THE uncertainty of man’s life on earth has been compared to a man shut up in a fortress with only a concealed reservoir of water to draw from, whose supply is daily diminishing and can never be replenished. When it will be exhausted he knows not.
God only knows the exact compass of man’s history here. “His days are determined, the number of his months is with Thee. Thou hast appointed his bounds which he cannot pass” (Job 14:55Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass; (Job 14:5)).
But if man cannot accurately measure his span of days on earth, he may be quite certain that he cannot remain. It has been said, with truth, that “the smallest pore in the body is a door large enough to let death in.”
David said, “Our days on earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding” (1 Chron. 29:1515For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. (1 Chronicles 29:15)). “We spend our days as a tale that is told” (Psa. 90:99For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. (Psalm 90:9)). “My days are like a shadow that declineth” (Psa. 102:1111My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass. (Psalm 102:11)). Speaking of those who seek their portion in this world, he said, “Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue forever. Nevertheless, man being in honor abideth not” (Psa. 49:11, 1211Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names. 12Nevertheless man being in honor abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish. (Psalm 49:11‑12)).
Solomon said, “The misery of man is great upon him; for he knoweth not that which shall be; for who can tell him when it shall be? There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death; and there is no discharge in that war.” And, again, “So I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done” (Eccl. 8:6, 7, 8, 106Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him. 7For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be? 8There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it. (Ecclesiastes 8:6‑8)
10And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity. (Ecclesiastes 8:10)).
“COME―GONE―BURIED―FORGOTTEN!”
What a summary! And as solemn as brief.
Who can question the truth of these divine comments on man’s sojourn in this world? All, with one consent, look us in the face, and tell us plainly, You have come; but you are not staying! Surely, it is our wisdom to consider such serious statements, and nothing but blind folly to blink them.
“Soon as from earth I go,
What will became of me?
Eternal happiness or woe
Must then my portion be.”
To the mind of a child what brilliant expectations are enfolded in the brief sentence, “When I am a man!” But how different the feeling when the hoary-headed gives expression to those oft-repeated words, “When I was a child!” Yet both speakers, in reality, only occupy different positions on the same road. Both stand somewhere between “Come” and “Gone”! No matter who the reader may be, this is his position today. His all for eternity―and a tremendous stake it is―hangs upon what lies between these two points. They are fixed. We are moving. Every moment we are further from one and nearer to the other. As is written, “God hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation” (Acts 17:2626And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; (Acts 17:26)).
To be born into this world, and to awake to the fact that I cannot remain in it; to find, moreover, that the living God holds me accountable to Him, and that I cannot possibly escape the fixed reckoning; that my will has been opposed to His, my heart evil, my mind depraved, and my whole course crooked, is quite enough to fill me with the utmost consternation. But this is not all. A bearer of amazing tidings waits upon me. He brings news which may well cause the very angels to marvel. It is to the effect that, on my behalf, Another Person―One of highest dignity and mightiest power; One full of tender pity and lowly grace, with kindness never before exceeded, and love beyond all human measure―has been into this world before me.
I wonder greatly as I hear that such a Person should show any care for me. I feel so utterly unworthy of any such consideration. But I am assured that, at a tremendous cost to Himself, His coming had secured innumerable benefits for my free acceptance; and that, before he left this world, He gave directions that a special message from Himself should be delivered to me (Mark 16:15, 1615And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (Mark 16:15‑16)). He authorized His servants to state plainly what He Himself had stated, that “He came into the world to save sinners,” not to help them to save themselves, and “not to call the righteous” (1 Tim. 1:1515This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15); Matt. 9:1313But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Matthew 9:13)). He did not come here to seek goodness from man, but to show goodness to man―to express, in Himself personally, the kindness and love of God to those who could do nothing but honestly confess that they had ruined themselves.
But what of man’s sin and God’s holiness? Here the precious message only increases in wonder. To relieve the lashings of my guilty conscience, it makes known, that not only was His love expressed with the fullest knowledge of the sins of my whole lifetime, but that, in His suffering and death, full satisfaction for every one of them had been offered to God and accepted; and that the One who had done it was no less a Person than Jesus the Son of the living God.
Then, lest I should consider my case too bad to be reached by His mercy, I am assured that it was the special desire of Jesus that the very city that planned and witnessed His betrayal and murder should be the first to hear the message which should proclaim repentance and remission of sins in His Name among all nations. “Beginning at Jerusalem” was the crowning of His gracious commands (Luke 24:4747And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:47)).
But His grace would go further still. The worst sinner in that wicked city must be subdued, and won, and then used to the blessing of numbers of others. It should be said, even of Saul of Tarsus, “Behold, he prayeth!” while his supplications were reaching the ear of the One he had madly persecuted. Would any of His servants be inclined to evade, rather than approach, such a determined and violent opposer? Would they consider that such a hater of the Name they loved had gone beyond the possibility of blessing? Then He Himself would arrest him. From His own exalted position in heavenly glory He would speak personally to that “Chief of Sinners,” and for all time would hold him up as a pattern of what His saving grace could do. Read 1 Timothy 1:11-1611According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. 12And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; 13Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 14And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. 15This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 16Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. (1 Timothy 1:11‑16).
Oh, what grace! And “even unto me,” that grace has reached, the writer can thankfully say. Has it reached the soul of the reader also?
Your heart can easily answer for you. Does it answer in the negative? Remember, then, that you are between “COME” and “GONE,” and should your indifference continue until the word “gone” becomes true of you, you will be forever beyond the benefits of the message He has so graciously sent you. “There is a time to be born and a time to die” (Eccl. 3:22A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; (Ecclesiastes 3:2)).
But there is another matter for your consideration, and by no means less serious. It is written of the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is “gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him” (1 Peter 3:2222Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. (1 Peter 3:22)). John 14:33And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:3) gives us His promise to those of His own still left in the world, “If I go away, I will come again and receive you unto Myself.” If you are between “come” and “gone” on your own side, it is equally true that you are between “gone” and “come” on His side-between the “gone” of 1 Peter 3:2222Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. (1 Peter 3:22), and the “come” of John 14:33And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:3). Hence, the unconverted are exposed to a double danger: one connected with their going, the other His coming; and eternal destitution bound up with both. His own word leaves no uncertainty on that point. To those who should at last die in their sins, He said, “Whither I go, ye cannot come” (John 8:2121Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come. (John 8:21)). To those saying, “Lord, Lord, open to us,” outside the closed door, His answer will be, “I know you not. Depart from Me” (Luke 13:25, 2725When 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)
27But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. (Luke 13:27)).
Before your “reservoir” of opportunity is exhausted, to use the figure, be entreated, dear reader, to seek the Lord; and so seek Him as to find Him. This may be your last chance, and the next thing― “GONE”! GEO. C.