Death, Judgment, and Eternity

There is one appointment in every life that will certainly be kept. Every other engagement can be postponed, delegated, or missed. This one cannot. It is written into the diary of every person now living, and the only detail withheld from us is the date.

We do not like to think about it, and modern life is arranged so that we rarely have to. Dying has been moved out of the home and into institutions; the language has been softened; the subject is considered morbid in polite conversation. But avoiding a subject has never altered a fact, and a man who refuses to think about the one certainty of his existence is not being brave. He is being unprepared.

This article sets out what the Bible actually says about death, about what follows it, and about what God has done so that the appointment need not be faced in fear.

1. The appointment

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." (Hebrews 9:27-28)

Three things are settled in that first line, and it is worth taking them one at a time.

Appointed. Death is not an accident of biology or a piece of bad luck that better medicine will eventually solve. It is an appointment — which implies Someone who appointed it. Our lifespan is not at the mercy of chance.

Once. One death per person. This quietly closes off the idea of returning to try again in another life. There is no rehearsal and no second attempt; this life is the whole of the opportunity.

After this the judgment. Here is the sentence most people would rather not read. Death is not a door into nothing. It is a door into an appearing before God.

But notice how the passage continues, because the writer will not leave that hanging. The very next words are about Christ, offered once to bear the sins of many, who will appear a second time — and to those who look for Him, He appears unto salvation. The verse that tells us judgment is coming tells us in the same breath how it may be met without terror.

2. Death is not extinction

Many people assume that death is simply the end — that the lights go out and nothing remains. It is an understandable assumption, and the Bible flatly denies it.

Scripture treats the person as continuing beyond the body's failure. The Lord Jesus Christ told of two men who died — one rich and one a beggar — and described both as fully conscious afterward, one comforted and one in torment, each aware of himself, of his past, and of others. He spoke to a dying thief about being with Him that day in paradise, which would be an empty comfort if the man were about to cease existing. The apostle Paul wrote that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, and said he would far rather depart and be with Christ — a preference that makes no sense at all if departing meant annihilation.

The body dies; the person does not. Death is not the end of existence but a change of place.

3. Every man will give account

Because the person continues, so does responsibility. The Bible says plainly that every one of us shall give account of himself to God — not of his neighbour, not of his generation, but of himself.

This is one of the reasons the doctrine is not gloomy but morally necessary. Consider a world in which there is no final accounting. The man who used his power to ruin others and died comfortable in his bed simply got away with it. The child who suffered in silence and was never believed never receives justice. Every unpunished cruelty in history stands unanswered for ever. Most people, if they are honest, do not actually want that universe. The instinct that says this must be put right someday is not superstition; it is a true instinct, and the judgment is God's answer to it.

4. Two different judgments

Here careful reading matters, because Scripture describes two distinct appearings, and confusing them causes needless fear on one side and false comfort on the other.

For those who belong to Christ, there is the judgment seat of Christ:

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." (2 Corinthians 5:10)

Read what this is and what it is not. It is a review of a believer's life and service, and its outcome is reward — what he receives for what he did. It is not a trial to determine his destiny. That question was settled long before, at the cross, and the believer does not come to this seat as an accused man wondering how it will go. Elsewhere Scripture is explicit that there is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. A son may be assessed by his father for how he handled what he was given; he is not on trial for whether he is a son.

For those who have refused Christ, there is another scene entirely, and Scripture describes it without softening:

"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." (Revelation 20:11-12)

Notice the details. The throne is white — perfectly pure, with no corruption in the proceedings. Small and great — no rank exempts anyone, and no obscurity hides anyone. The books were opened — the record is complete and accurate; nothing was lost, and nothing will need to be reconstructed from memory.

5. The books, and the one book that matters

Two kinds of book are opened at that throne, and the difference between them is the difference between two eternities.

There are the books — the record of works. And here is a hard thing said gently: nobody is saved by that record. If a man insists on being judged by what he has done, he will be judged by what he has done, and the standard is God's perfection. The books are not a scale on which good deeds may outweigh bad; they are simply a true account of a life lived by a sinner.

And there is the book of life — a register of names rather than deeds.

"And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:15)

The decisive question at that throne is not how a man's record compares with his neighbour's. It is whether his name is written. And that is settled, one way or the other, in this life — not at the throne.

This is why the gospel is urgent rather than merely interesting. It is not offering to improve your record. It is offering to write your name.

6. Two destinies, and their permanence

Scripture describes two ends, and it does not present them as equally likely fates chosen at random by an arbitrary God. It presents them as the outcome of what a person did with the Son of God when he had the opportunity.

Of the one, Scripture speaks in terms of fire, darkness, and separation — language chosen to convey a loss so complete that no gentler word would be honest. It is described as everlasting, and however much we might wish otherwise, the same word used for the duration of the life of the redeemed is used for the duration of the other. We cannot shorten one without shortening both.

