For Dying Friends
Don Fortner Pastor
“Death stung himself to death when he stung Christ.” — W. Romaine
“The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount.” (Deuteronomy 1:6)
We are all dying. These mortal bodies shall soon return to the dust. At God’s appointed time, these earthly tabernacles shall be dissolved. But we have some friends who know they are dying. Their frames are declining rapidly. Each breath is weaker. Soon they will enter into their everlasting rest with Christ in glory. To you, the Lord Jesus says, “Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount.” Commenting on this word from God our Savior,Robert Hawker wrote…
“Pause, my soul, and remark the gracious words of God to Israel. They were just entering the border of Canaan at that time. Forty years long had they been in a wilderness state: many ups and downs, battles and restings, conflicts and trials. God graciously said, ‘It is long enough.’ ‘There is a rest that remaineth for the people of God.’
Hark, my soul, doth Jesus speak to thee to the same amount? Hast thou indeed dwelt long enough in this mount of exercises, sin, sorrow, and temptation? Hast thou seen enough of the emptiness of all creature comforts to satisfy thee? Hast thou felt enough of a body of sin and death, which drags down the soul, to make thee groan under it, being burdened? Is there anything now worth living for? Are not the glories above worth dying for? Doth Jesus call thee, invite thee, allure thee, to come up to the Canaan which he hath taken possession of in the name of his redeemed? And wilt thou not mount up upon the wings of faith, love, and longing desire, to be forever with the Lord? Doth Jesus say thou hast dwelt long enough here below? And wilt thou not say the same? Doth Jesus call thee to his arms? And wilt thou say, ‘Not yet, Lord’?
Ah my soul, art thou indeed in love with this prison? Dost thou wish to wear thy chains a little longer? And is this thy kindness to thy friend? Precious Lord, break down every intervening thought or passion that would rob thee of thy glory and my soul of thy presence, and give me to cry out —– ‘Hasten, my beloved! And be thou as a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.’”
What a joyous prospect! The fact is, God’s elect shall never die (John 11:26). When we have “dwelt long enough in this” house of clay, our souls will soon move out of these earthly bodies into “an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Our bodies will sleep in the earth until the resurrection morn. Then these bodies shall be raised in the glory of Christ and joined again to our souls; body and soul in sinless immortality shall forever be with the Lord in life — ETERNAL LIFE.
“This year thou shalt die.” Jeremiah 2816
Jeremiah said to Hananiah, “This year thou shalt die…So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month. I wonder, “Is this the appointed year that I shall die?” And I wonder if this is the year you shall die. I know this. — There is an hour appointed of God at which you shall die and an hour appointed by him, before the worlds were made, at which I shall die.
Death is the time of harvesting in the kingdom of God. In death our Lord comes into his garden and gathers his lilies. Heaven is the granary into which he gathers his wheat at the death of his saints. In the hour of death he gathers his lambs into his fold and makes up the number of his jewels one by one. — “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:16). If it is precious in his sight, it ought not be irksome in ours. If you are a child of God, if you trust the Lord Jesus, if you are in Christ, here are five things which should help to strengthen and fortify your heart against the fear of death.
1. Death is necessary for our complete and eternal happiness. — We must die to be free from this body of sin and sorrow (Romans 7:24). We must die to go to our Father's house (2 Corinthians 5:1-9; John 14:1-3). We must die to be with Christ in glory (Philippians 1:21-23). We must die to be reunited with our departed friends and loved ones who sleep in Christ (2 Samuel 12:23). We must die in order for Christ to see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied (John 17:24).
2. Sin, the sting of death, has been taken away by our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:56). — Our Lord took our sins away. They are gone forever! God will never lay them to our charge. As William Romaine put it, “Death stung himself to death when he stung Christ.”
3. Death will bring us into the full blessedness of heaven’s glory (1 Corinthians 3:22; Revelation 14:13; Ecclesiastes 4:1-3). — Death is not loss to God's elect, but great gain. Our spirits will be made perfect (Hebrews 12:22-23). We will be relieved of the pain of this world (Luke 16:25). We will be given profound rest in our soul (Revelation 6:9-11). And we will be with Christ (Philippians 1:21–23).
4. Death, for the believer, only comes once and is soon over (Hebrews9:27; Revelation 20:6). — These bodies must go to the grave. That is the result of sin. But beyond the grave death cannot follow us. That is the gift of grace.
5. We have the blessed and sure promise of the resurrection (Job 19:26-27; 1 Corinthians 15:42, 43, 51-58). — This vile body must go to the grave to be raised a glorious body. This corruptible body must be sown in the earth to be raised incorruptible. This mortal body, though it dies, shall be raised immortal. This body of flesh must perish; but it shall be raised a spiritual body.
Death is an enemy to nature, contrary to all natural instinct. But it is an enemy that shall be destroyed. And when it is at last destroyed in the resurrection, our redemption, salvation, and victory in Christ will be complete.