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

Celebration of Life for Evangelist Richard F. Ames (1936–2024)

Warm greetings to all our friends around the world.

We invite you to join us every week on Tomorrow’s World.

Your Bible gives us keys to face the challenges in our lifetime.

My friends, now is the time to seek God.

My friends, we need to face reality.

One of the greatest mysteries of life is the question: What are human beings doing here on Earth?

God has an awesome plan for all human beings. His desire is that all men be saved.

Pray for Thy Kingdom to come.

Your Bible plainly reveals a successful and abundant way of life.

What is the purpose and meaning of your life? Do you know what you’ll be doing for all eternity? Do you know what lies ahead in your ultimate future? The answers will surprise you, maybe even astound you. Stay tuned.

Honoring Richard Ames’ Life of Service

Gerald Weston: Many of you viewers know of Mr. Richard Ames from his 25 years as a television presenter and writer for Tomorrow’s World, where he courageously proclaimed the plain truth straight from the pages of the Bible. He taught the inspiring teachings of Jesus Christ, the encouraging good news of the coming Kingdom of God and the glorious world to come. And he gave clarity to exciting end-time prophecies and their meaning.

But we’re saddened to inform you that Mr. Ames died July the 4th of this year at the age of 88.

Today I’m joined by fellow evangelists and Tomorrow’s World television presenters, Wallace Smith and Rod McNair, where we’ll reminisce about our dear friend and brother in Christ.

Richard Ames was a longtime teacher and a friend to many of you who appreciated his many telecasts and magazine articles, and the booklets that he wrote.

Some of you met him personally at one of our Tomorrow’s World live presentations. And members of the Living Church of God, the sponsor of Tomorrow’s World, likely met him at one of our weekly Sabbath services, or while observing one of the annual biblical holy days and festivals.

So please join us now as Wallace Smith, Rod McNair, and I discuss the dynamic life of Richard Franklin Ames, the man who was familiar to so many of you.

Richard Ames: A Pillar in the Work of God

Gerald Weston: A warm welcome to all of you from all of us here at Tomorrow’s World.

I was driving to Texas when I learned of the death of our friend and longtime associate, Richard Ames. My wife, Carol, and I were able to fly back to Charlotte for the funeral, but due to a herniated disc, I was unable to officiate at the funeral as planned. And Mr. Rod McNair stepped in at the last minute.

You may not be aware of this, but Mr. Ames was Rod McNair’s uncle by marriage, so it was fitting that he was the one who filled in for me.

Now, Rod, you had a special relationship with Mr. Ames because you are a relative, and I’m sure there were many occasions that you had the opportunity to share, especially in the last couple weeks of his life.

You and your brother spent a lot of time at the hospital helping out, encouraging, listening to what he had to say and things he wanted to pass along, and helping his wife out as well.

So perhaps you can tell us a little bit more about this man that we’re honoring today.

Rod McNair: Thank you, Mr. Weston, and it was a real honor to do the funeral for Mr. Ames.

He has been such a pillar in the work for so many years.

Milestones in Richard Ames’ life

Maybe it would be helpful for our viewers to hear a little bit about the background of this man that many of them have gotten so familiar with through the telecast. Mr. Ames was born in and raised in Meriden, Connecticut. He was the co-captain on his football team, as well as being a local radio station announcer, even as a teenager.

He had a civil engineering degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1959, as well as a graduate program at Yale in traffic and transportation engineering in 1961. Of course, he was in Norfolk, Virginia, after graduation, and he worked with the Southeast Virginia Regional Planning Commission there for a short time.

Mr. Ames’ path to the ministry began with Herbert W. Armstrong

Around that time, he was watching or listening to the World Tomorrow program by Mr. Herbert Armstrong and received the Plain Truth magazine.

And for Mr. Ames, it was like nothing he’d ever heard. This was straight from the Bible. It was explaining prophecy. It was explaining it in a time at the height of the Cold War, giving hope for the future in a time when things were a bit dicey. So it was very, very encouraging to him, and he began learning about the truth from the Bible—from Mr. Armstrong.

He then enrolled in Ambassador College in 1961, and that was in Pasadena, California. And that’s where he met his wife, Kathryn, and they were married for many years. They just were short of 60 years when he died, about two months short. He served as an instructor at the college for many years, and that’s where I first began to be closely associated with him when I went to college.

He was ordained as a minister of Jesus Christ in 1965, and thus began his calling in the ministry.

In the Living Church of God, he served as a media director and telecast presenter. But I also just want to point out to our viewers that when Mr. Armstrong died in 1986, Mr. Ames was one of those who was selected to be a presenter on the World Tomorrow program.

So really, all the way up until April of 2024, just a couple of months before he died, he was recording telecasts—almost 40 years. And so a whole generation of viewers are familiar with Mr. Ames, and he really just set a remarkable example of a servant of God laboring in the field, so to speak, for a long, long time.

Gerald Weston: As I recall, I first met Mr. Ames on the basketball court at Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas. I doubt that he remembers me very much, but I certainly remembered him. I was a ministerial trainee in southeastern Texas and parts of Louisiana.

But I know that, Wally, you’ve had a lot of experience with him. Your first recollections of him, as well as more, you were working in editorial under Mr. Ames, where he was the department head of editorial, as well as media.

And so I know you had some unique relationships there, going over cover selections for the magazine, as well as what was coming up for the articles in the future. So maybe you could share some of the things that you learned about Mr. Ames from your experiences.

Richard Ames Upheld a Standard of Precision

Wallace Smith: I would be glad to.

The first time I remember interacting with him in any sort of professional sense, he was visiting a congregation I attended before I was in the ministry in Texas, and I happened to be speaking that day. It was a small message, and he was in the audience. And then towards the end of the day, as he was about to go home, he let me know that if I felt brave enough, I could ask him for a critique later.

And for those who don’t know him, Mr. Rod McNair just talked about how he was an instructor for many students at Ambassador College. He was sort of famous for his very thorough but loving, loving critiques. And then, I had no idea that I would be working so closely with him later when I was added to the telecast in 2006. He had such a passion for doing things precisely, for getting things exactly right.

I remember one of the first comments he made to me on the telecast. He let me know, “Wally, this isn’t Texas anymore. It’s Zechariah, not ‘Zachariah.’” I wanted to make sure it was dialed in just right.

And then working for him, as was just mentioned, he was the director of all of our media operations, and editorial is under that.

“Look to the Bible to see how God says it”

And as the executive editor, working with him to fine-tune the articles to try to understand exactly what is it we want to highlight in this situation or that, he was so particular, in particular wanting to get the scriptures right. He wanted to make sure that what we said was exactly what was supposed to be said, exactly what God wanted out of that particular message.

He said, “If there’s confusion about how to say something, maybe we should look at the Bible and see how God says it.” And he would often just sharpen our focus by pointing us to the actual words of Scripture.

And the scriptures were so important to him, and often he didn’t have to look it up to tell us what it said precisely, because he knew it.

King David writes in the Psalms about hiding “Your word in my heart.” And Mr. Ames was frequently highlighting how this verse is worth memorizing, and that verse is worth memorizing. And he started to get the impression over time that he thought the entire Bible was worth memorizing. And it seemed as though he had that in him. So really working under his guidance in the editorial department, and here in the media department more broadly, really was a privilege.

Richard Ames was a grandfather figure and shepherd, setting a high bar of expectations

Gerald Weston: Your reference to his correction on Zechariah reminds me of one that he gave me. And I always appreciated it, because it was done in love, and I knew that it was. He mentioned that I should not say “becuz” and I always use that—that’s the way I grew up, “becuz.”

And he said it’s “because.” And it was a bit difficult for me at first, because I had to remember it. And oftentimes I would say “becuz,” and then I would correct myself with “because.” It drove my wife nuts, because I would say it both ways. So it was quite a transition. It took several months for me to change that, and still I go back to “becuz” occasionally, but I do try to say “because.”

Rod McNair: One of the things that he talked to me about—this is just a few weeks before he died—of course, as you mentioned, while he was in the hospital and then in the physical therapy facility. And in one of my visits, I was there, and we were talking, and he said, “Well, Rod, you just said, ‘yeah.’”

I had a proclivity to say the word “yeah” instead of “yes.”

And he said, “About seven years ago,” and I remember this seven years ago, “I talked to you about not using the word ‘yeah.’” And he said, “After seven years, I thought it was about time to bring it up again.” So I have to say, every time something like that’s come up, he’s been right. And it’s been helpful.

Wallace Smith: And it was a loving way. He wasn’t about holding it over you. He wasn’t trying to put you down, because he always wanted to start with something positive, something encouraging, before he would drop the hammer a bit. And sometimes I feel he did have to reach a bit to find something positive he wanted to say before he brought up his critique, but he was very consistent about that.

“I always felt his influence over really all of us, sort of shepherding us, was very grandfatherly” (Wallace Smith).

It was very affectionate in that way.

Mr. Ames himself set an example of humility and willingness to accept correction

Rod McNair: You know, the other thing about that is he also took correction, criticism.

