God counts days from sunset to sunset. So, the seventh-day Sabbath begins from sundown on Friday and continues to sundown on Saturday.

And when sundown arrives on Friday, God commands that we set aside our labor, cease from our regular pursuits, and take a rest—just as He did 6,000 years ago.

God doesn’t get tired. He didn’t need to rest on the seventh day He didn’t think, “Wow, those six days of creating were really hard. I need a break!”

He did that as an example for us to follow.

And “work” doesn’t just mean “employment.” How many people spend their Saturdays mowing the lawn, maintaining their home, or doing other laborious chores? The commandment is plain: “On the seventh day… you shall do no work”—neither you, nor those over whom you have authority.

Now, some of you might say, “My job has times that are just too busy to take a break.”

If you think this applies to you, I hear you. I used to be an actuarial mathematician for a large insurance company, and our department had its own seasons in the year when work was especially crazy, often involving important legal reporting.

But are we to abandon the Sabbath rest during those busy seasons? What does God say?

God’s Work Week: Six Days You Shall Labor

Consider Exodus 34:21, which we mentioned earlier. And as we read it, remember that ancient Israel was an agricultural society.

Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.

Now plowing time and harvest time were just about the busiest times of year in their society. Yet God told them not to make an exception in those days. They were to honor His command and to rest from labor on the seventh-day Sabbath.

Come sundown Friday evening, God commands us to focus on different things, as we’ll discuss further later in the program.

Use the Preparation Day to Protect the Sabbath

Part of making this work is properly preparing for the Sabbath. God taught ancient Israel this principle after freeing them from Egypt. Many people have heard of the miraculous “manna from heaven,” but few realize that a major purpose of the miracle was to test God’s people to see if they would take the Sabbath command seriously.

I recommend you read the entire account in Exodus 16. For now, let me summarize it by saying that, for the first five days of the week, God rained down enough manna for one day, every day. But on the sixth day, what we’d call Friday, He rained down two days’ worth, so that they could prepare enough for that day and for the Sabbath day that followed. And on the Sabbath, they were not to go out looking for more—since God had given them enough for two days the day before.

Then Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, there will be none.” Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. And the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?” (Exodus 16:25–28).

God had warned them to prepare properly for the seventh day during the time leading up to it. And that’s what we should do, as well.

God wants us to protect the blessing His Sabbath represents by planning for it—taking care of household chores and other mundane work on the other six days of the week, and preserving the seventh day for the divine rest God intended.

Yet the Sabbath is about far more than mere relaxation. As helpful as physical rest is, the real power and blessing of the Sabbath begins to be unlocked as we engage with the two keys that remain.

Keep the Sabbath Holy | Exodus 20:8 Explained

A second vital key is that:

2. We should keep the Sabbath holy.

Far more than a mere day of rest, the Sabbath is a day that is holy and set apart by God. In fact, we see this mentioned in the Fourth Commandment even before we’re told to rest. Look with me again at the commandment listed in Exodus 20.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (Exodus 20:8).

There it is, right at the beginning.

We saw this in Genesis 2, as well. Let’s read that again and note what God does.

Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made (Genesis 2:1-3).

Now notice, God didn’t just rest on the seventh day. He blessed it and sanctified it—made it holy. Those who want to say that the sacredness of the Sabbath began at Mount Sinai or that it is only for Jewish people have no leg to stand on. The Sabbath was made holy from creation.

As a day sanctified and set apart from the other days as holy time, the seventh-day Sabbath is not a day we spend like we spend other days. After all, you might rest or recharge on a Sunday, Tuesday, or Thursday all sorts of ways—go to the movies, watch some sports, play a little golf, go to a concert, or read a few chapters in your favorite book.

It’s One of God’s Holy Days in the Bible

But the Sabbath isn’t just a day off or some restful vacation time. It is holy, sacred time, set apart by God for special purposes.

God highlights this in the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah 56 God makes plain that He is speaking to people of any origin or nationality, not just Jewish people, and He says in verse 2:

Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it; who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and keeps his hand from doing any evil (Isaiah 56:2).

Now note, that is a blessing for not defiling something God has declared holy—His Sabbath. God elaborates two chapters later, in Isaiah 58, beginning in verse 13.

If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth… (Isaiah 58:13-14).

