First in a New Series of Messages
By Louis T. Talbot, D.D.
O NE cold wintry day during a pas torate in the Middle West, I was asked to call at the home of a woman who was said to be dying. All the occupants of the home were stran gers to me. On entering the house, I was met by a man who proved to be the hus band of the dying woman, and also by her mother and father who were there— and the attitude of all of them was one o f bitterness and resentment. When I introduced myself as a min ister o f the gospel, they cried out with vehement rudeness, “ If you have a God, He must be a monster to permit what is going on upstairs!” They declared in one breath that they did not believe in God and in the next that they did—but that they had no con fidence in His love, His mercy, or His justice. “ If you want us to believe in your God,” the husband blurted out, “ let Hftn now restore my wife to health.” “ Yes,” the parents chimed in, “ let Him raise our daughter from this death bed.” I tried to speak calmly. “ My friends,” I replied, “ I know there is a God, and that He is merciful as well as just. His Word says so. But you can never get anything from Him by approaching Him in the belligerent attitude you are show ing. “ And now,” I added, “may we go to the patient’s room?” Not too willingly, someone led the way. When I entered that bedroom, it seemed to me I was passing from Satan’s terri tory into Heaven itself, for the one whom I met there had that sweet, confi dent restfulness which belongs only to the children of God. I sat by her bedside and spoke to her of the Saviour and of Heaven. I am not sure how many Scrip tures I read to her—precious passages on which she and every other sinner must rest his or her faith—but the fol lowing must have been among them: “ For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (1 Pet. 3:18). “ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24). J U N E , 1 9 4 9
When I asked the question, “ Are you sure that when you pass out of this world you will go to .b e with Christ?” she replied with beautiful confidence, “ I know that my redeemer liveth.” Just then the husband came into the room and the wife beckoned him to come near. She put her arms around him and told him that she was going to Heaven. She tried to express to him what Christ meant to her, how He had enabled her to live victoriously and was empowering her to die triumphantly. She told him also that if he would put his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and accept Him as his Saviour, they two would meet again. A few moments later, the father and mother who had said such hard words against the love and mercy of God, also entered the room. Their daughter spoke to them persuasively o f the grace and love of God, and reminded them that she had earnestly endeavored to lead them all to Christ. “ It may be,” she said, “ that this is God’s way of bringing you to give heed to those things that are really worth while.” Two hours later, she passed into the presence of the Redeemer whom she loved. That afternoon, I had the privilege of leading the husband and also the father and mother to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Their lives dur ing the years -which followed revealed that a real heart change had taken place with each of them. “ Just think,” they often would exclaim rapturously, “ now all of us are going to be ‘ever with the Lord’ !” Yes, the destiny of every child of God is to be “ ever with the Lord.” His ever lasting home is to be the new earth with its New Jerusalem. The consum mation of his hope is to be the fashioning of his own body like unto that of Him who redeemed him. His highest vocation is to share the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Christian passes through this world as a pilgrim and a stranger, by faith looking ahead to the “ city which hath foundations, whose builder and mak er is God.” When he enters that eternal abode, his pilgrimage is over and he is at Home.
The perfection of God’s provision of a home for His redeemed children is be yond all human understanding. Eloquent descriptions of Heaven have come from the gifted pens and lips of renowned writers and preachers—utterances based upon the revelation in God’s Word. But when once we reach the presence of God and see the King in His glory, when we gaze upon that glorious place in which we are to reside, our confession will be like that of Solomon’s visitor: “ The half was not told me.” Here, in the twilight of earth, the heart yearns for the sunnier clime of Heaven. Trials, losses, tears, and graves create a longing for the land never rav aged by the sorrows and sins of this mortal life. We long for complete deliv erance from a groaning and travailing creation. Death, as it touches some loved one of ours, turns our thoughts heav enward, perhaps more than any other experience. When a dear one, trusting in Christ, has been snatched from our side, we wonder what our departed friend is doing.in the life beyond the grave. We shall never know the full story until we arrive and see for ourselves. How ever, the Bible gives us a sufficient though a partial revelation o f that tear less, sinless, deathless home which God is preparing for all who love and trust Him. It is pleasing to Him that we should desire to know beforehand the information He has given about where we are to spend the eternal ages. The prospect of going to a new home always creates a special interest. For example, before I left Australia to re side in America, I spent a great deal of time gathering information about this country. Every atlas in my father’s home was consulted and marked. The time-ta bles of American railroads were eagerly perused, and literature pertaining to the United States was studied carefully. You see, I was planning to live here, and I wanted to know about my new home in advance of my arriving here. My friends, if God has invited us to spend eternity in another realm and with Him, then it is to be expected that He has recorded important facts in His Word about that “ . . . land o f pure delight, Where saints immortal reign.” (Continued on Page 18) Page Eleven
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