People are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment. Hebrews 9:27

On November 22, 1963, US president John F. Kennedy, philosopher and writer Aldous Huxley, and Christian apologist C. S. Lewis all died. Three well-known men with radically different worldviews. Huxley, an agnostic, still dabbled in Eastern mysticism. Kennedy, though a Roman Catholic, held to a humanistic philosophy. And Lewis was a former atheist who as an Anglican became an outspoken believer in Jesus. Death is no respecter of persons as all three of these well-known men faced their appointment with death on the same day.

The Bible says that death entered the human experience when Adam and Eve disobeyed in the garden of Eden (Genesis 3)—a sad reality that has marked human history. Death is the great equalizer or, as one person put it, the appointment that no one can avoid. This is the point of Hebrews 9:27, where we read, “People are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.”

Where do we find hope about our own appointment with death and what follows? In Christ. Romans 6:23 captures this truth perfectly: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” How did this gift of God become available? Jesus, the Son of God, died to destroy death and rose from the grave to offer us life forever (2 Timothy 1:10).

How does it make you feel to ponder your own inevitable appointment with death? How have you prepared for it?

Dear God, thank You for sending Your Son to pay the price for my sins and to die in my place. Thank You for offering me eternal life.

Learn more about having a personal relationship with God.

Ezekiel 16-17; James 3

Jesus is the “Hero in Hebrews” (and in the entire Bible). Hebrews 9 demonstrates His significance and uniqueness with commentary about His priesthood. Christ’s priesthood is superior to any Old Testament person and system. The “priests” (7:23) and their “sacrifices” (v. 27) of old were many, but the work and sacrifice of Jesus is one-and-done (see 9:12). The Greek word hapax, meaning “once,” “once for all,” captures this feature. Of the fourteen New Testament occurrences, eight are in Hebrews (four in ch. 9—vv. 7, 26, 27, 28). This word also appears in 1 Peter 3:18 and reinforces our hope in Jesus and neutralizes our fear of our own death appointment: “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.”

Arthur Jackson