So what do these words really mean? Certainly, the Sabbath is a day we should seek to spend more time than we normally do in prayer and in reading and studying from God’s word. But it really is more than that.

Roderick Meredith—an evangelist of Jesus Christ for more than 60 years and one who LIVED God’s way of life for even longer—explains what God means by these passages in Isaiah:

So we are not to be doing our own pleasure on God’s Holy Day. That means we are not to be pursuing our hobbies or leisure activities. That does not preclude doing any enjoyable things on the Sabbath whatsoever, for we are to find delight in it. The point is that whatever we do, God must be an intrinsic part of it. A family walk through a natural setting, for example, is a wonderful way to get in touch with the great God who made the beautiful creation we see.

When the seventh day arrives, we must stop pursuing our “own ways” (the things we normally do), seeking our “own pleasure” (just trying to have fun), and speaking our “own words” (the everyday things we talk about that do not involve God). This last one is often very hard to follow because “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). To truly keep the Sabbath in spirit, we must focus our minds on God and those things He wants us to be concerned with during His holy time. Then, as God promises, we will be truly blessed (Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath?, Roderick C. Meredith, p. 38).

Learning to honor God’s command by resting from our usual, day-to-day lives—and treating the seventh-day Sabbath as the holy time it is—truly is life-changing.

The Sabbath Day Is a Holy Convocation

Yet there is a vital third key to keeping that Sabbath.

• We should cease from our work on the Sabbath.
• We should keep the Sabbath holy.

Many sincere people stop there, but doing so prevents you from experiencing the full blessings of the seventh-day Sabbath as God designed it. For that, we need the third vital key, as well.

3. We should meet in holy convocation on the Sabbath.

We see this explained in Leviticus 23, beginning in verses 1 and 2.

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts’” (Leviticus 23:1-2).

Notice here that He doesn’t call these days “the Feast of the Jews” or even the “Feasts of Israel.” God says that these are HIS Feasts, “the Feasts of the LORD”! And He says further that they are “holy convocations.” Let’s continue.

Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings (Leviticus 23:3).

Holy Convocation Meaning

Now as we’ve seen, God speaks to the holiness of the Sabbath and the need to treat it as a sacred rest. But again He highlights that it is a “holy convocation.”

What does this mean?

Well, we’ve already covered what it means to be “holy”—something set apart by God for His own use. And a “convocation” is a calling together of people out of the world to a meeting. In this case, a HOLY meeting of HOLY people, commanded by their HOLY God!

God’s People Gather Together on the Sabbath to Worship

The seventh-day Sabbath is THE day of the week God Himself set aside for His worshippers to gather together—to praise Him together, worship Him together, and learn together from His ordained teachers out of His inspired word. And when we meet and fellowship with each other—not on a day set aside by human tradition or doctrines, but on the day the Lord Himself set apart as holy, we do more than fellowship with each other—we fellowship with God the Father and Jesus Christ, as well.

It’s no wonder that the Apostle Paul wrote what he did in Hebrews 10:24-25.

And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Today’s free offer explains how the seventh-day Sabbath pictures the beautiful rest Christ is bringing to the whole world. And as we see that approaching, we should long ALL THE MORE to meet in holy convocation on the day picturing that time of peace and wonder.

For anyone seeking to truly observe the biblical Sabbath, just as Jesus Christ and His faithful followers have done for almost two millennia, these three keys are the essential ingredients:

• Cease from your own work.
• Keep the day holy.
• And gather together in holy convocation with the people of God.

Thanks for watching. If you found this video helpful, check out more of our content, or hit subscribe to stay up to date on what we publish. And if you want the free study guide related to this topic, just click the link. We’ll see you next time.

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

How to Pray to God

Many people believe prayer is important—and they’re right. But for someone new to prayer, it can be hard to know how to start or what to say. And if we’re honest, even those of us who are more experienced can sometimes struggle.

But there is good news. Because the One Person throughout human history who’s had the closest and most intimate relationship with God offers to teach us how to pray. And if we’ll listen to Him, the door to a deeper and more personal relationship with God through prayer opens wide.

There are few things more important than regular communication with your Father in heaven. Yet prayer doesn’t exactly come naturally.

After all, we can’t see God. When we talk with Him, He generally doesn’t talk back. There might be times when we feel as though God is virtually in the room with us, but then other times when it feels as if no one is listening.

