Evening
Time: 8:55 PM PST
"These all died in faith." --Hebrews 11:13
Behold the epitaph of all those blessed saints who fell asleep before the
coming of our Lord! It matters nothing how else they died, whether of old age,
or by violent means; this one point, in which they all agree, is the most worthy
of record, "they all died in faith." In faith they lived--it was their comfort,
their guide, their motive and their support; and in the same spiritual grace
they died, ending their life-song in the sweet strain in which they had so long
continued. They did not die resting in the flesh or upon their own attainments;
they made no advance from their first way of acceptance with God, but held to
the way of faith to the end. Faith is as precious to die by as to live by.
Dying in faith has distinct reference to the past. They believed the
promises which had gone before, and were assured that their sins were blotted
out through the mercy of God. Dying in faith has to do with the present.
These saints were confident of their acceptance with God, they enjoyed the beams
of His love, and rested in His faithfulness. Dying in faith looks into the
future. They fell asleep, affirming that the Messiah would surely come, and
that when He would in the last days appear upon the earth, they would rise from
their graves to behold Him. To them the pains of death were but the birth-pangs
of a better state. Take courage, my soul, as thou readest this epitaph. Thy
course, through grace, is one of faith, and sight seldom cheers thee; this has
also been the pathway of the brightest and the best. Faith was the orbit in
which these stars of the first magnitude moved all the time of their shining
here; and happy art thou that it is thine. Look anew to-night to Jesus, the
author and finisher of thy faith, and thank Him for giving thee like precious
faith with souls now in glory.