Souls in Sand: Putting Humanity in Perspective

One of the most stunning images that I’ve ever seen was this hourglass. I came across it randomly online, and I was immediately intrigued. I read all the text, and it didn’t take long before I realized its seriousness and significance.

In case the small text is difficult to read, let me walk you through this image. Every grain of sand represents 10 million people. The green grains of sand are those who are alive today; the red sands represent all individuals in human history who are deceased. Because the sand timer shows 7.95 billion living individuals, this image was likely created in 2022.

We don’t know exactly how many individuals lived prior to recorded history, so it’s possible that there isn’t quite as much red sand in the timer. But regardless, this graphic is stunning in its implications: six grains of sand fall into the red every year—60 million souls entering eternity. Within a century, practically all of the 795 green grains of sand—7.95 billion souls—will move from the green to the red.

Not only is this sobering on a personal level—each soul is of inestimable value—but it is also sobering from a historical perspective. Look again at how much of the entire population of human history is alive right now! More humans are alive today than ever before, and we have one generation to reach them. Surely this should give an urgency to our evangelism. As John Newton said, “Our work is great; our time is short; the consequences of our labors are infinite.”

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