My wife and I recently returned from a month-long trip where we saw our youngest daughter compete in two athletic competitions in North Carolina (she won the second one!), and then we went on from there to spend the next 3 weeks in Florida. In past years, we flew to these spots, but flying these days is on par with the trashiest commercial bus voyage, so we decided to pile into our SUV and drive ourselves this time around.
Along the way, we saw several roadside billboards that you may have seen yourself, put up by Christian Aid Ministries, which operates (83) FOR-TRUTH. They’re in every state and cover all sorts of Christian topics like the Bible, various moral issues, and more.
Of all the ones I saw on our trip, the billboard that stood out to me the most was a simple one showing a flatlining heart monitor that said: “After you die, you will meet God.” At the bottom was a reference to Hebrews 9:27 that says, “It is appointed for a person to die once, and after that comes judgment” — a stark reality that most don’t want to think about.
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Barring being alive when Christ returns (c’mon Rapture!), we’ll all experience the knock of death on our door at some point. That, however, is a fairly inconsequential thing compared to what comes afterwards as the writer of Hebrews tells us. Jesus says the same thing when He says, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Hell” (Matt. 10:28).
The idea of God as an eternal destroyer is a fearsome thought and is not just a New Testament concept. We find the destroyer persona first in a story that I’m sure you know well, although I’ll bet there are some details in it you may not have thought about before.
The reason this Old Testament account matters to you and me is that one day, the destroyer will show up at our door. What happens when that door swings open will be the most important event in our lives, so we need to be prepared for it.
The blood that saves and doesn’t save
Outside of Christ’s life, the story of Moses is the most prominent biography in Scripture, so I’m sure I don’t need to give you the big picture overview of him. What I do want to zero in on, though, is the account of the 10 plagues that came down on Pharaoh and Egypt, and specifically the last one.
In the divine afflictions leading up to the 10th plague, if you pay close attention, you’ll notice that Israel, as a people, is mostly spared from them. For example, in the plague of hail we read that, “Only in the land of Goshen, where the sons of Israel were, there was no hail” (Ex. 9:26). Ditto for the 9th calamity, which was a heavy darkness: “They [the Egyptians] did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings” (Ex. 10:23).
What’s the takeaway from that? In a very real sense, when it came to Israel, their blood saved them from the wrath of God contained in the first nine plagues. Who they were as a people protected them. But that wasn’t going to be enough to save them from what came next.
God told Moses that He was going to send a destroyer to every door, and that race, religion, etc., wouldn’t save anyone from the mašḥît, the Hebrew term for destroyer:
“Now the LORD said to Moses, ‘One more plague I will bring on Pharaoh and on Egypt; after that he will let you go from here … About midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of the cattle as well’” (Ex. 11:1, 5).
This time, being an Israelite by birth didn’t matter; only the blood of the Passover lamb would stop the destroyer from entering their doors: “For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you” (Ex. 12:23).
You know what happened next. Death visited everyone except Israel, who heard God’s warning of coming wrath, believed it, and acted on faith, trusting they would be spared.
Today, like the Christian Aid Ministries billboard said, death visits everyone. And after death, we all either meet God our Savior or God the Destroyer. What saves us then is the same kind of faith Israel had regarding their destroyer.
For us, God has already taken “the firstborn of all creation” (Col. 1:15) vs. a firstborn child and sees the blood of “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) vs. a Passover lamb and so the mašḥît stays His hand when he comes to us.
The Passover story’s last message is the same one of that billboard I saw on my trip — it reminds us about a fact that is contrary to what most religions say: only their teaching and path leads to God. The truth is, all roads lead to God.
The reason for that is because God exists, whether you’re a Christian, Muslim, Hindu, atheist, agnostic, worshipper of the chicken-salad god, etc., when you die, you will meet Him. What you believe now or then makes zero difference when it comes to that fact.
The big question is, what happens then? God the Savior or the destroyer are your only two options.
If you haven’t already, take my advice and get ahead of that event now. Being outside of Christ and waiting until you flatline and face the reality of Hebrews 9:27 is a horror show you don’t want to experience. To avoid that, check out this link.
Robin Schumacher is an accomplished software executive and Christian apologist who has written many articles, authored and contributed to several Christian books, appeared on nationally syndicated radio programs, and presented at apologetic events. He holds a BS in Business, Master’s in Christian apologetics and a Ph.D. in New Testament. His latest book is, A Confident Faith: Winning people to Christ with the apologetics of the Apostle Paul.