It doesn’t help that the cacophony of “Christianities” out there teach so many different things about prayer. Some recommend uttering memorized prayers. Some recommend praying to intermediaries, such as angels or supposed “saints.” Others suggest that the most powerful prayers are uttered in nonsensical “tongues” that no one understands.

Some of us have basic questions about prayer, but we’re too embarrassed to ask—even though we shouldn’t be. How do you start a prayer? What do you say? What should you ask about?

All of those are good questions. And if you’re beginning to ask those questions, God is delighted that you want to know.

“Lord, Teach Us to Pray”

In fact, Jesus’ own disciples also asked to know. Let’s read about it in Luke 11:1.

Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

So He taught them and, because His answer to their question was recorded for us, that means Jesus’ instruction to them can become His instruction to us, as well. And there’s no greater teacher of prayer than Jesus Christ Himself.

We read more details about what He taught in Matthew’s account of the same teaching. We see it there in chapter 6, beginning in verse 5. There He says:

“When you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward” (Matthew 6:5).

He’s not saying that public prayer under some circumstances is bad. The Bible has multiple examples of public prayers, including some from Jesus Himself. He is saying here, though, that we must guard against seeing our prayers as a means of impressing others. Instead, our regular, daily prayers are meant to be private, between ourselves and God.

He explains this in more detail, beginning in verse 6; “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matthew 6:6).

Note, Jesus suggests finding a private place for your routine and regular prayer. That way, your prayer is a matter between you and God, alone. This doesn’t mean that prayer with a spouse or children is inappropriate. Not at all. In fact, praying with children is a wonderful way for them to learn how to do it themselves.

But again, prayer is not for show. It’s about intimate communication with your Creator. He adds another important element to this in the next verse.

“And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words” (Matthew 6:7).

We don’t build an intimate relationship with anyone by repeating lines like a character in a play. Prayer is real communication with God, not some sort of routine “spell” we cast with the same words time after time.

This is a little ironic, because the passage that follows is often called “The Lord’s Prayer,” and is repeated by many as if that repetition of the exact words, like a script, is equivalent to prayer like Jesus taught. But such an approach violates the very instruction of the passage, not to mention the collected body of examples in Scripture.

Rather, what Jesus did for them in the verses that follow—and what He does for us—represents a model prayer—a prayer that we can learn from so we can know how to pray ourselves.

7 Things Jesus Taught Us to Pray

And in Jesus’ model prayer that He used to teach His disciples, we find seven helpful elements that we should employ in our own prayers, as well.

Jesus has already taught us about the best environment for prayer, as well as what not to do. Now let’s dive right into His model prayer to learn what we should do.

1. Pray to God Directly

First, notice how Jesus begins the prayer. Let’s continue reading in Matthew 6:9.

“In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven…”

Now let’s stop right there, because He’s already taught us something important.

Notice that Jesus addresses God directly and focuses His prayer on His Father in Heaven. He doesn’t begin with His own needs, wants, or desires. He focuses on God. And He calls Him “Father.” A prayer is an appeal to your Father in heaven, and it is rooted in a relationship with Him.

And notice, too, it is a prayer made directly to God. Those who teach a need to go through some sort of lower beings, praying to angels or imagined saints in heaven, are simply contradicting God’s word and Jesus’ own example and instruction.

In several passages, Jesus speaks of asking the Father directly (John 15:16, John 16:23). Later, the Apostle Paul tells us that we may “come boldly to [God’s] throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16)—the promise of direct access. Those who teach you to pray to lesser beings than God are deceiving you, however innocently, and they should be completely ignored.

Of course, Jesus is in heaven, and He, too, is God. And we do see the example of the martyr Stephen asking Jesus to receive His spirit right before His death. The Son of God is God, just as the Father is God—together, they are the Family of God.

Yet, there is a reason Stephen’s prayer is rare in Scripture. Our prayers should primarily be directed to God the Father, just as Jesus teaches.

And addressing God directly, our Creator and Life-Giver, at the very start of our prayer, putting our attention on Him, not ourselves, helps to set our mind in the right place in our prayer from the very beginning.

2. Praise God and Treat Him with Reverence

The next element of prayer Jesus teaches us helps to deepen that frame of mind. Let’s continue in Matthew 6:9.

“Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name.”

Here in the model prayer, Jesus teaches us the next element: Praise and honor God.

