THE whole civilized world was shocked when it heard the news that Sir Ernest Shackleton had suddenly died. The day after the Quest arrived at the whaling station, the island of South Georgia, the scene of the explorer’s greatest triumph, it was arranged to have the expedition’s Christmas celebrations. But at 3:30 a.m. of that day Sir Ernest died, three minutes after calling the surgeon of the expedition to his aid.
His death has drawn attention to a saying of Sir Ernest’s. During the course of the great war he was addressing a recruiting meeting in Sydney, which aroused great enthusiasm by his stirring appeal to the manhood of Australia. In the course of his speech; he said, “Death is a very little thing.” Doubtless the speaker was carried away by the enthusiasm of the moment. Patriotism inflamed many minds at the moment. The fate of the British Empire lay in the response to such appeals.
But in sober thought, Is death a very little thing? Thera is a tremendous effort today to belittle death. It is awkward. It is humiliating, say what you will. Christian Science proclaims that there is no such thing as death, yet Christian Scientists die just like other people. Spiritualists say that there is no death, what we in our ignorance call death is in reality a new birth into higher and better circumstances and surroundings. Generally speaking, it is supposed that all somehow or other go to heaven, and death after all is only an awkward incident.
But what does Scripture say death is? Not the debt of nature, not a passing over, not a new birth, but the wages of sin.
“THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH.”
Of course with modern views it is only logical to deny the fall and the sentence passed upon Adam and the whole human race.
Modern thought might be more properly called ancient speculation and prejudice, and with every restraint that the word of God imposes upon man becoming weakened and undermined by such views, the world is fast being drawn into the vortex of anarchy, communism, bolshevism, lawlessness and red ruin. Apostasy in the church and lawlessness in the world are apparent only too visibly. It takes very little sight to see the threatening breakers ahead and very little hearing to detect the rumble of the approaching cataclysm of civilization.
But modern thought does not alter facts. Customs come and go, but death is just the same.
Is death then “a very little thing?” Certainly not to the unbeliever. To a man, who entering into eternity with his sins upon him and refusing the gospel of the grace of God, it is a very big thing―the most awful thing that can befall him. He dies―leaves all that he holds dear, all that affords him pleasure and gratification, he passes out of the place where the opportunity of salvation is present into the place where all such opportunities are lost. It is vain for men to talk of a second chance after death in face of the plain statements of the Lord Himself when He gave warning of “a great gulf fixed” and the impossibility of any passing from one side to the other. His language could not be plainer.
Death is indeed a big thing for the unbeliever, the saddest thing that can befall him.
Is death “a very little thing” for the believer in Christ? No, for him it is a big thing too, but in a different sense. For him it is “to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.” (Phil. 1:2323For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: (Philippians 1:23)). And the comparative in this case is more emphatic than the most superlative.
It is for the believer the passing from this vale of tears this wilderness of his pilgrimage into the presence of his Lord and Saviour into rest and joy beyond words to describe. This I rejoice to know that my dearly loved friend, whose departure from this life is announced in the first article of this issue of our magazine, has realized.
Heaven and hell are great realities. The same Bible that tells us of the one tells us of the other. We are illogical, inconsistent, partial, if we believe what we like and refuse what we dislike. It is no more than the stupidity of a spoiled child, save that it is in relation not to passing trifles as with a child, but to eternal realities. Our beliefs do not alter facts. Heaven and hell are great realities, equally so.
And Scripture tells us plainly that none but the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ can find their place in heaven, and that the unbelievers, whether they are marked by the open scurrilous infidelity that characterized Bradiaugh and Ingersoll, or the high-toned morality and upright ness of the Unitarian, must find their place in hell.
The Apostle John draws the line in sharpest definition.
Read your Bible, and you can multiply these warnings.
Let me say earnestly in conclusion that death is a very big thing and I pray God that you may be truly prepared for it. Get the link of faith firmly established between your soul and the Saviour. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)). Then you will not need to fear death. Instead of the fear of death putting believers in Christ into bondage they can claim death as their servant, a servant who acts at the bidding of God Himself. So we read in 1 Corinthians 3:22,22Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; (1 Corinthians 3:22) that death is theirs, and that they can exclaim in triumph, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory.” (1 Cor. 15:5555O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (1 Corinthians 15:55)).
But alas! how different for the unbeliever. Dying in his sins, going into eternity unprepared, how terrible is his doom. The Scriptures are indeed as kind in their plain warnings as in their loving entreaties. Once more, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor. 6:22(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:2)). There is no need for you to be lost.
THE EDITOR.