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THEOLOGY > Future > Considerations > Foundation for Meaning  


FOUNDATION FOR MEANING

If there is meaning and purpose for reality, then there must be a basis or foundation for that meaning. Of course, in one sense God is the basis for all meaning and purpose. Apart from Him there is no meaning or value for anything.

Meaning is not inherent with the created order. Within creation there is no essential quality that gives it meaning and significance. In other words, the worth of creation must be found outside of creation, because creation itself is characterized by sin, decay, and destruction. This is the present status of creation, even though it was not created in this condition. Originally it was created “good” and “very good,” but within the creation was the potential for ruin and death, which came to reality with the entrance of evil. Both in its initial state and in its present state, creation is utterly contingent and cannot establish purpose for itself (see: The Work of Creation).

If the fundamental fact is accepted, the fact that all of creation’s significance and meaning reside in the Creator, then what more can be said?

It can be affirmed that meaning is found in Eschatology. Man is not left in darkness with nothing but silence, for there is a Word regarding the future. And the fact of that Word and the event that that Word predicts establish meaning for creation. The value of the present is in the future to which the present is moving. Without a future the present has no significance. But according to Revelation, there is a future, a telos, an Eschaton.

At the conclusion of the historical process there is a Consummation, a Consummation which includes judgment and a new heaven and a new earth. God will judge, and then He will make all things new.

In judgment evil will be judged and separated finally and forever from the good; wrongs will be made right. Justice will prevail. Those who have been set in a slippery place will finally slide (Ps. 73:18). The constant and ever present struggle of the believer to be faithful will be vindicated in that future day. Evil will not continue unpunished. The certainty of future judgment gives meaning to the determination of the believer, who really is experiencing the work of the Lord in him, to follow the example of Christ and accept suffering in his brief life. The believer looks beyond today to that tomorrow which will bring vindication.

Not only will there be judgment but all things will be made new. Sin, sickness, decay, and death will be no more. God will wipe away all tears. The words of the song will be realized: “It will be worth it all when we see Christ.” Only because of the future is the present acceptable. Because there is a future that is new and perfect, a future composed of the glorious presence of the Lord, the present has meaning and purpose. We live today in anticipation of the eternal day.

Chance and luck do not govern; evolutionary development is not the mechanism. There is a guiding hand, which means that behind matter is Mind. And the value of matter resides in the purpose it is fulfilling for Mind—creation is for God; God is not for creation. Creation exists for the pleasure of God; God does not exist for the pleasure of creation. And God has a destiny for what and who He has made. All of history is according to His plan.  


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