“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;..... A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” (Eccl. 3:1-4.)
And this is not the time to dance. Nor it is the time to be saved! The time to accept that which God is offering, “without money and without price.” There is a day approaching when it will be “a time to dance,” for those who are left upon this scene after God has judged the world, and brought in His kingdom in Zion—when the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped—when “the lame man shall leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing”—when “the’ mountains and hills shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands”—when “ the nations are glad and sing for joy” —when “a Kin; reign in righteousness,” and “.princes decree justice,” then, and not till then, will it be “a time to dance.” But now, can it be “a time to dance?”—a time to rest in ease, and enjoy life (so called)?
Is this then a time to take one’s ease, and say to one’s soul— “Soul, thou halt much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease; eat, drink, and be merry”(Luke 12:19)—not knowing but that this night thy soul may be required of thee “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” (Eccl. 8:11.) So they put away from their hearts the thought of judgment; but it will surely come, it will not tarry. It has not yet come, for the “longsuffering of our Lord is salvation.” (2 Peter 3)
Surely, then, this is not “a time to dance,” with endless destruction coaling. “For when they shall say, Peace and safety” (1 Thess. 5)—then, when least expected, “as a thief in the night”— “as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.” (Luke 21:35.)
And even without that, with the wages of sin hanging over every soul; death, from which there is no possible escape, and which may come tonight, as the just and righteous sentence of a holy God; because of what man is by nature, apart even from what he may be in his path through the world— “It is appointed unto men once to die; but after this the judgment.” (Heb. 9:27.) “Death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” (Rom. 5:12.) “By one man’s offense death reigned by one.” (Rom. 5) Again, “the wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23.) And “God is not a man that He should lie; neither the Son of Man that He should repent: Hath He said and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” (Num. 23:19.)
Is this, then, a time to be taking one’s ease? a time to enjoy the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father but of the world? the world, which passeth away, and the lust thereof: (1 John 2:16-17.) Surely, rather it is a time to be saved; a time to get peace with God; a time to learn Him; to know the Father who sent the Son; whom to know is life eternal. (John 17:3.) “The whole world lieth in the wicked one.” (1 John 5:19.) Their course is according to the prince of this world— (John 12 and Eph. 2:2.)—that “old serpent, the devil,” the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of unbelief. If deliverance is to be had, surely this is the time to learn it, and therefore it cannot be a time to dance—a time to take one’s rest—to settle down here in the midst of such a world, and under such a prince, and with such a judgment, that may conic at any moment, hanging over it. It is rather a time to “taste and see that the Lord is gracious.” If such a thing can be—if a poor sinner, with this righteous sentence of death hanging over him, can be brought into His presence, can indeed have as his own present possession “that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.” (1 John 1:2.)
Yes; not only is it the time to be saved, but the Son of God has been manifested that we might be saved, not to help us to save ourselves, but Himself to put away sin; to destroy the works of the devil: He has been once offered to bear the sins of many. (Heb. 9:28.) He came to be a sacrifice for sin, Himself the source of all life— “that eternal life which was with the Father,” to lay it down, to make peace, “through the blood of His cross.” (Col. 1) By becoming Himself the sin bearer; perfect in Himself as a lamb without blemish, and without spot, while God’s equal, Jehovah’s fellow, He becomes obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; receiving in His own person the judgment of God against sin. He alone could do it; alone could stand in the gap, and He did it. Bad, vile, wretched, worthless, miserable as man is, nothing could stop His love. Inexorable justice must be met. Divine holiness satisfied. Sin judged to its very root, before a holy God could send blessing to such a world. But fully, perfectly, completely, has He done the work, so much so that nothing remains to be done—all, all, was finished on the cross at Calvary. God’s Son, in man’s stead, met and satisfied God’s holy and righteous claims; received the sentence in His own person, bowed His head and gave up His spirit to His Father; having made an end of sin, and established the righteousness of God which neither sin, Satan, or the world, can ever touch or defile. And that righteousness He now offers to man as His gift from the place where He is seated in the highest heavens, “far above all things.” It is the best robe from the Father’s house. Who could question the Prodigal’s right—(Luke 15)—to enter and sit down at the feast; once the best robe from out of the house was put upon him? None could do so. The eldest son might complain of the grace that gave the robe, but clothed in it he had a right to enter, that his elder brother himself, with all his privileges (and they were many) did not possess.
Such is God’s salvation; such the righteousness that He offers to ruined man.
Surely, then, it is a time to be saved. A time to accept this wondrous grace, and have this eternal life, for “whatsoever God doeth it shall be forever.” Does He give life? —it is “forever.” Does He condemn? —it is for eternity. The Prodigal came to himself before it was too late, and he got the best robe from the father’s house in exchange for his rags, his filth and dirt, as he came from the swine troughs. The rich man—(Luke 16)—came to himself when it was too late, and found the door shut forever; a great gulph fixed be, tween him and those in blessing, and not one drop of water to cool his tongue. Truly, this is a time to be saved. O. P.