To hallow something is to consider it holy and treat it with great reverence. And God’s name represents His character, His goodness, and His majesty.

Jesus addresses His Father in heaven and, again, rather than launching into all He wants or needs, He begins by praising God. In our prayers, we should spend the earliest moments reflecting on just who it is we are addressing: Mentioning and thanking Him for His goodness and His mercy, for His power and glory—addressing Him in a manner that shows our understanding that He is holy, righteous, and perfect, ever-living, ever-loving, ever-wise, and ever-mindful of His creation.

As Isaiah 57 calls Him:

The High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy (Isaiah 57:15).

Beginning our prayer by praising God helps us to see all we are about to say and ask in perspective. It reminds us of just Who is listening to our prayers, so that we stay respectful and humble. It reminds us that He has the power to respond to our prayers—yet also reminds us that He is infinitely wiser than we are, and that we can trust Him with our burdens, knowing that He knows what is right to do with our requests, that He knows when to answer them with a “yes” or even with a “no.”

Beginning with praise, hallowing the name of God, helps to give us the right perspective and puts us in the right mindset for speaking with the Almighty Regent of Heaven and Earth.

3. Seek the Kingdom of God—and God’s Will

What does Jesus teach us next? Let’s continue to listen to Him. The next part of His model prayer continues in Matthew 6:10. After praising God, He says:

“Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

So, He teaches us next to seek God’s Kingdom and will.

In this, Jesus pictures in His model prayer the same admonition He tells all of us later in verse 33 of the same chapter:

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

And before He has made a single personal request of God, in His model prayer He does just that—expresses His desire for God’s Kingdom.

And truly, with all the tragedy, heartbreak, and turmoil that surrounds us these days, our hearts should be driven to want God’s Kingdom to come as soon as it possibly could.

Yet seeking the Kingdom of God is more than just seeking a paradise on earth. It is desiring God’s will in all things, over and above our own—hence the remainder of this verse.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus tells us that early in our prayer, we should assure God that we seek His will more than we seek our own. We want His Kingdom to reign, not the world around us—and we want His will to be followed and accomplished in this world, not our own.

This element of prayer can include praying for the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God in this world, such as praying for this program and its success. And praying for the humility, strength, and courage to accomplish in our own lives what the Kingdom will help the entire world to do—prioritize God’s will, desires, and plans above our own.

Jesus Himself perfectly exemplified this attitude in the Garden of Gethsemane, before His crucifixion, when He said:

“Nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).

Highlighting to God at the beginning of our prayer that His Kingdom matters more to us than what this world offers and that His will is more important to us than our own will helps our mindset tremendously, allowing us to make our personal requests known to Him in an atmosphere that tells Him we trust Him to make the calls—in our lives, and in the world.

4. “Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread”

Continuing in His model prayer, He says in verse 11:

“Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11).

Here we see Jesus teaching us to depend on God for our daily needs.

Note: Almost half of the model prayer so far has been focused on God—His greatness and goodness, His Kingdom, and the importance of His will in all things, even more than our own. This provides the context for this request, a reflection that we need Him to provide our daily needs.

And of course, it isn’t just about bread. Our needs can vary widely. Our health, our finances, our work and family—we have needs on many levels. And “our” is plural: Our loved ones have needs, as well. Yet as a staple of life, the use of bread in the model prayer helps to symbolize all we physically need.

There are many things to notice in this element of prayer. It shows God that:

• We do not take our daily needs for granted. We look to Him to provide them, knowing that only He has the dependable power to do so.
• Also, there’s a humility in the request. It isn’t for a life of luxury, leisure, and extravagance. Instead, it is a request for the things we truly need to sustain us.
• And it is a daily request, recognizing that tomorrow we will come again before Him to ask for the needs of that day.

It is not that we cannot set before God larger hopes and dreams. God is a father, and any good father loves to hear his child’s wishes and desires. Yet the model prayer teaches us that, at the heart of such things, we should be content with God satisfying our needs, versus being obsessed with our wants. Our earlier focus on God’s graciousness and goodness helps us to trust that in making our requests, He hears them and will take them seriously. And in promises such as we read in Matthew 6:33, we can trust that, if we sincerely put His Kingdom first in our prayer, as Jesus taught us, then we can trust that all things we need shall be added to us.

And our needs are far more than physical, as we’ll see.

