(upbeat music) We are gonna close out the week looking at an intimate question, a dark and mysterious question that we all face in this life. It's inevitable, the moment of our personal passing. A podcast listener named Jim writes in to simply ask this, does God determine when we each die?

And was this determination made from even before we were born? Pastor John, what would you say to Jim? Yes and yes. He does, God does determine when everybody dies and he did decide that in eternity. So those are my answers. The first thing to say is that God governs with infinite wisdom and power everything that takes place.

Ephesians 1, 11, God works all things according to the counsel of his will. There is no reason contextually or biblically or theologically to limit that all things. So God governs all things. That applies to the giving of life and the sustaining of life and the taking of life. He works everything, including when we are born and when we die, according to the counsel of his will.

For example, in Acts 17, 25, he is not served by human hands as though he needed anything since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. Or again, 1 Timothy 6, 13, I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all things and of Jesus Christ, et cetera.

Here's more specifically, James applies this sovereignty precisely to whether and when we die. He says that instead of saying, we're going up to such and such a town to do some business there and get a profit, quote, "You ought to say," this is James 4, 15, "You ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live." Now that just settles it for me.

And do this or that. And then James adds, "As it is, you boast in your arrogance." Meaning he thinks it's arrogant to presume we live one second longer than God wills for us to live. All such boasting is evil. That's James 4, 15 to 16. The point is only if God wills do I live another minute.

Therefore, the Lord decides when I die. Jesus put it this way. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground, meaning die, apart from your father. Even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, a cure of much more value than the sparrows.

Now what's the point? The point is if the time for the death of a tiny bird in a remote forest is of a concern to God and determined by God, how much more will our days be numbered and determined by God with great care and wisdom? In fact, the psalmist says, "Your eyes, O God, saw my unformed substance in your book were written every one of them, namely the days that were formed for me when as yet there was none of them." Which means the days that God has allotted for me and you are already written in a book.

They are decided. There aren't any extra ones outside the book that slip up on God. Job confessed this about his own children when they had all died in a storm. And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I shall return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord." Hannah says the same thing. In 1 Samuel 2, 6, the Lord kills and the Lord brings to life. He brings down to shield and raises up. In other words, life and death are in the hand of God. Moses says the same thing when he quotes God in Deuteronomy 32, 39, "See now that I, even I am he and there is no God besides me.

I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is none that can deliver out of my hand." So my answer is, yes, God is God. He governs the world and that includes the time for our conception in the womb and the time for our death. His children don't want to have it any other way.

I mean, God is always better than blind fate. God is always better than random chance. God is always better than demonic triumphs. What else would we want than for God to determine when we're born and when we die? And in answer to the other part of Jim's question, there are reasons for saying that God decides this in eternity, whether we live or die and how long we'll live.

One of the reasons is that he speaks of our being chosen in Christ before the foundation of the earth. It's hard to imagine that God would choose us for salvation before creation and leave something as relatively insignificant as when we're born and when we're died, just leave that to chance while taking care of the big thing before the foundation of the world.

In fact, verse 11, and then I'll end where I began. Verse 11 of Ephesians 1 says, "God works all things according to the counsel of his will. There is no such thing as chance with God. Therefore, all things are moving according to plan. And since God knows all the future, he can take all things into account when he plans in the beginning.

He does not have to wait to see how history unfolds before he completes his plan. History and our lives were planned and they were planned before the foundation of the world." So Jim, you and all God's children are in very good hands. You are, as Henry Martin said, now let this sink in.

As Henry Martin said, you are immortal until God's purpose for you is complete. What could be more thrilling? What could be more empowering? What could release more courage and risk in the cause of Christ than this? - Wow, amen. With such a grim reality that is empowering and confidence giving, true.

Thank you, Pastor John. And thanks for listening to this episode. You can find our audio feeds. You can keep up with all of the episodes as we release them. And you can sift through the 1,000 plus episodes in our archive. You can do all of that through our online home at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.

Well, God knows the day and he knows the hour of our death, but are we ready for death? How can we know that we're prepared personally for that day that draws closer and closer to each of us every moment? Preparing for our last day is the next question on the docket and we'll pick it up on Monday.

I'm your host, Tony Renke. Have a great weekend and we will see you on Monday.