Hal Lindsey: The ultimate tragedy

WorldNetDaily: The ultimate tragedyThe ultimate tragedy

Posted: January 13, 2005

1:00 a.m. Eastern



By Hal Lindsey

© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com



The sheer enormity and scope of the Sumatra earthquake-tsunami catastrophe has dominated the thinking of people worldwide. It has caused almost everyone to confront the ultimate reality of the "fragility of life."



At least 150,000 lives were suddenly snuffed out. A shocking percentage of them were under the age of 12-years-old. This disaster has forced nearly everyone to confront the uncomfortable issue of sudden and unexpected death.



Yet there is one thing in life we must all face – we are all going to die. We may hurl charges against God that He has unfairly allowed such catastrophe to snuff out the lives of so many young people. But, in the end, death is a certainty to us all.



Because most people today act as though this life is all there is, death is viewed as the ultimate tragedy. Especially if those who die didn't have a chance "to get the most out of this life." To them, death is the ultimate tragedy that is to be avoided at all costs for as long as possible.



Interestingly, people who normally do not believe in God nevertheless pour out outrage at God for allowing such "unjust tragedy" to happen. God is brought in to blame when convenient. In one-way or another, most the world charges "Why does God allow such horrible things to happen to good people?"



In view of all this, I am going to present God's perspective to this question from the Bible.



First, God declares that He created all men to live forever. But because of mankind's rebellion against Him, man now has two destinations in eternity. Every person who does not restore his relationship with God will spend eternity away from God in a place of isolation, torment and outer darkness. This consequence is so great that God Himself stepped out of eternity into time in the person of Jesus Christ in order pay our penalty for rebellion. On that basis, God offers each person who will receive it a free gift of pardon and eternity with Him.



The most familiar verses in the Bible are based on this reality:



For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.



– John 3:16-19



You see, from God's perspective the ultimate tragedy is not the timing or nature of your death. The ultimate tragedy is for you to die without resolving where you will spend eternity.



Now I know that this is not a popular idea for the world to confront. But truth is truth no matter how much man chooses to deceive himself about it.



Second, when you look at life from the perspective of eternity, what may be considered a tragedy to the world may not be so at all. God says this world is only a preparation for eternity. Therefore if a person dies suddenly at a young age, it may be a blessing rather than a curse.



The Bible teaches that if a person dies before the age of accountability, he is automatically covered by the atonement of Jesus Christ because he didn't have the ability to make a decision. There are many people in Heaven from the tsunami that wouldn't have been if they had lived out their lives.



In great catastrophe, true believers in Jesus Christ are killed along with those who are not. However this is not a tragedy to the believer. God says, "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints." (Psalm 116:15)



To the world, such a statement is incomprehensible. But the Bible teaches that every believer is a saint in the eyes of God. The word in its original language means "one set apart as God's possession." So when he dies, it is a homecoming. All pain, sorrows and tears are over. God says:



Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord – for we walk by faith, not by sight – we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home [literally, "face to face"] with the Lord.



– 2 Corinthians 5:6-8



Third, the one who understands life in view of eternity lives with a different purpose. He realizes that there is no guarantee on the length and condition of this life. He agrees with God's assessment:



Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills ... we will live and also do this or that."



– James 4:14-15



Each one of us is blazing a vapor trail across the sky of time. God tells us that the only things we can take with us into eternity are the good things we do for others out of thanksgiving to God. God will remember all of our acts of kindness we do by faith in Him – and He will reward us for them.



Such catastrophes as the Sumatran earthquake-tsunami should be viewed with humility and compassion. Apart from God's intervening grace, we could all fall victims to "natural disasters." The Bible teaches that such catastrophes are the result of an Earth that is living under a curse resulting from man's fall.



We live in "Cosmos Diabolicus." The Bible says, "We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the Evil One." Jesus warned that Satan is "The Ruler of this world." (John 5:19 and John 14:30)



The book of Job reveals that Satan has the authority and power to unleash great "natural disasters." Jesus also warned that as the time for His return draws near, natural catastrophes would increase in frequency and destructive power. He particularly mentioned great earthquakes and paralyzing fear because of the "roaring of the waves of the sea." We live in the time of these signs that Jesus called "birth pains."



Therefore the greatest priority is to win as many people to faith in Christ as possible and to grow in faith so as to be able to face the crises that surely are coming. The time is at hand. Make sure that you have accepted God's free gift of pardon through Christ's death in your place. Pray right now and receive Him. Tell Him you want Him to come in and change your life to His will. Your eternal destiny depends upon your decision. If you miss it, that will be the ultimate tragedy.



Hal Lindsey is the best-selling author of 20 books, including "Late Great Planet Earth." He writes this weekly column exclusively for WorldNetDaily.