DID you ever sit down quietly, and, in the solemn stillness of your own soul, think over the two words at the head of this paper? All men have an everlasting existence, and are therefore very different from an animal, which dies, and there is an end of it. Man is a responsible being, and not “like the beasts that perish;” he dies, but does not cease to exist, he will be raised again for judgment.
“Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: BUT know thou, that for all these things GOD WILL BRING THEE INTO JUDGMENT.” (Eccles. 11:99Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. (Ecclesiastes 11:9).) “It is appointed unto men once to die, BUT AFTER THIS THE JUDGMENT.” (Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27).) Death therefore is not ceasing to be, for if it were there would be nothing left to judge; whereas God says, “Die, but after this the judgment.” And this judgment will take place before “the great white throne,” when all whose names are not found written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire. (Rev. 20:1515And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15).) So we see clearly from the Scriptures that there are three things staring every unsaved man in the face, and those three things are, “DEATH,” “JUDGMENT,” and “THE LAKE OF FIRE!”
Unsaved reader, you are living, eating, drinking, and walking, as it were, upon a trapdoor; and at any moment death may draw the bolt, and you would be in a moment launched into ETERNITY, there to endure the “eternal judgment” of God. Take a slate and sit down and try to calculate ETERNITY; begin with multiplying a unit, and when you have filled one. side of the slate, turn it over and begin the other side, and when you have reached the bottom of it, your figures will show many millions. But what is that in comparison with ETERNITY? Suppose it were possible to count every blade of grass, millions of years must roll away before the task could be accomplished; and having counted all the blades of grass, begin to number the drops of the ocean; and the ocean counted, count the grains of sand that girt it; that done, count all the specks of air that by thousands of tons float in space; that done, begin upon the stars that stud the heavens. Oh, how many millions of years must pass away before the task could be performed and when all the blades of grass, drops of ocean, grains of sand, atoms of air, and stars of the heavens have been numbered, eternity will still be in its infancy; it will still be only just begun, and you will have been all that time enduring the “eternal judgment” of God, and you will be no nearer the end of it than eternity is near its end!
A friend of mine once told me a very remarkable dream that he had. He dreamed that he was transported to heaven, and there he saw a magnificent gold clock, constructed upon the principle of perpetual motion, but it had no dial plate to it.
He saw a group of bright, beautiful, and happy beings gazing upon it, of whom lie asked the question, “What is the time?” when immediately they joyfully answered him, “There is no time here; do you not hear what the pendulum of the clock says as it swings to and fro?—Salvation EVER, damnation NEVER!” He was then transported to hell, where he saw another large clock, constructed upon the same principle as the first one, upon which he saw unhappy beings looking, to whom he put the question, “What time is it?” Sadly they looked at him, and shrieked back the answer, “There is no time here; do you not hear what the pendulum of our clock says?—Damnation, EVER, salvation NEVER!”
God used this solemn and awful, but too true, dream to my friend’s conversion, and he has now for many years been working for the living and everlasting Lover of his immortal soul.
“The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is ETERNAL LIFE through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23).) Which will you have—eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord, or reject Him and have in the lake of fire “ETERNAL JUDGMENT”?