Morning, February 7
Go To Evening Reading
“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 forever 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.”