Annual Deaths of One Percent?

© 2021 by Tom Boynton (editing by Kathy Boynton)

In 2020, large numbers of reported pandemic deaths caused many to contemplate death’s reality.  How many people in the US die each year?  For a very conservative estimate, consider the pre-pandemic numbers of 2019.  In 2019, the reported US population was 328,239,523.  The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that almost nine tenths of one percent of these (2,854,838) died that year.  This very conservative number will generally increase, each year, as population increases.  In 2020, the CDC reported 425,000 deaths resulting from the pandemic.  However, even this number is dwarfed by the total pre-pandemic deaths of 2019.

What’s the point?  The point is that, with or without a pandemic, death is far more plentiful than we like to admit.  When God told Adam that eating the forbidden fruit would bring death, God was extremely truthful.  Even in the very earliest genealogies of Genesis, the phrase “and he died” appears fourteen times.

Sin brings death!  It always has, and will continue to do so till God sets all things right in the final judgment.

Scripture says,

”And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” (Hebrews 9:27-28)

This statement contains bad news and potentially good news.  The bad news is that death is a universal reality for mankind.  Because of intense reporting of pandemic deaths, we have become more aware of death than we would like.  However, the pandemic has actually contributed a fairly small percentage to the total death problem.  With or without the pandemic, man faces death!  The good news is that God the Son, Jesus Christ, died to pay the penalty for sin.  Again, the result of this provides both good news and bad news.

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”  (John 3:36)

Here’s the good news.  All who come to Christ, seeking deliverance from and forgiveness of sin, shall have eternal life with Christ.  The bad news is that, ignoring your sin and His sacrificial death, shall guarantee His wrath upon you forever.

Which shall it be for you?

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