Two roads at one time? One going east and one going west? Or one going up, and the other down? Can you travel both at once? Do you even think you can?
Well, there was once a man who thought he could, and he tried with all his might to go both ways at once. His name was Balaam, and he lived many years ago, but human nature has not improved with the passing of years. Balaam could well have lived in our time. Certainly there are many today who would say exactly what he did.
“Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!” That was what Balaam said, and a very pious wish he expressed, but how different is the record of his life! He would have gladly cursed God’s people, the Israelites, for money; he “loved the wages of unrighteousness,” and finally he is spoken of as the man who taught Israel to sin.
The poor man wished to “die the death of the righteous,” but nothing at all shows that he wanted to live the life of the righteous. He is a warning to all who hope to come to the end of the narrow road that leads to life and glory, yet remain in the broad road on the way to destruction. No, no one can be on the two roads at the same time.
The death of Balaam came as he was fighting against the people of God: he was slain by the sword on the battlefield. It was a sad end for one who had hoped to “die the death of the righteous.”
It is not surprising that men should desire to die the death of the righteous, but if as many lived the life of the righteous who desire the happy end of the righteous, what a different place the world would be!
The truth is that in things pertaining to God and the Lord Jesus Christ, life and death, heaven and hell, we cannot be neutral. We must be either for or against.
Those who are “righteous” (and the way toward righteousness is first by accepting God’s word that “there is none righteous, no, not one” in themselves, and receiving the righteousness which is given of God) will be in heaven with Jesus Christ, while many who intended to do right will find their way down the slippery descent to eternal destruction.
It must be God’s righteousness, or none at all. You must be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, or an unbeliever—either on the broad road or the narrow one. On which one are you? Which?
Do not let the indifference and the apathy to divine things that is so prevalent today lead you into the swamp of procrastination. Christ is real! Life and death are real! And—time is short! Choose now—choose the upward road! You will never regret it.