After You Die, You Will Meet God. Wait. What!!??

So I saw this while driving today and I had to do a double take....

Is this the gospel or is this a threat? I really don't know how I feel about this...

Is this how we are supposed to present/ represent God?

This bill board is quoting: "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.." Heb 9:27

Why do people always focus on the judgment part.  What about the dying ONCE part?

Again, why the focus on judgment... if we want to take everything literal, every man should only experience death once, 

I could easily conclude logically that:

1. Christ have no business trying to raise people from the dead. Didn't he get the memo that people are supposed to die once?
2. With that hard and fast rule, he immediate violated scripture by raising Lazarus, if we want to apply its logical conclusion. 

There you have it. I have no business trying to raise people from the dead. That would be against the Word. They supposed to die ONCE. Don't you see?

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What Does It Really Mean in Context?

I have also heard too many quote the verse "It is appointed unto man once to die, and after the judgment" to wield fear into many.

It also has nothing to do with the ability or inability to repent after physical death, so it cannot be use as a proof text for that.

Let's break it down.

Heb 9:24-28

"24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another— 26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, ***ONCE AT THE END OF THE AGES******, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this THE JUDGMENT, 28 so Christ was offered ***ONCE TO BEAR THE SINS OF MANY*****. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation."

• The point was Christ is not going to die every year.
• He appeared ONCE AT THE END OF THE AGES, back then, during the end times, which was the the 1st century, to die once.
• This is because it is *****appointed**** for Man to die once. So Christ died ONCE.
• But when He died ONCE, he bore the sins of many. So when He died, all men died [2 Cor 5. 14]. [So the obvious question is, how many times did men die anyway, even thought they were appointed once???]
• After that, then judgment. So what was Christ's judgment after He died ONCE? It is simply this - Bearing the sins of all. All sins taken care of. Now he can bring salvation.

THAT'S GOOD NEWS.

Where Did the Saying "Once To Die, After This, Judgment Came from"?

So if man was appointed to die once, was a hard and fast rule then, was this applied to all men or was this about a certain set or class of men?  If it was to be applied to all men, then what are we going to do about the following

1. was Adam meant to die ONCE even without eating of the tree of good an evil? He was appointed to die once right? Therefore we can logically concluded that he was appointed to Died Once even before eating the tree of good and evil...if you want to extend to its logical conclusion. (Yep, perhaps you can say the appointment occurred after the fall.  Very well.) 
2. THEN why is there even a second death, if he was appointed to die once? This appointment certainly then DOES NOT prevent man dying twice.  So too the judgment DOES NOT prevent a judgment for life.

A.E. Knoch commented on this.  He stated  "This is not a general statement concerning all men, but the men who have been in view continually, that is, the Levitical priests. The word judgment has no reference to the judgment of mankind for sin, but the setting to rights of those cases in Israel which continued until the death of the high priest. The innocent man-slayer lived in the city of refuge until the death ofthe great priest (Nu.35:22-29). Then he might return to his patrimony. This was his
"judgment". The parallel demands that this judgment correspond with the salvation which will
come to those who are awaiting Christ. He, the great Chief Priest, has died, and in due time
Israel, the man-slayer, shall return to the land of his possession."

So in actually this harkened back to the law, where upon the dead of the High Priest, the innocent man-slayer, is  judged as able to return to land of his possession.

So whether you believe it is applicable to all men (you still have to deal with Second death if man was only appointed Once to Die), or just to the High Priest (which is plausible since all the New Testament was written with the assumption that it's hearers were aware of the OT context, which we in the 21st century don't have the immediate luxury of), we can look to the Cross for resolution. 

This is where the Cross is MUCH MORE Powerful than we give Credit to.  Because of the Cross, Man actually has died twice - once in Adam; and again in Christ. 

"For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died"  2 Cor 5:14

When Adam died, all men died. So too in Christ, when Christ died, all men died. 

 That was a BETTER Appointment. When Christ died, all men died.

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In Conclusion

• When Adam died there was a judgment -> all men died.
• But when Christ died, He also was meant to die, once. His judgment was also this -> all men died, that is, He also bore the sins of all.

His judgment is salvation is now available to all.

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Final Statements

It is obvious then that only because we died in and were reconciled in Christ, while we were enemies. we can therefore have the opportunity to repent, change our mind on how life should be viewed and lived.  We acknowledge the Lordship of Christ.

This repentance occurs after we "died", if we realize that our true death is our death in Him on the cross. That is the only death that matters, not physical death.  That is why to be saved we must believe that Christ came, died and rose again.  It is more than mental affirmation.  It is recognizing that, that was your true death.  Hence you can rise in His life also.

If the judgment of the world was "all men drawn unto Him", and "all men died" when He died, guess what, we are absolutely are only able to repent, all because of and After OUR death in Him on the cross.

Christ took what appeared to be a bad appointment and turn it into a good thing. He has a habit of doing that.  How? When He died, all men died [2 Cor 5:14]. He took the bad appointment of man having to die once, into a good appointment to bear our sins.

Christ took what appeared to be a bad judgment and turn it into a good thing, into an opportunity for salvation. He also has a habit of doing that.

In your life also He can take a bad rap, bad experiences, your worst moments and turn it to your benefit, to your salvation once and for all.
He also has a habit of doing that.

That was also the point of this.

Is there a judgment for those who reject Him?  Yes, but all judgment of condemnation, shame, perishing, is not the ultimate judgment.  The Ultimate Supreme Court Judgment is the Judgment on the Cross...

So instead of "After you die, You Will meet God"... I rather state "When Christ died, He Met You as you Are and Died as You.  Now Live for Him"