The Final Call
- CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD
- Jul 7
- 9 min read
Have you ever heard your phone ringing and refused to answer it? How many times have you done so? Do you know that it is not every call you can reject? Yes, there is a call that everyone must respond to? This call has to do with your lifespan. There is a thought that says, “The clock of life is wound but once, no one has the power to tell when the hand will stop. Now is the time you own, live, love, toil with a will. Place no thought on tomorrow for the hand may then be still.”
Everyone would want to live forever, but the breath of life is given to man for a limited time. At first when God created humans, He did not put a limit on our lifespan. However, due to our sinful and rebellious nature God has given us a limited time on earth. Psalm 90:10 says “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” It is sad that a lifespan was put in place because we have moved our allegiance away from God the Creator and have decided to serve the creature. Romans 6:23 tells us, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
When our fore-parents disobeyed God, an entrance was opened. Although this breach was made each of us has the opportunity to make a choice to either live in obedience to God or disobey Him. Due to our carnal nature we struggle to do the right. Romans 7:19 says, “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do”. Romans 8:6 tells us, “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” You maybe asking yourself, how can I become spiritually minded with all these worldly attractions which are grabbing my attention and satisfying my inner cravings? David was facing similar challenges and he penned these words in Psalm 16:8a, “I have set the Lord always before me.” If each of us put the Lord before us in all things we will find the strength to live in obedience to His will.
Humans were not placed on earth to live forever and all of us have an appointment with death: Hebrews 10:27 says, “And it is appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgement.
What happens when one dies?
Ecclesiastes 11:3 likens being dead to a tree which is cut down. It reads, “If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.” We also learn from Psalm 146:4 that when one dies his thoughts perish. The verse reads, “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. Genesis 2:7 tells us, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” It is the breath which God breathed into the nostrils of the first created human which made us living souls. We would be as a log without God’s breath.
When God takes the breath of life from us, we are dead, lifeless. At this point we would have come to the end of life’s journey in this present world. Ecclesiastes 9:56 says “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also, their love and their hatred and their envy is now perished, neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun.” Yes, the dead is unconscious and had no personal power. Therefore, it is impossible for the dead to repent so it is best that we serve God and obey His Commandments today. When you think about the grim reality of death and to know that when the breath leaves your body there is another episode to your life it should be enough for anyone to seek to develop a better relationship with God. We can make a plea as David made in Psalm 90:12, “So, teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
Every non-Jew who has died after hearing and rejecting the Gospel of Truth has no more opportunity to accept Christ. Psalm 6:5 states, “For in death there is no remembrance of Thee: in the grave who shall give Thee thanks?” Psalm 115:7 clearly points out that the dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down in silence. However, our God is a Just and Perfect Ruler, He would never condemn anyone for something which they had never known. Therefore, the Scriptures plainly tell us that a chance remains for those persons who did not know or hear about Jesus before they died. Such persons will be given the opportunity to choose or reject Him during the 1000 years reign of Christ which is a teaching period.
When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He declared to the onlookers, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in Me though he were dead, yet shall he live.” Yes, through Adam we were all appointed to permanent death but Jesus shed His blood on calvary and we are justified through Him. We are given another opportunity to live. 1st Corinthians 15: 20-23 tells us by which authority Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. It reads, “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming.
Yes, Christ was the first to be raised permanently from the grave. He died once and lives forever more.
Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection completed the promised life after death. How can one receive this new life? You can receive it when you repent of your sins and accept Christ as your Lord and Saviour. Jesus told His disciples that if a man keeps His sayings, he shall never see death. Death in this context is the eternal death. Because everyone passes through a form of dying, even the saints who will be alive when He comes. Yes, all faithful and obedient followers of God shall be restored to life with a glorious body and a lively hope. Psalm 49:15 tells us that God will redeem our soul from the power of the grave: for He shall receive us.
Yes, there shall be two resurrections and each resurrection will be a thousand years apart. Revelation 20:4-6, tells us, And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
Revelation 20:11-13 tells us about the final judgement which will happen after the 1000-year reign of Christ is over. And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
At this time the Kingdom will be handed over to God. 2nd Corinthians 15: 24-28 tells us that Christ will hand the Kingdom over to the Father and then Almighty God will take full control because sin and death would have been wiped out and Christ’s mission as our Redeemer would have been completed. 2nd Corinthians 15: 24-28 reads, “Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
For He hath put all things under His feet. But when He saith all things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted, which did put all things under Him.
And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.
What about those who are too busy or too wise to accept the plan of salvation? They are labelled wicked. Yes, no matter how many good deeds they have done or how moral they were if they had not lived in obedience to the will of God they are wicked. Proverbs 14:32 says “The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.”
Are you a Child of God? If you are, even after dying you have a special privilege as we are told that the dead in Christ will rise first (1st Thess.4:16). There is the promise that the hour is coming when all that are in the grave shall hear the voice of our Saviour. We will come forth and those who have done good unto the resurrection of life and those who did evil to the resurrection of damnation. (John5:28-29). It is good to live a life for God and receive the resurrection of life.
This reward will only be to those who keep the Commandments of God and the Testimony of Jesus.
It is commonly believed that a person who dies goes to heaven but the Bible declares that “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven…” John 3:13. When one dies that person remains in the grave in an unconscious state until the day of judgement.
You are not without hope my friend, believe now on Jesus because He will ransom all who believe. There is atoning power in the blood of Jesus Christ. If you live in obedience to the will of God, if your purpose in this life is to be a light to bring others to God then you will gladly answer your final call. You will know that when the breath leaves your body you are only sleeping and you will be awakened by the sound of the trumpet when Jesus comes for the saints. 1st Thessalonians 4: 16-18 confirms, For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
If you are alive at the time when Jesus comes, you will pass through a form of death when your physical body will be changed to a spiritual body. Then you will hear, Welldone, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
Whenever the final call is made, you must answer. There is no way that you can avoid responding. You cannot shirk death or hide from it; you should not be afraid of death instead you should prepare for it because it is inevitable. When one refused to serve God such individual hopeless because there is no assurance of everlasting life. When one is living in obedience to the will of God that individual is dead to sin because the carnal nature is brought under subjection. Although this individual is dead to the world the individual is alive in Christ.
What is your spiritual state? If you are without Christ as your Friend, you are living yet you are dead. If you have Christ as your Friend, you are dead yet living. Wouldn’t you rather die with Christ rather than live without Him? As we individually await the call, I implore you to prepare to answer the call. Remember after you have passed through this world it is only with Christ that one can live again!!
Writer - A. E. Fisher
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