“THE above was submitted to the burial board as an epitaph for the tombstone of a J.P. lately deceased. As the board had decided not to accept anything but quotations from well-known authors or texts from the Bible, the application was refused.” (Probably it was intended to mean “A world unknowable.”)
As I read those lines the awful solemnity of the occasion came before me. Here was all epitaph, to all appearance the dictation of this gentleman before his decease. He was by no means an ignorant man: on the contrary, he was well educated, and for some time had figured before the public in a popular way. Giving his time and interests as J.P. to the keeping of the peace, he had apparently never known the peace of God as filling his soul, or the God of peace as with him.
Does my reader suppose he was right in declaring that he had entered into a world unknowable because he was pleased to call it “unknown”?
Let us take the greatest authority. Let us listen to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and hear what He has to say of the future world. “No man hath ascended up to heaven but He who came down from heaven, even the Son of Man who is in heaven.” That being so, He must have a perfect knowledge of the world not yet made manifest to the human eye. If my reader will turn to Luke 16. he will see the curtain drawn aside and the future unfolded in parable. Then let him turn to Matthew 25:2323His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. (Matthew 25:23), where the Lord is seen taking His throne in the world of the future. He says to each who has learned His grace and love and sought to serve Him loyally during His absence from this world, “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” But to the empty professor who in name only takes up His service (vs. 30), “Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth,” Awful sentence!
Reader, these are stern facts. For before your never-dying soul there is either the joy of the Lord, or the gnashing of teeth and the tears of undying remorse. Leaving the Lord’s personal testimony, we have also the witness of the Spirit through inspired men.
The once-bitter opponent of the cause of Christ, Saul of Tarsus, speaks of “having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better” (Phil. 1:2323For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: (Philippians 1:23)). And further, 2 Timothy 1:1212For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. (2 Timothy 1:12): “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him against that day.” What day does he refer to, and what world? Not “to a world unknown” and a day of uncertainty, but to the day when Jesus, the Christ of God, the once-derided Man on earth, shall reign in righteousness and fill the world to come with peace and blessing.
Reader, let me ask you not to entertain infidel thoughts in regard to your future. There is no longer any mystery as to man’s future. How can there be when the Son of God has become man in order, not only to show to us the two destinies of man, but to plead with us in love and grace to come to Him, in order that eternal joy may be secured to us?
This, first of all, depends on the mercy and love of God, who through the death of Jesus opens the way into eternal life. Then upon your acceptance in His name of repentance and forgiveness of sins you simply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If you take your true place as a lost and guilty sinner, you will gladly own at His feet that He is your Lord and you His willing subject. You will praise the Father whose Sent One He is. That being so, God can say to you as in 1 John 5:1313These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:13), “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life.” Then you may unite with the inspired writer and say, “We know the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ” (vs. 20). These are divine certainties, thank God. The believer enjoys them.
On the other hand, there are certainties for the unbeliever also. Solomon says, “Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thine heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment” (Eccl. 11:99Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. (Ecclesiastes 11:9)).
True preachers of the gospel are those who are earnestly striving, according to God’s working in them, to enlighten men in regard to the revelation of God’s love in Christ. They tenderly plead with men to incline their ear to the gracious message of a giving God, that He asks nothing from them, but brings all to them, even forgiveness of sins, the Holy Ghost, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in Christ Jesus. Instead of imputing man’s trespasses to him, He is now beseeching men to be reconciled, in order that they may share with Him the blessedness of a well-known world—a world of love and light, and to be in the present assurance of certain salvation in this world. Reader, may this blessing be known to you. W. T.
“ ‘My Father’s house!’ Think of what the home of such a heart as Christ’s must be! Think of the delight He will have there! That is the place He is going to bring us to, oh, wonderful thought!” J. N. D.