Does Death End All?
A grade school teacher recently took a poll among his students on their attitude toward death. One third of them expected to die in a nuclear war before they were 30. Another third expected to die before they were 40. "We’ll all go together," they calmly asserted. Hence they were all committed to the policy of living life to its full, getting "all the kicks" they could, while life still remained.
This reflects the general psychology of life today. Since the advent of nuclear weapons, the extreme brevity of life has been forced upon human thinking, especially among the young people. It seems to be a spirit of Fatalism, and it is one of the greatest contributing elements to the wave of crime and lawlessness that has been sweeping over the world.
But does death end all? The story is told of a conversation between an atheist and a Christian doctor. Said the atheist, "Doctor, I do not believe what you are preaching." The doctor answered, "You have told me what you do NOT believe; now would you please tell me what you DO believe?"
"Certainly," replied the atheist, "I believe that death ends all." To his amazement, the doctor answered, "So do I!"
"What?" exclaimed the astonished man, "you are a Christian, and you believe that death ends all? You are certainly a strange Christian."
The doctor agreed, explaining as follows: "Death ends all your chance of doing evil; death ends all you joy; death ends all your projects, all your ambition, all your friendships; death ends all the Gospel that you will ever hear; death ends it all for you - and you go into outer darkness."
Death ends the opportunity for repentance, for the Word of God offers no hope beyond the grave. During your life time you may say "I believe I am right", but what if you are wrong? What then? Surely it would be wise for you to give some honest consideration and investigation of this matter before the final count-down, when you must go forth into an unknown eternity. Death will end all such opportunity to correct your biggest mistake in life, and regret will haunt your conscience for all eternity.
In contrast, the doctor then described what death meant to him as a Christian: "Death would end all my wanderings, all my tears, all my perplexities, and all my disappointments, all my aches and pains; death would end all that, and I would go to be with my Lord in glory to have full joy for all eternity."
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John: 3:16