5. Ask Forgiveness—and Be Willing to Forgive

Let’s continue in verse 12. After asking for our daily bread, the prayer continues:

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12).

Yes, we should not take our standing before God for granted. Jesus teaches us to ask God for forgiveness of our sins. And we need it.

Romans 3:23 tells us that:

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

And 1 John 1:8 says that:

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Yet, if we’ve been baptized and had hands laid on us by a minister of Jesus Christ, the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, washes away the sins we’ve committed, as we seek God repentantly with a heart desiring to turn from those sins.

If you’re interested in understanding more about what it means to turn to God in true repentance, one of our representatives can get in touch with you. Just mention you’re interested when you request today’s free material about prayer. Or go to TomorrowsWorld.org to reach out online.

This element of the model prayer reminds us that we do not take God’s forgiveness for granted and requests that God continue to wash us clean through the sacrifice of Christ.

And note, too, that Jesus attaches our own forgiveness to our willingness to forgive others. Many ignore this fact to their spiritual peril. Christ explains it a little later in Matthew 6.

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14–15).

Jesus explains that if we truly want forgiveness for our sins and wrongdoings, we must forgive those who’ve wronged us. And if we find that hard—as it certainly can be—a request to our Father in heaven to help us forgive others is a fitting addition to our prayers. After all, when it comes to forgiveness, He’s the expert.

6. Ask God for Spiritual Protection

Next in the model prayer, Jesus teaches us another area in which we should seek God’s help. Let’s continue the prayer in verse 13 of Matthew 6.

“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13).

Now notice, Jesus isn’t just teaching us to ask for God’s protection from the dangerous elements of this world, though such requests are indeed daily physical needs that fit within the earlier area of prayer we discussed concerning “daily bread.” Rather, Jesus teaches us here to ask God for spiritual protection—to go directly to God and to ask Him to help us avoid temptations that may lead us astray into sins, taking us further from Him in our daily walk, instead of drawing us closer.

This does not mean that when trials come God has somehow failed. Many places in Scripture highlight the important role that trials play in our spiritual growth, testing our faith and helping us to grow in patience.

But just as any child would want his father to protect him from pitfalls and traps, we should directly ask God to preserve us spiritually from falling into temptation’s snares. Consider the Apostle Paul’s admonition in his first letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 10:12–13).

Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

Paul encouraged the Corinthians not to take their spiritual safety for granted, but to desire God’s help with temptation.

And concerning the evil one, the Apostle Peter told his own readers (in 1 Peter 5:8):

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

These spiritual dangers are more important than even the physical dangers this world throws at us. And Jesus teaches us not to ignore them in our prayers, but to actively ask God for spiritual protection from these dangers.

7. Honor God Again When You End Your Prayer

And now we come to His conclusion to the prayer—and it may seem somewhat familiar. After asking for spiritual protection in the model prayer, we read His final element in Matthew 6:13.

“For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

Recall how, in the earliest part of the model prayer, Jesus focused us on God, not ourselves, and on God’s Kingdom, not the world around us. And here at the conclusion, He teaches us to end our prayer as it began, magnifying God’s greatness and glory.

Such words provide vital perspective. When we enter prayer, our task is to set our minds on higher things—even in our seemingly mundane, physical requests, we seek to do so with a higher perspective.

And we conclude our prayer with this focus on God, His greatness, and His Kingdom, once again. It helps us to remember that this higher, greater perspective is not just for when we are on our knees before God. It is the perspective we take from His presence to carry throughout our lives—just as our Savior did 2,000 years ago.

And when we hold God in right perspective, in prayer and in life, all other things fall into right perspective as well.

There is nothing more important in this life than building a relationship with God. And Jesus Christ knew that. And He ensured that this model prayer would be recorded forever, not just to teach and guide His followers in the first century, but to teach and guide His followers in the 21st century, as well.

Thanks for watching. If you found this video helpful, check out more of our content or hit subscribe to stay up to date on what we publish. And if you want the free study guide related to this topic, just click the link in the description. We’ll see you next time.

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Three Lies from the Theory of Evolution

The theory of evolution claims that life in all its astonishing and beautiful variety needs no God or Creator or Designer at all. Just start with a single, simple microorganism (though ignore where it came from.), and over 3 to 4 billion years, blind chance and mindless natural forces are supposedly able to turn it into every living thing we see around us, including mankind. No God necessary.