Gerald Weston: There’s a very famous one about Passover time and examining oneself, and he would ask Mrs. Ames one thing that he could change. Every year it seemed like he did that. And of course, he then added it was just one thing—not two, three, and four. So he recognized he had a number of faults. And I think he had a little book, as I recall, a little notebook that he would carry, and he would write down lessons that he learned in life. He was very precise, very, very deliberate about those things.

Quotable Quotes by Richard Ames

Rod McNair: He was sort of a student of life, wasn’t he? Like you say, I recall that made an impression on me years and years ago, that he would actually carry around a little book and write down things that you learn in the situation, and the date, and he would have them numbered—as a student of life.

“Don’t overlook the obvious”

Gerald Weston: You know, one of the things I always appreciated was his little pithy statements like, “Don’t overlook the obvious.” And I can’t remember how many times I heard that, in meetings where we were discussing some situation, or perhaps to a newer minister preparing a sermon. It might be on the subject of “which day is the Christian Sabbath?” And we know a lot of things about that, and we can all speak on that subject. But he would say, “Don’t overlook the obvious.”

In other words, go back. Read the booklet because maybe there’s something you missed before. And he wanted us to look to those things that we have written before. It’s not that we can’t change, not that we can’t grow. But don’t overlook the obvious—the things that we’ve already said on a subject.

Wallace Smith: And that was one of his guiding lights in editorial when it came to magazine covers or titles. You know, often we’re doing our best to create something interesting. We want it to grab people’s attention, and sometimes we can be too artful by half, just a bit. Or at least we think we’re being too artful. And he’d have to remind us:

Don’t overlook the obvious.

Will this person actually know what in the world they’re about to read, based on this title? And he was very, very plainspoken in that way.

“God reigns supreme”

Wallace Smith: One of his statements that I enjoyed—I think I’ve actually stated a number of times on the telecast, because it’s impacted me—and I think he said he got it from Mr. Herbert Armstrong first, I’m not sure. But he liked to remind all of us that “God reigns supreme.”

He saw his life as one in which God is reigning. You know your comment about him taking little notes in a book, and he was probably one of the first individuals I had ever met in my life who was so committed to constantly growing, constantly moving forward in life. And I saw that as a reflection of that statement that God reigns supreme. In every area of his life and in everything going on in the world, he’d be comforted by that. And it was comforting to hear him say that God reigns supreme.

And there’s times with the way the world is going, and so many different challenges here and there, and so much turmoil, that I’m very grateful that he would emphasize that so often. I reflect on the fact that even if we don’t know all of the details, even if something might seem personally challenging, or challenging in the world, there’s great comfort in simply those three words:

God reigns supreme.

And I just thought it was a wonderful expression of his faith because his life seemed to reflect a real belief in that statement.

Rod McNair: But he would say it’s the greatest reality of the universe in three words: God reigns supreme.

“Claim God’s promises”

Rod McNair: You know another saying that he would say a lot is “claim God’s promises.”

And in a number of messages that he put together, he would simply go through and look at so many promises in the Bible and of course, the Bible is full of promises from God.

But he had a way of putting them together and pulling them out. And it meant something to him. It was very meaningful that God promises things, and we need to claim His promises.

Gerald Weston: I remember he talked about wanting to go to Jerusalem, and scriptures that talk about our hearts’ desires. He gives us all things that are in our hearts, desires that are positive and good. And he claimed that promise to be able to go to Jerusalem, or Israel, and it took many, many years. But God opened that door for him, and he was able to do so. And he did live that. He claimed God’s promises. That wasn’t just a saying. It was a saying, but it was something that he lived and he believed.

Richard Ames Taught How to Apply Scriptures in Daily Christian Lifestyle

Gerald Weston: You know, he was a wonderful student of the Bible. That should go without saying. But he had a lot of favorite scriptures. And what I really liked about his favorite scriptures, some of them were rather obvious. Some of them are memorization scriptures.

Memory Verse #1: Ephesians 3:20

But I want to read one here that I learned from because I never really thought of it this way. He had a way of taking something that might be obscure or something that you could just read over and think, it’s just certain words. But he had a way of bringing out the meaning of it.

And that’s over here in Ephesians the third chapter and verse 20, where it says:

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us (Ephesians 3:20).

Now the point that he made on that is that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.

In other words, we may ask for certain things. We may not even think about certain things, but God is able to go way above and beyond in His blessings toward us. And that kind of goes along with claiming God’s promises. But he shows here that He even goes above those things that we claim. And that was very meaningful to me, because I could read right over that and not catch the meaning of it. But he was able to draw that out, and he had many other famous scriptures that he looked to.

Memory Verse #2: Matthew 6:33

Wallace Smith: You know, he did, and some were more obscure. Some were obvious in some ways, you might think. At the same time, he turned even the obvious ones into a means by which how he actually acted on a day-to-day basis. So that sometimes if something’s more familiar, we can take it for granted and actually sort of lose the focus it should give us.

And one of those that I do think of is in Matthew 6 and verse 33, where Jesus Christ said that we were to:

Seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33).

And then if we did that, all these other things we worry about would be added to us. And so think about that verse: Seek first the kingdom of God.

But for Mr. Ames, it really was a guiding principle. It became something where you make even small decisions based upon what this verse says.

I know when it comes to the telecast, he would often remind me—because we talk about so much, we talk about different things going on in the world, we talk about different problems—but he would remind me that the point of it all is to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God.

And no matter what you say, if it’s in an article, if it’s in a television program, because that’s what we want our readers and viewers thinking about is the Kingdom of God. We need them putting that first in their life, in everything they do. And so for him, these memory scriptures, they really weren’t just simply an academic exercise.

They really were these guideposts that he did weave into his own life, and his own choices, and his advice to others.

Rod McNair: Didn’t he also use Matthew 6:33 for students in his classes?

Wallace Smith: He did so. And I’ve heard this from multiple students, even some that hadn’t seen him for years. When they find out that I work with him, they say, “Oh, does he still talk about this?”

He would talk about setting your alarm clock for particular times to remind you of various verses. So if you would want to get up, some I think early, some may not, but you want to get up at 6:30 in the morning. He would say, “Well, you know, if you give yourself just three more minutes of sleep, you can set your alarm for 6:33, and then you’ll wake up thinking, ‘Seek first the kingdom of God.’”

So he even encouraged the students to try to dial in their alarm clocks, to remind them of some of these important scriptures.

Memory Verse #3: Romans 8:28

Rod McNair: I remember him talking about that and explaining that in some of his classes, and then having a student raise their hand, his or her hand, and say, “Well, Mr. Ames, my favorite Scripture is Romans 8:28. So I want to set my alarm clock for 8:28.”

But that was another scripture that really jumps out at you from him.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

And I think over the years, different trials that he’s been through that he was very candid about—he had back problems years ago, but when he would speak and talk about some of these issues, he would remind all the rest of us that he learned things from that.

And all things work together—if we love God and are called according to His purpose. It doesn’t mean that everything in the world works out well. But if we love God, and we’re called, and we’re responding to that calling, it’s going to work out.

Richard Ames Taught the Seven Laws of Success

Gerald Weston: I remember one time when I was at the summer camp up in Michigan, and your brother Jonathan and I were sitting in the back of the chapel there, and we had about 200 students and staff that were sitting in front of us, and he was going through the Seven Laws of Success.

And when he got to the fourth one, the fourth law of success was “Drive.” And of course, he drove himself. That was very clear. He was a type A personality. And so when he came to the fourth one with all the students in Ambassador College, when he said, “The fourth law of success is?” He expected them to raise their fist and say, “Drive.”

And so we were sitting there at the back of the chapel, and here are all these young campers, and they had no idea of the way that Mr. Ames did that. And so your brother and I were sitting in the back, and we planned that when he got to number four, we would stand up and yell, “Drive,” which we did. And everybody kind of wondered, what’s going on here? And I think we shocked him as well. He was surprised that anybody would do that, but he was the one that taught all the students to drive themselves.

Mr. Ames Was Never Too Busy to Make Time for Other People

Rod McNair: There are so many memories when you think about the life of Mr. Ames.

Some of the things that I think about are how he would be involved in the local congregation. If there was a picnic, if there was an activity, he would always be there.

He also would always talk to everyone, and in particular to young people.

I just have a lot of mental images and memories of him talking to teenagers, preteens, always wanting to find out something about their life. And he would remember it. Later on when he would talk to them, he’d be asking them, “Well, how’s that project in school going there?“ You know, “How’s that sport that you’re playing? How’s that going?”

“He was never too busy to care about other people“ (Rod McNair).

Wallace Smith: You know, that does remind me, the last conversation I had with him in the hospital, when he was there under hospice care at the time, I felt like he was serving me more than I was serving him.

And that’s one of the things he did. He asked me, “Well, tell me, what’s the biggest thing going on in each of your sons’ lives?” And he remembered their names. He never lost that it was really about people. It’s not just about some academic exercise. It’s about getting that truth to people. He cared about people.

