We were travelling on the Cape Railway between De Aar Junction and Beaufort West. The night had been very cool, but as noon approached and the sun got high in the heavens it grew really warm. I casually lifted my eyes from a book and, glancing out the window, I saw that we were running towards a large lake. My companion and I watched it together, and in the course of a few minutes everything stood out more clearly. Islands covered with trees and vegetation rose out of the glassy-surfaced waters.
I had seen a map of the district, and felt certain no lake was marked there. Moreover, the season had been dry, a regular drought in fact. It was a real puzzle! We discussed it, and were just wondering if it could possibly be a mirage when our questions were answered.
The waters of the lake began to quiver. Their motion increased. Then the islands began to move in an extraordinary way. They became very elongated, parts of them broke off and disappeared. The lovely lake became a chaotic muddle.
Like a dream, the vision passed and ugly realities were in its place. Of course! It was as plain as possible now. Those “islands” were only the tops of the flat-topped hills which were dotted about the plain. The “water” was the heat-waves which shimmered over the surface of the earth.
Not in Africa only, but in all parts of the world another kind of mirage appears before our eyes, especially when we are young. One sees a prosperous life filled with all the good things of material possessions. Another looks to sports and physical fitness—but neither can last forever. It is only the mirage again.
Even that young couple working so hard to provide an education for their children and comfort and security for their own old age—they too will have to die, so it is only the mirage after all.
And when the mirage has faded, only ugly facts remain. Let me name three.
The fact of SIN.
People may deny it, but a fact it still remains. The Bible says: All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:2323For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23).)
The fact of DEATH.
This nobody can deny. It stares us too plainly in the face. It is the direct result of sin.
The fact of JUDGMENT.
Unpleasant, but inevitable. So surely as two and two make four, sin and death mean judgment to come.
Do not shut your eyes to these things, nor allow them to be obscured by the mirage-like haze of this life. Look at them honestly.
Christ has been once offered to bear the sins of many. He took up the death sentence which is sin’s just wage, and bore the judgment which sin deserved. Do you confess your sin and believe in Him? Then you may truthfully sing:
Death and judgment are behind me,
Grace and glory are before;
All the billows rolled o’er Jesus,
There they spent their utmost power.
And instead of being deceived by a mirage which death will break up, you will have a prospect of glory which will never fade away.
All flesh is as grass,
and all the glory of man
as the flower of grass.
The grass withereth, and the
flower thereof falleth away:
but the word of the Lord
endureth for ever.