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"It is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgement: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many: and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Heb 9:27-28 ).
The Bible tells us that you and I will surely die and stand before Him for judgement one day because it is God's appointment to us. When will your time come? Nobody can tell. Only God knows; for God appoints the time for everyone. One thing is however certain: nobody escapes. Let us give ear to God's word: "It is appointed unto man."
Death is the first part of the two-fold divine appointment that every man and woman has to keep. Millions of tombstones around the world bear witness to this fact. Even the mighty men of yesterday, lie buried today in their graves. Those who once terrified nations were themselves terrified when the chill of death crept upon them.
Indeed God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34 ), neither does He take reward (Deut 10:17 ). No man is strong enough to wrest from God one more second of life than what God had allotted him. Neither can the wealth of the whole world buy the same for you when your time on earth is up. Even the best that medical science can offer is of no avail when your appointed time is come. It is important therefore for you to think seriously about your two-fold divine appointment of death and the judgement today! For no one but God knows if today is your last.
Some people say that death is the end of man; they say that nothing exists beyond death. The Bible tells us otherwise: it is the beginning of a new phase of life. While it marks the end of our life on earth, it 'sounds the bell' for us to stand before God for judgement. Death ushers us to God's throne of judgement.
If the first part of the divine appointment is a reality, the second event will also be a certainty. After death comes the judgement. The Bible tells us of a day in which the dead will be raised from their graves to stand before Him for judgement. The living too will be brought before our Divine Judge on that day. It is the day "when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ." It is the Judgement Day!
God is our judge. Come that day, God shall bring every thought, every word and every deed of each man before Him and He shall judge them one by one. On that day, all your sins will be exposed! Your lying, your cheating, even your lustful fantasies and wicked thoughts: however well you may have concealed them from the eyes of men, God will make sure that none of them will be left out. How will you fare?
Are you thinking that there will be no witnesses to your secret thoughts and covert deeds? God doesn't need another man to bear witness against you. Your own conscience will. The Bible tells us that our conscience will bear witness against us and accuse us (Rom 2:15 ). You will be left without a plea! The day of resurrection and judgement indeed will be a dreadful day.
God's word, the Bible affirms that "the wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God" (Ps 9:7 ). Who are the wicked? Those in whom any trace of sin is found. Ask yourself honestly now, are you not also a sinner?
Then your fate is sealed! Hell is waiting. Hell is a lake of fire; a place of eternal suffering and torment. The Bible talks about the people in Hell gnashing their teeth, being in great pain. So will you be if you are there.
Would you want to be numbered among them? If not take heed: there will be no escape from God's eternal wrath which awaits those who die in their sins; who did not seek the forgiveness He offers in Jesus Christ when they were yet alive. After death comes judgement. Your only chance of escape is therefore now-before your time on earth runs out!
The Bible says, "Today is the day of Salvation" ( 2 Cor 6:2 ). How can today be the day of your salvation? Being a sinner, no man can work his way to heaven. Just as a lifetime of clean driving record does not cancel off the one traffic fine that you have just incurred, a lifetime of good works does not cancel your record of sin before God. No matter how much good works you care to do, the fact remains that you will be punished for whatever sins you have committed when the day of judgement comes. In other words, our sins have already caused us to be condemned before a holy and just God forever. If we think that we can work our way out of the punishment of Hell, we are fooling ourselves!
God had not left us without hope, however: the same holy and just God who pronounced judgement against us for our sins, had also in His love provided us a way of escape. The same Bible passage that warns us about death and judgement also points us to it. It says, "so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many" (Heb 9:28 ).
Jesus Christ, the Son of God is God's provision for our salvation. He came to this world, born of a virgin, and lived as a man. Despite the fact that Jesus lived a holy and perfect life, and was blameless to the end, wicked men sought to kill Him. Though He could have escaped death, Jesus voluntarily gave Himself over to cruel torture and suffered the death of the cross at their hands. He died to pay the penalty of sin for many.
Being a perfectly holy God-man, Jesus had no sin of His own to suffer punishment for. When He died on the cross, He took the punishment for man's sins that whosoever will believe on Him will be saved. He became the substitute of all who believe on Him, to bear the punishment for their sins on the cross, that their sins and punishment may be cancelled forever!
God is Love. Some people think that God is evil because He punishes people in Hell. This is not true. He punishes not because He is evil but because He is holy and just. His justice does not allow sin to go unpunished. Yet He had pity on us. In love He gave us a means of escape from the hell that is to come. He is a loving God indeed. The Bible says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16 ). God's love had brought Jesus to this world to suffer and die on our behalf.
On the cross we see Love supreme. The Bible tells us, "God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom 5:8 ). It is for a sinful, hell-bound people that Jesus gave His life. Again it says, "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly" (Rom 5:6 ). How true it is that as sinners we are without strength to escape the punishment that God has reserved for us. Through Christ, God has lovingly stretched forth His hands to save us. Does not that make God's love so marvelous and sublime? Though death and eternal damnation reigned over us because of our countless sins, we can have eternal life and the reign of God's righteousness right now through Jesus Christ.
Today is the day of salvation, because today God's offer of forgiveness is held out to you in Jesus Christ. Today is the day of salvation, because it might be your last! Believe in Jesus that He died to take away your sins. Believe also that He was raised from the dead on the third day so that He can save you today. Do not hesitate. Why would you want to hold onto your burden of sins? Come to Jesus in repentance and let Him bear it away for you! The moment you submit your heart to God through faith in Jesus Christ the Saviour, you are saved. God assures His forgiveness to all who will come to Jesus by faith. Instead of Hell, Heaven will be your destiny. Remember: those who die in their sins will head for eternal misery in Hell; but those who repent from their sins and believe in Jesus Christ shall have Heaven for their eternal home.
Believe today in Jesus Christ who can save you to the uttermost!
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