COVID-19, Life and Death, and You

On January 22, 2020 there was one US case of COVID-19 reported to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), and as of March 27, 2020, 103,321 cases had been reported, with 1,668 related deaths, which is a 1.61% death rate. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html

By comparison, the CDC estimates that from October 1, 2019, through March 21, 2020 there were somewhere between 38,000,000 – 54,000,000 “seasonal” flu (influenza) cases with a resulting 24,000 – 62,000 deaths, which is approximately a .093% death rate. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/preliminary-in-season-estimates.htm

Thus the COVID-19 death rate is roughly, as of this date, 18 times more deadly than that for the most recent seasonal (or if you will, “normal”) flu virus.

Which brings us to two exceptionally important questions:

           Will you, or will I, contract the COVID-19 virus?

           If you or I get the virus, will we live, or, will we die?

But, regardless of the answers to the above questions, there is an ultimate answer, a final event that awaits each one of us.

We will all die, sometime, whether from the COVID-19 virus, from an automobile accident, from old age, or from any number of other causes … we will all die.

And so the most important, the ultimate, question is when we die … what then?

The Bible, if it is true, if it is the actual Word of God as it claims to be, gives us the answer.      

If you are wondering what will happen to you when you die, if you want to consider what the Bible has to say, the following passages from the Bible, read in the order shown, will help you do just that.

………………………….

What happens after we die?

Hebrews 9:27

John 5:26-29

Matthew 25:31-46

Revelation 20:11-15, 21:1-8

………………………….

Who will be condemned, who will be cast into the burning lake of fire (commonly referred to as Hell)?

Matthew 13:41-42, 49-50

Romans 2:5-9, 3:9-12, 23

2 Thessalonians 8-9

2 Peter 2:4-9

Revelation 14:9-11, 21:8

………………………….

Can a person escape the penalty for their sins, can a person do something to be saved from Hell?

Matthew 7:21-23

Galatians 2:16

Ephesians 2:8-9

John 3:3

………………………….

Can I receive forgiveness, can I be saved from my sins?

Romans 5:6-11, 6:23

2 Peter 3:9

1 Peter 3:18

Acts 4:8-12

John 14:6

John 3:16-17, 5:24, 6:67-68

1 John 1:9

Romans 10:9-13

Acts 16:30-31

………………………….

If I believed in Jesus Christ, if I put my hope, and trust, and faith in Him, now what … what happens next?

Matthew 11:28-30

John 14:15-18

John 16:33

Proverbs 3:5-6

Psalm 23:1-6