October 26, 2021 – Click here to listen
Our world is divided and polarized by statistics. We are divided by every aspect of our being, financial status, race, gender, political affiliation, religion, education, where we live to name a few.
Statisticians have us all divided it into percentages. One-percenters who make gazillions of dollars are compared to upper, middle, and lower class by percentages. Percentages are applied to Caucasians, blacks, Asians, Native Americans, Hispanics, Protestants, Catholics, agnostics, atheists, Judaism, percentage of women vs men, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, all have percentages – you get the drift. It all tends to put us in separate little groups and the result is most often polarization. But in reality, we are all 100 percenters and have one thing in common.
There is one percentage axiom that applies to everyone on this planet – 100% of us will die. We all have that in common. It seems the world would focus more on this one thing because all realize it as a fact. The Bible states in Eccl. 7:4 – A wise person thinks about death, but a fool thinks only about having a good time. To many people, death is a distasteful disturbing subject and it is the last thing they want to reflect on. Nonetheless, God told us to do it.
Why would God say such a thing? Because He loves us and wants us to understand the enormity of the situation. We are ALL going to die and then what. The Bible presents death as separation: physical death is the separation of the soul from the body, and spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God.
For the unsaved, death brings an end for any chance to accept God’s gracious offer of salvation. Hebrews 9:27 – “It is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment”.
For the saved, however, death ushers us into the presence of Christ:
2 Corinthians 5:8 – “To be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord”.
The believer’s resurrection in the Bible that the physical death of a Christian is referred to as “sleep” should comfort us. Christ destroyed death by what He did on the cross, death is a defeated foe. “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” Regardless of all the statistics and percentages applied to you, think about death and its 100% reality for you today. It does not have to be a dreadful foreboding subject, provided you have accepted the Lord as your Savior. We were created to live forever either in the paradise of heaven with Jesus, or in hell where according to none other than Jesus there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. You decide your own fate thus it deserves some thought. Eh?
Matthew 22:13
Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’