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I can only imagine the shock of someone finding out that they have some rare form of cancer, or that they will soon be dying. That kind of news is something we all worry about hearing some day. Yet, we are all doomed to die eventually. The bible says,

Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

What Would You Do If You Found Out You Were Dying Soon?

 Have you ever really stopped to consider what you would do if you had only a short time to live? What if you were told today that you would die within a year? A month? A week? A day? What would you do? What would you want to accomplish? Would your behavior change? Would you treat people differently? Would you pray & beg God to save your life? Would you be in more of a hurry to accomplish goals in your life?

It is sometimes difficult to really comprehend the fact that one day we will die on this Earth. The bible says God placed eternity in the heart of man, and I believe it. It really feels as if death is something so bizarre. Like it will never happen to me (or you). As if it is something that happens to “other people.” Yet we are guaranteed a death on this Earth.

We don’t know when our time will come in most cases, and we must do the best we can every day. In Eccleisiastes, Solomon writes of death like this:

For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them. (Ecclesiastes 9:12)

It is true that death often comes as a surprise to many of us. It may sneak upon us when we least expect it. Perhaps we are exercising one day and have a heart attack. Or we get some rare cancer next year. Or we get in a car accident tomorrow.

I sometimes look into the future and think, will I be alive this time next year? What about 20 years from now? What about 50? How will I die? When will I die? Of course, death isn’t the end. I have faith that we all get resurrected afterwards & judged by God & exist for eternity. But our time on Earth is limited.

I Have Some Bad News…You Are Dying Right Now

wooden hourglass

When I was younger I remember my sister had one of these small “hourglasses.” An hourglass is a small glass container that is filled with some material such as sand. It is used to measure time, and when you turn it upside down, it will usually take an hour for the sand to fall down into the bottom.

 My sister’s wasn’t truly an hourglass, because a true hourglass should take approximately one hour for the sand to fall down into the bottom. Instead, my sister’s only took about 5 minutes. But I still call it an hourglass, because a 5-minute glass sounds sorta silly.

I mention the old hourglass, because the second we were born something happened in our life: An hourglass was turned from one side to another, and the sand started to slowly fall down into  the bottom. God alone knows when our last sand grain will fall down, and death will come. But we have no idea when that will be. But make no mistake, the sand grains in your hourglass are falling even as you read this right now. Eventually, the last sand grain will fall, and your life on Earth will be over.

Each day, we are one step closer to death. I am only 26 at the writing of this article, yet I can spot a few gray hairs in my head. My hair is started to finally show slight signs of recession at the temples (although I still have a great head of hair at this point—fingers crossed).

I can also see very faint wrinkles starting around my eyes, that will no doubt deepen over the years. Even in you, the same aging process is happening right now. Free radicals are breaking down your cells as we speak. You may not notice it, but it is there.

Yep, there is no doubt about it, I am dying right now, and so are you. Granted, it may be a slow process that takes several years, or even several decades, but we are progressing to that point nonetheless. Some will die sooner, others later, but we are all dying right now.

You Are Already Dying, So Why Not Live Like It?

That Tim Mcgraw song, “Live Like You Were Dying” is so true. In the song, he talks about his dad getting his cancer diagnosis. The whole song talks about how his dad actually started to “live,” after he found out he was going to die. He goes skydiving, and does all sorts of fun things. The song talks of him riding a bull, forgiving people, reading the bible, loving people, and more during that time. He says, “I hope some day you get the chance…to live like you were dying.”

I imagine that many people would do something similar. If we truly knew we had a very short amount of time, and yet we still have good health to do anything we wanted, how many of us would truly start to live? Wouldn’t we forgive people of the wrongs they did to us? Wouldn’t we want them to forgive us. Wouldn’t we want to tell the people around us how much they truly mean to us?

Wouldn’t we finally have no fear to conquer our dreams & goals? After all, what do we have to lose? We know we will die, so why not take risks now? The fear of failure melts away in the face of death.  Why not do the unthinkable? Why not reach for the stars?

Conclusion: Fill Yourself with God-Have Faith, and Live Now

Some people get so bored with life, they almost feel as if they are dead on the inside already. They hate their jobs, they are scared to take risks, they are unhappy with relationships, and more. They get attached to things that are truly meaningless such as money, status, fame, and more. Those things melt away in the face of death like an ice cube in a hot skillet.

I too have felt that way before. I have felt like life was miserable and pointless. God has really turned that around. The more faith I have in God, the happier I am. The more I follow God’s word, the better my life works out. I tell you the truth, I have never felt so alive as when I had a complete faith in God, and lived my life according to biblical principles. Having faith in God enables me to have faith in everything. With God all things are possible, and I have nothing to lose.

My hope for you is that you live as if you are dying–starting today. Dig deep into your soul, and really focus on the fact that life is a fragile gift that shouldn’t be taken for granted. Yesterday is the past, tomorrow is the future, and today is a gift, that is why it’s called the present. Make the most of your gift.

