Part 4.
SOME clocks have an alarm attached to them, and this is very important, because it is needed to insure the waking up of those who sleep soundly, and how glad we are for its warning ring when we are obliged to rise at a certain hour. Without it how often we would be too late! Let us who are the Lord’s, like the clock, sound an alarm, for judgment is coming on this world, and upon all those who refuse the Saviour.
Many there are who do not realize their danger; they are, as it were, asleep, and need the alarm to awaken them. If they sleep too long, they will be too late to enter heaven when the Lord Jesus comes to take home all His redeemed ones. If you will turn to Matthew 25, you can read about some who came too late, and they found the door closed.
So it will be, there win be no entrance after “once the Master of the house has risen up and shut to the door.” O, happy, happy portion for those who will be inside the door, inside the Father’s house, but sad! sad!! for those outside, where there will be “weeping, and gnashing of teeth.” O, may not one who reads these lines be found asleep when the Lord comes, but may you be awakened to see your great danger, and hear the loving invitation of Jesus, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:2828Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28).)
Now, young Christian, let us be concerned about the danger of those all around who do not yet know Jesus as their Saviour, and faithfully sound the alarm. “Blow ye the trumpet ... . and sound an alarm ... .let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” (Joel 2:11Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; (Joel 2:1)) “We do not well to hold our peace.”
We will now speak of the outside of the clock, which we call the case. A clock could run without the case, and even keep correct time, but without it, we would have an incomplete clock. Likewise we have a case or body, and, as the works of the clock are hidden within the case, so we have an inner part which no one can see, and that is the soul, which never dies. We read in Gen. 2:77And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7), “The Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul,” Like the clock, the soul can, and does, leave the body at death, and while the body dies, the soul does not. When the believer dies, or as the Scripture speaks of it, is put to sleep, the soul goes to be with Jesus to wait in His presence until He returns for all His loved ones, and during that time, the body lies in the grave, and returns to dust, from whence it was formed. When death has come into the family circle, and taken one who has the knowledge of sins forgiven and peace with God, as we look upon the loved one, what a comfort to be able to say, “He is not here.” As one dear young man said to his mother, who was weeping at the thought of soon having to part forever in this life from her eldest son, “Mother, when you look upon my wasted form, just remember I’m not here, it is only my poor body. I will be at home with Jesus,” and now he is waiting in His presence for His return, and when Jesus returns, all who have died in Christ will return with Him. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.” (1 Thess. 4:1414For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. (1 Thessalonians 4:14).) Then their bodies, long since returned to dust, will be raised up and changed like unto the body of the Lord Jesus—body, soul and spirit reunited to go with Jesus to the Father’s house. But, you say, What about those who may be alive when the Lord comes? Blessed fact, they will go too. I will give you God’s Word. Find 1 Thess. 4:16,1716For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16‑17): “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
So we know that all will not die. “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, (die) but shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” (1 Cor. 15:51,5251Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51‑52).) What a glorious hope for all whose sins are washed away, to be taken up out of this world where all is sin, sickness, sorrow and death, and where we so often displease and forget the One who has loved us and given Himself for us. And best of all, to see the One who has loved us and died for us.
While we wait for Him who is going to take us up, let us so live that our faces will bespeak our joy, that others may see that we have been with Jesus. Let our two hands be active in whatever little service the Lord may allow and call us to do. Let us lift up the hands which hang down. The clock stops some times and refuses to go, so we take it to the jeweler, and he tells us it is dusty and dirty, and needs oiling. So, we, too, gather up defilement from this wicked world and need cleansing, “with the washing of water by the Word” (Eph. 5:2626That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, (Ephesians 5:26)), and we need also the word of encouragement— “Therefore ... ..be ye
steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as ye know your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 15:5858Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:58).) “Wherefore ... ..let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus.” (Hebrews 12:1, 21Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1‑2).) Let us be sure that all our work and service is done through the force and energy of the Spirit of God, (our Spring) then we know all will be to His praise and glory, “not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.” “Without Me ye can do nothing.” Let us send forth a clear and distinct “tick,” “living epistles known and read of all men.” Our words and ways will then be in keeping with the Word of God.
ML 12/01/1912