“For everything, there is a season… a time to be born, and a time to die” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2, NKJV).

King Ahab tried to escape death. He was cunningly. He disguised himself before leading Israel into battle against Syria. He then stepped into his chariot and raced into battle, incognito.

However, “Now a certain man drew a bow at random, and struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. So he said to the driver of his chariot, ‘Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am wounded’ ” (I Kings 22:34, NKJV).

King Ahab died that day. He couldn’t escape his appointment with death.

Years earlier, David prevented Abishai from killing a sleeping King Saul. “And David said, ‘As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish’ ” (I Samuel 26:10, ESV).

David knew Saul’s appointed time would come at the right time. That God would decide.

Every living person has an appointment with death. For the Christian, our time to die is God’s invitation to spend eternity with Him.

God’s Perfect Timing

None of us know how soon that day will be. God’s servants receive certain blessings in this life, but being prepared for Heaven doesn’t guarantee longevity on earth. Some who’ve touched millions of lives faced an abrupt appointment. Here are a few examples.

• Dawson Totman. The founder of the discipleship program, Navigators, drowned rescuing someone from a boating accident. He was only 50. Billy Graham preached his funeral.
• Oswald Chambers. He preached the sermons that became the best-selling devotional of the 20th century, My Utmost for His Highest. Oswald was a YMCA chaplain in Egypt during W.W.I when he died of a ruptured appendix at age 43.
• Jim Elliot. He and four other young missionaries were killed in 1956 in the jungle of Ecuador at the hands of the natives they hoped to convert. Jim and two others were only 28.
• William Borden. Wealthy by birth, William became a Christian at a young age by choice. He graduated from Yale, then attended Princeton Seminary to train to be a missionary. But at age 25, William died from cerebral meningitis.

Were any of these lives cut short? William Borden’s friend, Sherwood Day, responded to that question:  “A life abandoned to Christ cannot be cut short.”

God’s Appointment Book: Those Scheduled for Rewards 

God has scheduled both Christians and non-Christians for two appointments at the end of this life. “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27, NKJV).

All Christians have an appointment after death worth keeping at the judgment seat of Christ (II Corinthians 5:8-10).

The only ones who can appear at this judgment are those who’ve already let Jesus’ death on the cross judge their sins. While on earth they realized that their sins helped nail Him to the cross. They repented, then let the Holy Spirit—making the Bible real to them—judge their day to day actions.

The destination of all who stand before the judgment seat of Christ is Heaven. That appointment before the judge will determine a person’s eternal rewards.

God’s Appointment Book: Those Scheduled for Surprises 

Not all humans are appointed to appear at the same judgment event. The second judgment is called the great white throne (Revelation 20:11-14).

Those destined to appear there are represented by a farmer Jesus spoke of in the Bible. The man had a bumper crop one year. He planned to build bigger barns to hold his grain. Life on earth was all that filled his thoughts.

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for? Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God” (Luke 12:20-21, NLT).

This second judgment is for those who didn’t prepare for the appointment. It’s for those who failed to settle their sin account with God ahead of time. So their name isn’t pre-recorded in God’s welcome book. Their destination will not be Heaven.

“And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15, NLT).

Some appointments in this life can be missed or rescheduled. Not our appointment with death. Nor the appointment that follows.

The Road Ahead:

1. A summary and questions: Death is certain. When it will come is not. No one can prevent it, but anyone can prepare for it. Who do you know who served God well, but met their death appointment at an early age? Who do you know who has lived a long life but so far has refused to surrender to God’s leadership? Are you praying that he or she will somehow still prepare for their future appointments?
2. A person’s appointment clock begins ticking as soon as they’re born. As parents, we’re able to “Train up a child in the way he should go” (Proverbs 22:6). We have less control over others we know. Between your actions and your words, how can you let your light shine brighter into the lives of those in your sphere of influence?

Further Fuel: Philippians 1:21; I Corinthians 15:53-55; Revelation 1:17-18.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Death takes people from us. It comes for aged grandparents. It overtakes some at middle-age. It snatches away young children.

Death never stops calling. According to the World Health Organization, over 150,000 people die every day throughout the world.  It can be an abrupt whisper one at a time, via a heart attack or an accident. It can be a shout to hundreds at once by way of war or natural disaster. But death’s voice is never silent.

When death strikes, we who survive are left feeling loss and sorrow. We may label death a thief. We see it as an enemy. But for the Christian, death is also our friend. Let’s consider how the two discordant ideas co-exist.

Death’s Constant Approach: A Mystery

Death is our enemy in that it’s always walking toward us and others we love. None of us know when it will catch up to us. Sometimes, it strikes like lightning. At other times, it lingers through a prolonged illness. It may also come near, then move away.

Death is a mystery. The Bible runs the gamut of when it happens. Methuselah lived to age 969 (Genesis 5:27). The male children Herod the Great murdered in Bethlehem were only two years old or younger (Matthew 2:16).

Sometimes the when makes us ask “why?” Why did God allow Herod Agrippa to kill the disciple James  (Acts 12:1-2), but allow the disciple Peter to be miraculously freed from prison within a few hours of his scheduled execution (Acts 12:3-11)?

Why did Peter (and Paul) later die under Nero? Why did the disciple John outlive all the other disciples, dying around age 100? Why was John the only one of the twelve to die of natural causes?

Death’s Invitation: An Assurance

I grew up hearing that only two things in life were certain–death and taxes. It was as if both were to always be dreaded. After I became a Christian, the thought of death wasn’t so dire. I saw it as an eventual friend.

No matter when a believer dies, or under what conditions, something King David said remains true. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15, NKJV).

For the Christian, death is not just the end of this short life. It’s the beginning of eternal life in God’s presence. The Apostle Paul said, “Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord” (II Corinthians 5:8, NLT).

The late Billy Graham once phrased it, “The moment we take our last breath on earth, we take our first in Heaven.” That calls for jubilation.

Death’s Passage: A Hope

How long do you really want to live here? If anything, this world is not Heaven.

The Bible promises something much better than this life. “Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10, NLT). Pain and trouble will be absent in Heaven.

For centuries death has been celebrated in song as the Christian’s friend. In many hymns, the final verse looks ahead to either Jesus returning in the clouds or the Christian entering His presence via the grave.

In a more recent Christian song, 10,000 Reasons, Matt Redman anticipates the thought of eternity.                                                                                                                                                     “And on that day when my strength is failing,
The end draws near and my time has come,
Still, my soul will sing Your praise unending,
10,000 years and then forever more.”

When we lose someone we love, death feels like our enemy. For the Christian who exchanges the unpleasantries of this life for the eternal blessings of Heaven, death is our friend.

The Road Ahead:

1. What would you still like to accomplish in this life? Scripture clearly states the shortness of life. “The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass” (Isaiah 40:7, ESV). “How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone” (James 4:14, NLT). Whithering grass. A fading flower. Dissipating fog. But more important than how short your life is is how you will serve God with however many years you still have. What is it you still need to do?
2.   If the thought of dying bothers you, remind yourself of the following reality.  We say that a person passes away, yet no one ceases to exist. A Christian passes into the presence of the Lord. At that moment, all pain and sorrow one may have  experienced the second before, cease forever, replaced by complete peace and wholeness.

Further Fuel: I Corinthians 15:19; Revelation 21:4.