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Just After Death - What Then? Donnie Gaines It would be a very comforting thought if we believed that in everything we could have a second chance. Think about all the possibilities that could be laid before us. If we had a second chance then everything we had done wrong in life could be corrected. All bad or wrong decisions that we have made could be righted. Just think of the hope that would be maintained in one’s life knowing that there was going to be a second chance; but, my friends, this is just not the case. In many things in life we don’t get a second chance. Once decisions are made, then we must accept the consequences that follow. In no other place is the idea of a second chance more comforting than in religion. This false hope can soothe many consciences. If there is going to be a second chance after this life is over, then we can life however we want in this life because it does not matter because we will get a second chance. But again this is not the case. We can lull ourselves into thinking that if we can get a second chance, then we can right all wrongs later on down the road. This concept of a second chance death is not revealed in the Holy Scriptures. Hebrews 9:27 states that after death, then the judgment follows. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Paul confirms that there will be no second chance in II Thessalonians 1:7-9. “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;”. Since there is not going to be a second chance after death to correct our lives, then we see the importance of living in this life just as Paul saw in writing II Corinthians 5:11 “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; . . .” We persuade men in this life to obey the Gospel before the opportunity is lost by death? What is the Gospel? Paul defines it in I Corinthians 15:1-4 “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” Salvation is the Gospel and this appeared unto all teaching us how we should live in this life. Titus 2:11-12 “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;”. And we know that we are called by the Gospel as stated in II Thessalonians 2:14 “Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul also states in II Corinthians 6:2 “. . . behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Peter, in Acts 8, didn’t tell Simon that he would have a second chance, but rather told him that he was perishing and to make things right. We must obey God in this life and not put confidence in false hope of having a second chance after death.
~ Donnie Gaines
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