For I know that you will bring me to death, To the house appointed for all living.
Parallel Translations
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For I know that you will bring me to death, To the house appointed for all living.
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For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
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For I know that Thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Job 30:23 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ecclesiastes 12:5-7 yes, they shall be afraid of heights, and terrors will be on the way; and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail; because man goes to his everlasting home, and the mourners go about the streets: before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the spring, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
- Ecclesiastes 8:8 There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death. There is no discharge in war; neither shall wickedness deliver those who practice it.
- Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten.
- Hebrews 9:27 Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,
- Genesis 3:19 You will eat bread by the sweat of your face until you return to the ground, for you were taken out of it. For you are dust, and you shall return to dust.”
- 2 Samuel 14:14 For we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground, which can’t be gathered up again; neither does God take away life, but devises means, that he who is banished not be an outcast from him.
- Job 3:19 The small and the great are there. The servant is free from his master.
- Job 9:22 “It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked.
- Job 14:5 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his bounds that he can’t pass;
- Job 21:33 The clods of the valley will be sweet to him. All men will draw after him, as there were innumerable before him.
- Job 10:8 “ ‘Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether, yet you destroy me.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 30:23 For I know [that] thou wilt bring…
Job 30:23 For I know [that] thou wilt bring me [to] death, and [to] the house appointed for all living.
Ver. 23. For I know that thou wilt bring me to death] Such hard thoughts had Job of God, and such heavy thoughts of himself. Nam experior, mors avocat me so Tremellius: For I feel it, death calleth me away. Sic ludis mecum, ut facile conieciam mibi moriendum esse saith Brentius: Thou so dalliest with me, that I plainly perceive I must shortly die, there is no avoiding of it. Thus good Job was pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch as he despaired even of life; and had the sentence (or denunciation) of death in himself, &c., 2Co 1:8-10. But God was better to him than his fears, and delivered him from so great a death: this is usual.
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Qui nil sperare potest, desperet nihil.
And to the house appointed for all living] That is, the grave, Psa 49:14; Psa 89:48, that congregation house of all living; as heaven is called Pανηγυρις, the congregation house of the firstborn, Heb 12:23, the public or common meeting place, as Isa 14:13, the house of constitution or assignation to all living, as the Hebrew here hath it, that is, to all men, who are by an excellence called, "every creature," Mar 16:15, as being the best living creatures upon earth.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain I see nothing will satisfy thee but my death,…
I see nothing will satisfy thee but my death, which thou art bringing upon me in a lingering and dismal manner.
To the house appointed for all living; to the grave, to which all living men are coming and hastening.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For I know that thou wilt bring me to…
For I know that thou wilt bring me to death,.... Quickly and by the present affliction upon him; he was assured, as he thought, that this was the view and design of God in this providence, under which he was to bring him to death and the grave; that he would never take off his hand till he had brought him to the dust of death, to that lifeless dust from whence he had his original; otherwise, that he would he brought thither, sooner or later, was no great masterpiece of knowledge; every man knows this will be the case with him as with all; death is become necessary by sin, which brought it into the world, and the sentence of it on all men in it, and by the decree and appointment of God, by which it is fixed and settled that all should die; and this is confirmed by all experience in all ages, a very few excepted, only two persons, Enoch and Elijah, Gen 5:24, sometimes the death of persons is made known to them by divine revelation, as to Aaron and Moses, Num 20:12; and sometimes it may be gathered to be nigh from the symptoms of it on the body; from growing diseases, and the infirmities of old age; but Job concluded it from the manner of God's dealing with him, as he thought in wrath and indignation, determining to make an utter end of him:
and to the house appointed for all living; the grave, which is the house for the body when dead to be brought unto and lodged in; as the "house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens", Co2 5:1, is for the soul in its separate state, until the resurrection morn; which house or grave is man's "long home", Ecc 12:5; and this is prepared and appointed for all men living, since all must die; and all that die have a house or grave, though that is sometimes a watery, and not an earthy one; however the dust of everybody has a receptacle provided for it, where it is reserved until the time of the resurrection, and then it is brought forth, Rev 20:13; and this is by divine appointment; the word used signifies both an appointed time and place, and is often used of the Jewish solemnities, which were fixed with respect to both; and also of the people or congregation that attended them; the grave is the general rendezvous of mankind, and both the time when and the place where the dead are gathered and brought unto it are fixed by the determinate will and counsel of God.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain House appointed - The grave is a narrow, dark,…
House appointed - The grave is a narrow, dark, cold house, but there we shall rest and be safe. It is our home, for it is our mother's lap, and in it we are gathered to our fathers. It is an house appointed for us, by him that has appointed the bounds of all our habitations. And it is appointed for all living. It is the common receptacle for rich and poor: we must all be brought thither, and that shortly.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 23. Thou wilt bring me to death] This…
Verse 23. Thou wilt bring me to death] This must be the issue of my present affliction: to God alone it is possible that I should survive it.
