Important Appointments

Important Appointments

And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. …

Hebrews 9:27-28

We all have daily appointments.  They are part and parcel of life.  We must see customers, our doctor, the children’s teachers or whoever else needs or requires a portion of our time.  There is yet for us all one great common appointment, to which our text for today refers.  This is our appointment with death.  It is a God-ordained appointment.  Some expend every effort imaginable to forestall the arrival of this appointment, others rashly, rebelliously seek to bring their own life to a close.  We must admit and accept that God has appointed the span of our earthly day.  The appointment with death is one we will not miss.

As important an appointment as that is, there is an even greater one which follows, because “after this the judgment.”  For the soul out of Christ, this judgement is a terrifying prospect, and so it should be.  Of ourselves, we have no righteousness with which to stand. If you are, today, still out of Christ, seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Do not arrive at this appointment with the Judge of all the Earth unprepared.  By contrast, the sure hope of the believing soul is in the efficacy of the atoning sacrifice of Christ to which the 28th verse refers.  The prospect of standing before God for us holds no terror because we have a crucified Savior.  His was a once-for-all, sin-bearing, particular, and satisfactory offering.  The Holy Spirit applies the redemptive work of Christ unto all for whom the Father intended it.  Therefore we are safe, and look for the coming of Our King, who shall ‘appear the second time without sin unto salvation.’

He is coming in His own time.  He is coming for His own people.  He is coming to judge the world, and to divide His sheep from the goats He never knew.  Consider today your standing before God, ‘Give diligence to make your calling and election sure.’

Great Saving God,

oversee the keeping

of our souls

unto Thy heavenly kingdom.

Where the Bush is Burning

Tomm Tice