Prepare To Meet Your God

Prepare To Meet Your God

     The Israelites were told to “Prepare to meet your God” (Amos 4:12).  All people should be preparing to stand before God, because one day we all will.  No one knows the day or hour he will die but, “And as it is appointed for man to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).  Our appointments with death and judgment cannot be canceled.  Every person who has ever lived will keep both appointments whether they want to or not.  Death is not the end for anyone.  We are not like the dog Rover, when he is dead he is dead all over.  People are eternal beings and all our souls will live on eternally in either one of two places: Heaven or Hell.  When we draw our last breath, our eternal fate is sealed.  

     After we die we will all stand before the Lord and be judged.  “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.  Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Corinthians 5:10-11).  “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12).  

     The vast majority of the world is living as though they think they will never stand before the Lord in judgment. They live as though they think there is no God.  They give no thought about ever dying, but they will die because there is “a time to be born, and a time to die” (Ecclesiastes 3:2).  “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat, both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.  Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness” (2 Peter 3:10-11).  For the vast majority of people, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).  People, who are not prepared to meet God in judgment, do not realize how fearful this will be.  But this will only be the beginning of their fear, which will last forever and ever.  

     Because the majority of people have not prepared to meet God, “There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:42), when they are cast into “hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched, where their worm does not die” (Mark 9:43-44).  This torment will go on forever.  This is not a scare tactic, because Hell is real.  

     But what about the few who are prepared to meet God as they “Enter into the joy of your Lord” (Matthew 25:21)?  In Heaven “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.  There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).  Let’s be prepared to meet God so we can go to Heaven.  By Ron Boatwright