Morning
Time: 11:47 AM PST
"Arise, and depart." --Micah 2:10
The hour is approaching when the message will come to us, as it comes to
all--"Arise, and go forth from the home in which thou hast dwelt, from the city
in which thou hast done thy business, from thy family, from thy friends. Arise,
and take thy last journey." And what know we of the journey? And what know we of
the country to which we are bound? A little we have read thereof, and somewhat
has been revealed to us by the Spirit; but how little do we know of the realms
of the future! We know that there is a black and stormy river called "Death."
God bids us cross it, promising to be with us. And, after death, what cometh?
What wonder-world will open upon our astonished sight? What scene of glory will
be unfolded to our view? No traveller has ever returned to tell. But we know
enough of the heavenly land to make us welcome our summons thither with joy and
gladness. The journey of death may be dark, but we may go forth on it
fearlessly, knowing that God is with us as we walk through the gloomy valley,
and therefore we need fear no evil. We shall be departing from all we have known
and loved here, but we shall be going to our Father's house--to our Father's
home, where Jesus is--to that royal "city which hath foundations, whose builder
and maker is God." This shall be our last removal, to dwell for ever with Him we
love, in the midst of His people, in the presence of God. Christian, meditate
much on heaven, it will help thee to press on, and to forget the toil of the
way. This vale of tears is but the pathway to the better country: this world of
woe is but the stepping-stone to a world of bliss.
"Prepare us, Lord, by grace divine,
For Thy bright courts on high;
Then bid our spirits rise, and join
The chorus of the sky."