Just Too Late

 •  3 min. read  •  grade level: 6
THE people of whom I am thinking as I write these words, “just too late,” arrived at the station at the moment when the train in which I was seated was leaving it. They were left behind! As we sped rapidly to our journey’s end I could not help thinking how, some day, many people will be placed in a far more awful position from the same cause. There is a time coming, speedily, in which God’s word tells us (Luke 13:2525When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: (Luke 13:25)), a door will be shut, and far more terrible will be the consequences of its being shut than from the closing of any earthly door.
How would the closing of that door affect you, dear reader, if the Master of the house were to rise now? Would you be found inside or outside?
To the disappointed travelers the being just too late probably involved some considerable inconvenience. They would certainly have several hours to wait for another train, although they might, after all, reach their journey’s end that same day. But of those who are outside that other door when the Master closes it, we are told (2 Thess. 1:99Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; (2 Thessalonians 1:9)) they “shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.” No mere temporary inconvenience will be theirs, but a never-ending misery.
“But what has all this to do with these people being too late for their train?” you may say.
Just this. As they were too late in a matter which concerned only this fleeting life, so may you be too late where it is a question of your eternal welfare. Satan will be ready enough to tell you that it will take a long time to shut-to a door, the closing of which carries such momentous consequences with it; but we know from God’s word exactly how long it will take to close that door. We read (1 Cor. 15:51, 5251Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51‑52)), “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.” Then, according to 1 Thess. 4:16, 1716For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16‑17), “the dead in Christ shall rise first,” and the living in Christ will be changed, and “caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” Do not delay then, dear reader, if you are still unsaved. Tomorrow may be too late. The travelers of whom I have told you wanted to be in time for the train; they intended to meet it, but perhaps thought it was sure to be a little late, and they were so close to the station that they would surely have plenty of time. You, my reader, may know the way and plan of salvation in your head just as these people knew the time the train was due from the time-bills, but all this avails nothing—nay, more, it only adds to the guilt and folly of those who start just too late.
Have you no time-table which you may consult? “But of that day and hour knoweth no man.” (Matt. 24:3636But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. (Matthew 24:36).) How terribly solemn! In one moment that door may be closed forever. You know not when it will be closed by the Master’s hand. Are you content to stay outside? Oh! heed the warning “Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation.” Tomorrow you may start just too late, and may find the door closed forever, and you shut out. Today the Master’s own words are, “Come unto Me,” and “Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out.” Tomorrow you may find those other words, “I know you not; depart from Me,” written with terrible distinctness on that closed door, round which will, alas! be gathered many who wanted to be inside, but started just too late.
“Too late! too late!” How sad the sound
On anxious human ears,
Of those who’ve waited long, a prey
To doubts, and hopes, and fears.
But there’s a time when, sadder far,
Shall sound in mortal ears
A dread “too late,” which, killing hope,
Will turn to truth all fears.
J. R. B.