It was a solemn moment. A hush settled over the august company as their monarch, Louis XV, King of France, raised his hand to issue a royal proclamation.
"I command that, from henceforth, the subject of death is never to be mentioned in my presence!"
A deeper silence, if possible, greeted the royal proclamation. Could a king's word blot out death? The tide of time soon proved the folly of such a decree. There might never be the "whisper" of the word DEATH before his royal face, but surely, surely, there was the constant whisper of a voice deep within the soul. As it was for a king, so 'tis for all men. The Word of God has definitely declared, "It is appointed unto men once to die." Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27). The whisper of the warning can never be stilled by any act of mortal man.
A short distance away is a beautiful home. It is now vacant, for the owner and sole occupant has passed away. Going through the rooms one is instantly struck by the sense of something wrong, something missing. What? It cannot be placed at first. Then one realizes that there is not a single clock, nor calendar, nor mirror anywhere! The owner dreaded the thought of time's swift passage... and, how dreadful! The soul is now passed beyond this life, through death and into eternity beyond.
"Saying so don't make it," is an old saying; to which we can append, "not saying so, don't make it so." The fear of death is the blighting mark of sin. It brands its shadow across the whole of living unless there is a drastic change and the personal entrance of the Lord of life into the heart through the marvel of new birth (John 3). Is He therefore real to you? Is His "so great salvation" a living blessedness for all these days, in this kind of a world? Why live in the blight of bondage when the Son of God would make you free indeed?