“Doctor, I want you to get me well by Sunday,” said a little fellow not yet five years old, suddenly stricken with a fatal disease.
“Why, my boy?” asked the doctor.
“Well, you know, my Sunday school teacher showed us the tabernacle last Sunday. We saw all the outside, but there was a curtain, and my teacher said the High Priest went in behind it once a year to speak to God. She is going to show us about it next Sunday. Oh, Doctor, will I not be able to go? I do so want to see the inside where God was.”
The doctor had walked to the window while the little fellow was talking, but now he came back and laid a caressing hand on his feverish brow, as he said softly, “Next Sunday, dear, you may see the place where God is!”
And so it was, for the next Sunday the little fellow had entered his bright home in heaven, into those mansions of love, where God is, and where Jesus dwells. The little white crib was empty. The little sufferer was “absent from the body... present with the Lord,” now to await the resurrection of that precious tabernacle of clay.
For the child who has trusted the Lord Jesus as his Saviour, death is a happy release. It is but a door that opens into that bright glory with Christ. The Apostle could say: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.... For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.” Phil. 1:21, 2321For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21)
23For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: (Philippians 1:23).
We read in Mark 10:13-1613And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. 14But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. 15Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. 16And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. (Mark 10:13‑16), that the Lord Jesus, when He was on earth, took the little children up in His arms and blessed them, saying, “Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.”
ML 08/02/1959