Lesson 100: Wakeup Call
Life as Usual
Most people fall into a daily routine of working, eating, sleeping, socializing, watching TV, attending events and a host of other activities that typify life in a modern, civilized society. We seem to go on day after day, thinking that things will continue as they have been, without a thought to the finiteness of our lives, even though we are daily reminded that there is an end as we see family, friends and acquaintances pass away and become over time, a distant memory. Most people just don’t want to think about it, much less personalize it; it’s much easier to allow the activities of daily life wash over, immerse, and consume us. Then, at some point, a sudden serious illness forces us to come face to face with our mortality. Even more daunting and sobering is the prospect of sudden death, which can come upon anyone at any time, at which time we will become disincorporated with all that we’ve become familiar and comfortable with all of our lives, our bodies, families, homes, and all that constitutes our comfort zone. At that time, we will be immersed in a different reality, one that will last for an eternity.
The Deception
Over the course of their lives most people have had at least some exposure to church, Bible study, TV evangelism or prayer, and have formulated their own misguided perceptions of God, the hereafter or lack of a God or hereafter. Despite attempts to bring the truth to them, using even the best logic and proofs, many of them remain immovable and unconvinced. The Greek scholars proved several thousand years ago, using mathematics, that the earth is round. Over time this became accepted as common knowledge; then about a thousand years ago, the dark ages came upon societies and people rejected the ancient teachings and destroyed libraries and centers of learning. Many people in the middle ages became convinced that the earth was flat, because it appeared to be so given their limited perspective from where they were standing at the time. But they were dead wrong, and couldn’t be convinced otherwise. Going to one’s death thinking the world is flat doesn’t harm anyone. But going to one’s death with the wrong idea about God, the hereafter, and where one’s soul will spend eternity carries deep implications as to whether he will experience abject, unimaginable misery, or complete joy. Everyone while still alive in their body needs to take stock of the measure of his years and his accountability before God. To ignore and avoid thinking about it is no different than driving on a busy highway at high speed with one’s eyes closed. At some point an unavoidable disaster will occur. It is an awful thing to have an immortal soul committed to your charge and neglect it; this is dreadful. It’s no less an awful thing to be content with a religion that can do you no good. After death everyone will be accountable for the choices they have made while in the flesh.
The Way Things Are
That God is real is seen in the immense, wonderous universe He created and, in our earth, perfectly placed and maintained just the right distance from the sun, and with perfect conditions for life. Wonder upon wonder, from the highest mountains to the ocean depths; God’s handiwork is everywhere and God’s provision of life’s necessities from the land and sea is bountiful beyond belief. His love is baked into every detail of the beauty and bounty of this world. Although mathematicians theorize the probability of life elsewhere in the universe, none has been found. From the beginning man has felt and sensed God in all of his generous provision.
But God has not left man to speculate over his existence and involvement in the events of life on earth. He has actually spoken audibly to people at various times in ancient history. More importantly, he’s communicated with mankind for all time by means of his word, which he gave to his servants, the prophets and later the apostles of Jesus. His commands on how we are to relate to him and each other have been recorded for us in the writings of the prophets and apostles, and these have been assembled into the Bible. There are many who don’t read the Bible because it was written by men; so were all historic books written by men. The Bible is a history book, and like all such books, its claims and facts need to be supported by archaeological evidence, documents and eye-witness accounts. The Bible is better supported by these kinds of proofs than many historical documents about other people and events that have been accepted as fact. To not accept the Bible on the grounds that it was written by men is to not accept recorded history itself. The same logic applies to both. Others say that if God would speak to them personally, they would find it easier to believe. Three of Jesus’ main apostles, Peter, James and John, witnessed Jesus’ transfiguration on the Mount of Olives, heard the voice of God speaking to Jesus, and saw ancient long dead prophets talking with Jesus. Still they concluded, that it was more important to have God’s written word because actual experiences can fade over time, whereas his word is permanent.
The concept of life after death is difficult for many to understand and accept. People need to understand that God, by his nature and his works, stands outside our limited capacity to comprehend. Hundreds of eye witnesses saw Jesus die, and those same people saw him alive after his resurrection. Each person has an eternal soul, and if we want to be with God for eternity, we need to accept his only provision for our salvation, his son, Jesus, himself God. In our natural born selves, we stand at enmity with God. We want nothing to do with him; our sin has been against a God who is infinitely pure and holy. There is no way we could ever be punished enough or be good enough to justify being in his presence. It took the sacrifice of one who is perfect, blameless and holy to take the punishment for our sins, Jesus, equal in God in purity and holiness. God gave the best and all that he had for our salvation. Jesus, as our savior, is the only way. If it were possible for people to be made right with God through Buddha, Muhammad, Krishna, or any other way then Jesus died for nothing and God did not allow that to happen.
And so, with Jesus as our savior, his atonement made for our sins, we have the confidence to live each day knowing that if death should come suddenly our soul will be with God for eternity. This security frees us for lives of righteous service to God. We give evidence of our sincere faith by living lives of obedience to God, loving and serving others, proclaiming the Gospel, and repenting each day by confessing our sins and trying to gain victory over them.
The devil is as real a being as God and his overarching goal is our destruction. One of his tools to bring this about is delay. If he can get us to go on living each day without regard for our condition before God without Jesus, and if death should suddenly come upon us we will be eternally separated from God. And so, each day we need to confess our sins, try to turn from them, and serve God, so that we are always ready to meet him in our death or at his second coming. We can’t afford to not always be ready. Our fate for eternity is at stake. This life occupies only the briefest part of eternity.