A Dead Hand and a Glad Heart
“A desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better”
“Oh, Margaret, I am so tired,” said John Knox, as he walked in the front door of his home one evening in 1570. “I have been trying to make Grange see the error of his ways. That man’s soul is very dear to me, and I wish that he would repent while he still has time. He wanted to kill me! I think he would have too if the citizens of Edinburgh hadn’t warned him that they wouldn’t allow him to harm me. It is a very upsetting situation!”
“Don’t worry about him, dear, he cannot harm you,” said Margaret. “Come, supper is waiting.”
“I have little appetite for supper,” said her husband, seating himself wearily, “but perhaps the appetite will come. I’m not afraid for myself, though the future is dark and dangerous. I just worry about that poor deluded man who will, I fear, die in his sins. Oh, poor Grange, to reject God’s offer of mercy and to turn back to sin!”
“Wasn’t he once a member of your congregation?” asked Margaret, who thought it was wise to allow John to express his grief.
“Yes, and I didn’t know another young man with such a bright future as his. He was so lowly in his own eyes, and so earnest in his endeavors to serve God. And he had such a tender conscience! But he has turned aside because he thinks he can do better by serving the enemies of Christ. Alas! He will find, as others have, that serving Satan is bad policy.”
We can well understand Knox’s sadness when this man named Grange apparently turned away from the Lord. For a person to go along for a time with Christians, pretending to be one and enjoying the benefits of outward association with the Christian faith, only to turn away at the last, is a serious, serious matter. Judas, one of Jesus’ twelve disciples, is a prime example of one who turned away from the Lord, never having had true faith. He betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, after living in company with Him and the other eleven disciples for three years. Indeed, the life of evil some people live after turning away from the gospel, though having said they believed it, is such that we can only say “the Lord knoweth them that are His” (2 Timothy 2:1919Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. (2 Timothy 2:19)). Thankfully, we are not called on to decide who goes to heaven or not; God is the judge of that, and He judges based on our receiving or refusing to receive His free offer of salvation. The Bible says, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)). Those who have real faith in the Lord Jesus Christ have eternal life, and will never be lost.
“Father,” said one of his sons at the dinner table, “I wish, for our sake, that you were not so plain-speaking. We get made fun of because of the things you say. You shouldn’t be so strong in speaking about sin.”
“I am not a lawyer, who has his tongue to sell for gold or the favor of the world,” replied Knox quietly, but firmly. “I must say what I feel to be right. God helping me, no fear of consequences will ever stop me from saying the word of the Lord.”
“Oh, father,” said his son, changing his tone and lowering his voice, “I have something to tell you that I think you will be glad to hear. As I walked down High Street this afternoon, thinking about the sermon you gave last Lord’s Day, it seemed as if a voice cried to me, ‘Do you love the Lord, and will you serve Him too?’ I turned to see, but there was no one near me, and while I thought it over I heard the voice again. I looked once more around me but no one was there, and then the call came a third time. I still don’t know exactly what it was, but I replied with all my heart, ‘Yes, I do love God.’”
At that moment in the conversation, Knox fell limp in his chair.
“What is the matter, Daddy?” exclaimed his son.
His father’s face was strangely contorted, his arm hung powerless, and his head lay back as if the soul of John Knox had already departed. He had had a kind of stroke and it was a long time before he recovered his speech perfectly.
By the time he had regained some strength, his enemies had become more malicious and active than ever. His friends guarded his house during the night time lest the Roman Catholic party should kill him under cover of darkness.
“He must leave Edinburgh, or they will certainly kill him,” said one citizen to Knox’s son.
“Let him go to St. Andrews, and stay there until the danger be past,” said another.
“He will never do that,” replied young Knox with a firmness just like his father’s. “My father will never desert his post because of danger.”
“If he stays, then he will unquestionably be attacked, and we shall fight to defend him,” said the first speaker. “If blood is shed in the fight, as it certainly will be, it will fall upon his head. He should go away now while he still can if he wants to prevent bloodshed.”
This argument prevailed with John Knox, and on the 5th of May, 1571, he left Edinburgh for St. Andrews. But there he had no rest from the incessant demands upon him. He was as vigorous as ever in the pulpit. Said one who knew him then, “When I looked upon his feeble, shattered form, I marveled that he should ever think about preaching. I took out my book to write his sermon. When he opened his text all his feebleness seemed to depart, and I began to tremble and shake, so that I could not write. He flung off the fur around his neck, and stood forward like an energetic young man, striking the pulpit as if he would beat it into tinder, or as if he was eager to fly out of it to punish our sins. Oh, it was a sermon that burned into me like the fire of God. I have never heard one like it.”
On August 17th he left St. Andrews to return to his beloved Edinburgh.
“Here I come, John Knox, with a dead hand but a glad heart,” said he as he entered the city, meaning, in the words of Scripture, that though his outward man was perishing, his inward man was daily being renewed (2 Corinthians 4:1616For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16)). “I praise and bless God that He will not leave His people alone and helpless, but will raise up for them faithful preachers of His Word. Oh, I am weary of the world, and I am daily looking for the coming of my Lord to finish this battle. Pray for me, good people,” he said, entering his doorway. He turned and looked upon the faces that sadly observed his feebleness. “Pray for me, that God may call me home.”
“He will never come out alive,” said one man wistfully, speaking out loud what all who saw him were thinking.
