Some time ago - it happened at an airport -about thirty people who had just bought their tickets, were asked, "What is your destination?" I should add one word. "What is your eternal [or final] destination?" "Do you know for sure whether you are going to heaven?" The result, spoken in various tones, was a unanimous 'No!'

There may have been different reasons for this 'No!' Some, maybe, couldn't care less, did not even believe that after this life there is still more to come. Others may believe in an afterlife, as it is called, but are convinced that no one can be sure about what it is and suggest that we can do no more than wait and see.

Again, others may be firmly convinced that there is a place like heaven, even hell, and they would love to be sure they are going in the right direction, but they dare not be sure about it. And soon. Yet, don't you agree that that is quite strange? Only 30 said 'No!', but it could easily be 30 million or 300 million and more.

Now, that is something! Life is a way, a trip, a journey. Our whole vocabulary is, as it were, soaked with words and expressions that this is indeed the case. And then not to know where you are going, what your final and ultimate destination is!

It should be obvious that this negative answer betrays a whole bunch of other negative answers. If you don't know what your eternal destination is, you don't know either what your life is, what the meaning and purpose of life is. And if you don't know that, you don't know who and what you are either! And if you do not know what and who man is, you do not know what this world is all about. And if you don't know that, you don't know anything about the Creator of it all, and of you and me. Many centuries ago Augustine already said, and John Calvin repeated it, "the highest goal of life is to know God and myself."

In our talks during this month, we plan to discuss with you this question which, for all purposes, is of the greatest significance for everyone. And not only because already tomorrow you may reach the end of your journey! Let's first try to agree on this: where are we going to find the answer to the question, "What is my eternal destination?"

As we just stated, many other questions are related to it. The first one is: if you want to know where you are heading for, you must know where you are coming from!

Only then you can know who you are and what you are. Who is going to tell us? The scientist, biology, psychology and so on? Apart from the fact that never yet has come a clear answer from that quarter, we would not dare to offend you by telling that you are just a glorified ape and a descendant from algae.

We firmly believe that only One can tell us, because only One knows, namely God our Creator. And He told us! He told us in His Word that is "a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Ps. 119:105. Don't expect me to defend that Word. No one needs defend a lion. We just open the cage. As Canadian Reformed Churches we confess that "God created man good and as His own image, in true righteousness and holiness, that he might rightly know God His Creator, heartily love, and live with Him in [here it comes!] eternal blessedness to praise and glorify Him." [Heidelberg Catechism, answer 6]. Or, as the Church says it in her Confession of Faith, art. 12, "We believe that the Father by the Word, that is, by His Son, has created of nothing the heaven, the earth, and all creatures, when it seemed good unto Him." Having done that, "He gave to every creature its being, shape, form and several offices [you may read, God-given functions] to serve its Creator." Each creature, whatever it be, has its own place and task in creation. The Confession continues, "He also still upholds and governs all these creatures by His eternal providence and infinite power." God did not abandon His own handiwork. Psalm 104 puts it this way, "They all look to Thee, to give them their food in due season; when thou openest thy hand, they gather up and are filled with good things." And the Saviour said, "God clothes the lilies and the grass of the field." [Matthew 6:28f].

But we haven't mentioned the most-important part of this article of faith yet. Why does God govern everything according to His purpose? The answer is, "for the service of mankind, to the end that man [with all these creatures] may serve His God."

As you see, ladies and gentlemen, we have it all here in a nutshell. Who God is. What the world is. What man is and what the purpose of his life now and forever. And this confession is taken straight from the Bible. Yours truly is one of those who fail to understand why so many people rather prefer to be called a glorified ape than the king of creation! Because that's what man is, and that's what the Bible says about him! Listen! "And God said, 'let us make man in our image, after our likeness': and He did so. He created man in the image of God, male and female He created them." If you want to know what that means [and should want to know because if concerns you 100%!], just keep on listening: "And God blessed them; and God said to them [here's the first time God spoke to a creature!], "be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and [it's quite a mouthful, even for our Creator....] and have dominion over the fish and the birds, yea over everything!." Be a king over creation. But then, as we confess in Art. 12, in such a way that man, with his dominion over all things, may serve his God. Or, as the Catechism has it, "know and love his Creator, and - in the end [there is man's eternal destination!] live with Him in eternal bliss to praise and glorify Him." Psalm 8 echoes this creation-mandate in these words, "When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established: what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou dost care for him? Yet, thou hast made him little less than divine, and thou dost crown him with glory and honour. Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet!"

Today is only our first talk about man's destination. Much more must follow, but that must wait.

The same Bible that tells us how high a position man got, also tells us, quite honestly, how deep man fell, although.... that's not the end of the story.

For today it is enough to meditate on what has been said by God in His Word, and echoed by the Church, about man's that is your and my, origin. We are of a respectable family, that's for sure. And whatever man has done and is doing with the position God assigned to him, it is in itself a Good Tiding which we may proclaim. You know why? Not because man has made a mess of it, and hopefully will pull himself out of the quicksand by his own hairs. But only because God our Creator does not let go of His handiwork, but, according to His eternal purpose, has opened a way that man be restored, and again may travel in the direction of that blessed eternal destination, "for God so loved the world [His creation] that He sent His only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him, should not perish in hell, but be restored to his original height and thus have eternal life!" John 3:16.

Today is His special day. Why not join us and hear His Word, and glorify His most-glorious Name there where He wants us, i.e. in a Church where that Word is preached undiluted and faithfully?

G. VanDooren

October 2, 1977

This message was broadcast by "The Voice of the Church" at the above date.