Many believe the evolution story, many don’t, and many still think it doesn’t make a difference. Who cares how life and mankind came to be? What difference does it make?

However, it makes all the difference in the world.

In 1859, Charles Darwin published his watershed book, On the Origin of Species. In its pages, he advanced the idea that seemingly endless variety and diversity of life on planet earth has evolved from past common ancestors through purely natural and unintelligent forces—natural selection, based on the pressures of surviving and reproducing, acting on random and unplanned genetic variations.

The claim is that, beginning with one simple, bacteria-like organism more than 3 billion years ago, accumulated random and purposeless genetic changes—acted upon by mindless natural pressures to survive, generation after generation—created literally all life on earth, in all of its stunning glory and awe-inspiring variety, humanity included.

God Created the Heavens and the Earth

According to the theory, no God or Creator or Designer of any kind is needed—just time and mindless, unintelligent, purposeless natural forces.

Of course, this stands in stark contrast with the Book of Genesis, which states very plainly in its very first verse:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth… (Genesis 1:1).

And then goes on to tell how the ancestors of the life we now see on earth were directly created by God over the course of six days.

Now if you’re a longtime viewer, it will not surprise you that, here on Tomorrow’s World, there’s no contest: The Bible is right, and Charles Darwin and his fanboys are wrong. That said, today’s episode is not about that.

Instead, we want to look at the impact of the theory of evolution, because we believe nothing in a vacuum. Beliefs have consequences.

Consider what Jesus said in Luke 6:45. The connection to what I’m saying may not seem obvious at first, but bear with me.

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil.

That is, our beliefs don’t stay inside. They emerge through our choices, our words, our actions. And they impact the world we shape around us—as individuals and, collectively, as a civilization. We cannot accept a set of beliefs without also experiencing the consequences those beliefs bring.

So for the rest of our program, we aren’t going to focus on whether the theory of evolution is true or false.

Instead, we are going to examine three specific lies that have been embraced by society due to widespread belief in Darwin’s theory of evolution. And as we’ll see, those lies have had a destructive and devastating impact on civilization.

Lie 1: Humans Are Just Animals

The first lie is the belief that “Man is merely another animal.”

That is, when a person accepts the theory of evolution, he sees human beings as just one more animal on the broad, smeared spectrum of life. Nothing special. Nothing noble. Just one animal evolving among many on planet Earth.

We see this sort of thinking in the efforts of organizations such as the Nonhuman Rights Project, which files lawsuits to give animals, such as chimpanzees and elephants, the same legal rights as human beings.

And we see it in the famous statement of Ingrid Newkirk, one of the co-founders of PETA, the animal rights organization.

Animal liberationists do not separate out the human animal, so there is no rational basis for saying that a human being has special rights. A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy.

Really? “A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy”? That is an utterly false and contemptible view of humanity. God’s word declares that mankind is created in the very image of God Himself. Man reflects his Creator in a way no other creation on earth can—with moral status, the capacity to think, reason, and create, and in possession of a spiritual nature that no animal has.

Let me ask you to reflect. Have you noticed that our society is increasingly one in which people follow the dictates of our own instincts and desires; our own wants, cravings, and hungers; stealing whenever they can get away with it; lying when it suits them; getting what they want without concern for others?

That’s because beliefs have consequences, and the longer we believe the lie that man is simply another animal, then the deeper we will descend into becoming a society of animals—ruled by nothing higher than cravings and urges, without regard to the needs, hurts, or concerns of others.

Lie 2: No Moral Standards Exist

The second lie that we will examine is this: “There is no absolute standard of morality.”

The Bible is plain: God is good (Matthew 19:17). God is love (1 John 4:8). And Jesus Christ is plain that those who would be His followers must seek to become like God. We see this in Matthew 5:48.

“You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

God created man to reflect Himself, and thus He made man a morally accountable being—accountable to right and wrong, where the right reflects God’s own character, goodness, and love, and the wrong is what goes against that character, goodness, and love.

He helps us to see that absolute standard in His Ten Commandments—condemning murder, for instance; commanding husbands and wives to be faithful to each other; telling us to respect each other’s property; and commanding us to be truthful and not to lie.

The character of the transcendent God represents an absolute standard of what is morally good, right, and praiseworthy.