And one of my favorite stories was at one of our Feast of Tabernacles observances in the Living Church of God. It was in the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, and it was a large group of people. And there were so many who wanted to meet Mr. Ames. So many people had made appointments with him. His dance card, if you would, was always full because Mr. Ames was in great demand. And my mother-in-law had approached him sometime, asking if maybe he could stop by for dinner, at our condo or something, to spend some time.

And he was just too busy. He wished he could, but the time that we’d had available then, he wasn’t going to be available. But he didn’t forget her, just this one woman in this whole crowd of people. And as they were arranging their plans to get to their flight, because they were serving at multiple locations over that time, as busy as he was with all of his luggage in the car, he went and grabbed my mother-in-law and said, “I could make some time. I’d love to have breakfast with you and your family if we could.”

And so they ended up stopping by for breakfast. We had breakfast tacos. It wasn’t anything elaborate, and it wasn’t expected. But the idea that as busy as they were for someone, that what you might not consider important in some way—just a regular person, regular family, two crying kids—they still made time, taking care of God’s people. And investing in them and getting to know them was so important to Mr. Ames and Mrs. Ames.

“None of us were too small. He was just one of us, and he loved us, and we loved him for it” (Wallace Smith).

Richard Ames’ Life Mission: Turn Many to Righteousness

Gerald Weston: Wally, thank you for sharing these things that you’ve learned from Mr. Ames, and Rod as well. I think we’ve brought some insight to our audience that they may not know.

But I see that we’re out of time, and we need to wrap this up. So I have to ask the question: How does one sum up a life of 88 years in a half hour?

We’ve only given you a few highlights, some memorable moments, regarding our colleague and friend. He touched the lives of many thousands, and each one could add his own memory of the man.

One scripture we did not mention earlier is Daniel 12 and verse three, where it says:

Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever (Daniel 12:3).

And yes, his mission in life was to turn many to righteousness. And he understood from the pages of the Bible the meaning of life.

And that’s why we want to share that magnificent hope with all of you viewers. Today’s free offer asks the most important question of all: What Is the Meaning of Life? And it’s not likely what you’ve been taught.

Seriously, friends, what can be more important than understanding why God gave you life? So write down the number shown on the screen, and call to order your absolutely free copy of What Is the Meaning of Life? Just tell the operator that you want today’s offer. That’s all you need.

Or you can order What Is the Meaning of Life? from our website at TWTV.org/Life.

“Richard Ames understood God’s plan for mankind, and that’s why he sought first the Kingdom of God. And that is why his life’s mission was to turn many to righteousness, that they, too, might share in that wonderful plan” (Gerald Weston).

Until next time, Wallace Smith, Rod McNair, and I will continue to bring you the good news of the coming Kingdom of God and the plain truths straight from the pages of the Bible.

See you next time.

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

Who Do You Think Jesus Is?

Ask five different people about Jesus Christ and you’ll likely get five different opinions. However, one question sits at the heart of the religion that bears His name: Is Jesus God?

And today, we’re going to answer that question. Don’t go away!

Overwhelming Historical Evidence That Jesus Christ Was a Real Person

Greetings, and welcome to Tomorrow’s World, where we help you to make sense of your world through the pages of the Bible. We’re glad you’re here, and today’s question is one of the most important questions you could ever ask: Is Jesus God?

This question about Jesus is important. Estimates indicate around 2.4 billion people in the world claim Christianity as their religion—almost half-a-billion more than claim Islam and more than a billion more than claim Hinduism. Yet, even as almost one-third of the planet claims a religion centered on the person of Jesus Christ, many of those same people disagree on exactly who He really was.

For some, even some claiming to be Christian, Jesus was simply a man—a Jewish teacher in the first century, who just happened to have an outsized impact on world culture. The late Shelby Spong, a bishop in the Episcopal Church, was quite famous for his stance that Jesus was not actually God, was not born from a virgin, and was never resurrected.

Other religions claiming to be Christian teach different things about Jesus’ divinity. Some teach that Jesus was a created being, like the angels. Some identify Him with the archangel Michael. Others claim that Jesus and the Devil were brothers in the past. And others, further, claim that Jesus and the Father are the very same person, and not two separate divine persons, at all.

Outside of nominal Christianity, ideas vary, as well. Some religions consider Jesus to have been a holy man, or wise guru, or even a prophet, but not truly divine in the way God is divine. Others consider Him a manifestation of God, like an avatar, or some sort of ascended master in the manner of new age teachings.

And then, there are those who don’t think He ever existed—as if He were a figment of the imagination, or a fiction created in the first century to form the basis of a new religion.

Perhaps we should tackle this question first, in the event some of you have been infected by this pernicious lie.

There is abundant evidence that Jesus of Nazareth did, indeed, exist. Even if we treat the New Testament not as Scripture, but as a mere human product of history, just like Homer’s Iliad or Caesar’s commentaries, it provides abundant evidence that Jesus was a real person, going back to within two or three decades of His life. We even have a fragment from the gospel of John, the famous Rylands Library Papyrus P52, that dates back to within a handful of years after the Apostle John is believed to have written it.

And, outside of the New Testament, a number of secular historical records refer to Jesus and the impact of His teachings and example in the first century. The contemporary Jewish historian Josephus, the Roman historian Tacitus, and Pliny the Younger all speak of Jesus Christ as a real person—much too early in the historical record for some imaginary account to have taken hold so profoundly.

In fact, one of the most effective defenders of the very real existence of Jesus Christ is New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman. While Ehrman has publicly declared that he does not believe Jesus was divine, does not believe in the supernatural, and does not consider himself a Christian, he is just as clear that the evidence for Jesus’ existence is overwhelming.

Referring to those who claim Jesus’ existence is just a myth, Ehrman writes,

“It is fair to say that mythicists as a group, and as individuals, are not taken seriously by the vast majority of scholars in the field of New Testament, early Christianity, ancient history, and theology” (Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth, 2012. p. 20).

In fact, almost all scholars, secular and religious alike, tend to agree. As Ehrman summarizes,

“Despite the enormous range of opinion, there are several points on which virtually all scholars of antiquity agree. Jesus was a Jewish man, known to be a preacher and teacher, who was crucified (a Roman form of execution) in Jerusalem during the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea” (p. 12).

In short, those who say that Jesus never existed should be taken as seriously as those who say the tooth fairy or Santa Claus do exist.

Facts are facts. And the man Jesus of Nazareth did live and walk this earth around two thousand years ago in Judea, teaching around the Sea of Galilee and in Jerusalem.

But is that where the story ends? A great teacher dies in His early thirties and just happens to have a religion founded in His name? Or was Jesus more than a man?

Jesus Christ Was God in the Flesh—but Also Preincarnate

And the question at the heart of our discussion today—is Jesus God?—is either true or false. So, which is it?

Admittedly, that idea that Jesus could be God, like God the Father is God, is a large and audacious claim, to be sure! And the only way to know is to let God, Himself, reveal the answer to us.

Let the scholars and skeptics have their opinions and debate their conclusions. What should concern us is what God says of Jesus. What DOES God’s word say? Was Jesus merely a man? Or, perhaps, something greater than a man but less than God, like an angel? Or was He truly GOD in the flesh?

The Bible answers these questions plainly: JESUS IS GOD!

In fact, His identity as God was declared long before He was even born!

In his gospel, Matthew explains that Jesus’ virgin birth had been prophesied long before by Isaiah:

“So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:22–23).

That’s right: Jesus is, literally, “God with us”!

The Apostle John, in his gospel account, explains this in some detail. Let’s read it in John 1, beginning in verse 1:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:1–5).

The “Word”—or, in Greek, the “Logos” or “Spokesman”—is the One who became Jesus Christ. In the event it is not clear, John specifies a few verses later:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

John is plain. The One now known as Jesus Christ had been with God and was, Himself, God also! He had been with God in eternity past, before Creation existed. In fact, in His final Passover on this earth, Jesus prayed that after His crucifixion He would be returned to this state of glory with His Father—back to the state of eternal co-existence they had known before He became flesh. We read it in John 17 and verse 5, where Jesus prays,

“And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5).

Yes, existing in eternity past with the One we now call the Father, Jesus, too, was God! John calls Him the Word, or the Logos in Greek. This is because He has always been the Spokesman for God, representing the Father’s will and the Father’s word. Jesus says this in John 12:

“For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak” (John 12:49).

Jesus plainly knew who He was—one of the two divine members of the God Family. During His ministry, he made numerous statements illustrating this—so clearly that Jewish authorities sought to stone Him for what they saw as blasphemous claims.

In John 8, for instance, Jesus speaks of the ancient patriarch Abraham, beginning in verse 56:

“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”

Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”

“Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:56-58).

There should be no doubt about this statement! Jesus did NOT say, “Before Abraham was, I was.” He said “before Abraham was, I AM.” That otherwise-ungrammatical statement is a direct call-back to God’s statement to Moses:

“And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you’” (Exodus 3:14).

The Jews of Jesus’ day understood His claim and sought to stone Him for it. Later, He makes a similar claim of His own divinity. We see this in John 10:

“I and My Father are one.”

Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.

Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?”

The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God” (John 10:30–33).

Yes, Jesus knew who He was—and the religious leaders of His day understood exactly what His claims meant!

