Richard Hollerman

We know that Scripture seems to indicate that people will live for a certain number of years. Some have referred to Psalm 90:10 (although this may be misapplied). So do we live to age 70 or longer? Will the young (if there is such as this) die?

Perhaps you are 20 or 40 or 60 or 80. How many years will you live? We don’t know, unless we take our own life (suicide) or if we have an incurable illness. But we definitely will die. This should concern us. After all, we will live (on earth, in this body) for a few years and then it will all end.

Scripture teaches us: “It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). As we look out upon the world, we should know that our days are numbered. Just this morning, I learned that a famous athlete died and he was in his 20s. I suppose that he thought that he would live longer, but he is now gone. And surely unprepared to meet God.

Many of my fellow-classmates are now departed. I regularly receive reports of such-and-such a person who has died. Each of these people probably were unprepared to meet God and died as do others and they were unprepared to go. They must have thought that they would live longer—but didn’t.

But even if these people thought that they would live longer, and thought that they would live to age 90, they are now gone. But what of the future? There would be another 1,000 years before them. Or maybe 10,000 or 1 million years before them. Or eternity. And then they lived a mere 60 or 70 or 80 or 90 years. They are now gone. Unprepared.

Now is the time to “make certain about His calling and choosing you” (2 Peter 1:10). Now is the time to prepare for the future and to get ready for the future. We know that no church or pastor can do this. Only Jesus awaits those who are prepared. Only Jesus. Are you prepared? Our end may come sooner than we know.