Yet as many have noted, when the materialistic worldview of evolution is taken to its rational conclusions, it tells us that there is no such divine, objective, and absolute standard of morality.

Evolution is, at its most basic, a heartless and merciless concept. Life advances when the strong dominate the weak. Passing on your genes is the only goal—no matter what pain, suffering, or death may result. There is no moral code governing the process—there is only survival or extinction.

In his groundbreaking book The Selfish Gene, famous evolutionist Richard Dawkins makes an important and honest observation. He writes:

My own feeling is that a human society based simply on the gene’s law of universal ruthless selfishness would be a very nasty society in which to live. But unfortunately, however much we may deplore something, it does not stop it being true (1976, p. 3).

To his credit, Dawkins argues that understanding the ruthless and merciless nature of evolution allows us to resist our natures to seek what he calls “a common good.”

Yet, apart from a transcendent God, what is the “common good” and why should we care about it?

In a world in which mankind has simply evolved through blind acts of molecules and chemicals, there is no source of any higher “moral law” to be concerned about. The lion isn’t guilty of murder when it kills and eats the zebra. The cobra isn’t guilty of theft or infanticide when it steals eggs from a nest.

In his book The Humanist Alternative, philosopher and secular humanist Paul Kurtz notes that:

If man is a product of evolution, one species among others, in a universe without purpose, then man’s option is to live for himself… (1973, p. 179).

For instance, there is nothing in the concept of “evolution” that serves to condemn the Holocaust of World War II, or to denounce a serial rapist or child abuser. If the Nazis acted as human lions and their victims were the equivalent of human zebras, evolution has nothing to say about the matter. And under evolution, there is nothing immoral about rape, slavery, even murder. All things become a matter of what one can get away with, with no higher power able to hold us accountable.

But is that true? Do we believe the Holocaust, the many slaughters of Joseph Stalin, or the butchery of the Rwandan genocide were anything but objectively evil? Is rape, murder, or the torturing of the innocent anything but objectively evil?

Now, look around and ask yourself: Are we living in a world that seems increasingly moral, upright, and good, or morally and ethically adrift, in confusion, and directionless? Are we increasingly living in a world that embraces a common right and wrong, or are we increasingly living in a world where the strong and powerful make rules that they don’t need to follow themselves—like Richard Dawkins’ “very nasty society” in which all are free to do all they can get away with?

When evolution whispers to society that “There is no absolute standard of morality,” the signs all around us seem to suggest that society is listening.

Lie 3: Life Has No Meaning

Yet, the third lie of evolution might, in its own way, be the most destructive of them all.

This third lie is profound in its reach and consequences. It is that “Life has no purpose or meaning.”

Have you ever asked yourself: Why were you born? Why were any of us born? What is our reason for being alive? Why does mankind exist? Why do I exist? What is your purpose for being, and the meaning of your life?

Even if we never put words to them, there is something about us as human beings that almost compels us to search for meaning and purpose.

Even the famous King David of Israel did so. We see him ask this in Psalm 8:4.

What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?

We need to know there is a meaning to our lives. We need a purpose. We long to know that our life has value and significance, and we suffer when we feel we have none.

When we go through hardship or difficult times, we need to know that there is a purpose behind it all—that we aren’t going through these difficulties for nothing and that our lives and experiences really do mean something in the larger scheme of things.

Purpose and meaning enrich our lives, give us hope, and equip us with what we need to endure the inevitable trials and times of suffering that arise in our lives.

Viktor Frankl, the famous psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, once wrote in his classic work, Man’s Search for Meaning:

What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him (1963, p. 166).

Frankl had learned through harsh experience that meaning and purpose is something essential to our make-up and composition.

Yet evolution says:

• There is no real or transcendent purpose for existence.
• Life is a meaningless accident—and even human life is merely the end result of a long chain of accidents.
• Life and mankind are not the result of planning or intention, according to evolution—rather, just how the molecules happened to come together. In another universe, they might come together differently—or, not at all.
• Randomness reigns in evolution—purposeless, mindless randomness, filtered by death and suffering in the meaningless struggle for survival in a universe that doesn’t care.

Of course, many atheists and evolutionists will tell you that this simply means you are free to determine your own meaning in life. Maybe it’s to plant flowers, or study literature, or feed the homeless, or prove UFOs are real—the choice is up to you.