Not only did Jesus understand who He was, His first century followers did, as well. And if He is anything less than God, then the core beliefs, practices, and truths of Christianity become a lie.

God Created All Things Through Jesus Christ—His Son, the Word, the Savior.

In Colossians 2:2, the Apostle Paul referred to “the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ.” Yes, the godhead consists of the Father and Christ—the two members of the God family.

Speaking of Jesus Christ, Paul writes earlier in Colossians 1, beginning in verse 16:

For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist (Colossians 1:16–17).

Such words echo what we read earlier from John chapter 1, that “all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” That is a very thorough statement!

Henry Ford is properly credited with creating the “Model T” in America, but others were the hands that accomplished the work. So, too, God the Father is our Creator, yet the Bible makes plain whose hands, as it were, did the work: those of the One who became Jesus Christ! All was created through Him and for Him.

Jesus Christ is, in a real way, our Creator, just as the Father is! Together, they are the reason that Genesis 1:26 says, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness….” Because there were TWO God beings speaking! In fact, the Hebrew word translated “God” in this passage, Elohim, is unusual for being a singular word that is plural in form—another hint that there is more to “God” than meets the eye!

Paul is just as blatant in Ephesians 3 and verse 9, where he says he seeks “to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ.”

These passages and others make it clear that Jesus Christ is not an angel, not even the archangel Michael. Note Hebrews 1 and verse 5,

For to which of the angels did He ever say: “You are My Son, today I have begotten You”? And again: “I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son”? (Hebrews 1:5).

And, too, verse 13,

But to which of the angels has He ever said: “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool”? (Hebrews 1:13).

These are rhetorical questions, because the answer is meant to be obvious: To NONE of the angels has God ever said this! They have only been spoken to the Father’s co-creator, who was with God and who was God—the one we now call Jesus Christ.

In fact, all the vital truths at the very heart of the faith of the Bible depend on the truth that Jesus is God.

Consider, how is it that Jesus Christ has standing to die in our stead for our sins? He has that standing because, as our Creator, He can take that responsibility on Himself.

And how is it that His life is sufficient to pay for all of our sins? It is because, as God, His life is worth infinitely more than all of our lives combined—an eternal life given as the payment for the eternal death we’ve earned.

And so, our Creator became a human being, born of a woman, to be able to die and pay that penalty. In explaining this, the Apostle Paul, again, explains just who Jesus really is. Read with me in Philippians 2, where some translations don’t always communicate the fullness of what Paul is saying [vv. 5–8]:

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:5–8).

The New King James’ phrasing here about not considering it “robbery to be equal with God” and “making Himself of no reputation” is awkward, and other translations take it differently.

For instance, the English Standard Version translates verses 6 and 7 this way, saying that Christ, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

Although He existed in glory with God from eternity past, He did not consider that something He had to desperately cling to, but, instead, was willing to empty Himself of His divine prerogatives and become just like us, His creation, to serve us with His life and death.

The awe-inspiring truth of Jesus Christ—the Word, the divine Spokesman of the God Family—is truly humbling to consider. He lowered Himself from glory to become like us, all so that He might one day lift us up to join Him and His Father in that same glory!

But understanding this profound truth about the identity of Jesus is more than an academic exercise.

The God of the Old Testament and the Son of God Are One and the Same.

When we understand who Jesus really is, it is no wonder that the Apostle Thomas, upon seeing the resurrected Christ, called Him “my Lord and My God!” And it is also no wonder that those living under the Family of God in the Millennial reign of the Kingdom of God will refer to Him as “Mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6).

The Word, the Logos, the divine Spokesman for the God Family willingly set aside the indescribable glory, power, and majesty He had eternally shared with the Father to live a perfect human life, set us an example of righteousness, and become our perfect sacrifice so that we might be cleansed of our sins. Then, three days and three nights later, after His death, He was, in the words of Paul, “declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4).

Yet, many who claim to be Christians seek to avoid the full implications of Jesus’ identity as God.

For instance, many write off the God of the Old Testament as cruel and heartless—unlike Jesus, who is seen as loving and merciful. And God’s commandments are often slandered as too restrictive and harsh.

Yet, consider—who was it who thundered the Ten Commandments to ancient Israel on Mount Sinai and served as the Commander of the Army of the Lord, as He called Himself to Joshua?

The Apostle Paul makes the matter clear. We see this in 1 Corinthians 10, beginning in verse 1:

Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ(1 Corinthians 10:1–4).

Yes, it was Jesus Christ—as the divine Logos or Spokesman—who thundered the Ten Commandments!

Consider: Exodus 33 and 34 explain that Moses saw God from behind with His own eyes. And the account of Exodus 24 is even more explicit:

Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity (Exodus 24:9–10).

Note, it says plainly “they saw the God of Israel.” Yet compare that to John 1:18, which says, “No one has seen God at any time,” and Jesus’ words of John 6:46:

“Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.”

Yes, the elders of Israel saw God, but they did not see the Father. Rather, the Member of the God Family they saw was the One who would become the Son, the divine Logos!

So, if it was Jesus Christ who spoke those Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath command, should they not mean more to followers of Jesus Christ than they seem to mean to most self-proclaimed Christians today?

And consider, too, our ultimate destiny. In 1 John 3 and verse 2, note what the Apostle writes to us:

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2).

If we are to become like Christ is now, and Christ now possesses the glory He had with the Father before the world was, then what does that say about the glorious future existence ahead for those who await His return? And what does it say about Jesus’ prayer on His last Passover that His followers may one day be one, just as He and his Father are?

Thanks so much for watching! All of us here at Tomorrow’s World work very hard to produce these videos to help you understand your world through the pages of your Bible.

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

Bible Prophecy Warns of End-Time Catastrophes

The word “Armageddon” is often used to describe earth-destroying dangers. This March 2024 edition of Astronomy magazine features this cover headline: “Cosmic Catastrophes: How the Universe Threatens Life on Earth.” On page 18:

“The Universe is a terrifying place, filled with existential threats. Earth may seem quite solid beneath our feet, but the continued existence of the thin layers of rock, water, and air that sustain us is in no way guaranteed. Errant asteroids, soaring superflares, and exploding supernovae are just a few of the calamities that might befall our fragile world. In the short term, we may be able to manage or mitigate some of these threats. Asteroids can be diverted and power grids hardened. But other apocalypses are inevitable as the solar system ages: a runaway moon, Earth’s collapsing magnetosphere, the sun’s flagging heart. Each one represents a countdown to a different apocalypse, with some more imminent than others” (“These are the ways our world will end,” Astronomy.com, March 1, 2024).

Your Bible confirms such cosmic dangers when the prophesied heavenly signs will terrify humans all over the earth. How will the great men and women react? Revelation 6:15,

“And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’” (Revelation 6:15–17).

Yes, my friends, Bible prophecy reveals dramatic dangers just ahead of us, but also the good news of God’s coming Kingdom ruled by the Messiah, Jesus Christ, as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Surprisingly, when Jesus Christ returns, all the world’s armies and powerful worldly military might will fight against the coming conquering King in the battle of Armageddon.

On today’s program, we’ll be offering an amazing free study guide, Armageddon and Beyond, to help you understand what is ahead for planet Earth. Join us on today’s program and learn who will win the Battle of Armageddon.

Armageddon in the Bible

Warm greetings to all our friends around the world.

The end of the world has often been defined by popular media and entertainment as the Battle of Armageddon. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary gives this definition for Armageddon:

a. the site or time of a final and conclusive battle between the forces of good and evil.

b. the battle taking place at Armageddon” (Armageddon. Merriam-Webster.com, April 2, 2024).

This definition reflects the popular concept of Armageddon, but it is not technically accurate according to your Bible.

If you have your Bible, turn to Revelation the 16th chapter. Here we see that Armageddon, or Megiddo, is rather the gathering place of the world’s armies BEFORE the battle takes place in Jerusalem.

“And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon” (Revelation 16:16).

The Hebrew expression Har Maggedon means the hill or mountain of Megiddo.

The armies of the world will gather in northern Israel at Megiddo before marching south to Jerusalem.

Geographical Location of Armageddon [Megiddo]

Megiddo is located about 55 miles north of Jerusalem in Israel. In ancient times it guarded the main trade route between Egypt and Damascus. It also overlooks the largest plain in Israel, the Valley of Jezreel (as it’s called in the Bible) or the Plain of Esdraelon. The kings of the east cross westward across the Euphrates River. They meet up with other superpower armies at Megiddo.

These armies gather at Armageddon, then move southward to Jerusalem to fight Christ there. Notice Joel 3 and verse 1:

“For behold, in those days and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather ALL nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will enter into judgment with them there” (Joel 3:1–2).

Megiddo: A.K.A. The Valley of Jehoshaphat and Kidron Valley

The Valley of Jehoshaphat is between the Mount of Olives and the city of Jerusalem. It’s also known as the Kidron Valley, which extends southward for some distance. Yes, the Battle of the Great Day of God Almighty will take place at Jerusalem.

Jehoshaphat means “judgment of the Eternal.” God will judge the nations in this climatic battle.

