Three Score Years and Ten – What Then?

Recently the writer turned seventy, and I was reminded of what the Bible says in Psalm 90 v10:

“The days of our years are threescore years and ten…”

As I thought on this, I realise that I am firmly “in the waiting room,” even though I am blessed with good health, etc.

To take this a step further, ever since my late sixties. I have had a growing sense of my mortality – something which would only have occasionally crossed my mind over the years.

The next part of this little message focuses on the two words in the title, ‘What then?’  In other words, after my 70+ years on this earth, what happens next?

Various answers to this age-old question are offered, such as:

• Reincarnation, that is, one comes back to live in another life form (as an animal, etc.).
• Annihilation, that is, there is nothing further after this life; life ceases to exist.
• We don’t know, that is, nobody can really tell what happens after we pass from this life.

These are but three of many theories of what happens after we pass from this life.

I come now to the main point of this little message.  In my mid-thirties, the answer to the question, “What then?” was revealed to me, and it was truly a life-changing experience.

The answer came from the Bible – specifically the book of Hebrews, chapter 9 verse 27, which says, “It is appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgement.”

This and similar verses convinced me that after this life is over, there is a judgement waiting for every man and woman where they will answer to God for sins committed on earth.

This fearful prospect is backed up by verses such as Romans 3 v23, which says, “All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.”

The book of Revelation talks about the “great white throne judgement” where “the dead, both small and great, stand before God” (chapter 20 v12) to have their sins judged before being “cast into the lake of fire” (v15).

However, the good news is that nobody need appear at this dreadful place. You see, every person on this earth can avail of the fact that their judgement has been taken by someone else, and that person is Jesus Christ.

Isaiah the prophet wrote of Him, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities…” Also, “And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isiah 53 v5, 6b).

In the Gospel of John chapter 3 v16, we read: “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.”

Dear reader, if you, like me, have reached threescore years and ten (or even if you are a young person), you don’t have to wonder any longer about “What then?”

All you have to do is acknowledge that you are one of the “all” who has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (i.e. not worthy of heaven). Then, in simple faith, trust that Jesus Christ bore the judgement that was due to you when He died on Calvary’s cross for your sins.

Romans 8v1 says; “There is therefore now no condemnation (judgement) to them who are in Christ Jesus.”

Simply, this means that if you put your faith in Jesus Christ alone as your Sin-bearer, whether you are 70 or 17, you don’t have to worry any more about your mortality, for you are assured of entry to heaven when you pass from this life.

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” – Acts 16 v31.

Source: Seamus Callanan.

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