What will happen when you meet him

There's an old joke that says that you and I only "have" to do two things in this life:  die and pay taxes.  I think that applies no matter what country you live in currently.  Current studies bear out this truth that 100% of humanity eventually dies.  We don't know when or where or how it will happen, but it will happen.  Yes, even to you.  That raises an interesting question:  what happens afterward?

I remember several times in my life where I met someone who was either famous or had some position way higher than myself.  Once I met my favorite musician, Josh Garrels, at his concert.  We had this time where we could chat with him and ask him questions, and I couldn't think of anything to ask or say!  Here's a guy whose music has had a profound impact on my life, and I just didn't know what to say!  How silly.  He's just a man just like me.  When I was a kid our superintendent came to my school for the Manners Banquet which was supposed to teach us etiquette at a fine dining restaurant.  He sat at my table, and to this day I remember being extremely nervous.  I don't think I said a word the whole time, and yet he was a really nice guy!

Is it that way when we finally meet God face to face?  Do we get a dry mouth or slow of speech or do we keep from making eye contact?  What is it like?

The Bible tells us that every person will meet God after death, and it will be a face to face meeting.  It doesn't matter whether we believed in him or not on this earth;  we will all have this meeting.  What happens at such a meeting, I wonder?  The Bible gives us some clues as to what that is like.

The prophet Isaiah in chapter 6 of his book had a vision of what it feels like in the very room where God the Father is on the throne.

6 It was in the year King Uzziah died[a] that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
    The whole earth is filled with his glory!”
4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.
5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”

Isaiah saw some things that shook him to the core.  This being he saw was not on an ordinary throne.  The train of his robe wasn't just a few feet long.  The beings attending to the one on the throne were unlike anything Isaiah had ever seen in this life.  It was smoky and it likely was extremely bright.  So Isaiah did what you and I would do, right?  He stared at it all and was amazed.  Not quite.

Isaiah's reaction to seeing God can only be described as awestruck.  This was unlike anything he could even compare to.  There were creatures he had never seen on Earth.  There was very loud noise and singing.  There was one on the throne who was so very different that Isaiah thought he was about to die.  In that moment, Isaiah finally realized how separated he was from God due to his sin, and this man was a prophet who spoke for God during a difficult time in Israel's history!  He wasn't just a random guy from the street.

Still other accounts of men in the Bible who met God include Saul in the new testament, who heard the voice of Jesus and saw a brilliant light and could do nothing but ask what he wanted him to do.  This from a man who didn't follow Jesus and did everything he could do previously to destroy the church, jail its members, and kill some of them.  Elijah when he met God in the wilderness at the mouth of a cave knew when God arrived, and something made him cover his face.  There is something so different about him that we just can't act normal.

It has been said that when Joseph Stalin was laying on his deathbed, moments before death he raised one arm and made it into a fist, perhaps as a last act of defiance.  I don't know if this is true, but I think some of us go through life like that.  Stalin was a godless man who murdered millions of his own countrymen and was ruthless beyond measure.  He had no time for God during his life because he probably felt he didn't "need" God.  

You probably are not a Joseph Stalin type, but do you behave in a similar manner?  Do you go through your life as though you don't need God?  You have plenty of money in the bank, a good place to live, and can buy your way into our out of anything.  Why would you need God?  Perhaps you come to church sometimes but that's the only evidence in this life that you are at all interested in Christ.  And yet someday you, too, will meet God.

I think sometimes we have this assumption that when we die we will just swagger into Heaven into the throne room of God and do a fist bump with him.  "Hey, God, how's it going up here?  Great to see you!  What is there to eat here?  What can I do now?  I don't want to be bored, you know!"  It just won't be like that at all.

When you die, whether you acknowledge the existence of God in your life or not, you will be in his presence, even if just for a few moments.  You will see what Isaiah and Daniel and John the prophet saw, and I suspect you will only have one reaction.  You'll fall on your face.  You'll look away.  If you speak it will be about how bad you have been and about how you got it all wrong.  It is likely your initial reaction will be sheer terror.  What you will see is absolutely nothing like anything you have seen before.  If someone afterward were to ask you to write down what you had seen, I don't think you could adequately describe it.  It's easy to describe things that are familiar, but this won't be familiar at all.

You'll hear loud noises and you'll see light that is brighter than staring into the sun.  There will be a lot going on around you.  How could you possibly stand up at such a sight?  How could you possibly say anything meaningful?  How could you possibly think you deserve to be in that place at all?  And more importantly, how could you possibly at that moment see anything "good" you did in your life as actually being good.  And if you never believed in God, do you think in a moment like that you'll be able to look God in the eyes and say "you don't exist.  This is just my imagination!"  No way.

No one who met God in the Bible was able to do anything like that, and we are talking about some really great, godly men!  We are talking about Moses and Elijah and Paul and John and Abraham and Daniel and Isaiah and Peter and hundreds of unnamed people who saw the Lord ascend to heaven in Acts.  If these people, even though they did so much good in the name of the Lord or for his people, couldn't stand or look at God, how will you somehow be able to do that?

This is deep, earth shattering stuff we are talking about here, but I think it has a daily application for you and I.  Knowing that this day is coming for each of us, shouldn't this make us behave differently?  I don't mean that we are running scared from God or trying to hide from him.  Instead, I think this should affect how I pray to him.  Perhaps I need to spend some time on my face before the Lord today.  Maybe you do as well.  Maybe you don't say the same kind of flippant prayers to him, knowing that he is so far above and separated from me that I just can't, and won't conceive of it.  The whole "God, please give me" prayers seem drained of all importance when you realize this.  They just won't do when you are speaking with one who is so far different and above us.  

What I am describing is reverence for God.  Reverence is a deep respect for another person.  Who in this life do you revere?  I have a few people that are on a pedestal I have made for them.  How high is God's pedestal for you?  Maybe it should be a lot higher than it is because he's just unlike anyone else you've ever met.

Perhaps this kind of knowledge of God will make you speak about him differently.  You'll be reluctant to casually say "oh God" or some other version of taking his name in vain.  You might even tell others about him since, for some odd reason, this infinite being knows your name, loves you, and wants an intimate relationship with you.  Maybe just maybe.

No matter what, you should understand this:  when you meet him face to face, it will be unlike any encounter you have ever had before.  You'll be shaken to the core and probably speechless.  Knowing that day is coming, what will you do about it?  Will you bow in worship now, or will you wait until that day and bow then.  We are not meant to bow our knees for the first time on that day, because it is too late then.  

What will you do?