Articles
God's Appointments
Most of us, adult or not, have regular appointments we have to meet — some, whether we want to or not. We have dentist appointments, service appointments for the car to get the oil changed and regular maintenance performed, meetings at work to plan out the next big job or contract, doctors, our children's teachers, and a hundred other things. These appointments are scheduled, and we are expected to be there, but we have the choice to go or not; there will be consequences for some missed appointments, but we still have a choice.
Not so with God's appointments!
What God has appointed, man cannot change or avoid. The wise writer said long ago, “Consider the work of God; for who can make straight what He has made crooked?” (Eccl. 7:13). Indeed, what God has done, man cannot undo; what God has established, man cannot annul; and what God has said will come to pass, man cannot avoid. Consider:
The Moon For Seasons. The psalmist reveals, “He appointed the moon for seasons; the sun knows its going down” (Psa. 104:19). This was true when he wrote those words about 3000 years ago, and they are just as true today. But that was always true about the moon! In the opening chapter of the Bible, we are told, “God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth’; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good” (Gen. 1:14-18). From the beginning, the sun and moon were there to mark times and seasons, and they always will.
After Noah emerged from the ark, God promised He would never again destroy the earth with a worldwide flood as He had just done, saying, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease” (Gen. 8:22). This will always be true because it was God who appointed the moon its place and purpose, and nothing man can do will change that. Though man sometimes worries about some cataclysmic disaster that will knock the moon out of orbit and cause worldwide panic and destruction, we don't have to worry about that ever happening. God appointed the moon its place and purpose, and it won't change or be threatened by mere man.
Our Days. When Job was being accused by his so-called friends, he chose rather to note the reality of life and death for all, and as he spoke of man to God, said, “his days are determined, the number of his months is with You; You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass” (Job 14:5). Job recognized a fact men today try to avoid acknowledging, but still stands true: We aren't going to live forever in this physical realm.
The psalmist pointed to this truth when he wrote, “The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Psa. 90:10). His conclusion? — “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psa. 90:12). Though we might eat healthy and exercise and avoid dangerous activities in the hope of extending our earthly life, eventually we will all face the reality of life: it always ends! [Which leads to the next appointment…]
Death. Job also recognized that since man's days are appointed, the only conclusion would be that his death is likewise appointed. He said as much, acknowledging, “I know that You will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living” (Job 30:23). It might not have been as a result of the trials he was then experiencing, but he knew he would see death, like all men will. All would see the house of death.
The writer of Hebrews noted this when making the point about the one death Christ suffered for our salvation, noting, “it is appointed for men to die once” (Heb. 9:27). There is no reincarnation, no coming back from the dead, no second chance life; this life is all there is to live on earth, and death is an appointment no man can avoid, no matter how hard he tries.
Judgment. The writer of Hebrews also pointed to another appointment in those same words: “it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27); death is a certainty for all men, but so is the judgment afterwards. This is an appointment many want to avoid, but it cannot be. Paul reminds us, “we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:9, 10). In his letter to the brethren at Rome, he also noted, “we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ…So then each of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:10, 12). Like it or not, this is an appointment we must all keep.
This appointment, of all of the ones God has established, is the one most would rather avoid, and it is the cause for so many trying to deny the very existence of God while holding to fanciful, but flawed, theories about how we got here, why we're here, and what happens after death. But, just as denying gravity will not keep you from falling when you step off the ledge, denying judgment and the Judge will not prevent you and me standing before Him in the end. Paul noted to those in Athens, “He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). Christ will be the final Judge, and God is the one who appointed Him to be in that position. Wouldn't it be wise to know the words by which we will be judged (cf. John 12:47, 48) before that day?
Salvation — to Some. This Judgment does not have to be a cause for fear and dread, though; Paul reminded the disciples [followers of Christ], when speaking of Christ's coming and judgment, “God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:9). Though many will be caught unprepared when the day comes of Christ's return, His people do not need to fear that day, nor fear the judgment that follows because they are prepared — ready to face Him, knowing He is a just Judge, and that those sins that have been forgiven will not be brought into Judgment. The saved will not face the wrath of God, but will receive the reward of eternal life in heaven with God and Christ and all the others who have humbly submitted to Christ, sought the forgiveness only His blood could provide, and who diligently followed His will.
So, as you go about your earthly life, making and meeting the various appointments, don't forget about God's appointments; our life is limited and death and Judgment are certain. You cannot avoid what God has appointed, so it would be best to prepare for those appointments while you have the time and opportunity. Your choice now will determine your eternal destination. —— Steven Harper