And of the other, Scripture speaks like this:

"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." (Revelation 21:4)

Consider what is promised there, item by item. No more death — the appointment abolished. No more sorrow, crying, or pain. And the tears are not merely stopped; God Himself wipes them away, which is the gesture of a parent rather than a ruler.

Both destinies are permanent. That is a sobering thing to write, and it should be written soberly. There is no hint in Scripture of a second opportunity after death, and the plain reason God tells us this now is that now is when it can still be acted upon.

7. Why God tells us in advance

Somebody will ask why a loving God would speak about judgment at all. But turn the question around. Suppose He had said nothing, and men discovered it only on arrival. Would that be love?

Every warning that matters is an act of care. The doctor who names the diagnosis, the engineer who condemns the bridge, the friend who tells you the truth about your marriage before it fails — none of them is being unkind. Silence would have been cheaper for them and fatal for you.

God has told us what is coming, in detail, well in advance, and He has told us the way through. He is not ambushing anyone. Every person who reads this page has been informed, and that is itself a mercy.

8. The One who has already been through it

Here is what makes the Christian message different from every philosophy of death ever offered. It does not tell you to be brave, or to accept the inevitable, or to comfort yourself that you will live on in others' memories. It tells you that Someone has gone through death and come back.

The Lord Jesus Christ died a real death, was buried in a known tomb, and rose bodily on the third day, appearing to His disciples and to many others over a period of weeks. He told Martha at her brother's grave that He Himself is the resurrection and the life, and that whoever believes in Him, though he were dead, yet shall he live.

This changes the nature of the appointment for those who are His. Death remains an enemy, and grief remains real — the Lord Jesus Christ Himself wept at a graveside, which settles for ever the question of whether Christians must pretend not to mourn. But the enemy has been defeated, and for the believer death has become a passage rather than a destination.

9. Before the appointment comes

Everything in this article turns on one thing: whether your name is written in the book of life. That is not decided by the manner of your death, nor by anyone else's prayers afterward, nor by a lifetime of decency. It is decided by what you do with the Lord Jesus Christ while you are alive.

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23)

"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

Note the two words in that verse that touch this whole subject: not perish. That is precisely what is at stake, and precisely what He came to prevent.

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." (John 1:12)

The date is not disclosed

We are told that the appointment is certain. We are not told when. Every person who has ever died expected, on the morning of that day, to have more time — and most of them were right about everything else in their calendar.

That uncertainty is not meant to frighten you. It is meant to keep you from postponing the one thing that cannot safely be postponed. There is no need to face the appointment unprepared, and no reason to. The One who appointed it has already been through it ahead of you, and He is not waiting at the end of the road as a judge you must persuade. For those who are His, He is waiting as a Saviour who has already settled the account.

If you have never trusted Him, do it now — not because death is near, for you do not know that, but because it is certain, and because the offer is open today.

Let us Pray:

Our gracious heavenly Father, we come before Thy throne of grace through the precious name and perfect merit of our Lord Jesus Christ, who alone has opened the way into Thy presence.

We thank Thee for Thy beloved Son, and for **Him** who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light. We praise Thee for Thy preserved Word, which declareth **"It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment"** (Hebrews 9:27), and which cannot be broken.

We confess before Thee that we live as though this appointment were not certain. Forgive us, we pray, and cleanse us, for Thou art faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

We beseech Thee for every soul reading these words who is yet without Christ. Send forth Thy Holy Ghost to convince them of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; open their understanding; and draw them to Thy Son before this day is done.

Strengthen Thy people who read it. Comfort the discouraged, establish the wavering, and let none go away empty. And use this message to wake every reader who has never once thought seriously about where he will spend eternity, for Thy glory and not for ours.

We pray all of this to Thee, O God, our Holy and Heavenly Father, in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by the power and anointing of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

The Most Important Prayer You Will Ever Pray

Before you close this page, one question matters more than everything you have just read: if you died tonight, do you know where you would be?

You cannot be saved by joining a church, by being baptized, by giving money, or by living a decent life. Salvation is not a wage that is earned; it is a gift that is received. Every one of us has sinned, the wages of sin is death, and there is a real hell prepared for sin — but the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross in the sinner's place, was buried, and rose again the third day.

If you know yourself to be a sinner, and you are willing to turn from your sin and trust Him alone, then speak to God now. There are no magic words — but if these words are the cry of your heart, pray them and mean them:

After You Have Prayed

1. Tell somebody today. "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Romans 10:9).

2. Begin reading the Bible. Start with the Gospel of John, then Acts, then Romans. Read a little every day. "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby" (1 Peter 2:2).

3. Talk to your Father every day. You may now come boldly, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. No appointment is needed and no man's permission.

4. Find a Bible-believing church and be baptized. Not to be saved — you already are — but in obedience, and as the public confession of what has happened to you.

5. Rest in this, and do not be shaken by your feelings. "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). You will still sin; when you do, confess it and go on — "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).