To the house appointed for all living. ] Or to the house, מועד moed, the rendezvous, the place of general assembly of human beings: the great devourer in whose jaws all that have lived, now live, and shall live, must necessarily meet.
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"____________ O great man-eater!
Whose every day is carnival; not sated yet!
Unheard of epicure! without a fellow!
The veriest gluttons do not always cram!
Some intervals of abstinence are sought
To edge the appetite: thou seekest none.
Methinks the countless swarms thou hast devour'd,
And thousands that each hour thou gobblest up,
This, less than this, might gorge thee to the full.
But O! rapacious still, thou gap'st for more,
Like one, whole days defrauded of his meals,
On whom lank hunger lays her skinny hand,
And whets to keenest eagerness his cravings;
As if diseases, massacres, and poisons,
Famine, and war, were not thy caterers."
THE GRAVE.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For I know that thou wilt bring me to…
For I know that thou wilt bring me to death - This is the language of despair. Occasionally Job seems to have had an assurance that his calamities would pass by, and that God would show himself to be his friend on earth (compare the notes at Job 19:25), and at other times he utters the language of despair. Such would be commonly the case with a good man afflicted as he was, and agitated with alternate hopes and fears. We are not to set these expressions down as contradictions. All that inspiration is responsible for, is the fair record of his feelings; and that he should have alternate hopes and fears is in entire accordance with what occurs when we are afflicted. Here the view of his sorrows appears to have been so overwhelming, that he says he knew they must terminate in death. The phrase “to death” means to the house of the dead, or to the place where the dead are. Umbreit.
And to the house appointed for all living - The grave; compare Heb 9:27. That house or home is “appointed” for all. It is not a matter of chance that we come there, but it is because the Great Arbiter of life has so ordained. What an affecting consideration it should be, that such a house is designated for all! A house so dark, so gloomy, so solitary, so repulsive! For all that sit on thrones; for all that move in the halls of music and pleasure; for all that roll along in splendid carriages; for all the beautiful, the happy, the vigorous, the manly; for all in the marts of business, in the low scenes of dissipation, and in the sanctuary of God; for every one who is young, and every one who is aged, this is the home! Here they come at last; and here they lie down in the narrow bed! God’s hand will bring them all there; and there will they lie until his voice summons them to judgment!
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Liveth. Death is a relief to a just man…
Liveth. Death is a relief to a just man in tribulation. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain This shows Job 19:25 cannot be restricted to Job's…
This shows Job 19:25 cannot be restricted to Job's hope of a temporal deliverance.
death--as in Job 28:22, the realm of the dead (Heb 9:27; Gen 3:19).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 23. Appointed — מועד, according to Dr. Clarke and…
23. Appointed — מועד, according to Dr. Clarke and most moderns, means assembly; here with beth, the house of assembly, the involuntary rendezvous of all of woman born. Comp. Job_3:18-19. The idea of a gathering of the dead “to the fathers,” or “to their people,” appears frequently in the oldest of the Scriptures. Note on Job_27:19. “All such language must have come from some idea of death, or sheol, being a place of waiting for something to come after it.” — T. Lewis. See Excursus III, page 73.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 23. This verse explains Job_30:22 and supports it. Job…