But that doesn’t work, does it? We don’t want to imagine a purpose or meaning to our lives. We want to know that there is a real, objective, transcendent meaning to it all. Life is too hard, too cruel for us to settle for fantasies.

And when we ask it for a purpose to human life, our own lives, evolution answers plainly: There is none.

Evolutionist George Gaylord Simpson famously wrote in his book The Meaning of Evolution:

Man is the result of a purposeless and natural process that did not have him in mind. He was not planned (1951, p. 179).

Similarly, in his own book River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life, Richard Dawkins notes,

In a universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference (1995, p. 133).

In fact, Dawkins said it even more bluntly in an interview for Omni magazine.

You are for nothing. You are here to propagate your selfish genes. There is no higher purpose to life (Thomas Bass, “Interview with Richard Dawkins,” Omni, January 1990, 60).

My friends, this worldview has consequences. How much of the societal chaos we have seen over the last decade has been rooted in the idea that we have no common, transcendent purpose—given to us by our common, transcendent Creator?

How many people even now, as I speak, are making choices in their lives with what they do to their minds and bodies, based on the fact that there is no meaning in their existence? That there is no ultimate purpose to their lives?

Without meaning and purpose, there is no hope.

Is it any wonder that our children—taught from their first year in school to their last to believe in the theory of evolution—increasingly seem lost, hopeless, and without a sense of meaning in the world? Is there nothing in life but to eat, survive, and exist in a world where our lives are meaningless?

Absolutely not. The lie that we are nothing but bags of meat and chemicals simply biding our time until we expire and return to dust and nothingness is a Satanic lie.

There is purpose and meaning in life. And we do not have to accept the lies of evolution.

1. Lie #1 was man is merely another animal.
2. Lie #2 was there is no absolute standard of morality.
3. And lastly, lie #3 was life has no meaning or purpose.

Before we conclude, I have to point out: Just because we do not like conclusions, that doesn’t mean they are not true.

For instance, we may not like what evolution implies—that man is an animal, or there is not objective morality or purpose to life. But our dislike of those conclusions is not enough to say that evolution is false. What is true and false is not determined by what we want to be true or false.

But the fact is that evolution is not true. Life did not evolve from some bacteria-like creature more than 3 billion years ago, no matter how many scientists tell you otherwise on popular science programs and no matter how many teachers or professors say so in their classrooms. If you want to understand what those so-called experts rarely admit, then you need today’s free offer on evolution and creation.

Three Truths About God’s Creation

And because evolution is not true, God is very real, and you and I are both very much His creations—crafted by his own hands for His good pleasure—then every lie told by evolution is replaced by its exact opposite and turned into a proclamation of hope.

• Man is not just another animal, but is created in the very image of His Creator—the pinnacle of God’s creative works.
• There is an objective morality at work in the world—with real good and real evil. And right and wrong is not determined solely by the whims of the strong and powerful.
• And life does have meaning and purpose. There is hope in our suffering and our struggles, because our creator has made us with a plan and a purpose for us to fulfill in our lives.

The fullness of that plan and purpose is too great for us to discuss in detail here in our last remaining moments, but I encourage you to check out our website at TomorrowsWorld.org. We have a wealth of free information there at your disposal. In fact, I can hardly think of a better way to learn than going to our website, and typing “purpose of life” in the search box.

No, evolution can’t teach you the purpose of life. But our website can.

For now, let me allow the Apostle Paul to comment on that transcendent purpose. In Romans 8, he writes of our purpose and the hope that purpose gives, even in times of trial and suffering.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans 8:18–21).

An eternal existence in the family of God, bringing liberty to all of creation, just one facet of the beautiful purpose of life—your life—that can be learned and understood and embraced by those willing to learn, understand, and embrace the truth.

That purpose cannot be discovered by logic or science, but is revealed in Scripture by God. Evolution and the lies it brings do nothing but obscure it, hide it. That purpose gives meaning to life, in all its good days and bad days.

What God offers to us all through His Son Jesus Christ is almost beyond comprehension, and the hope it provides is almost beyond imagination. But it is only available to those who can look beyond the lies woven by the myth of evolution and fix their mind on the truth. For them, as Christ said almost 2,000 years ago:

“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

Thanks for watching. If you found this video helpful, check out more of our content or hit subscribe to stay up to date on what we publish. If you want the free study guide related to this topic, just click the link in the description. See you next time.