The Proclaimer

Are You Prepared?

The Hebrews writer says, “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27).  As surely as you were born into this world, so shall you pass from it.  No one likes to contemplate his mortality, yet we must all face it.  The fact is, we need to realize that each day of our life may be our last.  In spite of the certainty of death, many people live each day as though they would live forever. 

In his brief epistle James speaks of those that plan their lives without regard for death.  He says this is foolish since “you do not know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:13-14).  These two factors, the brevity of life and the certainty of death, ought to affect our attitude towards life. 

Since we do not know when we shall die it is crucial that preparation for death be made today while we live.  Even those that think man ceases to exist when he dies make some preparation for death, even if it’s simply purchasing a burial plot or an insurance policy.  James tells us the attitude we ought to have each day, for, “Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that’” (v. 15). 

When the Hebrews writer says, “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,” he calls to mind two certainties for each of us: death and judgment.  That which makes death so terrifying is the certainty of judgment. Paul says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in his body, according to what he has done, whether it is good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10).  Notice that no one will escape judgment, “for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” 

Notice also that each will be judged “according to what he has done.”  Each of us is accountable to God for our own actions.  This implies that while sin is universal in its scope (Rom. 3:23), it is not transferable.  “The soul that sinneth it shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father” (Ezek. 18:20).  Man is a free moral agent.  He chooses to serve God or not, and he is accountable for the choices he makes.  Since “God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34), we are all judged by the same standard – the word of God (John 12:48). 

Since we’ve all sinned, we all need a Savior.  The past cannot be changed and we can do nothing in and of ourselves to affect the consequences of those actions.  Because the “wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23), the eternal consequence of our sin is separation from God.  And while we cannot escape physical death or the judgment that follows, we can escape spiritual death brought about by our sin.  It is for this purpose that God sent His only begotten Son to die as sufficient propitiation for our sins.  It is, then, through faith in His sacrificial death we are able to prepare not only for physical death, but for the judgment which follows.

The question is whether you have made preparation for death and the judgment that follows?  If you have not been baptized into Christ, you are yet in your sin and not prepared.  If you have put Christ on in baptism but are continuing in sin, you too are not prepared.  Remember, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31).  Now is the time to prepare!

                                                                 -- Clark Dugger

The Proclaimer