Length: 6 Minutes
When someone dies, the church tells us that the Lord “called them home” or, “It was their time.” If, when people die, it is simply because the Lord called them home at their appointed time, then why did Jesus routinely raise people back up from the dead in His earthly ministry? For that matter, why has God been raising people from the dead since the Old Testament?
Jesus, who is the exact representation of God — Jesus, who said, if you’ve seen Him, you’ve seen the Father — whenever He was called to the bedside of those who had died, actually raised them back up from the dead.
If, when someone dies, God simply “called them home, because it was their time,” then why did Jesus, the exact representation of the Father, raise them back up from the dead. Perhaps God had His timing wrong? Perhaps God had called them home, but then changed His mind? Or perhaps we’ve literally been accusing God this entire time of killing people, and all the while, He just wants to give us life.
How about all of the verses scattered throughout scripture, that tell us that, when we receive the word of God, it will prolong our days? Why would God advocate prolonging our days if He has an appointed time to call us home? Maybe He got the date wrong on His calendar? Maybe He needs to set it off in the future a little bit more, to get it right this time? Or maybe, God doesn’t like death and just wants us to receive His word, so that we can live (Deuteronomy 4:40 and 6:2, Proverbs 28:16 and 10:27).
Whatever you see in Jesus is what is in the Father. What you don’t see in Jesus, is not in the Father. We have a serious dilemma when we accuse the Father of “calling people home,” and yet we can’t say the same thing of His exact representation, Jesus.
Jesus, the image of God, chose to raise people back to the land of the living. And if you’ve seen Him, you’ve seen the Father.
John 14:9 (NKJV) He who has seen Me [Jesus] has seen the Father…
Luke 9:56 (NKJV) For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”
Did you ever see Jesus kill someone to send them to heaven? Really? Even one time? Can you show me one verse where Jesus caused someone to die? Even one verse, where He told someone, “No, I won’t raise that person from the dead because it was their time?” If this is the Father’s routine practice, — to call people home, at their “appointed time to die” — then why don’t we see that in His Son?
Why don’t we see that even one time in all of Jesus’ ministry? The reason why you don’t see it in Christ, is because truthfully, you’ve never seen that from the Father either. We’ve simply made erroneous assumptions about God’s nature because we see someone die. All the while, the Father is not responsible for “calling people home” today. He isn’t calling anyone to die and go home to Him in Heaven. His Spirit is trying to give life to our mortal bodies, if we’ll receive it (Romans 8:11)!
And yet, the book of Hebrews says that it was appointed for every man to die once, so doesn’t that disprove everything we’re saying? Not at all. It actually makes our point firmer. The problem is, people don’t continue to read the rest of the sentence. Hebrews says that although it was appointed for every man to die once (through Adam) Jesus fulfilled that one death appointed to us, by offering Himself up once at the cross.
Hebrews 9:27-28 (NKJV) And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.
This may sound simple, and it truthfully is, but most Christians do not understand the simple truth that Jesus died our death. Of course, they know that Jesus died physically, but it has yet to sink in that this physical death was ours that He was fulfilling. And if Jesus already died our death, how can we continue to say that it is appointed for every man to die once, today, if that appointment with death was already fulfilled by Jesus?
Jesus already fulfilled the death of those you know. Every man was appointed to die once, and therefore, Jesus died once to fulfill it for us! And doesn’t that just make sense out of all the people that Jesus, and His followers, raised from the dead? If Jesus was indeed coming to fulfill the death that was appointed to us, what call would there be for anyone to stay dead any longer?
If a Christian dies, the Lord will certainly receive their spirit to Heaven, but it’s not because God appointed their body to die or called them home at that time. I’m not saying that a particular person that died didn’t know the Lord at all, but for sure, I am saying that people die for lack of knowledge of the death that Jesus already fulfilled for them. There is no other reason.
Romans 8:6 (NKJV) For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
(Also Proverbs 8:35-36, John 11:40, Ephesians 4:18, and Hosea 4:6)
The same way that Jesus provided salvation for the whole world, but if they don’t know it, or are immature in that knowledge, they can’t receive it, so it is with the resurrection of the dead, or anything else. If you don’t know it, or are immature in that knowledge, you’re not going to receive it, although Jesus already provided it.
People die for lack of knowledge, not because Jesus called them home.
When people say “God called someone home,” unfortunately, they mean that God killed someone, even His children. If that sounds harsh, it’s because it is. But none of this is true. Quite the contrary. God has been so misrepresented and His reputation has been tarnished, but I have good news for you. God already sacrificed His own beloved Son in our place, to take away the death that was appointed to every man.
God is not “calling people home” today. If you want to talk about people’s time to die, I sure hope you’re talking about 2,000 years ago, in the body of that Man hanging on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:14). That was the day that everyone died, through the body of that one Man who loved us.
The time to die has already been fulfilled. The time for people to live and be raised has come! Welcome to the New Covenant.
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