Recently, I received an advertisement in the mail encouraging me to purchase medical health insurance and the heading consisted of the words that entitle this article. The testimonies of various people were included which suggested that there was the possibility of me being involved in some accident or contracting some illness, events totally unforeseen, which would leave me in such a state that I would require constant support. One said, “The options facing me were institutionalisation, being looked after by my family or finding the money to lead an independent and as normal a life as possible … I never thought this would happen to me … I wasn't prepared for it.”
I suppose we all need to consider the future and be prepared for it as well as possible. Yet this is all built on a supposition and a doubt. We can suppose a situation; we may be involved in the accident, we may contract the disease, but we may not. It might never happen to us.
There is however, something for which we must prepare. It is not supposition, it is an absolute and unchangeable reality. It is a meeting with God. We read in the Old Testament book of Amos, chapter 4 verse 12, “prepare to meet thy God.” This meeting is inevitable and cannot be avoided. It is described as an appointment in Hebrews 9v27, “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” I ask you, dear reader, “Have you made preparation to meet God?”
Some may answer that they try to do so by living a good life, being religious, doing good works, hoping that all their efforts will earn them a place in heaven. What does the Bible say about this? Isaiah 64v6, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” Again, Ephesians 2v8,9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Again, Titus 3v5, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.”
It is not possible to earn a place in heaven since that suggests we can put God in our debt, thus obligating Him to reward our good living with a place in eternal glory! It is obvious that we cannot do that. If salvation is to be our portion and we are to be prepared to meet Him, it must be of His grace. In the Old Testament God had a place which was marked by the blood of a sacrificial victim and He said, “there I will meet with thee,” Exodus 25v22. God will meet with us on the basis of sacrifice and shedding of blood. There is only one place where He will meet with you, “And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him,” Luke 23v33.
The Person who was crucified was the Only Begotten Son of God, who came into this world to make atonement for our sins and to lay a basis whereby we could meet God without fear of punishment.
“He took the guilty sinner's place, and suffered in His stead,
For man, (oh miracle of grace), for man the Saviour bled.”
John 3v16,17, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.”
If we accept the Lord Jesus as our Saviour by faith, then we will meet Him in the air as our Lord, 1 Thessalonians 4v16,17 and we shall “ever be with the Lord.” The alternative is to meet Him in our sins and be banished from Him forever. If we meet Him here as the Saviour, we shall meet Him then as a Friend. If we do not meet Him here as a Saviour we will meet Him then as a Judge.