“The Door was Shut.”
There are many doors that close upon men beside the one spoken of in the parable. Let me enumerate a few.
The Door of Youth.
When we begin life it seems as though this door will never close.
But how quickly the years fly! Soon we begin to say with Moses: "'We spend our years as a tale that is told.”
In youth we do not want things that are dull and uninteresting. Now the Gospel is aglow with light and sparkling with gladness. If a man would go through life with joyous heart and uplighted soul he needs to come to Christ while young. Then as he treads the pathway of divine wisdom he will find "her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace!”
The Door of Health.
Vigorous manhood will not continue. Sooner or later weakness and disease will invade the frame. The tent is to be taken down, and so the pegs will be drawn and the cords loosened. While the muscle is strong and the spirits are buoyant men often think they can do without Christ.
Yes, but wait till the sick-chamber is reached, and the physician whispers that the door of health is finally closed.
A London bank clerk, when forced to quit his employment because of failing eyesight, was so depressed at the closing of the door of health that he laid violent hands upon himself, and rushed into a suicide's eternity.
No man can afford to hear that the door of health is closed unless he knows Jesus, the Great Physician, who makes for His people their bed in their sickness and strengthens the soul.
The Door of Earthly Prosperity.
Sometimes it is closed by a crash in the commercial world.
Savings of many years vanish suddenly. Riches take wings and fly away. Eventually all earthly possessions will be taken from our grasp.
We are but stewards. Naked we came into the world and naked we shall quit it.
Hence the Savior says—"Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”
The Door of Life.
Upon each of us the door of life is closing GRADUALLY. Directly we begin to live we begin to die.
The candle burns slowly down to its socket and the flame expires. Sometimes the door of life closes SUDDENLY. How many sudden deaths there are. A merchant having been told of the death of another, said, "Well, as for me, I am so busy I have no time to die." Then he went into the kitchen and, stooping down to put on his boots, fell a corpse to the ground.
But whether the door of life close gradually or suddenly, it closes CERTAINLY. There will be no opportunity to return and rectify any mistake.
If the door of your life were to close to-day, would it close HAPPILY? Can you say, with the believer, "We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens"?
The Door of the Grave.
It is commonly stated, "We must all die," but men do not add, "We must all be buried.”
Men shrink from the tomb, but cannot escape it.
A little boy said he had been measuring tombstones, and had found one shorter than himself. Who has not, when walking through the cemetery, noticed that someone younger than himself has been interred?
But are you acquainted with Him who said, "I am the Resurrection and the Life"?
Can you say—
"O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory?”
The Door of Hades.
When the disembodied spirit enters eternity the door of hordes closes upon it. The soul is immediately ushered into Paradise, or thrust into the prison-house of the impenitent. The resurrection is awaited either in the company of Christ or in the gloom of unutterable despair.
The apostle Paul thought of the disembodied state with joyous anticipation, and said: "To depart and to be with Christ... is far better.”
The Door of Heaven.
This is the one spoken of in the text at the head of this paper, and it may close at any moment upon the neglecter of salvation. "The corning of the Lord draweth nigh." "When once the Master of the house is risen up and hath shut to the door" entreaties will be unavailing.
But, thank God, the DOOR OF SALVATION is now wide open. Jesus says: I am the Door; by Me, if any man enter in, He shall be saved." (John 10:99I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. (John 10:9).)
C. H.