BY TONY HOSS
One show that I watched as a young child now airs on various TV stations in syndication; that show is “Dragnet” and it featured Sergeant Joe Friday. This main character portrayed by Jack Webb was a no nonsense individual that pulled no punches. In his character Webb was as he was in real life, a man of few words always wanting to get right to the heart of the matter of every show’s case. This popular series which first debuted on radio in the late 1940s, continued into the 1950s as a TV series and also hit the big screen in three movies; one in 1954, another in 1966 and then one in 1987 starring Dan Akroyd. The lead character, Joe Friday, is quoted as saying “Just the facts.” However he never actually said those words; what he did say was “All we want are the facts, ma’am.” How wonderful it would be if people would demand just the facts when it comes to matters of religion and serving God properly. Allow me to share with you four brief FACTS from God’s Word that get to the heart of the matter.
The Bible declares that, first life is short; second death is certain, third judgment is promised, and fourth eternity is long. These four statements are ones which tell so much that the world of religion often neglect to tell it to parishioners. James tells us of the brevity of life when he wrote, “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away (James 4:14 KJV). The Hebrew writer wrote, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” (Hebrews 9:27 KJV). From these verses we see that life indeed is short and death will come on every man save the return of Jesus Himself. And we also see that there will be a judgment for every man that has ever lived.
Someday, God will pass judgment on our lives and will reward us with Heaven or sentence us to Hell for all eternity. Friends, eternity is a long time — longer than we can even imagine. In Matthew 25:46, Jesus said, “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” From the Greek the word means perpetual or forever. In either case this is a long time.
Because of the four previous stated facts, we ask the question that most people fail to ponder, are you ready for death, the judgment, and eternity? If not, then I encourage you to prepare for your inevitable meeting.
(Tony Hoss is minister at Centerview Church of Christ, Elizabethton.)