An Appointment You Will Not Miss
Ever had to cancel an appointment? Sure you have. We all have. Sometimes it is because of scheduling conflicts. At other times, it may be that we simply don’t want to go at that point, or perhaps several other “reasons” we’d rather not attend a scheduled engagement. There are other times when we cannot accept an invitation due to circumstances beyond our control.
However, according to Heb 9:27, all have a rendezvous with death. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: But this doesn’t mean we have a set time to die as many suppose. This misconception is one that many hold. God does not have a calendar on which the names of all souls are listed and when that “date” arrives, the person dies. There are many passages in the Old and New Testaments which prove that none know when their lives will end.
In Job 7:6-10, we have inspired record of the suffering servant describing the brevity of life using several phrases. He said his “days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle”. He stated “my life is wind”. He noted that those who once knew him “shall see me no more” after his soul departed. In verse 9 we see the cessation of life expressed: “As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.” Another well-known O. T. passage on this is Eccl 9:12. Here, the Spirit had the ‘wise man’ record, For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.
From the N. T. we learn this as well. In Jas 4:13-14 the scattered brethren were admonished, “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” After this, we see in verse 15, “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” Sadly, some think this says that God ‘chooses’ when one will die. We’ve shown that this is not the case.
The latter part of this passage is saying the same thing Heb 9:27 is saying. After death is no more, then comes the judgment. Just as we don’t know the time of our death, we also cannot know when the Lord will return. If the Lord does not yet come, we shall “live, and do this, or that”. However, we do know that death will occur unless we are alive and remain when Christ comes for those that are His. The only ones that do not have an appointment with death are those that happen to be alive when the Lord returns. 1Cor 15:51-52 shows this to be the case. The Spirit directed Paul to write, Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
In 1Thess 4:13-18, these brethren (and we) are to be comforted, knowing that we needn’t be ignorant regarding these things. (1) Those which “sleep in Jesus” will be brought with Him when He comes (vs 14). (2) No souls will enter heaven before others (vs 15). (3) Christ will come “with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God” (vs 16). (4) The “dead in Christ shall rise first” (vs 16). (5) Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. What comforting Words these are to those who have prepared for the end of time (vs 18).
We know from Scripture and observation that we all have a limited amount of time on this earth. In 1Cor 15:22a it is declared, “For as in Adam all die”. We also have had loved ones that have departed this realm. This began in Gen 4:8 when Cain “rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.” No doubt Adam and Eve became fully aware that their second son was dead. We see ‘natural death’ continuing in Gen 5:5, when after nine hundred and thirty years, Adam died. In the listing of the generations of Adam, this is listed eight times in Genesis chap 5 following his death. So it is until the end. Children are begotten and people continue to meet an appointment with death.
This will continue until all life on earth is over. 1Cor 15:24-26 teaches what will happen then. (1) Christ will deliver the kingdom, the church, up to God. (2) Christ will have put down all rule and authority. (3) All enemies will have been put “under his feet”. (4) “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death”. (5) After this, Jesus will become judge and the judgment will occur. All who have been obedient and faithful, as we pointed out above, will ever be with the Lord. All those who “know not God”, and “obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” will know the vengeance of God with flaming fire. 2Thess 1:9 tells us they “shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power”.
Now that we’ve all been informed of that one appointment which we will not miss (death), as well as the two possible eternal destinations for the soul of man, why not learn what God has stated in His Word regarding Salvation? Will you not seek the truth? Jesus Christ, in John 8:32, said: And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. We’ll all face that appointment with death. But we can’t know exactly when this might be. Why not begin today to prepare for judgment? After you die, it is much too late.
Read and study God’s New Testament Word. Follow His New Testament Commands. Hear (Rom 10:17), Believe Christ is God’s Son (John 8:24), Repent of past sins (Acts 17:30), Confess Christ before men (Rom 10:9-10), be baptized into Christ (Acts 22:16), and remain faithful until death (Rev 2:10b). Then and only then can one go from that final appointment to be with God.
Dennis Strickland – Mooresville church of Christ