Who will win that battle? We can gain some clues from the prophetic events that lead up to Armageddon. For your sake and the sake of your family, you need to know the sequence of prophetic events that may happen in your lifetime and in the near future.

Three major end-time prophetic events occur before Armageddon

Let’s first review three major events covering the prophesied three and one-half years leading up to Armageddon and the return of Christ to this earth as King of kings and Lord of lords. If you have your Bible, turn to the book of Revelation, or the Apocalypse. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God opens the mysterious scroll sealed with seven seals.

The Seven Seals of Revelation Describe the End Times

The first four of the seven seals reveal four symbolic horsemen. Turn to Revelation the sixth chapter.

The Apostle John, who wrote the book of Revelation under God’s inspiration, sees in vision the famous four horsemen of the Apocalypse. They symbolize, in order:

1. False christs and false religion.
2. War and its devastating effects.
3. Famines that normally follow on the heels of war.
4. Pestilence and disease that follow after famine.

The Apostle John describes the fourth horse and its rider in Revelation 6:8.

“So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a FOURTH of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.”

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Are the First Four Seals of Revelation

The combined power of the four horsemen will bring massive devastation all over the earth. My friends, we need to face reality! Billions of human beings on earth will die—as war, hunger, and disease expand over the planet. Yes, we will face the extreme danger of human annihilation.

The fourth seal of Revelation pictures the four horsemen combining their powers. The world will suffer massive deaths of men, women, and children.

The Fifth and Sixth Seals of Revelation Bring Martyring of Christians, the Great Tribulation, and Heavenly Signs

The fifth seal, as you read in Revelation 6:9, reveals a martyrdom of Christians during the tribulation period of about two and one-half years. Then we read about the sixth seal, which introduces the time of God’s wrath and judgment on the nations. The seal is referred to as the heavenly signs. Revelation 6:12,

“I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place” (Revelation 6:12–14).

While massive upheavals take place during the heavenly signs, we know that the greater danger lies in World War III and Armageddon. What prophetic events follow what has been called “cosmic catastrophes?”

The cosmic disturbances or the heavenly signs, as they are called, introduce the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord is the time of God’s wrath and judgment on an unthankful, rebellious world.

Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, will be wrathful. He’ll execute God’s righteous judgments. The Day of the Lord here in Revelation 6:17 is called “the great Day of His wrath!”

3 Major End-Time Events Before Armageddon: The Great Tribulation, the Heavenly Signs, and the Day of the Lord

The book of Revelation reveals the sequence of prophetic events leading up to the Battle of Armageddon. The one-year Day of the Lord sets the stage for the final battle between good and evil. The Day of the Lord will bring God’s judgments on the nations.

Let’s understand. There are three prophetic milestones leading up to Christ’s return. They are:

1. The Great Tribulation
2. The Heavenly Signs
3. The Day of the Lord

These three events cover a period of about three and one-half years. There are over thirty prophecies in your Bible referring to the Day of the Lord. Isaiah 34:8 and Isaiah 63:4 show that the Day of the Lord in end-time prophecy, the time preceding the Second Coming, is a period of one year. You might want to write down those references: Isaiah 34:8 and Isaiah 63:4.

The beast power and nations of the world fight against Jesus Christ at Armageddon

At the end of this year-long day of the Lord, a revived superpower called the Beast in the book of Revelation will join the military might of other nations to fight against this “invader from outer space,” the returning Messiah, the King of kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. They will fight against Christ at His Second Coming at the Battle of Armageddon. Revelation 17:12,

“The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the Lamb…” (Revelation 17:12–14).

All the military might of the world will try to conquer Christ. But does the world really have that much power to even attempt such a battle? Nine nations around the world are known to have nuclear weapons. The combined power from these weapons could destroy all human life on earth several times over.

On page 5 of the Armageddon booklet, this chart shows the estimated number of nuclear warheads each possesses. They are Russia, the United States, France, China, the United Kingdom, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea.

President Putin of Russia has threatened to use nuclear weapons in the war with Ukraine. This headline is from Associated Press: “Putin warns again that Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons if its sovereignty is threatened.”

“The Russian leader has repeatedly talked about his readiness to use nuclear weapons since launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. The most recent such threat came in his state-of-the-nation address last month, when he warned the West that deepening its involvement in the fighting in Ukraine would risk a nuclear war” (APNews.com, March 13, 2024).

Not only must the world face danger from the nations with nuclear weapons, but other nations and terrorists are seeking weapons of mass destruction as well. A time of great danger, a coming World War III, is coming soon. Regular viewers of Tomorrow’s World know that Bible prophecy reveals the future and the sequence of events leading up to Armageddon. The Apostle John, writing in the first century AD, describes what he saw in vision. Revelation 9:17,

“And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm” (Revelation 9:17–19).

The Book of Revelation Describes Modern Warfare

The Apostle John was seeing in vision 21st Century modern warfare. He was describing weapons of mass destruction in first-century language.

My friends, the threat of nuclear war is still very real. As we just read in Revelation 9, this phase of World War III will kill a third of mankind.

Yes, about two billion people in addition to the two billion previously killed by the four horsemen we read about in Revelation 6:8.

The world is certainly headed for “nuclear annihilation” if God does not intervene to save us. That end-time battle will feature the world’s military might against the returning heavenly army led by the King of kings, Jesus Christ. It is called “the battle of that great day of God Almighty” in Revelation 16:14.

A Revived Roman Empire and 10 Kings Will Fight Against Christ

Who will fight against Christ at His coming? Revelation 17 gives us more details. The revived Roman Empire with its ten kings or kingdoms will use all their military strength to resist the coming conquering King. Revelation 17:12,

“The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the Lamb…” (Revelation 17:12–14).

Who will win that war?

The World’s Armies Gather to Fight Jesus Christ at Armageddon

We’ve seen that all the armies of the world will combine their forces to fight against this “invader from outer space.” They gather at Megiddo, on the largest plain in Israel, the Valley of Jezreel (as it’s called in the Bible) or the Plain of Esdraelon. They then travel the 55 miles down to Jerusalem in the Valley of Jehoshaphat as we saw earlier in Joel 3:1 to fight Christ at His coming. All the combined nuclear power in the world’s armies will be no match against the coming conquering King.

And who will be with the conquering King? Revelation 19 gives the setting just before the battle begins. Genuine Christians will become the wife of Christ. After the resurrection of faithful Christians at the seventh trumpet, the glorified saints proceed to the sea of glass mentioned in Revelation 15:2 for their marriage to the Lamb, Jesus Christ. Revelation 19:6,

“And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, ‘Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.’ And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints” (Revelation 19:6–8).

The glorified saints will dwell with Christ and God the Father for the nine-day period between the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement and return to earth with the King of Kings to conquer the nations and establish the Kingdom of God on earth. Verse 11,

“Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war” (Revelation 19:11).

Now remember Revelation 17:14.

“These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful” (Revelation 17:14).

The victory belongs to Jesus Christ and His saints

Yes, the Lamb, Jesus Christ will overcome them. He will conquer them. The power of God Almighty will vanquish rebellious nations and armies. At last, the prophesied process of world peace can begin with the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. God speed that day!

The conquering King will vanquish the combined military power of all the nations that have turned from fighting themselves, to fighting this “invader from outer space.”

Christ’s Armies in Heaven Will Be the “Called, Chosen, and Faithful” Saints

And who will be with our Savior? “The armies in heaven,” mentioned in Revelation 19:14, will be with Him. Those who are called, chosen, and faithful! That may include you, my friends, if you become a faithful and genuine Christian.

Revelation the 19th chapter gives us more details of this final battle. Revelation 19:19,

“And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh” (Revelation 19:19–21).

Now remember we read earlier that the year-long Day of the Lord is the time of God’s judgment on our rebellious nations. As it states in Revelation 6:17,

“For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

Continuing in Revelation 19, we see confirmed the glorious ruling authority of the coming ruler of planet earth:

“And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:16).

He is the conquering King. Yes, “Who is able to stand?”

Armageddon: The final battle of good vs. evil

Armageddon has been described as the final battle between good and evil. The Commander of heaven’s armies will win this war. And with this great victory, He will usher in the Millennium, a thousand years of peace and prosperity for all nations.

But how will you prepare for these awesome events just ahead of us?

How to Prepare for These End-Time Events: Watch and Pray

Notice the admonition by the Lord Jesus Christ in Luke 21:36:

“Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Perhaps you have not been praying. Now is the time to get down on your knees and cry out to God for a change in your life. Isaiah 55:6-7 tells you how to draw close to God.

“Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7).

Warning: We are in danger of annihilation

Scientists, astronomers, and statesmen are warning us that planet earth is in danger of total destruction. But the greatest warning comes to us from Bible prophecy and the Messiah Himself. He reveals the sequence of end-time events, including the Great Tribulation, the heavenly signs, and the Day of the Lord.

The climactic event is the “battle of that great day of God Almighty” stated in Revelation 16:14, also commonly referred to as the Battle of Armageddon. The kings of the earth and their armies (Revelation 19:19) will gather in northern Israel to fight against the Messiah—Jesus Christ—at His second coming.

