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HOW WILL YOU MANAGE THE HOUR OF YOUR DEATH? By Czar GOD, the infinite being, is Pure Act, Absolute actuality. He is the most real being, without any admixture of potentiality. In Him there is, and can be, no ‘becoming’ of any kind, because He possesses the fullness of being all at once and always. Whatever He is, He is from eternity and in an infinite degree of perfection. God is in no way changeable. Whatever is capable of change cannot be infinite in perfection. God actually is a changeless changer. Human beings however, are a compound of potency and act. They do not possess their complete being all at once and always. Even when they have existence, they are perfectible, determinable, and actualizable, to a greater or less degree. There is a constant ‘becoming’ in them and an uninterrupted change. Change implies the actualization of some potentiality. A being changes so as to obtain reality, determination, perfection, which it does not at present possess. In every change, therefore, something is received by a being, which did not exist as such in the being before the change. All things, we are convinced, undergo changes in some way. Plants and animals come into existence, develop, mature, and decay. The season change, and so do the physical bodies, the elements, the earth, and the stars. We as human being experienced change. We sleep and wake; we labor and become fatigued; we are glad and then grieved; we are healthy and then ill; we are conscious and afterwards grow unconscious; we are young and vigorous and then become old and feeble; we live and die. The inevitability of death is an undeniable fact about the future of every person. There is a direct assertion of this in Hebrew 9:27: “ It is appointed to man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” We don’t know how human would have left this world had their been no fall; but as it is, the separation of body and soul through bodily death, which is both sins fruit and God’s judgment (Genesis 2:17; 3:19; Romans 5:12; 8:10; Corinthians 15:21), is one of life certainties. So we all have to come face to face with death. That’s the certainty of it. Death is one of the realities of life: we grow old and die, be taken to cemetery and buried in the ground. Naturally, therefore, death appears as an enemy (1Cor. 15:26) and a terror (Hebrew 2:15) But people deny death, refuse to face it. We often view life as God’s greatest gift, and we regard death as worst it could happen. And even avoid thinking about it. But what is death? The medical definition of “death” has been debated for centuries depending on the culture, social conditions, and the role of the medical profession. There is no consensus within the scientific community concerning when conscious life begins. In the same way, there is no consensus within the scientific community concerning when physical life ends. According to one cardiologist, determining the precise time of death is, in fact, medically and scientifically impossible. He further states, “it used to be thought that the point of death was a single moment in time. But it is now thought that death is a process, not a single moment.” Sudden or a process, it is certain we will reach the end of our journey in this life. The bold and daring can’t outbreak it. Each of us must die. All our combined wisdom cannot lengthen the days of one of you even a single minute. You may calculate the distance of the stars, and the weights of the planets, but you cannot tell when one of you will die; nor how many minutes are left until the exit of each spirit from the world. The strongest are but brittle, earthen vessels, easily broken in shivers. The soul is but meanly housed, while in this mortal body, which are not a house of stone, but a house of clay, the mud walls cannot but molder away; especially the foundation is not on the rock, but in the dust. Death is a champion all must grapple with: we must enter the lists with it. There is no man that had power over the spirit, to retain the spirit; neither had the power in the day of death (Ecclesiastes 8:8) We all come into the world one by one, and we will go out of it in the same way- all alone we will go out again. So, how will you fare when it is your time to die? How will you manage when these earthly of yours vanish and there will be only a depressing emptiness before you? You know, you can’t live without God and be at peace, unless you are one of those few who are blind to His justice and have hardened heart. The pleasure of this world is very sweet; but how soon they sicken the appetite. How will you manage at the time of your death? Actually death is not painful, it is a joyful homecoming, coming face to face with Christ. To Christian death is an APPOINTMENT in Jesus’ calendar, which he will faithfully keep. Paul says, “for me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. I desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is better by far” (Philippians 1:21,23), since “away from the body” will mean, “at home with the (2Cor. 5:8) Death is decisive for destiny. Death is gain for the saints (Philippians 1:21) because after death they are closer to God. But this is not yet the ultimate hope of the saints. Disembodiment as such, is not gain; bodies are for expression and experience. Yes, being with Christ at the moment of our death is a joyful homecoming, but true as it is, that is not the main hope or main comport for us Christians. This hope was so vibrant for the early Christians that they comforted each other not mainly with the joys of the disembodied state after death, but with hope of resurrection bodies (Phil.3: 21). “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable; and we shall be changed.”(1Cor. 15:52) The dead will be raised; and he said they will be changed- they will be made imperishable and immortal. The old body will become a new body. The resurrection is not described in terms of a totally new creation but in terms of a change of the old creation. God is able to do what we cannot imagine. How will you manage the hour of your death? Be wise now, remember this, and consider you are coming to the end of your life. This is not an accident or chance that you are reading this article, for God is not in a business of good luck or chance. God made it certain that you will end up reading this article. He is a Sovereign God and he is in control. Is heaven a place you would like to enter? Is hell a place you would like to avoid, or will you make bed in it forever? Think and think, and think again, and may God lead you, through thinking to feel your danger and may you then accept the gracious remedy which is in Christ Jesus; for whoever believes in him is not condemned, whosoever trust in Christ is saved. After death there is no possibility of salvation for the lost (Luke 16:26)- from then on both the godly and the ungodly reap what they sowed in this life (Galatians 6:7-8) And by the way, you can’t change your destiny. But if you desire a change in your heart, go to Christ Jesus, he will give you hope; life that will change the way you live your life today.
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