Reader, have you ever thought that the time is coming when you must fall out of the ranks, and that your place in the world will be filled by another? It may be long years hence—it may be today; but be the interval long or short, the time is coming when you must leave the world, for "It is appointed unto men once to die."
Now, if this were all—if there were nothing after death—unquestionably those would be the wisest who make the most of this world. They are journeying along life's beaten track, taking the rough with the smooth, philosophically bearing the one, and gladly enjoying the other. As far as their circumstances permit, they make life like a cloudless summer day. If there be nothing after death, true wisdom would consist in seizing the pleasures of the passing moment, and in acting on the maxim quoted by the Apostle Paul. He follows their reasoning when he says, "If the dead rise not, let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die." 1 Cor. 15:3232If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die. (1 Corinthians 15:32).
"If the dead rise not," the best thing we can do is to eat and drink—if they rise not. But if they do rise, what then? Momentous question! Question, did we say? There is not the smallest particle of doubt about it, for God tells us that death is not the end of man, nor the grave his goal.
Pause, reader, and consider these two passages from the Word of the living God, and remember, "God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?"
Not more certain is it that the sun rose this morning than that after death there is the judgment. God has said so—God never lies. What, then, can you do, dear reader, to escape this judgment? How can you "flee from the wrath to come?" We read "the LORD is a God of judgment," (Isa. 30:1818And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. (Isaiah 30:18)), and "shall bring every work into judgment" (Eccles. 12:1414For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:14)).
Blessed be God, the way of escape is outside ourselves. God sent His Son into this world, that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) says that those who believe in Him have everlasting life, and shall never perish. Christ died on the cross, and bore the judgment of God against sin, and we are now saved by the grace of God through faith. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins (Eph. 1:77In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; (Ephesians 1:7)), and He has delivered us from the wrath to come.
The believer can say:
"Death and judgment are behind me,
Life and glory are before.
"Christ's death on the cross has saved me; He bore the judgment that was due to me; He has given me eternal life; glory awaits me."
Reader, your life is hastening on to its close with accelerating rapidity. Soon it will be over—soon the trifles that float upon the river of time will be lost in the ocean of eternity. Are you so mad that, for the sake of these trifles—for the pleasures of this passing moment—you are prepared to brave the coming judgment? Be sure of this, if you reject mercy in the day of mercy, you will have to meet judgment in the Day of Judgment. Which shall it be? I beseech you not to trifle with this great question. Come to Christ now, and then for you there will be no judgment.
"It is appointed unto men once to die"; it does not say to all men. No, if you are a Christian you may be caught up to meet the Lord at His coming without ever seeing death. And should you be laid to rest for a little while in the grave, your spirit will be with the Lord beyond the grave, awaiting that bright moment when Christ our Life shall appear, and we shall appear with Him in glory.