The King of kings will conquer these rebellious, oppressive nations. But how can we have world peace when human nature continually rebels against the way of peace?

True Peace Must Come from God

General Douglas MacArthur realized the futility of war and pointed out the need for a spiritual solution. He stated:

“We have had our last chance. If we will not devise some greater and more equitable system, our Armageddon will be at our door. The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advances in science, art, literature and all material and cultural developments of the past two thousand years. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh.”

Yes, it must be of the SPIRIT, if we are to save the flesh.

Why We Must Pray for the Kingdom of God to Come

Beyond Armageddon, the new world government, comprised of Christ and the saints, will teach the way to peace. Yes, during the Millennium, there will be a spiritual recrudescence, or renewal, an improvement of human character and the human spirit. The Kingdom of God will rule over all nations. Pray for that Kingdom to come.

We look forward to the time beyond Armageddon when the prophecy of Zechariah 14:9 will be fulfilled:

“And the Lord shall be King over all the earth.”

Only the Prince of peace can govern the world’s nations with love and justice, guaranteeing a world of prosperity and abundant living for all peoples.

Thank you for watching. We here at Tomorrow’s World make these videos to help you understand your world through the pages of the Bible.

So if you found this helpful, please like, share, and subscribe to our channel so you don’t miss another video.

And if you want to learn more you can request our free Bible study guide—Armageddon and Beyond—just click TWTV.ORG/Armageddon.

See you next time.

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

God Designed Planet Earth to Support Life

We live on a dynamic and beautiful planet. Consider the majestic mountains, the sight and sounds of babbling brooks, and verdant valleys nestled between mountain peaks. There are beautiful glacier-fed lakes, tropical islands, prairies, and plains. Our planet is divided by terrain, temperature, and soil type for growing an amazing variety of foods—rice, wheat, and corn; citrus fruits, almond and walnut trees, mangos, papayas, coconuts, and so much more!

We are refreshed by afternoon showers that clean the air and give needed water for crops and flowering plants of all kinds. We’re intrigued, and sometimes frightened, when huge thunder and lightning storms pass over us, occasionally accompanied by tornados or powerful straight-line winds. Volcanic eruptions are beautiful and awe inspiring, but they can be destructive and deadly. Hurricanes rip apart homes and disrupt lives, as do floods and earthquakes.

How do we make sense of such a dynamic planet? If God is a loving God, how do we explain so-called, natural disasters? Why does He allow disruption, destruction, and desolation—often resulting in sorrow?

Water: A Powerful Force for Life—and Destruction

A warm welcome to all of you, from all of us here at Tomorrow’s World, where we bring you the good news of the coming Kingdom of God, explain end-time prophecies, and make sense of the world in which we live. On today’s program, I’m discussing natural disasters, why they occur, and what God reveals about some in our future.

As explained in the short introduction, we live on an amazing planet. So much so that we could have a thousand programs on the topography, the natural resources, and the diversity of life—the flora and fauna in the waters and on the land. But let us look at one thing we often take for granted, and that is water. It’s both the source for life and a destructive force.

Have you noticed how scientists and science writers look for evidence of water as they explore other planets—primarily Mars? They know that life as we know it is impossible without it. Many have swallowed the idea that if there is water, there may be life. Of course, this fails to take into account the complexity of life and how it is mathematically impossible to create life from non-living material.

Michael Denton pulls the cover off the idea of a “simple cell” when he wrote:

Although the tiniest bacterial cells are incredibly small… each is in effect a veritable micro-miniaturized factory containing thousands of exquisitely designed pieces of intricate molecular machinery… far more complicated than any machine built by man and absolutely without parallel in the non-living world…. The complexity of the simplest known type of cell is so great that it is impossible to accept that such an object could have been thrown together suddenly by some kind of freakish, vastly improbable, event. Such an occurrence would be indistinguishable from a miracle (Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, pp. 250, 264).

The creation of life needs more than water, but water is far more important to life than merely quenching our thirst. Perhaps you have wondered why so much of our planet is covered by oceans composed of salt water—which is not fit, as it is, for our drinking. The oceans make up approximately seventy percent of our planet, but do you realize how important these bodies of water are? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, also known as NOAA, informs us of their many benefits. Here are only a few:

Scientists estimate that roughly half of the oxygen production on Earth comes from the ocean. The majority of this production is from oceanic plankton—drifting plants, algae, and some bacteria that can photosynthesize. One particular species, Prochlorococcus, is the smallest photosynthetic organism on Earth. But this little bacteria produces up to 20% of the oxygen in our entire biosphere. That’s a higher percentage than all of the tropical rainforests on land combined (“How much oxygen comes from the ocean?” OceanService.noaa.gov, August 22, 2023).

Wow! Half our oxygen comes from the oceans and 20% of total oxygen comes from one tiny organism. In addition to pumping oxygen into the atmosphere, NOAA explains that our oceans moderate global temperatures by transporting “heat from the equator to the poles, regulating climate and weather patterns.”

The ocean’s water is constantly circulated by currents. Tidal currents occur close to shore and are influenced by the sun and moon. Surface currents are influenced by the wind. However, other, much slower currents that occur from the surface to the seafloor are driven by changes in the saltiness and ocean temperature, a process called thermohaline circulation. These currents are carried in a large “global conveyer belt...”

This circulation brings warmth to various parts of the globe and also carries nutrients necessary to sustain ocean life...

The circulation process begins as warm water near the surface moves toward the poles (such as the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic), where it cools and forms sea ice. As this ice forms, salt is left behind in the ocean water. Due to the large amount of salt in the water, it becomes denser, sinks down, and is carried southwards in the depths below. Eventually, the water gets pulled back up towards the surface and warms up in a process called upwelling, completing the cycle (“What Is the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)?” OceanService.noaa.gov, January 1, 2023).

There are many more critical life-sustaining benefits provided by our oceans. Huge amounts of water evaporate, forming clouds that drift over land and provide needed rain. And consider the massive amount of food that comes from our oceans.

But our oceans are not always so benevolent.

They sometimes produce storms that cause great destruction in the form of hurricanes and cyclones. And when undersea earthquakes occur, they can produce devastation on a grand scale. In less than ten years, the world experienced two tsunamis. The first in 2004 killed more than a quarter million people along coastal Indian Ocean areas. The second was in Japan, which took as many as 20,000 lives in 2011. Why, if God is a god of love, does He allow such powerful forces on this planet? Can He not prevent them? Or is all this a matter of chance?

When Does God Control the Weather—Including Natural Disasters?

So far, we’ve noted that our home here on earth is beautiful and diverse. How different it is from any other celestial object we’ve been able to observe.

Its oceans, its temperature range, its 24-hour day divided into light and darkness, all shout the message that this planet was made for life—not life as a result of chance, but life by design. But, as we have also noted, there are powerful forces that bring devastation and disaster: volcanos, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes and cyclones, droughts and floods, fires and tornados.

The question is, if God is a loving Creator, why do we see such contrast on earth between the beautiful and the ugly, the beneficial and the destructive? To answer that question, we must go back to the beginning.

God Gives Us the Ability to Make Choices

The Bible tells us that our first parents were placed in a beautiful garden filled with wonderful foods of all sorts. Man was made in God’s likeness and image for a grand purpose. He was given a mind to think, to reason, to invent and innovate, to make decisions far above what any animal kind can do. But these decisions go beyond how to make and construct. Mankind must make decisions on how to relate to others—in other words, moral decisions. Adam and Eve were thus tested to see whether they would trust God’s judgment as to what is good and what is evil, or whether to strike out on their own and determine good and evil for themselves. Adam, who was not deceived by the serpent, chose the latter and mankind has been doing the same ever since.

As a result, God said, in effect, “If you want to do it your own way, have at it, but don’t expect me to bail you out of every jam you get yourself into.”

However, despite our rebellion, God does care for all of His potential children. Note what Jesus said as recorded by Matthew:

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He [that is God] makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:44–45).

Yes, God even gives rain to the unjust. He has not left our environment totally to chance. But notice also that God does manipulate our weather from time to time based on our behavior. To Israel He said,

If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them, then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely (Leviticus 26:3–5).

God Promises Blessings for Obedience and Curses for Disobedience

Can we not see that the God who created the entire universe, can change weather patterns for the good—that is, if we obey Him—but also withhold the good if we despise Him? Here is the result of the latter:

But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, I also will do this to you… (Leviticus 26:14–16).

Now the first thing He said would happen is that He would give His people over to terrorism and disease epidemics. But also:

I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit (Leviticus 26:19–20).

Or, as we read in Deuteronomy 28:24:

The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed (Deuteronomy 28:24).

We see that God makes it possible for the righteous and the unrighteous to survive on earth—giving sun and rain to produce food for man and beast alike.

Expect Worsening Natural Disasters in the End Times

Our home is teeming with life forms of every sort—soaring birds, fleet-footed animals, and creatures that live in our waters. Then there is plant life coming in all shapes and sizes. We’re overwhelmed by the natural process of mountains and islands being formed by volcanic activity. We’re awed by lightning and thunderstorms. But volcanos, severe storms, earthquakes, floods, and droughts can be frightening and devastating. So, I have asked the question, if God is a god of love, why does He allow such destructive forces to plague mankind?

