Now is the Acceptable Time
Now is the Acceptable Time
By Jack Kinsella
Note: Originally Published in December 2007 but the message is still timeless.
Death is all over the news again this Christmas season, as yet another deranged nutbar opened fire on a group of innocents as his last act of defiance in this life.
I’m not going to name the guy — that’s what these lunatics are looking for as a kind of immortality, and I’m not going to give it to him. Instead, let’s look at the genuine kind of immortality one hopes at least some of his victims are now enjoying.
Every person who ever lived, every person you see, everyone you know, has an eternal destiny.
“So God created man in His Own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.” (Genesis 1:27)
What is God’s “image”? When talking to the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus says, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24)
Since He is a Spirit, God HAS no physical ‘image’ in the three-dimensional sense that we are capable of understanding. Man was created in God’s eternal image — that is to say, man was created with an eternal component.
“Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?” (Ecclesiastes 3:21)
“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:7)
Although the Bible talks about spiritual ‘death’ “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:4); “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” (Revelation 20:14) the word ‘death’ is used figuratively.
The Bible makes it clear that when one passes from this life to the next, the body dies, but the spirit continues on its journey.
Revelation 20:10 says that, at the conclusion of the 1000 year Millennial Reign, “the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10)
The beast and false prophet are cast into the lake of fire when Satan is chained at the 2nd Coming of Christ. (Revelation 19:20)
One thousand years later, after Satan had been “loosed out of his prison” (Revelation 20:7) he deceives the nations, the Lord convenes the Great White Throne Judgment, and Satan is also cast into the lake of fire, where, the Lord tells us, “the beast and the false prophet “ARE” (present tense) 1000 years after they were sentenced.
There are two ‘deaths’ in Scripture. The first is physical, the second is spiritual.
“But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” (Revelation 20:5) This passage is speaking of a physical existence as ‘life’.
When a lost person dies, his body goes to the grave, where he awaits the general resurrection of the dead, but his spirit is cast alive into hell to await the Great White Throne. (Luke 16:22-23) To all intents and purposes, he is ‘dead’ — to everyone except himself.
When a believer dies, his body goes to the grave to await the Rapture of the Church, but his spirit goes immediately from this life into the Presence of the Lord, with Whom he will spend eternity. This is what we term eternal ‘life’ – but in our understanding of ‘life’ as conscious awareness, one never dies, whether lost or saved.
That eternal component is that part which is created in the Image of God. God doesn’t look like us, and we don’t look like Him. But we are the only created animal with that eternal element, and therefore, in God’s Image and after His likeness.
Assessment
The Omaha murderer claimed eight victims, all of whom were chosen at random. It is a safe bet that at least some of them were saved, but it is equally safe to assume that at least some of them were not.
Up until that final second, they still had an opportunity to settle accounts with the Lord, but the moment that the rifle bullet took their physical lives, it sealed their eternal destiny.
The Omaha murderer didn’t just murder their bodies, he murdered their souls. He took from them forever the opportunity to repent of their sins, turn to Christ for their reconciliation, and ensure their eternity.
But the Omaha murderer will not stand before God alone. Somebody, somewhere, at some point, had the opportunity to share the Gospel with his victims, and failed in their Divine appointment.
“When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.” (Ezekiel 33:8)
It is God’s will that not any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2nd Peter 3:9)
The Bible has two seemingly contradictory passages concerning death and dying:
“For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.” (Ezekiel 18:32); and; “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.” (Psalms 116:5)
There is no contradiction. In the first case, the Lord is grieving for those who die in their sins. In the second, He is rejoicing as one of His saints achieves final victory over the flesh.
“When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand” (Ezekiel 3:18)
Notice that the Lord requires believers to ‘warn the wicked from his way’ telling us that, should we fail in that mission, we will be answerable to the Lord for our failure.
Most of the victims of the Omaha shooter were store employees. That underscores what I’ve said in this column many times. Everybody you meet, whether it is the store clerk that waits on you, the cop that writes you a ticket, or the bag boy who packs your groceries — all have an eternal destiny.
Either they will spend eternity in the Presence of the Lord — or they will spend eternity alone, in darkness, tormented by flame and the memory of their missed opportunities to accept Christ during their earthly lives.
Several of the Omaha victims were in their twenties — the oldest victim was but sixty-five. It is an absolute certainty that none of them knew that yesterday would be the last day of their lives.
Neither did their believing friends and family — all of whom were sure they ‘had time’ and were waiting for the ‘right’ moment to share Christ with them.
That right moment never came.
“For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2nd Corinthians 6:2)
We may never get a second chance.