The Great Account # 1

The Great Account # 1

The longest day has its close. The longest life is but for a moment.

"Behold, You have made my days as an handbreath."

"We spend our years as a tale that is told."

"Man is like vanity and a breath; his days are as a shadow that passes then vanishes away."

Such is a true picture of the present life. It is a "handbreath," "a shadow," "a tale that is told," "a passing vapor."

There are insects which are born at sunset, and before the sun rises, they are no more. There are flowers which open with the day, and before evening fade and die. So short an hour of existence is ours, if judged by the light of the eternity that follows.

Everyday life with its comforts and its cares, its joys and its sorrows, its evil and its good - does not long abide with us. Soon buried with us in the habitation appointed for all living - will be the schemes, and thoughts, and pursuits, that now engage the most of our time.

But what then? Has life no further issues? Shall the work of our hands, the words of our lips, the thoughts of our hearts - be heard of no more? Not so. There is a great day approaching. A reckoning must then be made. The book of man's life, closed for a season, will then be reopened. The past shall have a voice given to it, so that not to hearken will be impossible.

In a quiet churchyard a few solemn words were inscribed over one who lay there: "What I was, the day of judgment will declare. Reader, what are you?" It is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God." It is written again, "Behold the Judge stands at the door!"

Behold the Judge Himself!

It is the Son of God. He it is, who is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, whose eyes are as a flame of fire, who searches the hearts and tries the thoughts of men.

It is the Son of man. He it is who took our nature and shared our heritage of woe; who dwelt on earth, and wept in Bethany; who felt the tempter's power, and has known by experience what our condition is.

He it is, who alone of the children of men, lived and died unblemished and undefiled. It is fit that the Judge should be guiltless of crimes upon which He must pass sentence in others. The Son of man, though one with us in all beside, "did no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth."

He it is, who was once judged and wrongfully condemned. The High Priest and Pilate sentenced Him to death - but then they shall change places. Christ shall be Judge. At His bar, both of them shall stand.

He it is, who is not the Saviour. "He came into the world to save sinners." He came not to judge, but to redeem. He stretches forth His arm to rescue man from the deep abyss of guilt into which he has fallen. He calls lovingly to perishing ones, to come to Him for salvation. He delights freely to justify through His death and merits, all those who turn to Him. He will finally perfect in holiness, through His sanctifying Spirit, those who commit themselves to His care.

Oh, sinner! Jesus standing at the door of your heart as a most compassionate Saviour - before He comes to you as a righteous Judge. Flee to His mercy-seat for pardon and acceptance - before you are summoned to stand before His judgment seat!

Behold the vast multitude who shall stand beneath the solemn shadow of the great white throne. "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad."

Amid that multitude shall be those now dead, lying around the village church or in the crowded cemetery - those whose remains were buried on the battlefield or who lie fathoms beneath the waves of the sea.

There shall be those now living in various parts of the wide world - those twelve hundred million, who are said to form at this time the population of the earth.

There shall be those yet unborn, who have yet their race to run, and their battle to fight.

Our criminal population shall be there - murderers, thieves, defrauders, and such like - those convicted and those who have escaped.

From a window in York Castle may be seen a narrow grass-plot, where for many a year have been laid the remains of those executed for various crimes. What a place of dread, on the resurrection morn, will be that enclosure, when those who lie there will arise to receive their sentence before a far higher tribunal than any that yet they have known!

Those who have born a character without a stain among their fellow-men will be there also. Tried by any human standard, they need not fear, but "God sees not as man sees."

~George Everard~

(continued with # 2)