TAKEN deeply psychologically is what the Psalmist says in Psalm 49, 11, of the children of the world: “Their inmost thought is, that their houses shall continue forever, their dwelling places to all generations.” And we hasten to add, that by nature God’s child also has this trait in common with the child of the world.
A good, substantial house, built upon a foundation, can last for centuries. And when we hear of father and grandfather, who already have lived in that same house; and now we ourselves equally safely live in it, without any crack showing itself in the wall or a tie-beam creaking in the ceiling, then indeed, we too anticipate the future, when our children will take our places in that house, and presently be succeeded by the family, that God will give them.
Especially a countryman feels this strongly, when it is his privilege, from generation to generation, with his family to occupy the old homestead. For, even though changes were put upon the house, that land, that broad ground on which his house stands, and upon which his harvests ripen, and his cattle graze, remains at least always the same, and he cannot imagine, that that ground, those pastures, shall once cease to exist.
You feel this still more strongly of the city or village, in which you live. For whether the houses are torn down and new ones built, and sometimes a parcel of ground is expropriated for the sake of a canal or railway, the city itself, the village, in which we live, never passes away. It does not show the slightest token of decay. How in the world would such a city or village ever come to an end?
But strongest of all we have this feeling with respect to our whole earth. Though in Scripture we read of great cities like Babylon and Nineveh, which have been levelled to the ground; and though we read of the Holy land, that once flowed with milk and honey, and now is so barren and bald; yet the spot, where Babylon once stood, still lies ever unmoved, and streams of pilgrims still journey to parched Palestine.
Though thus we well know, that houses at length are demolished, and cities can disappear, and even tracts of ground can sink away by earthquakes, the world itself always remains, so we think, and whatever disappears or goes away, the earth itself remains what it is.
YET Holy Scripture is diametrically opposed to this universal human idea, and tells you, that this earth shall not remain as it is; that the whole world shall once be changed; that once time itself shall be no more; and that then comes the consummation of the ages.
And we listen to this. We allow ourselves to be told so. And he who believes, does not contradict it. But yet it does not move us. And we go on living in the idea, as though all things will remain as they now are.
Formerly this was not so. There have ever been times, that it was quite generally believed, that the end of the world was at hand. It was reckoned up to within a year, when the world was to be destroyed. And once accepting this for certain, not a few sold their lands and goods; and spent the money; thinking that a following year, when the world would end, it would be no more good to them.
But just because that “passing away of the world” had so frequently been foretold, and that this prophecy had never been fulfilled, gradually all faith in such prophecies was lost. Soon mockery was made of it. And so gradually the representation came in vogue, as though endlessly, always, things on earth would remain as they now are.
Only in certain circles of God’s people reckoning was still made with the positive prophecy of the return of the Lord; even though as a rule it had little influence upon the general mind and general behavior.
And this has lasted, until the crust of the earth began to be examined, and science began to give itself account, of what took place in the heart of the earth.
Then one saw as before his eyes, that this world has by no means always been what it now is; that terrible changes and upturnings have taken place in the crust of the earth; and saw for instance in coal, that great forests, that formerly stood on the surface of this earth, now, deep under ground, have sunken away in mines and are carbonized.
So it was discovered, that our earth inwardly is alive and tosses and ferments. So volcanoes and earthquakes found their natural explanation. But thereby also the insight was reached, that in the future our earth cannot remain what it now is, but soon or late must stiffen in cold or be destroyed in a world conflagration.
This in turn sitmulated students of Scripture. In the circles of God’s people another outlook again was obtained upon that world and its future. And now it has come so far, that only the superficial and more dozing than live people still dream of an endless continuance of the world.
He who is up to the times, among the children of God as among the children of the world, now knows, that once all this world shall pass away.
AND yet, though both people of faith and men of science know, that, soon or late, “the fashion of this world passeth away,” yet the impression of this conviction is so different with both.
A difference consisting in this, that the man of the world puts this day far off; and the man of faith proclaims: “The day of the Lord is at hand.” That the men of science say: “It will last our time,” and that in His Word the Lord testifies: “I come as a thief in the night.” Or if you will, the rejectors of Scripture measure out the duration of the world by periods of centuries, and that Christ warns us: “Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not” (S. Luke 12, 40).
In practical life the results of this difference of viewpoint are incalculable. To one it becomes a rule of life: “Do as though there never comes an end”; and to the other: “Do as though to-morrow the end of the world were at the door.”
Just the same difference, that you find with the outlook upon death.
Also with respect to this both the child of God and the child of the world know, that once our life shall end; that from afar or close by already now death awaits us; and that once the grave shall be the resting-place of us all.
But though he knows this, the child of the world says: “Speak not of it.” And so death may not be referred to, even when the doctor knows and sees and says, that to-morrow the end comes. While on the other hand the child of God really lives no single day, that he does not think of his end; ever prepares his soul to die; and, especially with serious sickness, turns aside every veil, with clear open eyes to look into eternity.
To some extent you can even say, that the coming of Jesus upon the clouds, and the coming of death, to fetch us away, to God’s child is one thing; for when we die, to us the end of the world is really already come. For a while that world then withdraws itself from our eyes; and the first moment, after our resurrection, we shall see her again, shall be the last moment, at which Christ shall sit in judgment.
Though it be thus ever so true, that we must be pious, not for the sake of death, but for God’s sake, yet it is equally certain, that thinking upon death is the great, of God ordered means, to break the overwhelming impression of the power of the world, and to let the impression of the majesty of God inwork the more effectively upon us.
It is no chance, that the hour of our death is so uncertain, and that dying overtakes almost every one at an hour when he does not think it.
So God the Lord appointed it purposely, thereby to hold our soul in constant, wholesome tension, and to weaken our boundedness to the world.
And where even this uncertainty of life appeared not strong enough, to make looser that attachment, that cleaving, that boundedness and enslavement to the world, He brings every time again that broad wave-beat of death upon us, which we call an epidemic.
That so many more die than at other times.
That so many die at once.
That in every domain the life of princes is cut off like grapes.
Just to impress upon our soul this one reality, that the abiding is not in this world, but in the Lord our God.
And he who is wise takes heed, lest death take him by surprise.
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