January 14, 2021 - We all know that someday we will die. Our journey on this earth will be over. God chose not to reveal the date of our death to each of us, which is a good thing. There is an interesting verse in the New Testament book of Hebrews, written by the Apostle Paul, that touches on the subject of death. It reads as follows, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."
I would like to take a closer look at the first half of that verse. It states that all persons born into this world have a die date. “Appointed” means that we all have an appointment. Say you make an appointment to see your doctor. The appointment will contain the year, month, day, and hour of your visit. So, then, we all have a year, month, day, and hour of our death.
A couple of questions arise from this statement. One is, does God assign a die date at the time of birth? Or, secondly, does God just know in his wisdom the date that a person will die? If God assigns a die date at birth, is it an arbitrary one based upon His knowledge? Could it be that at birth God looks into the future of this person and states, “This person will die on January 16th, 2045, at 8:31 and 36 seconds in the afternoon.”
This scenario begs the question “Why are some people allowed to live to a ripe old age, and some die at birth, or as a child?” How does God decide this in his infinite wisdom? Of course, this is something that we mortals will never know, the how and why of this. Perhaps the answer to this question is that God is all knowing; thus, He knows the date that a person will die. Thus, He does not cause a person to die of a heart attack or deadly accident on the die date.
Another question is this – If a person were to die earlier than his “die date”, would God be mistaken? Can God be wrong on anything? I think not. God is in control and no one will take God by surprise, thus no one will die on a date not prescribed by God.
Another question on this subject is this – Do we have Guardian Angels to protect us? Again, in the Book of Hebrews we find the following verse, Hebrews 13:3, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” So, Paul is reminding us that Angels are real beings, and have interjected themselves into the affairs of mankind on earth.
The question is, why would they do that? Perhaps the following scenario might explain why. Suppose that a person is born with a die date of 86 years, 3 months 5 days, and 15 minutes. As a 19-year-old person he/she is involved in a bad auto accident and is trapped in a burning car. He/she is unable to get out and will soon be burned to death much earlier than the die date. Suppose God sees this and dispatches the guardian angel to take the form of a man who suddenly appears on the scene and rescues the person. Otherwise, God would be proved incorrect as to the die date of this person.
This might explain why some people are miraculously cured of a deadly disease or saved from a deadly accident. Many think it is because of fervent prayers offered up on behalf of the person. In actuality it was because the person had not reached their determined die date. When we reach our die date, nothing will prevent the death, and conversely if we have not, then you will not die, prayers or no prayers. The thing is, we, as mortals, do not know a person's die date, so prayers are recommended for any and all situations.
I have read of many situations in which a person was saved by an unknown male person who suddenly appears, then disappears. In the Bible, all angels are of the male gender. Over the years, angels have been feminized, but this representation of angels is not accurate. Angels are God's warriors, and his messengers accomplishing His will on planet earth. They are not feminine creatures.
So, in a sense all we mortals may have a “guardian angel” watching over us to make sure that God's timing is accurate as regards our death, and all other situations in which we may find ourselves. Thus, we must entertain strangers among us. Who knows, perhaps they are our guardian angel.
