How to Be Happy
Many, many prophecies in your Bible describe the world after Jesus Christ returns as being a world filled with happiness!
Did you know that God actually commands us to be happy? And He gives a formula for making you happy in His Bible, which is for the whole world.
God is full of joy! And He is creating us to be like He is, so He wants us to be filled with joy, too. Only those people who have that joy will be in His Family in the future.
But look around, and you see today’s world filled with unhappiness and other strong, negative feelings.
Revelation 12:9 says this whole world is deceived. One of the greatest deceptions of all is about how to be happy.
Why are people so deceived about this subject? And how can you be happy?
Let me explain the answer to both of those questions. It is deeply misunderstood, and strongly resisted. I present The Key of David, a weekly television program that reaches millions of potential viewers and is available online, and I have noticed that whenever I cover this subject, we get less response than normal.
I’d like to challenge you to think about this subject, to read and study the additional literature we offer on it. We give away all our literature freely because God commands us to do so in Matthew 10:8: “Freely you have received, freely give.” We have done this for over 80 years. We give over a million dollars’ worth of free literature every year, yet we always have the income we need to do the Work. God commands us to do certain things in the Bible, and He rewards us immensely for obeying Him.
In John 13, Jesus Christ instructs the disciples about the Passover, which begins the holy day plan of God. “For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you” (verse 15). You must do things the way Christ does. That includes the holy days, which He kept and He commands us to keep. (Request our free booklet Pagan Holidays—or God’s Holy Days—Which? to learn about how God’s holy days reveal God’s master plan for human beings. This is truth we need!)
Then notice verse 17: “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” Christ said that following His example and obeying Him will make you happy.
God puts everything on the line. If doing these things doesn’t make you happy, then that would make God a liar. But He doesn’t lie—He cannot lie! (Titus 1:2).
Remember the Law!
Here is another scripture that describes how happy we can be: “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall” (Malachi 4:2). Here is a picture of a young calf in the stall that has been born recently and is jumping around because it’s so thrilled to be alive! And this tells you how to have such abundant life—how to be happy, and bright and shining like the sun! It starts with fearing God.
Notice verse 4: “Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.” The main law Moses received on Mount Horeb (another name for Mount Sinai), was the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20). And the “statutes” we are here commanded to remember include the holy days.
The first five books of the Bible are referred to in Scripture as the Law (e.g. Luke 24:44). Those five books are the foundation of the entire Bible—and the Ten Commandments are the center of that foundation. Remember that law! Don’t forget it, because keeping it will make you happy!
The book of Malachi shows that most of God’s own people in this end time—95 percent—have turned away from that law (e.g. Malachi 2:8-9; 3:7, 14). And here at the end of the book God is saying, Remember this! Remember that law of Moses that he received on Mount Sinai with thunder and lightning, with the mountain and the earth shaking!
Nehemiah
In the days of the second temple construction, the Jews who had returned to Jerusalem from captivity had renewed appreciation for the law of God. Nehemiah 8 records them gathering to observe the Feast of Trumpets, and then the Feast of Tabernacles, two of God’s seven annual festivals.
When they gathered, Ezra and the spiritual leaders read the Law to the people. “So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading” (verse 8). They really made it plain. And how did the people respond? “[A]ll the people wept, when they heard the words of the law” (verse 9). They were convicted and repentant. That may seem like the opposite of happiness—but in reality, it is the only true path to real happiness!
Nehemiah saw their response. “Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord [referring to the Feast of Tabernacles]: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (verse 10). If you are keeping those holy days, God says it will fill you with joy, and that is your strength! Obedience to God’s law makes you strong!
Verse 17 says that they celebrated this festival properly as they hadn’t done for generations, and “there was very great gladness.” That is what keeping God’s law brings.
Many scriptures show that very shortly, Jesus Christ will return to Earth and apply that law, and the Earth will become a paradise, filled with happy and joyful people—adults, children, everybody. The Almighty God will ensure that this happens!
Christ Confirms the Law
Jesus Christ continually spoke of the importance of the law and the Old Testament as a whole. He corrected many people for not believing and obeying the law and the Old Testament prophets. The Jews boasted that they followed the law scrupulously. But Moses wrote the Bible’s first five books, called the Law, and in John 5:46-47, Jesus told them, “Had you believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?”
Jesus confirmed the veracity of the Bible’s record of the Flood (Matthew 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27). He confirmed the account of the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah (Matthew 10:15; Luke 17:29). He corroborated the fate of Lot’s wife (Luke 17:32).
After Jesus was crucified and resurrected, He spent some time with His disciples, teaching them. “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). He went through the first five books, throughout the Law, and all the prophets, including the former prophets, the major and minor prophets—and taught them just how relevant and significant it all was! Many people dismiss these sections of the Bible—but Christ certainly didn’t!
I saw one commentary that drew together all these examples showing just how much Christ underscored the importance of the Old Testament. But do you know what this commentary did not say? It didn’t say what Christ said about the law, the foundation of the entire Bible! This commentary said nothing of that because most of them believe the law has been done away. But what did Christ say? You would think such an important subject would have been mentioned above some of those other miraculous events.
Christ told His disciples, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid” (Matthew 5:14). Those people who are obeying Him, Christ calls the light of the world! If you are a light to the world, that means you are shining and happy! People will see it! “Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel …. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (verses 15-16). Wow! Let that light shine, and people will see your good works and glorify God!
