THE end of man is not death, nor the judgment, but eternity. Man seldom glances forward even to the first hour which must ensue after his spirit has left his body. Very few can say what that hour will be to them. A thick darkness hangs over the last moments of their lives―a darkness thicker still over eternity. But the believer’s joy is to look onward, and in the word of his God to behold what eternity will be for him.
We ask our reader who is not yet in Christ, and whose pleasures are in the world, to consider in their solemn reality these words, “Then cometh the end.” Your joys here, and the very world itself, are hurrying to an end. Glory, honor, wealth, pleasures, as well as the strife of nations and the efforts of man to master the powers of the earth, arc coming to an end. Christ will shortly be here. He will put down all evil and judge the living who do wickedly. Then He will reign for a season over the earth. After that the earth and the sea will give up the dust o: men, and then the earth will flee away, and no place be found for it After that the great white throne of judgment will be setup, and the small and great will stand before Christ to be judged according to their works; and all whose names are not written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire. In that terrible place will be those for whom it was made―the devil and his angels. This place will be the end for the godless sinner. There will be nothing then to look forward to; no day dawn to expect; no future of hope. The end will have come: the endless end, the everlasting state.
From this end turn to that of the righteous. Heaven will have received its inhabitants, and the countless number of the redeemed will surround the Redeemer’s throne. He will see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied; they shall see His face, and His name shall be upon their foreheads. In the fullness of that light love will fill every heart. The last enemy, Death, will have been destroyed; sorrow and tears will have forever fled away; all enemies will have been put under Christ’s feet; all contrary rule, authority, and power abolished. He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the Father. In this blessedness will be the end, the eternal state for such as now in this world believe on His name. None will be left out of the joy; not the humblest name of such as love Christ will be overlooked or forgotten. All will gather around God and the Lamb in the everlasting glory and joy of eternity.
In this shortening lifetime it is yours, reader, to choose between the end that belongs to not having Christ, and to having Him. “He that hath the Son hath life, he that hath not the Son hath not life.
With Christ all the blessing is bound up. To die without Him is inevitably to meet Him as the Judge, and to meet Him as the Judge is to be without doubt, sentenced to the lake of fire, which burns forever.
Thus your eternity hangs upon the thread of your lifetime―that this thread, which grows with each tick of the watch feebler and feebler, and which will shortly snap and drop you into eternity. Thousands unexpectedly fell into eternity this year. Man, trifled with their souls and their end to find the first five minutes after death, that all which God says in Hi word is true, and that for them is reserved blackness of darkness forever. But God still presents His mere: to you, and by His Spirit utters to you in love and warning the short, significant word, “Now.” Now you may be saved. Now your sins may be forgiven. Now life everlasting is offered to you. Now heaven’s door is open and you may enter in. And now life time is ebbing rapidly away, and now Satan is whispering, “This is the time to enjoy the glories, honors, wealth, and pleasures of the world.” But let us ask Satan a question, What does he say to this word, “the end?” He knows that there is a hell. He knows that God is true, and that punishment is as everlasting as the righteous throne of God. “The devils believe and tremble.”
Be no longer blinded by the god of this world, whose realm and power will so soon come to an end, but believe the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Believe the love which God has to sinners, love which led Him to give His Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, put have everlasting life! What words of love! What deeds of love! Your sins are blotted out forever at the hour you believe in Jesus. The end of God’s wrath against the sins which Jesus bore occurred 1800 years ago won the cross. His Son drank up the cup to the dregs, and now for all who believe there is the cup of endless blessing. The end of sin and of wrath has already been reached by him for whom Christ died. For him the great and glorious end, when time shall be swallowed up in a boundless eternity, is close at hand. Reader, apply these words to what belongs to you. Ponder them well, “Then cometh the end.”