davidbowerkingwood

Statistics Estimate 150,000 People Worldwide Die each Day

Death is a fact of life, just as is birth, it is normal and happens to everyone at a time appointed by God. Online statistics suggest 150,000 people die each day worldwide and around 56,000,000 each year.

Of that number, it is estimated around 1/3 of those deaths are the deaths of Christians, indicating around 50,000 Christians statistically die each day.

According to the Bible, that means each day, all who die having rejected Jesus Christ as Savior, enter Hades to experience unceasing torments and suffering as they await the Great White Throne judgment, after which they will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire!

That is imminent divine judgment which is happening now and has been happening every day for thousands of years!

What Does Death Really Mean?

Before going further with this line of thought, it would be advisable to clearly understand what is meant by death. Most dictionary definitions include something about the end of life but this is most certainly not the case.

The Bible reveals all human beings are created in the image of God and are eternal; we are spirit beings that have been placed, for a short time, in a body of the earth which is described as a tent. While our body of this earth is temporary, our spiritual essence is eternal and will always exist somewhere!

Death is nothing more than the departure of our spiritual essence from the mortal body it occupied for a short time; death is the end of our mortal era and the beginning of our eternal era!

It has pleased God that certain vitally important decisions must be made during the mortal phase of existence.

A Rocky Start

Not too long after the initial creation of man, the first man, Adam, made a fatally bad decision; he choose to disobey the command he had been given regarding a specific tree. I have written more on this in the 3-part essay, “The Fall”.

As a result of this bad decision, Adam, and Eve immediately died spiritually and eventually died physically; every human being later born of a human father would be born spiritually dead and would eventually die physically.

God’s Plan for Redemption

In his grace and mercy, God had a plan for redemption: ^“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

This is the option every human being faces, to receive or reject the offer of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ! This profoundly important decision determines where each of us will spend eternity and must be made during our mortal time of existence!

The Bible is very clear on this, in Hebrews 9:27 it is written:

And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,

Jesus Christ was judged on behalf of all who receive him as Savior; for those who reject Jesus Christ, their judgment is certain!

What Happens to the Eternal Spirit at Death?

For those who have received Jesus Christ as Savior, there is a blessed hope, in 2 Corinthians 5:8 it is written:

We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

When a Christian leaves their mortal body, they go immediately into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ!

For those who have rejected salvation by faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, the change is indeed fearful! The Bible provides a minimal amount of information on the immediate destination of unbelievers at death. In Luke 16 a place of torments in Hades is referenced but the ultimate destination is the Lake of Fire which will come after the Great White Throne judgment as described in Revelation 20:11-15 where it is written:

¹¹ “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. ¹⁴ Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. ¹⁵ And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”

If you are a born-again Christian, then rejoice in the salvation you have received by your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior!

If you have not received Jesus Christ as your Savior, then please know this:

Becoming a Christian is simply believing in Jesus as your Savior. We are told in John 3:16 “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.”

You can have everlasting life by asking Jesus to come into your heart; just pray to him like this:

Lord, I want you to be my Savior, I believe you died for my sins and I accept the payment you made for me on the cross. Thank you for coming into my life. Amen.

If you can pray that prayer and mean it then, congratulations, you’ve just joined God’s eternal family and escaped the Second Death!

The Christian Responsibility

The Christian establishment has a great responsibility to proclaim the full message of the Bible!

To proclaim John 3:16

¹⁶ 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.

and fail to proclaim John 3:36

³⁶ He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

is a deadly serious omission! Those rejecting Jesus Christ as Savior should never be led to believe there are no extremely serious consequences awaiting them at death as unbelievers in Jesus Christ!

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, then I urge you to take that life-saving step right now; receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, join God’s eternal family and escape the Lake of Fire and the Second Death!