God's Ultimate Purpose for Our Creation

Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862), an American Transcendentalist philosopher and writer basically lived the life of a hermit on Walden Pond in the State of Masssachusetts (USA).  He rejected organized religion and political parties, was a committed abolitionist and pacifist, and spent his life dedicated to self-improvement.  He never married and never attended any church. The writer, Robert Louis Stevenson said of him, “He was not easy, not ample, not urbane, not even kind; his enjoyment was hardly smiling, or the smile was not broad enough to be convincing; he had no waste lands nor kitchen-midden in his nature, but was all improved and sharpened to a point.”  Thoreau was not a pleasant person, but he still had some important insights, one of which is, “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” 

This statement is the essence of Jewish religious thought. As Huston Smith said in his classic work, The World’s Religions, “… Judaism is less an orthodoxy than an orthopraxis.” Orthodox Judaism sees obedience to God’s commands now as important, not for future reward, but for what it does to you. Observance of the Jewish rituals is seen as making all of normal life holy. (Leviticus 11:44, 1 Peter 1:16). Orthodox Judaism believes that observance of the rituals is preparing the world for the appearance of the Messiah and the coming of the Kingdom of God.

Many modern Christians have lost sight of the fact that Christianity began as a movement within Judaism and that Christianity can only be understood in the light of the Hebrew Scriptures. The entirety of the Old Testament clearly points to one person, Jesus.

Just as the Jews see obedience to God’s commands as making all of life holy, our allegiance to Jesus is conforming us to the likeness of Christ. This is the process of sanctification. Jesus did not conform to the world. He expected the world to conform to Him. This is God’s ultimate purpose in our creation, that we become conformed to Christ for God’s glory. Romans 8:28-31