Two Mandatory Appointments

Mike Johnson

   There are very few things in life that we absolutely must do.  A person does not even absolutely have to eat.  A person, of course, must eat if he wants to live, but he can stop eating and die if he wanted to.  However, we cannot avoid two future events.  They are death and the Judgment.   Hebrews 9:27 says, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” All of us must keep these two appointments.

   First, consider death.  Our life here on this earth is, at the longest, very short.   James 4:14 refers to our life as a vapor “that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”  To live is to die eventually.  Since we all must indeed die, the second mandatory appointment (the Judgment) should concern us all.

   All of us must face the Judgment, which will occur after the second coming of Christ.   The basis for the final Judgment is the “things done in the body,” according to II Corinthians 5:10. We cannot avoid the Judgment, so we should certainly prepare ourselves for it.

   If you are not a Christian, you need to become one.  The Bible teaches that a person must believe (Heb. 11:6), repent (Acts 2:38), confess Christ (Rom.  10:10), and be baptized (Acts 2:38).   After people become Christians, they must remain faithful (I Cor. 15:58).