God will send terrible calamities on those who repeatedly reject Him

As we’ve already seen, it’s man that has rejected God, and essentially said, “God leave us alone. Don’t tell us what to do.” And so, He has. But we’ve also seen that He hasn’t left us entirely alone. He makes the sun shine and the rain to come upon both the just and the unjust.

We have also seen that He blesses those who strive to obey Him with rain in due season, but He directs unfavorable weather patterns upon those who despise His commandments. In this portion of today’s program, we’ll see that God will use disasters of unimaginable proportions in the very near future to get our attention. The book of Revelation describes a number of so-called natural disasters.

The Seven Trumpets of Revelation

Revelation describes a scroll sealed with seven seals, and when the seventh seal is opened, seven angels are given seven trumpet plagues to blow upon the earth. Now let’s look at three of them. We read of the first disaster in chapter 8, and verse 7:

The first angel sounded: and hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up (Revelation 8:7).

Now it’s difficult for us to know the precise means of this disaster, but it will be of God, and will be devastating beyond what the world has ever known. The second disaster may be more easily defined.

Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed (Revelation 8:8–9).

This would appear to be a super-volcano, a mountain exploding and tossed into the sea. We may even speculate, that it will be one of the known, or currently unrecognized, super-volcanoes in or around the geologically volatile South China Sea, as it would have to be near busy shipping lanes.

Now note this:

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimates that roughly 80 percent of global trade by volume and 70 percent by value is transported by sea. Of that volume, 60 percent of maritime trade passes through Asia, with the South China Sea carrying an estimated one-third of global shipping. Its waters are particularly critical for China, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea, all of which rely on the Strait of Malacca, which connects the South China Sea and, by extension, the Pacific Ocean with the Indian Ocean (“How Much Trade Transits the South China Sea?” ChinaPower.csis.org, August 2, 2017).

The next natural disaster is described in verse 10:

Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water (Revelation 8:10).

We often refer to a meteor as a “shooting star.” Scientists know that many large meteors and asteroids cross Earth’s path on a regular basis. A few have struck the earth with devastating effect in the past, but God has protected our planet for our sake. However, according to this passage of scripture, a large asteroid striking the earth appears to be in our future.

The Bible has much more to contribute to our understanding of natural disasters, and that is the reason we are offering a free resource that explains why a loving God allows, and at times even causes, terrible disasters to occur on earth. Yes, there are powerful natural forces that affect our planet, but there is a God who controls whether and when they strike mankind. They remind us that we are not nearly as much in control of our lives as we sometimes think we are.

God Will Get Our Attention Before He Gives Us a Safer World

So-called natural disasters have been a part of mankind’s experience from the beginning. Some of these are the result of a dynamically changing planet. Some are the result of time and chance upon humanity—the result of our rejection of God. But, as shown in the previous segment of this program, there are great calamities in our future, and those disasters will not be so “natural.” However, there is good news regarding the future. There is coming a time when rain will come in due season, when God will protect His creation from devastating floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornados.

Quoting from Acts of God: Why Natural Disasters?:

Could God stop natural disasters? Could He give adequate warnings so people could get out of the way while He builds a new island or mountain? Could He direct the wind to take a course away from His children? (p. 22).

The obvious answer to anyone who truly knows God is:

Of course He could! Who created the dirt under our feet? Who created the law of gravity, the strong force and the weak force? Cannot the God who created the universe and life on this planet protect us? (p. 22).

So why do these things happen now? Our resource continues:

Scientists understand that our universe did not always exist. So how did it come to be? We are so arrogant we conclude that it all happened by chance—so God is allowing us to live in a world of chance. The disasters that “time and chance” throw at us should get our attention (p. 22).

Sadly, our attention span is short. But God will get our attention. When we come to the end of our rope, Jesus Christ will return to save us from ourselves, as explained in Zechariah 14, verse 4.

And in that day His feet [the Messiah—Jesus Christ] will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south (Zechariah 14:4).

After Jesus Christ returns, a river of living waters will heal the earth.

Following that earthquake, a river of living waters will flow both east and west from Jerusalem and bring healing to today’s polluted seas and rivers. Ezekiel describes this river, obviously also a type of God’s healing spirit, flowing out to heal our damaged planet.

Then he said to me: “This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes” (Ezekiel 47:8–9).

Isaiah describes a future time of climate change when today’s deserts and wildernesses will be transformed. Notice it in Isaiah 35:6.

For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; in the habitation of jackals, where each lay, there shall be grass with reeds and rushes (Isaiah 35:6–7).

Isaiah continues a few chapters later:

I will open rivers in desolate heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the acacia tree, the myrtle and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the cypress tree and the pine and the box tree together, that they may see and know, and consider and understand together, that the hand of the Lord has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it (Isaiah 41:18–20).

The God who created the universe and our tiny planet in it, is more than capable of controlling the forces that shape this earth. He has given us time to prove to ourselves that our ways do not work. He’s allowed us to live by time and chance to remind us that we are not as high and mighty as we think, but once He gets our attention, He will show us how things could have been from the beginning if we had chosen to trust in Him.

Be sure to order your free copy of Acts of God: Why Natural Disasters?, and be sure to come back next week, when Richard Ames, Wallace Smith, Rod McNair, and I explain the prophecies of the Bible, proclaim the good news of Christ’s coming Kingdom, and help you understand the world in which you live today. See you next time.

I hope you profited from this video.

If you found it helpful and want to learn more, be sure to get your free copy of our booklet “Acts of God: Why Natural Disasters?” by going to TWTV.ORG/Disasters.

We here at Tomorrow’s World want to help you understand our world through the pages of the Bible. So be sure to like, subscribe, and hit the bell so you don’t miss another video.

Thanks for watching! See you next time.

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

Why and How to Seek God

We live in stressful times. In a world of political chaos, warfare, pandemics, and civil unrest, we need a source of stability, calm, and peace that is bigger and greater than all of our concerns. That source is God.

A deep and profound relationship with the One who created you, loves you, and has a purpose for your life really IS possible. Join us today as we reveal “Five Keys to Knowing God.”

Seeking God Will Bring Peace of Mind

The world as we know it seems to be unraveling at the seams. Our streets see growing unrest. Our halls of government are alternately filled with either incompetence and gridlock or chaos and conflict. Wars and conflicts rage as our leaders seem increasingly incapable of managing the growing number of crises around the globe.

Even outside of government, the institutions at the heart of civilization seem to reveal themselves on a weekly basis as untrustworthy at best and agenda-driven at worst.

Our educational institutions often seem more devoted to indoctrinating and programming our children than they are to actually educating them. Many fields of science increasingly seem to be driven more by social agenda and political activism than a sincere desire for truth and a devotion to reality.

The chaos of our world isn’t merely abstract or academic, and it doesn’t stay within the pages of our newspapers. It impacts our lives. Our food and other staples of life seem to cost increasingly more money, even as we seem to have less money to spend. Parents look at their children and understandably wonder what sort of world they will inherit.

And while there are always ups and downs, Bible prophecy reveals that the trend is exactly as it appears: things really will get far worse before they get fundamentally better. Nations that were once sources of global stability in the world, such as the United States or Great Britain, will continue their decline, and no change in the presidency or premiership of these nations is going to completely halt the decline and solve the growing chaos. Because that decline and that growing chaos is fundamentally not due to policies or politics or economic plans or anything of the sort.

The chaos and decline is due to the sin of these nations. And unless there is fundamental national repentance on the part of the people themselves and a turning of their hearts to the laws of their Creator, then expect that chaos and decline to continue!

So, what can we do to find peace of mind and stability in a world so lacking in peace and stability?

In fact, there is only one source of such reassurance and hope: The God who created you, who loves you, and who has a remarkable plan for your life.

On today’s program, we are going to give you five keys to truly knowing God—five keys you can use to unlock a deep and profound relationship with the Eternal God who very much wants to build a relationship with you.

Far from being a God who is far away and inaccessible to us, our Creator is near and very accessible. But we must do our part to seek Him. God explains this through the prophet Jeremiah, encouraging His people,

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:11–13).

But every search has to start somewhere! And if you are willing to take advantage of these five keys, you will find yourself well on your way to a deeper and more invigorating walk with your Creator.

1. Know God by Spending Time in Nature

The first key you can use to know God is creation.

The entire world around us is the work of the master Creator of all things, and He tells us in His word that we can come to know Him better by spending time soaking in His Creation.

In Romans 1:20, the Apostle Paul addresses the ridiculous denial of those who look at the Creation around us and deny the reality of God:

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse….

Indeed, so many of God’s invisible attributes can be clearly seen and understood by the things that are made—including his eternal power and Godhead, or His divinity and deity.

Regrettably, in our world today, most of us are increasingly separated from the natural world. We live much of our lives with concrete under our feet and fluorescent lights above our heads. But if you would like to really know God, consider spending some time with His Creation.

