(Thoughts in Westminster Hall.)
JOB in his time of trouble cried to Jehovah, “I know Thou wilt bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living.” (Job 30:2323For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living. (Job 30:23).) And so it happened. Go to the land of Uz today, and there will be no Job there to greet you. His grave is unknown, and he himself forgotten. It is the same all down the ages.
“We all within our graves shall sleep
A hundred years to come;
No living soul for us shall weep
A hundred years to come.
But other men the land shall till,
And others then the streets shall fill;
And other songs will be as gay,
And bright the sunshine like today,
A hundred years to come.”
Yes, the house of clay is indeed appointed for all living. All the care and love of our dearest ones; all the skill and experience of our medical friends cannot keep Death outside the door when he knocks for admission.
We kept thinking much of these things when we filed past the Royal bier in Westminster Hall, where the remains of our much-loved sovereign, King George, lay in state. Many thousands of his devoted subjects viewed that solemn spectacle during the four days preceding the interment, but none could call him back to life. They only could gaze and pass on. One verse of Gray’s immortal Elegy kept recurring:
“The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power
And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave
Await alike the inevitable hour,
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.”
Gray was only thirty-five when he wrote his elegy, and twenty years later he passed away himself. His niece came to visit him in his last hour. He turned his head upon his pillow and said, “This is death, Mary.”
We can escape many appointments that our fellow-men make for us. Even the criminal in the condemned cell may escape his grim appointment. The king can cancel that appointment and grant a reprieve, but where is the sovereign who can forbid the approach of death even to himself when his time comes?
Why do men fear death? For they do fear it, although many may profess to defy it. Shakespeare puts into the mouth of one of his characters:
“The weariest and most loathed worldly life
That age, ache, penury or imprisonment
Can lay on nature, is a paradise
To what we fear of death.”
Is fear of death not due to the dread of all that may follow it? For “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)). Let there be no mistake about this dread truth. God’s Word tells us clearly that “He hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man Whom He hath ordained” (Acts 17:3131Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:31)). Who is that Man? It is the Son of Man, Christ Jesus Himself, the One Who was despised and rejected of men when He was upon earth, and nailed to a Cross where in agony He died, “the Just for the unjust that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18)).
But it is a glorious truth that there is no Judgment Day for the man who dies trusting for salvation to the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has not to answer for his sins. Jesus answered for them when He died on the Cross. Listen to this blessed verse, “He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment but is, or has, passed out of death (the consequence of his sin) into life (eternal life in Christ Jesus).” (John 5:2121For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. (John 5:21) R.V.).
Let me refer you to another verse with the word “appointed” in it: “God hath appointed us not unto wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ Who died for us.” (1 Thess. 5:99For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, (1 Thessalonians 5:9) R.V.).
In conclusion, let me urge you, dear friend, to escape from present wrath and the wrath to come by receiving Jesus as your own personal Saviour. (John 1:1212But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12)).
S. S. McC.
With acknowledgments to the Stirling Tract Depot.