But in September the couriers brought news about the awful massacre of St. Bartholomew. Before the horror that seized the city had a chance to die down, more and worse details came by following posts, until Scotland had reached a frenzy pitch of anger and horror.
“Carry me to my pulpit,” said Knox, and they did so.
With a mighty effort he summoned all his remaining strength to announce the vengeance of God upon the wicked King who had committed the awful deed. He said, in tones that long lived in the memory of his hearers, “Let the French ambassador tell his master that judgment is pronounced against him in Scotland. Let him say to the King of France that vengeance will never depart from his house unless he repents. Tell this persecutor that his name shall descend through all time with disdain and reproach, and none of his offspring shall possess the kingdom in peace.” The French ambassador left the kingdom in a rage, the Regent refusing to silence Knox.
But the days of Knox’s preaching were nearly over. On Sunday, the 9th of November, he preached in the Tolbooth church, Edinburgh.
“I protest,” he said, “before God, whom I shall shortly see, that I have walked before you all with a good conscience. I have preached the Gospel with all my strength, and I now leave the work in the hands of Him who hath glorified Himself by me.”
He walked up the street leaning upon his servant’s arm, the people following eagerly to catch a last sight of their beloved leader and friend. Through the lines of anxious, loving faces the aged man crept feebly, until he entered his house for the last time.
On Tuesday, just two days later, he was much worse, and the physicians could give him little relief. On Thursday he called his secretary, Richard Bannatyne, and said, “Read to me each day that I am alive the seventeenth chapter of St. John, the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, and a chapter from the Epistle to the Ephesians. And read especially that fourteenth chapter in John,” he said. “It was there I cast my anchor at first, and there I anchor my soul still. Yes! Yes! My anchors could find no other hold, but I am there held fast. Oh, Richard, anchor your soul firmly in this solid, unchanging hold!”
As he lay a long time silent, Richard paused in his reading and asked, “Oh, master, are you asleep? Can you hear?”
“Yea, I praise God I can hear His true Word, and I understand it far better now than I ever did,” replied the dying man. “Now I see the length and breadth and depth of that word of promise upon which my soul rests. I don’t care for the pleasures of this world. Live in Christ! Live in Christ! Then you will need nothing and fear nothing.”
“What a comfort it must be to you to think about all the good you have done!” said Richard’s wife, who had accompanied her husband into the sick room.
“Tongue! Tongue! Watch your tongue today. The proud flesh doesn’t need anything to puff it up. Do you remember what I said to you when you were still young? You, as well as I, must lay aside our pride, and be humble as a little child in the service of Jesus Christ.”
On the 23rd, which was a Sunday, he cried out form his sick bed: “If anyone is here, let him now come and see the work of God. I am willing to lie here for many years, if but God will shine upon my soul through Jesus Christ ... .” Then, stretching out his hand, he cried, “Lord, Thou knowest my troubles. O Lord, make an end of my sorrows.
“Go read where I first cast my anchor,” he said to his wife. She retrieved his Bible and read out loud the fourteenth chapter of John’s Gospel. “Is it not a comfortable chapter?” said Knox. “Oh, what sweet and wonderful consolations God has given to me in that chapter! Now let me sleep!”
The next day he was apparently in a coma, and when he aroused to consciousness, he sank into a heavy sleep, during which he groaned loudly. The watchers expected every moment to be his last, but after a long time he opened his eyes.
“Why were you groaning so loudly?” asked his son. “Have you been in pain, father?”
“During my life,” said Knox, “I have had many conflicts with the devil, but never have I had such a battle with Satan as now. The great Enemy has often placed my sins before mine eyes and tempted me to despair, but now he has attacked me in quite a different way. He, the tricky old serpent, tried to persuade me that I had merited heaven by faithfully completing my ministry. But, blessed be God, I beat down this temptation too, for the Spirit of God showed me that I should answer, ‘By the grace of God, I am what I am,’ and ‘What hast thou that thou hast not received?’ Now I have gotten the victory, and in a little while I shall depart to be forever beyond pain or noise of battle. No more fighting! No more fighting! Only rest and joy in the Lord!”
At eleven o’clock he heaved a deep sigh and said, “Now it is come! Now it is come!”
Richard Bannatyne drew near and said, “Oh, master, think on the comfortable promises of Jesus Christ that you have often declared to others. Since you can’t speak, can you give us a sign that you die in peace resting upon Christ?”
John Knox lifted up his hands, and sighing twice he departed where sighing and sin can never come!
He was only 67 years old, but his great sufferings had worn out his body more than the strain of years. A widow and five children remained behind to inherit the precious legacy of a devoted man’s prayers.
The cause for which Knox had suffered and toiled did not die when he passed away. His bold and fearless advocacy of the truth had a lasting influence in the hearts of many of God’s people, and gave them courage to confess Christ, and to testify to the mighty power of the grace of God.
Deep-rooted evils and fierce adversaries require qualities such as John Knox possessed in a preeminent degree. His sternness, hardness, and perseverance were all required for him to be an overcomer in the spiritual warfare unique to his day. We too face the same enemies as Knox did — Satan and his servants — although their tactics may be different today than they were in the 1500s. But our God is the same as He whom Knox served, and He is able now, as then, to deliver us and to help us to overcome the forces of evil against us. We must always rely on God and His Word, and doing this, we will succeed, even if called to be martyrs for loving faithfulness to Jesus Christ.