The ultimate statistic for all men everywhere concerns not social issues or economic paradigms, but it has to do with what is beyond the here and now, the consummation of all being, death. Ten out of ten people die. And there are only two ways for any person to die. Whether it is in sin or in faith.

How about you dear reader? The “ifs” or the “whens” of death are inevitable things. The “how” is what we should consider with the utmost importance.

The Bible tells us in Hebrews 9:27, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment…” Yet even having known that reality that we all will die one day. What a tragedy it is that we neglect to consider the implications of that event. We simply do not like the thought of death. In more basic terms we do not like anything that disturbs the peace of our souls. We do not like to consider things that would challenge our world views. We want to be massaged and comforted in uninterrupted bliss, even if it is bliss in ignorance.

But it should not be so. Eternity is at stake. Heaven and Hell are too weighty an issue. The wrath of God too severe. The grace of God in granting faith, too great a gift. God’s wrath is coming. Are you ready?

Dying in Faith

The question that plagues us about death is not if we will die. There is a macabre jocularity about the two most certain things in life—death and taxes. But some people do manage to avoid or evade taxes. The only way we can possibly avoid death is to remain alive until the return of Christ.

I just had to change the words of the last sentence. At first I wrote these words: “The only way we can possibly avoid death is to be alive at the return of Christ.” I changed the wording because my original sentence was at least misleading and at worst heretical. The New Testament assures us that those who are in Christ will certainly be alive at His coming. If we die before He returns we will be raised to witness His glorious return:

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Therefore comfort one another with these words.

—1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Here the Apostle Paul gives a vivid description of what is popularly called the Rapture of the saints. No Christian will miss the Rapture. Those who remain alive until it happens will have no advantage over those who have already died. The dead in Christ will be raised for this event.

I remember as a child having to go to bed before the Fourth of July fireworks display. I didn’t want to go to sleep for fear that I would miss all the fun. My parents overcame my anxiety by promising me that they would waken me in time to see the fireworks. They kept their promise.

No Christian will sleep through the Second Coming of Christ. None of us are eyewitnesses to the birth of Christ. We missed His display of miracles during His earthly ministry. No one alive today beheld Christ on the cross. None of us are eyewitnesses of His glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven. But we will all be eyewitnesses of His return. The climax of the exaltation of Jesus will be viewed by every believer. God will raise the dead to make certain that every eye shall behold His triumphant return.

This event circumscribes the only “if” about our dying.

The Great Divide: Dying in Faith or in Sin

We have many questions about our own deaths. We wonder where we will die. We wonder when we will die. We ask why we will die. The chief concern of Scripture, however, is how we will die. This is the big question, the question that is loaded with significance.

I once received a note from my theological mentor, Dr. John Gerstner. In that note he passed on news to me of a mutual friend who had succumbed from cancer. Gerstner’s simple but poignant words were these: “Tom Graham died in faith.”

Those five words, “Tom Graham died in faith,” said a lot to me. Gerstner was saying that Tom died as a Christian. Tom remained faithful to the end.

Scripture has much to say about how we die. From a biblical standpoint, there are only two possible ways of dying. Here the Bible passes over the various causes of death. We know that we can die of cancer, from a heart attack, from strangulation, from a gunshot wound, or from a host of other mortal causes. But these causes of biological death are not the chief concern of Scripture.

When the Scripture speaks of the how of death, the focus is on the spiritual state of the person at the time of his death. Here we see the “how” of death reduced to only two options. We either die in faith or we die in our sins.

Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: When I say to the wicked, “You shall surely die,” and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.

—Ezekiel 3:17-19

What Ezekiel declares in the Old Testament, Jesus reaffirms in the New Testament: “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24).

We sometimes think that the worst thing that can befall a person is to die. That is not the message of Jesus. According to Christ, the worst possible thing that can befall us is to die in our sins.

This is the biblical message that is so widely ignored in our day. We like to believe that everyone who dies automatically goes to heaven. We assume that the only ticket required for entrance into the kingdom of God is death. The warning required by Ezekiel is ignored because we do not believe it is necessary.

The Need for Words of Warning

Recently I had the opportunity of speaking with Billy Graham. During our conversation I mentioned to him an experience I had as a college student. I recalled standing around a television set in the men’s dormitory in the late fifties. Some of us had gathered to watch a television show on which Billy Graham was being interviewed.

When the host interviewed Billy Graham he tried to keep the interview light and humorous. He joked about the state of his own soul. Dr. Graham kept his poise and with dignity and grace told the host on national television that he needed Christ.

Thirty years later I asked Dr. Graham about that episode. He replied that he still keeps in touch with the host and reminds him of his need for Christ. Dr. Graham really cares about the man and does not want the talk show host to die in his sins.

Speaking to a dying person about the need for a Savior is not an easy matter. The last thing we want to do to a person in such a condition is to disturb him in any way or to make him feel uncomfortable. We think that it is an act of human kindness not to discuss such matters.

God commands us to speak to the dying about their need for a Savior. Ezekiel makes that crystal clear. If we love people we will warn them of the consequences of dying in their sins.

We remember the complaints that Jeremiah brought before God. Jeremiah was upset because God had called him to announce a warning to the people that they did not want to hear. To make matters worse for Jeremiah, his ministry was being undermined by false prophets who were very popular with the people because they told the people what they wanted to hear. They declared, “Peace, peace” when there was no peace. The Word of God declared

Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; they speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord. They continually say to those who despise Me, “The Lord has said, ‘You shall have peace’”; and to everyone who walks according to the imagination of his own heart, “No evil shall come upon you.”

—Jeremiah 23:16-17

The message of the false prophets served only to “heal the hurt of the daughters of Zion, slightly.” (See Jeremiah 8:10.) False words of comfort are like putting Band-Aids on cancer. The healing is at best slight. Here a crude form of slight temporary relief is substituted for the authentic balm of Gilead.

The great lie is the lie that declares there is no Last Judgment. Yet if Jesus of Nazareth taught anything, He emphatically declared that there would be a Last Judgment. We do not respect Jesus as a teacher if we ignore His teaching on this matter. Consider these words of Christ:

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”…Then He will also say to those on the left hand, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”…And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

—Matthew 25:31-46

Here Jesus utters sober words of warning. Those who die in their sins will be separated; they will be numbered with the goats.

Jesus amplifies this warning elsewhere. He warns that “nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light” (Luke 8:17). Again He says, “For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore, whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops” (Luke 12:2-3).

Jesus warns that a day will come when all secrets will become known. It will be the final end to all the cover-ups of this world. Every closet will be open, and the skeletons will be plainly visible. The sins of us all will be made known unless we are “covered” by the cloak of Christ’s righteousness.

This future day of nakedness is a day when those who die in their sins will “say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’” (Luke 23:30).

—R.C. Sproul, (1996, c1988). Surprised by Suffering. Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.

Purchase the book “Surprised by Suffering” here, or read more here.