23. This verse explains Job_30:22 and supports it. Job knows that his afflictions can end in nothing but his death.
house appointed for] Or, house of meeting for all living, i. e. the, grave, or Sheol, the place of the dead.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain For I know that thou wilt bring me to…
For I know that thou wilt bring me to death. Job has all along expressed his conviction that he has nothing to look for but death. He feels within himself the seeds of a mortal malady; for such, practically, was elephantiasis in Job"s time. He is devoid of any expectation of recovery. Death must come upon him, he thinks, ere long; and then God will bring him to the house appointed for all living. This, as he has already explained, (Job_10:21, Job_10:22) is "the land of darkness and the shadow of death, a land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness." It is a melancholy prospect; but we must regard it as cheered by the hope of an ultimate resurrection, such as seems indicated, if not absolutely proclaimed, in Job_19:25-27 (see the comment on that passage).
The house of death.
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Job expects nothing better than death, which he regards as "the house appointed for all living," or rather as the house for the meeting of all living.
I THE JOURNEY OF LIFE ENDS IS THE HOUSE OF DEATH. The living are marching to death. In a striking passage of "The City of God," St. Augustine, following Seneca, describes how we are always dying, because from the first moment of life we are drawing nearer to death. We cannot stay our chariot-wheels. The river will not cease to flow, and it is bearing us on to the ocean of death. It is difficult for the young and strong to take in the idea that they will not live for ever, and we come upon the thought of death with something of a shock. But this only means that we cannot see the end of the road while it winds through pleasant scenery that distracts our attention from the more distant prospect.
II THE HOUSE OF DEATH IS IN DARK CONTRAST WITH THE JOURNEY OF LIFE. It is the living who are destined to enter this dreadful house. Here is one of the greatest possible contrasts life and death; here is one of the most tremendous transitions from life to death. All our revolutions on earth are as nothing compared with this tremendous change. Death is only the end and cessation of life, while all other experiences, even the greatest and most upsetting, are but modifications of the life which we still retain. It is not wonderful, then, that this dark house of death has strongly affected the imagination of men. The surprising thing is that so many should be indifferent to it.
III THE HOUSE OF DEATH IS FOR EVERY LIVING MAN. No truism is more hackneyed than the assertion that all men are mortal. Here is a commonplace which cannot be gainsayed, yet its very evident character should emphasize its significance. Death is the great leveler. In life we go many ways; at last we all go the same way. Now some pass through palace gates and others through dungeon-portals; at the end all must go through the same narrow door. Should not this commonness of destiny help to bring all mortals nearer together in life?
IV THE HOUSE OF DEATH IS A PLACE OF MEETING. It is described by Job as a house of assemblage. Multitudes are gathered there. They who depart thither go to "join the majority." There dwell many whom we have known on earth, some whom we have loved. Much mystery surrounds the house of death; but it cannot be an utterly strange place if so many who have been near to us on earth are awaiting us there. The joy of reunion should scatter the darkness of death. Every dear one lost to earth makes for us more of a home in the Unseen.
V THE HOUSE OF DEATH LEADS TO THE REALM OF LIFE FOR ALL WHO SLEEP IN CHRIST. It is no gloomy prison. It is but a dark ante-chamber to a realm of light and blessedness. Indeed, death is not an abode, but a passage. We have no reason for thinking that death is a lasting condition in the case of those whose souls do not die in sin; for the impenitent, indeed, it is a fearful doom of darkness. But for such as have the new life of Christ in them death may be but the momentary act of dying. Certainly it is not their eternal condition. We talk of the blessed dead; we should think of the glorified living, born into the deathless state of heavenly bliss. W.F.A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain To the house appointed for all living.
Job_30:23
To the house appointed for all living.
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The house appointed for all living
What were the definite grounds on which Job formed this conclusion?
1. What he saw around him on every side.
2. Jobs bodily sufferings intimated also the same result. These increased and accumulated, and plainly tended, unless arrested, in the providence of God, to dissolution.
3. Creation around him impressed on him the same conclusion.
4. Job learned the lesson from Divine teaching. Learn who is the dispenser of death. We are prone to attribute all to second causes. Notice Jobs personal application and appropriation to the truth in the text. We must translate Christianity from the impersonal to the personal. We have a description of that change of which the patriarch was thus personally assured. He calls it death, and the house appointed for all living. Death is the child of sin, though grace has made it the servant of Jesus. It is not annihilation. There is nothing natural or desirable in death itself. This is the only house that may be called the house of humanity. It is a dark house, a solitary house, a silent house, an ancient house. Even this house has a sunlit side. It is not an eternal prison house, but a resting place, a cemetery or sleeping place. (John Cumming, D. D.)
