THREE short words may sometimes be seen on a railway-wagon, especially in the vicinity of a goods station. Sometimes the reason seems apparent, sometimes not so clear. But there stand the three words plain enough―
“NOT TO GO.”
What a contrast to the two words uttered by God-inspired David (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))― “NONE ABIDING.” “We are sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.” ALL TO GO.
“Man being in honor abideth not... and when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him” (Ps. 49:12, 17). “We spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Ps. 110:9, 10).
A young husband lay on his bed in great weakness. His mother-in-law was in the room, and he addressed her thus: “I am going to leave you!” She remarked at once: “Then you are tired of staying here with us, are you?”
“Oh, no! For He is with me here. But I am leaving today with Him. I am not tired of you either you have been a kind, good mother to me. But He wants me, and I am, leaving today!”
Though his body was fast going to decay, it was all well with his soul, you see. He could speak of that which was incorruptible. His eye was upon Him Who had been into death on his behalf. For him death’s sting had gone. And in Him Who took that sting his heart rejoiced. Hence he could speak of dissolution in the most homely terms: “He wants me, and I am leaving today!”
To the heart of every true Christian, apart from either coming into the world or leaving it, his stay here is a theme of unutterable wonder. There was a special moment in his history when, either gradually or suddenly, he woke up to the fact that, long before he came into it, a very wonderful Person had been into this world from another world; that this Person had the most intense personal interest in himself; and that just before His visit came to aft end He had left an urgent message, that both his lather and Himself were very desirous that he should spend a joyful, sinless eternity in their company (cf. Mark 16:1515And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15); 2 Thess. 11:14).
But this was not all. The Divinely-awakened sinner discovers that the sins of the past, which now distress him so greatly, and seem to shut him out from all hope of heaven, have all been atoned for by the blood-shedding of that wonderful Visitor; for it was no less a Person than the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God and Creator of all things, Who had been here.
Then, not only did this blessed Friend at God’s right hand become a mighty attraction to his heart, but he became possessed of a new power, both for the enjoyment of His love and for living and walking under the influence of its all constraining power; and that new power, the Holy Spirit of God, Who seals unto the day of redemption all that repent and believe the glad message which He left to be proclaimed everywhere.
Here, then, was the secret of the young Welshman’s happy departure. It was to this wondrous Friend and Saviour and Lord he knew he was going. “He wants me, and I am leaving today.”
You also, my dear reader, have been born into this world, and you also are soon going to leave it.
If there are “none abiding,” you are included in that declaration; and if the message He left was to be told to “every creature,” you are certainly not excluded. The vital inquiry for you is this: Have I obeyed the Gospel? If not, we are bound to tell you that another message has been left, and to this effect, that the same Lord Jesus shall one day return, and that every eye shall see Him, for that “He will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 1:7, 87And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: (2 Thessalonians 1:7‑8)). Those who were once freely and graciously invited, will, for the rejection of His grace, be “punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.” Awful alternative ― terrible doom!
But you are still invited. Bow at His feet confessing your sins at once; none other can save you. GEO. C.