Now, notice this amazing scripture that is so contrary to what nearly every commentary will tell you: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (verse 17). He is talking about the Ten Commandments above all. But also the first five books of the Bible and all the prophetic books. He didn’t come to destroy these, but to fulfill them—to fill them to the full!
“For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (verse 18).
This is the perfect Son of God talking! He said He would cross every T and dot every I of the law in every little detail. He came to fill the law to the full perfectly! Most people in the so-called Christian world talk about the law being done away. But that is the opposite of what Jesus Christ taught!
The Ten Commandments are the foundation of the Bible and are the heart of everything—if you want to be happy. Yet the way the world views it, if you’re keeping the law, you are in bondage! What a deception! And look at how unhappy, miserable and dangerous this world is as a result!
Look at how politicians and political adversaries hate each other today. God’s law says you must love your neighbor(Leviticus 19:18). Christ confirmed that this even means loving your enemies (Matthew 5:44). They often talk about how religious they are, but they have such hate in their lives! Harboring such hate means they are not doing what Christ commanded. That is what your Bible says!
God says through the Prophet Isaiah, “For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed” (Isaiah 9:16). The leaders and scholars of Israel should be an example to the whole world, and would be, if they were obeying God. But they have rebelled against God. They are causing people to err and leading people to destruction, spiritually and even physically. Isaiah 3:12 concurs: Those leaders “cause thee to err.” God emphasizes this! Watch out, because people are leading you astray, causing you to make serious mistakes! Their lawless approach is making you unhappy, and they make God unhappy by what they are doing!
Christ said if you are obeying the law, you will be like the sun, shining with happiness so people can see! You won’t be hating people—you will love them and be giving to them in any way you can.
Paul Also Extolled the Law
The Apostle Paul also strongly endorsed the Old Testament. He explicitly backed up its account of Cain and Abel, of Enoch, of Melchizedek and Abraham, of the miracle of the Red Sea, of Israel’s rebellion by creating a golden calf, of the life of Rahab and the fall of Jericho, and many other historical incidents that most people dismiss as myth.
Paul also underscored the importance of God’s law. In Romans 10:1-3, he talks about people who “have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” How many people fall into that trap? Do you submit to God’s definition of righteousness—as He defines it in His Word and by His law—or do you try to establish your own definition of righteousness?
Verse 4 reads, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” That does not mean that Christ ended the law, as many would have you believe. The word “end” comes from the Greek word telos, which means a point aimed at. When you look at Christ’s example, you see up close what real righteousness looks like, and what God and Christ are all about. If you keep the law the way God directs you to, and you are doing it spiritually—then in the end, you will have the very character of Christ! You will be following His example (1 Peter 2:21), you will have His mind (Philippians 2:5), and you will be keeping the law of love!
1 John 5:3 says, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” God’s commands are not grievous, as so many people say they are. They make you happy! And they fill you with love and many other wonderful virtues!
Paul got to the heart of people’s problem with God’s law. He wrote, “Because the carnal mind is enmity [or hostile] against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:7). You see this natural hostility to God everywhere! And if you are honest, you can even detect it, at least to some degree, within yourself.
The only way we can obey God and keep His law is by receiving His Holy Spirit!
Paul referred repeatedly back to Adam and Eve in his epistles (e.g. Romans 5:14; 1 Corinthians 15:22; 1 Timothy 2:13-14). He spoke about the Garden of Eden and the first two human beings disobeying God and rejecting the tree of life. God kicked them out of the garden, and mankind has followed their example ever since. They rebelled against God and set the example for this world, so God condemned this world to 6,000 years of being cut off from Him.
Now we are very close to the time when Jesus Christ will return. Mankind has had his “six days” of the week—each day symbolizing a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8)—and the seventh, the Sabbath, is almost here. The Fourth Commandment tells us to keep the Sabbath holy each week (Exodus 20:8-11)—and He even says He will bless us with delight and abundance for doing so (Isaiah 58:13-14)—but most people ignore that and rebel. The Sabbath points to the fact that Christ is about to use that seventh “day”—that seventh thousand-year period—to fill this world with happiness and joy! Many scriptures tell us this. Do you believe them?
The Law of Liberty
God tells us we must be doers of the Word (James 1:22-25). You have to do something. Verse 25 says, “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work [or this law], this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
Do you see God’s law as a law of liberty? If you keep it, you will have freedom. You’ll be blessed in special ways by God, and one of those blessings is you’ll be happy! That is what freedom brings. How can you be happy without freedom? People in this world think they have freedom, but they are really in bondage to sin.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, HAPPY is he” (Proverbs 29:18). Keeping the law gives you vision, and it makes you happy. It shows you how to make things work out in your life, and how to solve your problems. Keep the law, and you have vision: You know where you are going, and you know where God is taking every one of us.
Your life can be filled with happiness, joy and great purpose. That doesn’t mean you won’t have trials and tests, but the Bible tells us to rejoice even when you have fiery trials, because God is using those to build His very character within you! (e.g. James 1:2-4). He is preparing you for a spectacular eternal future in the very Family of God!
If you want to be happy, God shows you how: He says you must turn from your iniquities (Daniel 9:13)—and turn to that law of love, that law of happiness, that law of freedom, that law of joy! Christ came so you could have life, and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). God wants you to be filled with joy, and to live the abundant life! His law shows you the way.
