The Rest of Heaven! # 1

The Rest of Heaven! # 1

Then I heard a voice from Heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them." (Revelation 14:13).

Rest is a blessed thing to die in the Lord, to spend a life of humble trust in His sacrifice, of growing resemblance to His image, of earnest zeal in His service, and then "to fall asleep in Jesus."

To hold fast the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, and, as feebleness and decline admonish us that the time of our departure is at hand, to have the assurance I am "accepted in the Beloved" and for me "to die is gain" - this puts the crown on the whole course!

The hour of death is a solemn hour to all; it is especially solemn to him who holds the Christian faith, and with it has any shade of doubt as to his own standing. He feels that he has reached that solemn crisis at which either his hopes will be realized, and he will enter on joy unspeakable, eternal - or he will be driven, a miserable outcast, into the regions of eternal despair. Can you wonder that, when the moment of decision is so near, the alternative should assume proportionate solemnity, and he should ask himself, with deep earnestness: "Am I safe?"

He is all the more anxious to answer this question honestly, because he observes records but too numerous of failure and ruin. Of some it is declared, "They made shipwreck of faith and a good conscience;" of others, "They did run well, but were afterwards hindered;" of others, "Having put their hand to the plough, they looked back, and were counted unworthy of the kingdom of God." One is said to have come with bright, cheerful countenance, as if sure of a welcome, but on hearing the Saviour's terms, to have gone away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Another seemed to be a good friend of the apostle Paul, but he had by and by to complain, "Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world." Many who had deep conviction lost them through false shame, "for they loved the praise of men, more than the praise of God."

With such instances of failure before his eyes, he naturally glances back on his own course, not to discover grounds of merit, but to seek for proofs of faith. Memory with inconceivable rapidity, traverses the whole of the past, collects it into one bright focus, and in a moment presents it before his eye. And if then he perceives that, as a professedly Christian man, he has all along by a foolish compromise endeavored to serve both God and mammon - has sought the comforts, but avoided the hardships of the Christian life - has been ashamed to confess his Master when His name was dishonored - has delegated to others the work and the self-denial.

Or, as a Christian minister, he has clouded the truth by reserve, and shunned to declare the whole counsel of God; or has allowed himself to be beguiled into the sunny fields of literature, not with the high purpose of infusing into some portion of it pure Christian thought, or drawing from it materials for striking illustrations, but simply to gratify his taste, when the harvest demanded his toil; or has wasted precious hours and golden opportunities in the mere trivialities of the religious world, although the requirements of his position should have led him to redeem time and concentrate strength, lest any should perish through neglect.

Or, as a Christian missionary, has allowed the influence of an enervating climate and familiarity with barbarous customs, not indeed to render him idle, but to take the bloom from his piety and the zest from his work - has been satisfied with the mere mechanical performance of duties which needed a heart all on fire with Divine love.

If, I say, in this final review of the past, he discovers that his profession has been but feebly supported by practice - will not torturing doube cast a horror of great darkness over his spirit, and, if saved at last, will it not be as from the very brink of despair?

On the contrary, if in that critical hour he finds that his faith has manifested itself in works, and that the spirit of the Master has shone in the life of the disciple - if he sees that, although with imperfections which only Divine love could cover, he has fought against temptation, denied self, searched out and grappled with the evils of his own day, labored to save souls, fearlessly confessed his Saviour, and striven, above all things, to promote the cause of truth and God - he recognizes in his own history the marks of real discipleship, and feels that "all is well."

~Joshua Harrison~

(continued with # 2)