Take a walk at a local park, if you can—get outside, in natural surroundings. Look up on a clear night sky and let your eyes wander through the stars. Consider the astonishing variety of complex lifeforms that make their home with us on Planet Earth. The Creation is a physical, living hymn that praises its Creator with a beautiful clarity for those who are willing to listen to its song.

The consistent and dependable order of the world and the cosmos tells us that God is orderly and lawful. Its complexity and design speaks to His unimaginable intelligence. The variety we see around us speaks to a God who loves creativity and beauty. For those who long to know their Creator, the Creation, itself, is one of the best-kept secrets around.

If you want to know God, then take advantage of the key of creation, and let His craftsmanship teach you about who He is and your relationship to Him. As King David, the Warrior Poet of ancient Israel, wrote in Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.”

2. Know God by Studying the Bible

Our first key is the creation.

The second key to knowing God is the Bible—God’s sacred word.

If you really want to know the real God, this key is absolutely crucial. Too often today, people say they “know” God, but they don’t. What they think of as “God” is a product of their imagination—it’s what they imagine God to be. But if God is real—and He is—then we want to know the real God. The One who created the universe. The One who has the power to work in our lives.

And that God has given us His word to help us do that. The Bible is like God’s mind in print. When we read it, we discover how He thinks, what matters to Him, what makes Him happy or angry, what His plans and desires are—both for the world, and for you. Reading the Bible is a key to unlocking these things for us.

But we have to read it RIGHT. In Isaiah 28, God inspires the prophet to speak about understanding the divine message:

Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little (vv. 9–10).

We have to be willing to put it all together.

Read the Whole Bible: Old Testament and New Testament

You can’t just read part of the Bible—say, only the New Testament or the Old. You have to be willing to consider the entire book, as a whole, to get an accurate understanding of the mind of God.

Consider owning a large collection of letters written by a great-grandfather who died before you were born. Reading only one or two letters wouldn’t really give you a full picture—and might even give you a wrong idea or cause you to draw a conclusion about him without enough context.

Many people do this with the Bible, being fooled into thinking they understand God by studying only the New Testament, perhaps, or throwing in the Psalms or a few other Old Testament books.

But in 2 Timothy 3:16, we’re told the following:

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness….

The Scripture—all Scripture—is “given by inspiration of God”—or, as some translations have it, is “God-breathed.”

If you find the idea of studying the entire Bible intimidating, then I’d recommend you start by visiting our website at TomorrowsWorld.org. We have a number of free resources to help you begin, including today’s free DVD.

Yet, simply reading and studying is not enough. Knowledge, by itself, does nothing but make us prideful. We must act on what we learn!

3. Know God by Keeping His Commandments

That brings us to our next key to knowing our Creator: keeping God’s commandments.

God’s word contains His Law and His commandments—the Ten Commandments.

It’s too easy (and wrong) to simply think of God’s commandments as a list of “dos and don’ts” when they are so much more. God’s laws represent a way of life that forms an integral part of the journey to eternal life. They also help us to understand the mind and character of God. But they only reveal that mind and character to those who do more than read about them—they must be obeyed and lived. As verse 10 of Psalm 111 says, “A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.”

Unknown to most of mankind is the purpose of God, which involves His reproducing His own character inside us. Paul pointed to an element of this purpose when he wrote in Philippians 2:5,

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus….

Seeking to live by the commands of God is a part of the process by which God duplicates the mind and character of Jesus Christ in us. It is how we learn how God and Jesus see right and wrong, how They want to be worshiped, and how They want us to interact with Them and with others. And obeying those commands is how we begin to make Their character our own.

But it can’t be just an academic pursuit. It isn’t just a matter of learning to know God through what we read with our eyes or hear with our ears. It’s a very personal matter of getting to know Him through what we choose to do with our hands and where we choose to go with our feet.

Keeping God’s commands is so crucial to knowing God that He inspired the Apostle John to warn us very clearly:

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him (1 John 2:3–4).

Those are strong words, straight from your own Bible! Anyone seeking to know God must keep His commandments, and that includes you and me.

4. Know God by Praying Wholeheartedly

Let’s review our first three keys.

First, we pointed you to creation, encouraging you to truly open your eyes to all you can learn about the God who made you by taking the time to soak in the majesty and design of the world around you.

Next, we directed you to God’s word, the Bible. The Holy Scriptures represent God’s own mind in print—telling us His thoughts, plans, and purposes. Though our world is increasingly forgetting the miracle this book represents, it remains a powerful and necessary key to understanding the God who inspired it.

Third, we highlighted the necessity of keeping God’s commandments. The Bible strongly declares that those who claim to know God but who do not keep His commandments are liars—whether they know they are liars or not. God’s character and heart is taught to us by not just knowing His commandments, but by keeping them ourselves.

Our fourth key today to knowing God, personally and intimately, may seem increasingly difficult in a busy world that demands more and more of our time, from the second we wake up to the moment we collapse on our beds for a short night of sleep before we start all over again. But this key is a necessity, and we cannot come to know God without it.

The fourth key is the practice of regular prayer.

Here at Tomorrow’s World studios, we know that this program is broadcast to peoples and nations all around the world. And when I say “prayer,” many of you may have different ideas about what that means. For some, it might be memorized words or a formula that you recite, perhaps in connection with something like prayer beads. It might even involve some sort of ritualistic chant. But none of these are biblical, nor are they sufficient to help you know God.

Jesus is plain about this in Matthew chapter 6:

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. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him (vv. 7–8).

No, the sort of prayer the Bible is speaking of is a wholehearted conversation with God, speaking to him about what is on your mind and in your heart.

Consider how you came to know your spouse while you were dating, or how you became close to your nearest and dearest friends. Those relationships took time and included conversation—a sharing of thoughts, ideas, concerns, hopes, and dreams. If you want to know God, you need to spend that sort of time in prayer to Him, as well.

Not many do—at least not the sort of time we’re talking about. In fact, one of God’s complaints about His people in prophecy reflects such a lack of heartfelt prayer. As the Moffat translation of the Bible renders His words in Hosea 7:14, “They never put their heart into their prayers.”

But there is so much to be gained by doing so. By humbling ourselves, kneeling before God, and pouring out our heart to Him. That sort of wholehearted contact not only invites Him to lift our burdens from us, but also opens up an avenue through which we can grow to find Him and know Him. As He said to ancient Israel, “You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord…” (Jeremiah 29:13–14).

To some extent, this key of prayer can work with our second key today, the Bible, and act as a sort of electrical circuit.

If you remember your studies from high school science, you might recall that electricity needs a closed loop to flow through. For a light bulb to glow, the electricity needs to flow through the bulb, which isn’t possible when the circuit is broken. In a similar way, prayer can work with our study of the Bible. As God shows us more about Himself in His word and shares with us, then we, in turn, can talk to Him about what we are learning and how we see it reflected in our lives, and we can share with Him our questions, hopes, and concerns. Then He, in return, can share more with us.

So many who claim not to be able to find God have not truly sought to build a relationship with Him in this way. But if that relationship is what you seek, then you must turn the key of prayer.

5. Know God by Understanding Jesus Christ

The last key adds power to all the others, and without it, we can only go so far in truly coming to know God.

That last key is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Himself.

The Bible tells us that long before this world, or this universe, ever existed, the Being we now call Jesus Christ lived in eternity past with the One we now call God the Father. In the very beginning of his gospel account, the Apostle John calls the pre-incarnate Christ “the Logos” or “the Word” of God, and he describes the intimate union between these two God Beings that they shared before the world was:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1).

This member of the Godhead became flesh and blood, walking and teaching among us 2,000 years ago as the Son of God. Part of His purpose in doing so was to reveal the Father more intimately to us. As He says, Himself, in Matthew 11:27,

All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

If we truly want to know God, then the teachings of Jesus Christ are an indispensable key. In fact, in John 14:9, He tells His disciples, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father….”

He wasn’t saying that He was the Father! Rather, Christ is saying that everything we need to know about God the Father was revealed through Him!

Jesus Christ was the perfect revelation of God to mankind. In His love, mercy, and compassion for others; in His wisdom, insight, and remarkable teachings; and in His character, example, and obedience to the laws and ways of God; Jesus Christ is the revelation we need of God’s own love, wisdom, and goodness. And having been resurrected from the grave and glorified, and reigning over His Church from heaven until His soon coming return, Jesus is alive today, right now—able to empower all who will sincerely yield to Him and come to know their Creator.

If you truly long to have a relationship with God, then Jesus Christ is the only way to fully do so! In fact, your knowledge of and relationship with God will fall far short if you do not seek the Son of God in your life, as well. As Jesus says in John 14 and verse 6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Seek God With Your Whole Heart

These five keys—creation, the Bible, keeping God’s commandments, prayer, and Jesus Christ—can help start you on your way to a relationship with God that will not only carry you through today’s hard times, but right on through to the Kingdom of God for all eternity.

All of us here at the Tomorrow’s World studios work very hard to help you understand your world through the pages of your Bible.

If you’re interested in our free DVD “Claim God’s Promises,” you can get that DVD by going to TWTV.org/claim or just clicking on the link we have in the description.

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