When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. He laid His right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last, and the Living One. I was dead, but look-I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades. Revelation 1:17-18 HCSB
The last thing we want to hear is for a doctor to tell us that there is nothing they can do. We don’t want to hear that the cancer can’t be treated. We don’t want to hear that the tumor is inoperable. We don’t want to hear that ourselves or our loved one doesn’t have much time left on this planet. I must face this reality with my mom who is 86 years old. It’s not that she suffers from any terminal illness, praise God, but we know when we enter into our old age that we are getting closer and closer to the end of our time spent on this planet. Even Jesus died. Death is inescapable. I have often heard people say that the only things we really have to do is die and pay taxes. There are those that may cheat the government out of taxes, but we cannot cheat our way out of death.
When we are born, God knows exactly when we will die. Jeremiah 1:5 tells us that God knew us before he formed us in our mother’s womb. He knew how many hairs we would have on our heads, he knew the day that we would die and just how it would happen. He made us in His image (Genesis 1:26-27). He wanted us to be like Him. He sent His Son to earth to accomplish a couple of things. First, He came to show us how to live. And then He came to show us the greatest love known to man by dying for us sinners. He died and rose again, so that we can do the same. We can die a physical death, but we can rise up to heaven and spend eternity with God the Father and our loved ones that have gone before us. So dying can be the best thing that ever happened to us.
Our scripture passage tells us that Jesus holds the key to death and Hades. In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” What I want you to understand is that we are all dying, some sooner than others. None of us know when that will happen. It could be before you finish reading this blog, only God knows. But what we must understand is that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, holds the key to death and Hades. Accepting Him as our Savior is the only way we will make it to heaven to spend eternity with God the Father. Failure to accept Him means that we will be thrown into the lake of fire at the throne of judgement (Revelation 20:13-15).
The fact that we are going to die is a given. The bible tells us that Jesus reaches out his nail-scarred hand and begs us to accept Him and trust in Him and live a life that gives God glory. But whether or not we will see heaven of be thrown into the lake of fire is a choice we make. We can’t choose whether or not we will die a natural death. We don’t have the option of just staying here on planet earth and partying forever. But we can choose how we want to live the life that we are given. We can choose whether we want to follow Christ or Satan. And sadly, my friend, if you are not being lead by Christ, you are being lead by Satan. There is no in between.
The bible very clearly states in Revelation chapter 20 that if our name is not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life that we will be thrown into the lake of fire. We are all dying and we will all face judgement, but we can be ready when the time comes. I pray that you are well prepared.
Have a great day!