Variety in the conduct of men at death
1. Consider those whom we esteem pious. Of these, in the time of death, there are three classes, widely differing from each other in their dying experiences. Some are agitated by terror, doubts, and apprehensions. Some are exulting and triumphant. Some, without any extraordinary raptures, have a sweet calm and tranquillity of spirit, a filial confidence and trust in their Redeemer. We refer, of course, only to those whose rational powers are unimpaired. We are not to judge of the future state of a man merely by his death-bed exercises. This is an error to which we are far too prone; an error that in its consequences is most pernicious.
2. The deathbeds of those who have lived impenitent and unbelieving without God, and without Christ in the world. Here we find similar diversity. Some are filled with agony and horror, some have a false joy, and an unwarranted exultation; and some are stupid, insensible, and unconcerned. (H. Kollock, D. D.)
Death universal
Mans life is a stream, running into deaths devouring deeps. Doctrine--All must die. There is an unalterable statute of death, under which men are concluded. This is confirmed by daily observation. The human body consists of perishable materials. We have sinful souls, and therefore have dying bodies; death follows sin, as the shadow follows the body.
1. Mans life is a vain and empty thing. Our life, in the several parts of it, is a heap of vanities.
2. Mans life is a short thing; a short-lived vanity.
3. Mans life is a swift thing; a flying vanity. Having thus discoursed of death, let us improve it in discerning the vanity of the world in bearing up, with Christian contentment and patience, under all troubles and difficulties in it; in mortifying our lusts; in cleaving unto the Lord with full purpose of heart at all hazards, and in preparing for deaths approach. (T. Boston, D. D.)
The certainty of death
The certainty of death. All must die.
1. There is an unalterable statute of death, under which men are included.
2. If we consult daily observation. Everyone seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and brutish person.
3. The human body consists of perishing principles.
4. We have sinful souls, and therefore have dying bodies.
5. Mans life in this world is but a few degrees removed from death. Scripture represents it as vain and empty, short in continuance, and swift in its passage.
Improvement--
1. Let us hence, as in a glass, behold the vanity of the world; look into the grave, and listen to the doctrine of death.
(1)
This world is a false friend, who leaves a man in time of greatest need.
(2) That hold as fast as thou canst, thou shalt be forced to let go thy hold.
2. It may serve as a storehouse for Christian contentment and patience under worldly crosses and losses.
3. It may serve as a bridle to curb all manner of lust.
(1) To remit our inordinate care of the body.
(2) To abate our pride.
(3) It may check our worldly lust.
(4) And our worldly-mindedness.
(5) It may serve as a spur to incite us to prepare for death. (T. Hannam.)
The mission of death
Since we know assuredly that God will bring us to death, consider--
I. The certainty of its approaching soon. All the works of nature, in this inferior system, seem only made to be destroyed. Man is not exempted. Our life is forever on the wing, although we mark not its flight. Even now death is doing its work. If death be certainly approaching, let us learn the value of life. If death be at hand, then certainly time is precious.
II. The time and manner of the arrival of death. Death is called in Scripture the land without any order. And without any order the king of terrors makes his approaches in the world. He wears a thousand forms, marking out the unhappy man for their prey.
III. The change which death introduces. When we pass from the living world to the dead, what a sad picture do we behold! The periods of human life passing away, the certainty of the dissolution that awaits us, and the frequent examples of mortality which continually strike our view, lead us to reflect with seriousness upon the house appointed for all living. Death is the great teacher of mankind. (J. Logan, F. R. S. E.)
