Everyone Dies

“And as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, without sin, unto salvation.”  Hebrews 9:27-28

 

Death is a topic that most people try to ignore.  For when a friend or a family member passes away, the reminder of our own mortality is stark and apparent, everyone dies. 

 

The older a person gets, the more people that they will know who have died will increase.  While sadness often prevails, sometimes for quite some time, many take comfort in believing that the person for whom their soul yearns for is now in Heaven.  The truth of the matter is that it is appointed for men to die once, but there is a second death.

 

“And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away. And there was found no place for them.  And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. And books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, out of the things which were written in the books.  And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one, according to their works.  And Death and Hades were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death.  And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire.”  Revelation 20:11-15

 

All will stand before God Almighty, each and every single individual.  With the exception of those who were Raptured (1 Thes. 4:13-17), everyone dies.  What happens after death is contingent on what happens while there is life in each one of us, individually.  

 

In our modern age of advanced health care, everyone is doing everything they can to try and preserve and save their lives and the lives of their loved ones.  Certainly there is an added cost to everyone with medical treatment, but for those who have been healed through modern medical procedures, certainly they should have no complaints. 

 

Yet even with the advancements in the health care industry, there are oftentimes people who simply can not be saved.  Ask any surgeon or doctor in a hospital emergency room and they certainly will have both stories of those who should be dead, as well as those whom they knew there was nothing they could do for them, even those who they thought they could save, but couldn’t. 

 

 I’ve known both those myself who have received ground breaking treatment from hospitals and survived, when just a generation ago they would have died.  I’ve also known those who, despite the best surgeons and latest experimental treatments, have died.  Truly it is sad and now their fate is sealed, whether they really knew the Lord as their Savior or not was at that moment of the utmost importance. 

 

From the perspective of someone who truly knows the Lord, I can attest that there is sadness in any death of a loved one, but those whom I don’t believe knew Christ as their Savior is a sadness that can only end with , “Amen, Even so, come, Lord Jesus”  (Rev. 22:20) 

 

Death is something that isn’t thought about much, but certainly shouldn’t be ignored.  From time to time, all of us who live to a certain age will have the understanding and be faced with the reality of people whom we loved having passed away.  However, let us not as a society brush off this fact of life by simply saying that essentially all people are in Heaven or in some sort of afterlife.

 

The fact is, there is an afterlife and not one of man’s imagination.  Many people assume that people ‘go to the stars’ are reincarnated or ‘in a better place’, but the Bible is quite clear on these issues.  Who has Created Heaven, is it not Him who also Created the Earth (Gen. 1:1)?

 

Why is it that people don’t understand that God sent His own Son to provide Salvation to anyone who is willing?

 

“But what does it say? The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the Word of Faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  For the Scripture says, Everyone believing on Him will not be put to shame.  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich toward all who call upon Him.  For everyone, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  Romans 10:8-13

 

What about the promises of Christ?

 

“But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it dawned upon the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.  But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.  For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.”  1st Corinthians 2:9-11

 

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.  And where I go you know, and the way you know.  Thomas said to Him, Lord, we do not know where You go, and how can we know the way?  Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”  John 14:1-6

 

There is much sorrow in death without Christ.  For the reality of this world is that all have sinned (Ro. 3:23) and the wages of sin is death (Ro. 6:23).  Jesus Christ died on the Cross for your sins.  He stands at the door and knocks, who will open their heart to Him (Rev. 4:1)?

 

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man some would even be bold enough to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.  For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.  And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.  Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to every person, because everyone sinned.  For until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not accounted when there is no law.  Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.  But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.  And the gift is not like it was through the one who sinned. For the judgment from one offense was unto condemnation, but the free gift from many offenses is unto justification.  For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who are receiving abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.  Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment was to every person unto condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift is to every person unto justification of life.  For as through one man’s disobedience many were declared sinners, so also through one Man’s obedience many will be declared righteous.  Moreover the Law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Romans 5:6-21

 

Death is not a pleasant thing to think about.  Though, as people age, they try to get their affairs in order, what about their sin in respect towards God? 

 

“Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has established a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has appointed. He has given assurance of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”  Acts 17:30-31

 

Will you consider these things?  Will you look into this matter?  Dear reader, please do not go your whole life without Jesus Christ as your Savior, for everyone dies.

 

Amen!