August 18 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

The writer is using another illustration to show the finality of Christ's death. Now he appeals to a rule with which all of us are familiar. A man is born once; he lives once; he dies once. Then nothing remains but the judgment before God.

All of us are subject to this law, because it is the relentless rule of human existence.

But when the Son of God took on human nature, he had to submit to the same rule. He was born, he lives, and he died once. His death can never be repeated.

When Christ comes back, his coming will have nothing to do with sin, as far as believers are concerned. He will come to receive his own into eternal life. Our sins have been taken away by his death. Just as our own death can never be repeated, so his death was final.

Death is final. In one way, at least, that is a sad and somewhat scary thought. Death is not one event among many but a final event. All the living in this body is then finished. All the things that can only be done while we are among the living must be done by then or they cannot be done at all.

But when the Bible tells us that death is final, the intention is not to scare us but to comfort us. We are asked to believe that the death of Jesus was the full and final payment for all our sins. Therefore we have nothing to fear anymore.

How do we expect Christ to deal with us when he comes in judgment? Do you think he is going to tell the whole universe (and the people in our church!) what dirty sinners we are? No, of course not—not if we have confessed our sins while we were living. He is not going to deal with us according to our sins. He did that when he came the first time. He dealt with our sins in his death. And death cannot be repeated. That's final!

Praise the Lord!

REFLECTIONS

When you think of judgment day, do you have a picture of everyone being told about all your secret sins? Why won't that happen?

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.