I am wondering if any of you truly realize how short the time really is? Across the globe, thousands of people die every day, thousands of children die every day and by the same token, thousands of children are born every day. With the population of the earth being somewhere around 9 billion people, the thousands don’t seem to be all that alarming to us, and we go about our daily lives.
And if we throw in birthdays, well…you can see where this is going, right? There are millions and millions of birthdays every day, when we factor in that there are only 365 days to a year. I believe we could go to a statistician and with a few strokes of his keyboard, we would be given the approximate values in numbers, of how many are born and how many die every day and the equivalent number of birthdays.
It would seem there is a problem here, those numbers do not seem to be comprehensible to us, they lack something that makes them irrelevant to you and me. It could be all the numbers, even though they are people, the numbers obscure our view of that and it’s almost too much to get a grip on.
Nine billion of anything would be very difficult for us to wrap our heads around. So to understand this large number of people, we need something else to look at, so that we can make sense of what we are seeing. We cannot use language, there’s just too many of them and then when you include the dialects, it gets even worse.
Some have stated the population of the earth when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was here, was anywhere from 800,000 to 1.4 million people. By the same token many have stated there have been between 69 billion to 114 billion people to have ever lived on earth. Of course we must take into account that everyone on earth, except 8 people, died in the Great flood of Noah.
I must note here, that visualizing 1 billion of anything is pretty difficult to do and besides that, 69-114 billion has a huge margin for error. Most people would see these numbers and say, “That’s nice.” And it would then have no meaning for them.
The Bible tells us about so many groups of people by varying names and yet how many are mentioned by their numbers. In some areas there is the usage of numbers and even genealogies, but again the number of people on earth was a lot smaller then than it is now. Sort of like the number of towns-folk on the Andy Griffith Show and then looking at New York City, if you will.
The Cocos (Keeling) Islands off the coast of Australia, has a population of 596, far less than the enormous population of China at an astounding 1,366,820,000 people. If we look at China, we could say it is 1/9th the population of the world and still we would be wrong in some regard. So the problem is still there; the numbers exceed our ability to comprehend and then the headaches begin, right?
The Bible, as dictated by God uses adjectives to make the numbers easier to handle. We read things like “oceans” or “waves” to describe large numbers of people. The best example I know of is this:
Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and FEW there be that find it.”
While the verbiage in this Scripture is common, the effect can be horrible if clearly understood. As in my last article, we see that one little word, “FEW.” Now this is a small word and in some cases it’s use can be totally harmless, yet in this context, it should evoke some horror in people. It is describing actual numbers…without giving a number. I hope that makes some sense to you.
I wonder if you understand how significant a word can be? Words put together and spoken in a certain manner can debilitate a person or raise them up to astonishing heights, it all depends. The point I am trying to make is this, words do matter.
Having stated that, when we read the Word of God, those words were specifically chosen by God and HE is the one that gives them significance in our ears or eyes. If we are willing to pause our busy lives for a moment and then think, we can actually see His words come to life!
It’s then important for us to look at Scripture, as above, with different eyes: The Gate is WIDE and the way is BROAD…that leads to destruction. It leaves you to know, that the majority of the population of this world…will not see heaven. “STRAIT is the gate” and “NARROW” is the way” that leads to life.
And here is that one little word that counts so very much and one that needs to be clearly understood by each and every person that reads this Scripture… “FEW…there be that find it.” That one word speaks volumes, in terms of who will go to heaven and who will not and if that does not scare you, nothing ever will.
There are many, many people right now, that use words so loosely, “Love and kisses darling…love and kisses.” And yet where is the true affection? Where is the true love? Here in Texas we have a saying “Well…bless their little hearts.” It is not a compliment by any stretch. You must admit though, it sounds better than many alternatives, right?
People across the world have their own little statements, much the same as this and the words, if understood, can sting. So, we now understand that words do have a great significance to each of us, they can drain us or raise us up. The problem with so many people in the world now days and their usage of words, many of words have lost their integrity.
Many of the words, like love, have become hollow, and yet as we all know, Love is what the world needs most. They wouldn’t know true love if it jumped up and sat on their noses and called them by name.
With that clearly in mind, is it any wonder the Bible has fallen to an all-time low? The world has no idea of what is in the Bible, they choose not to involve themselves with it and at times even discredit the Bible openly. In my younger years, it would have been horrifying for someone to discredit the Holy Word of God, it just wasn’t done…ever!
Today, with all the churches and so-called pastors making such a good living on the Bible, or at least at its expense, could you ever expect anything less? I am truly wondering how they will explain themselves as they stand before Jesus Christ. Here’s another passage of Scripture to contemplate in this discussion;
Mark 8:36-38: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Notice the word “profit.” Do you see any true meaning in this word? Is this not the word that is used by this “adulterous and sinful generation” every second of every day? And then we read the word “soul” and this is not some small word. It is a direct reference to your Spirit. We also see the word “exchange” and we clearly know what this means, but notice how it is being used here in this passage of Scripture. It is asking if you understand that whatever is here on earth…stays here on earth? The physical is not accepted in heaven, it all stays right here on earth.
Again I am going to say it, if you get 70-80 years on this planet and you have all the wealth there is, what good is it when you die? That should be the first clue, that what is of the physical is not in the spiritual. Your body and all your acquired wealth, stays right here on earth and your Spirit goes on into eternity. Therefore, we should learn what is more important, 70-80 years here, or eternity. Those years would be like a drop of water into the ocean, there won’t even be so much as ripple of any kind.
Have you ever looked at the face of an angry person, a hurt person, a jaded person? Do you see a smile anywhere? Now look at what the Bible asks us to be, Happy, helpful, giving, loving, and the list goes on and on. The question is, what would you like to be like, the angry crowd or the happy crowd?
So as we stand here, looking at all the papers before us, concerning the 9 billion people, the “adulterous and sinful generation”, do you see the significance of the Bible? Do you now understand how sad it is when we read that little word “FEW?”
Do you feel any heartache? If you don’t, it is evident you are in that first group of people, the angry person, a hurt person, a jaded person. Having said that and hopefully you understanding it, the question now is, are YOU one of the FEW?