I challenge you to do these things: Pray to God like you are dying, love people like you are dying, forgive people like you are dying, laugh as if you are dying, cry as if you are dying, dream as if you are dying, take risks as if you are dying. Why not truly live life to the fullest now. Why wait until we get bad news, when we already have the bad news? Why wait until we are old or on our deathbed. Live life to the fullest today, and do it with God as your foundation. Have faith in all things. For Jesus said if we had enough faith, we could move mountains just by speaking the word. Without faith, nothing can be accomplished.

I tell you all of this not to scare you. No, I am not one of the “hellfire & brimstone type of guys.” I am simply writing this because quite frankly….you are dying, and so am I. God bless friends.

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Posted under reflections

Here is a great question regarding Jesus’ death and suffering:

I think that this question is probably one of the more common ones asked of Christians, but I still can’t find a really good answer to it.

I know that Jesus was the son of God, that he told people to worship God and follow his commandments, that he offered advice and guidance to any who asked, and that he was kind and forgiving to all. I also know that the Romans crucified him because he claimed to be a Messiah. So he was nailed to a cross where he died, then his body put in a cave. When the cave was opened three days later, his body was gone.

I know that he spent three days in hell for all of man’s sins and that we can call upon his sacrifice in order to cleanse ourselves of our sins.

What I don’t understand, however, is why that is. We (humanity) killed Jesus, but that helped us somehow. It seems to me that killing the son of God would not be a good thing, but for some reason it is. Why is that? Also, why is it that he spent that time in hell if he was free of sin?

I guess I don’t understand the ideas behind the death of Jesus. If you could, would please retell the story of how and why Jesus died and how that helps us?

I’m sorry to ask a question that many would argue I could find the answer to in the bible. But, the bible is a little hard for me to understand and it seems to be a little vague. Thank you!

This is a very good question. There are a few things in this question that are not 100% biblical, so I will explain that later. First, let me explain more about Jesus’ sacrifice, why he died, and what it all meant.

God Promises a Messiah in the First Book of the Bible:

As you pointed out, Jesus is the messiah. So to learn more about what it means, let’s look at one of the first verses in the bible regarding the messiah, and talk about why we need one. It all starts in the Book of Genesis. As you know, Satan tempted Adam and Eve into disobeying God. After this happens, God says some very interesting things to both Satan (being the serpent), and Adam & Eve. Here is what God said:

The LORD God said to the serpent (Satan), “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3  :14-15)

Okay, so what is that talking about? Basically this is what happened: When man sinned against God, it caused a severe consequence that God warned (death). That day, Adam and Eve died spiritually (they disobeyed God), and later, they died physically.

When this happened, God is telling Adam, Eve, and Satan about other consequences, and future events as well. What he says to Satan in the Genesis verse above is this: This deceitful act you have done, has caused conflict between man and Me (God). Now, man has rebelled and followed your path of rebellion (they are your ”seed” as sinners). However, in the future, there will be emnity (hostility) between YOU (Satan) and the Woman’s “seed.” Now comes the interesting part…

God then says this part to Satan: “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” That single statement is the first known prophecy of the Messiah. The “HE” it is talking about is the woman’s future “seed” which is the Messiah. It says “HE” will bruise Satan’s head, and Satan will bruise the Messiah’s heel.

After that point, everyone knew “right from wrong,” and would have “sinned” at some point in their life. We are all sinners, simply because we all do “wrong” at times in our lives. God knew this. However, God also indicates that a Messiah would come, and that Messiah would “Bruise” Satan’s head.

When you have a wound to the head, it is fatal. When you have a wound to the foot, it is not. So what God is saying is that Satan will tempt this “Messiah” with evil just like all of humanity since the beginning of the world. He will bruise the Messiah’s “Heel” meaning the messiah will feel pain, but it will not effect him. However, the Messiah will bruise Satah’s “Head.” This means the Messiah will resist the temptation, and defeat Satan.

Did Jesus Crush Satan’s Head, and Defeat Satan?

By resisting all of Satan’s temptation, and living a life that pleased God (Sinless), Jesus defeated Satan. Jesus is the only one in the history of the world that faced all the temptation we all face, yet did not sin 1 time.

Let me explain it like this:

• Adam and Eve sinned, and that caused a severe negative consequence (Death). That consequence still happens today. We all die a physical death.
• Jesus felt all the same temptation we all felt, yet did not sin. His act of sinless had a lasting POSITIVE consequence on all of humanity. Forgiveness from God based on that sacrifice.

Why Did Jesus Have to Die? Wasn’t Jesus’ Death a Bad Thing?

You asked why killing Jesus was a good thing. The answer is: It wasn’t! The fact that the people killed Jesus is not good. In fact, Jesus warned about the fate of those who rejected him. No doubt, they will pay the price of death for the act if they didn’t seek forgiveness.

So it wasn’t the killing of Jesus that was good. It was the fact that at his death, it sealed the deal of someone who fulfilled God’s will 100%. When his blood was shed by the act of murder, that shed blood represented the sacrifice of a person who was SINLESS. That was the good part, that Jesus lived and died with no SIN. The fact that he died wasn’t good. The fact that he died SINLESS was. That is the main difference.

