THE end of man is not death, nor the judgment, but eternity. Man seldom glances forward even to the first hour which must ensue after his spirit has left his body. Very few can say what that hour will be to them. A thick darkness hangs over the last moments of their lives―a darkness thicker still over eternity.
We ask our reader who is not yet in Christ, and whose pleasures ate in the world, to consider in their solemn reality these words, “Then cometh the end.” The very world itself is hurrying to an end. Glory, honor, wealth, pleasures, as well as the strife of nations and the efforts of man to master the powers of the earth, are coming to an end.
Christ will shortly be here. He will first put down all evil, and judge the living who do wickedly; then He will reign for a season aver the earth. After that will come the last resurrection, and then the great white throne of judgment will be set up. Before that throne small and great will stand, and they will be judged according to their works; and all whose names are not written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire. In that terrible place will be those for whom it was made—the devil and his angels.
This place will be the end for the godless sinner. There will be nothing then to look forward to; no day dawn to expect; no future of hope. The end will have come: the endless end, the everlasting state.
From this end turn to that of the righteous. Heaven will have received its inhabitants, and the countless number of the redeemed will surround the Redeemer’s throne. He will see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied; they shall see His face, and His name shall be upon their foreheads. In the fullness of that light love will fill every heart. The last enemy, Death, will have been destroyed; sorrow and tears will have forever fled away; all enemies will have been put under Christ’s feet; He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the Father.
In this blessedness will be the end, the eternal state for such as now in this world believe on His name. None will be left out of the joy; not the humblest name of such at love Christ will be overlooked or forgotten. All will gather around God and the Lamb in the everlasting glory and joy of eternity.
In this shortening lifetime it is yours, reader to choose between the end that belongs to not having Christ, and to having Him. “He that hath the Son hath life, he that hath not the Son hath not life.” With Christ all the blessing is bound up. To die without Him is in evitable to meet Him as the judge, and to meet Him as the Judge is to be, without doubt, see tented to the lake of fire which burns forever.
Thus your eternity hangs upon the thread of your lifetime―that thin thread, which grows with each tick of the watch feebler and feebler and which will shortly snap and drop you into eternity. Thousands unexpectedly fall into eternity every year. Many have trifled with their souls and their end, to find out, the first five minutes after death, that all which God says in His Word is true, and that for them is reserved blackness of darkness forever.
Believe the love which God has to sinners, love which led Him to give His Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life! Ponder over these words, “Then cometh the end.”