February 7
Evenings With JesusIf a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. - John 8:51.
CHRISTIANS are mortal like other men. Will they not therefore die? “No,” says the Saviour, “they will not die.” Death comes to them so changed, so glorious, so beatific, that we will not use the name. They “shall not see death.” What then? They shall go home; they shall be gathered to their own people; they shall depart to be with Christ, which is far better; they shall fall asleep in Jesus. “Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.” Oh, surely he is a conqueror of death who will be delivered from the state as well as the sting of death; and this is the case with regard to every Christian.
Mark, therefore, the language of the apostle in reference to them, when he says, “The body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you,”-(here Paul attaches two limitations to the death of the believer, it only affects his poor body,)-“the body is dead because of sin”-the soul is not touched-“the spirit is life because of righteousness,” and it immediately joins the spirits of just men made perfect. Then in the next place he says it is only temporary; the part affected will not remain under its grasp; no, the body will be revived, and will live as well as the spirit, and become immortal:-“But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” Thus the Christian has a prospect, therefore, not only of being delivered from the sting of death, but also from the very state itself.
When Jacob was going down into Egypt, though it was even to see his son Joseph, and he had said, “It is enough; Joseph, my son, is yet alive, and I will go down and see him before I die,” yet when he came to the verge of Egypt his old withered frame began to tremble, so that God appeared to him and said, “Jacob, fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will make of thee a great nation; I will go down with thee into Egypt, and I will surely bring thee up again.” And this is what God says to every believer with regard to the grave:-“Be not afraid to go down into the grave; I will go down with thee, and I will bring thee up again.”