Just like I mentioned in the last post I made, people could sacrifice an animal in the old days because an animal was considered sinless (they don’t know right or wrong like we do). So when the animal was sacrificed, it was a death of something sinless in place of the sinner’s “death.”

When Jesus died, he hadn’t sinned, yet knew the difference between right and wrong. That is a big difference. That is why God places such an emphasis on this event. Just like Adam and Eve brought death into the world by sinning, Christ brought the ultimate forgiveness back into the world by not sinning. His sacrifice is much more important than an animals, which is why it is 100% unnessesary to ever sacrifice an animal ever again. That is why Christ is referred to as the “Lamb” (sacrifice).

But Why Did Jesus Suffer? Was it God who Tortured Jesus?

First there is something everyone should realize: Jesus didn’t HAVE to suffer, but Jesus CHOSE to suffer. As Jesus pointed out, at any time he could have commanded the power that God gave him, and had a legion of angels by his side. God surely didn’t like seeing a person who never did wrong suffer, especially his own begotten son.

But even so, Jesus did it anyways. Why? First, Jesus knew that it was only temporary. When Jesus preached before his death, he said that he will go into the grave for 3 days, but will be resurrected again. He knew that soon after this torture, he would once again be with God.

Also, Jesus was killed because he made some claims that the people didn’t like. He claimed to be the Son of God, and the Messiah. They thought this was blasphemy. They gave Jesus a chance to deny this claim, but if Jesus denied the truth and said he was not the Messiah, he would have lied (sinned). So Jesus knew he would be rejected, and tortured for preaching the truth. He died because of our sins (we were sinners), and we (humanity) killed him.

So did God do this torture to Jesus? Of course not. As I mentioned, God gave Jesus authority to do miracles, etc. God did not want the suffering. God merely allowed it to take place for a short time. Just like God doesn’t cause bad things to happen to good people, yet good and bad things happen to us, whether we are good or bad. Suffering in this world happens to us all. It is part of being human. But always remember that the suffering we feel in this world is only temperary. We will one day suffer no more. God is a good God.

So Did Jesus Go to Hell and Suffer More? Why Would Jesus Ever Go to Hell?

First this is not a biblical teaching that Jesus suffered in hell. It does not say he suffered ever again after the death on the cross. The work was done, and even Jesus said, “It is finished” before he died. What proves this even more, is that the real ‘HELL’ does not even exist yet. God creates it at the end after the final judgement.

That being said, Jesus did go to “Hades- but not to suffer”. He went preach to the ones there that his work was finished. This may be a little confusing at first if you have never read the bible all the way through, so let me briefly explain this concept:

The bible mentions a place known as “Sheol” in the old Hebrew, or “Hades” in the new Greek. They both mean the same thing, which is “the grave” and the “spirits of the dead.” So when the word “sheol” or “hades” is used, it is either talking about the grave, or the spiritual place of the dead.

When people died before Christ, their bodies decomposed in the graves, while their spirits were gathered in a state of being known as “sheol” as they await God’s judgement.

“Hell” is a place that is not yet created. People often confuse the terms of “Hades/Sheol” and “Hell.” Hell, in the context most people use, is the “lake of fire” that God creates after the great judgement and end of the world. He places all who reject His ways and fail judgement into the “lake of fire” which is the final place they will be for eternity. Again, this is a future event, and the lake of fire has not yet been created.

Right now, if someone dies, they either go temporarily to heaven or “hades.” If you died with forgiveness, you go to heaven temporarily. If you did not, you go to sheol/Hades temporarily. Before Jesus’ time, all temperarily dwelled in “Hades.” After the cross, Jesus went to “Hades” to preach to the ones who died with faith and forgiveness of God.

In heaven, we temporarily wait until the resurrection and Great Judgement. At that point, our spirits will be rejoined with a new body, resurrected, and we will all be judged before God Almighty. Every deed of our lives will be shown, and we will be judged. The same thing will happen to those who rejected God.

Then, God throws all souls who reject him into the “Lake of Fire.” This is the real “hell” where people spend eternity (Revelation 20:14). Then God completely destroys the old “Earth” and “heavens,” and creates an entirely new “Heaven and Earth.”

God will then dwell with man for eternity on the “New Earth” (Revelation chapter 21). We do not actually stay in “heaven” for eternity. This is something many believe, but the bible is quite clear on the future and what happens.

So in conclusion, it never says that Jesus went to hell to suffer or anything like that. That teaching comes from other books written after the bible, that are not regarded as factual. So Jesus did go to “Hades” temporarily, but not to suffer or anything like that. The work was done at his death. After that, he stayed in the grave for 3 days. His spirit was still alive, and then his body was resurrected. He then was witnessed by multiple people, including all of the disciples. He then rose to be with God until his return.

I hope that answers your question! If you have more let me know! Have a great day!

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Posted under Ask a Question, bible questions