Death and the grave our common inheritance
The Coptic version reads thus:--I know now that death will destroy me, for the earth is the house of all the dead. We have in the text two personifications. Death will destroy me. The grave is the house for all the dead. The power to wound and the pleasure of victory are figuratively ascribed to death and the grave. Death is said to be the extinction of life, but that neither defines nor explains it. We know death by its results. Life! Is it important to us, and wherein is its value and importance? The importance of life to every one of us is for our virtue, religion, happiness, and usefulness among our fellowmen, and to determine the character of our responsibility, our afterlife, our destiny. Life, as connected with this world only, is the precious time for the discipline of the passions and affections, the elevation of our nature, the accumulations of virtue, the influence, principles, and power of religion, the happiness that ordinarily accompanies them, and the usefulness suggested and sustained by them. Our virtue, our religious character, the state of our hearts, veiled and unveiled, and the actions of our lives, will determine our everlasting destiny. Our responsibility relates to the honest convictions of our minds and hearts. (R. Ainslie.)
Death
I. The divinity of death. I know that Thou wilt bring me to death. Men ascribe death to one of three causes--disease, accident, or age; but the Bible ascribes it to God. Thou wilt bring me to death.
1. Nothing else can bring me to death unless Thou wilt. My existence depends every moment on Thy will.
2. Nothing else can prevent me from dying if Thou wiliest that I should depart; all is with Thee. Thou turnest man to destruction. Thou changest his countenance and sendest him away. There are no premature deaths.
II. The ordination of death. The house appointed. Death is no chance matter. It is appointed unto all men once to die.
1. This appointment is very natural; all organic life dies: all sublunary life finds the house of mortality. To this house all plants, reptiles, insects, birds, fishes, beasts direct their steps.
2. This appointment is very settled. This appointment is kept as immutably as the ordinances of heaven or any of the laws of nature.
III. The universality of death. For all living. Men, when living, have houses of various shapes, sizes, value, according to their tastes and means, but in dying they have only one house. All go to one place. What a house is this grave! ancient--desolate--spacious--crowded. (Homilist.)
Relieving thoughts concerning death
The text suggests some thoughts of Job concerning his own death.
I. There will be nothing unnatural in my death. It is appointed as the death of every other kind of organised life on earth: it is the natural law of all organised bodies to wear out, decay, dissolve. As the earth takes back to itself all the elements that have entered into the composition of vegetables and animals, why should I refuse or dread the demand? I may rest assured that kind nature will make a benign and beneficent use of all the elements that have entered into my corporeal existence. Let me be ready to yield them up unreluctantly, ungrudgingly, thanking the Infinite for their use.
1. It is dishonest for me to object to this; for my body was only borrowed property, a temporary loan, nothing more.
2. It is ungrateful for me to object to this. Though I never had a claim to such a boon, it has been of great service to my spiritual nature.
3. It is unphilosophic for me to object to this. Whatever my objections and resistance, it must come.
II. There will he nothing uncommon in my death. The house appointed for all living. Were I one of a few, amongst the millions of the race, singled out for such a destiny, I might complain; but since all, without any exception, must die, who am I that I should complain?
III. There will be nothing accidental in my death. I know that Thou wilt bring me to death. (Homilist.)
Concerning death
Job suffered from a terrible sickness, which filled him with pain both day and night. He says in the eighteenth verse, By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat. When our God by our affliction calls upon us to number our days, let us not refuse to do so. Yet Job made a mistake in the hasty conclusion which he drew from his grievous affliction. Under depression of spirit he felt sure that he must very soon die. But he did not die at that time. He was fully recovered, and God gave him twice as much as he had before. It is a pity for us to pretend to predict the future, for we certainly cannot see an inch before us. It is the part of a brave man, and especially of a believing man, neither to dread death nor to sigh for it; neither to fear it nor to court it. Job made a mistake as to the date of his death, but he made no mistake as to the fact itself. He spake truly when he said, I know that Thou wilt bring me to death. Oh, saith one, but I do not feel called upon to think of it. Why, the very season of the year calls you to it. Each fading leaf admonishes you. Oh! you that are youngest, you that are fullest of health and strength, I lovingly invite you not to put away this subject from you. Remember, the youngest may be taken away.
I. I call your attention to a piece of personal knowledge: I know that Thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living. A general truth here receives a personal application.
1. Job knew that he should be brought to the grave, because he perceived the universality of that fact in reference to others.
2. He knew it also because he had considered the origin of mankind. We were taken out of the earth, and it is only by a prolonged miracle that this dust of ours is kept from going back to its kindred. If we had come from heaven we might dream that we should not die. Thus we have affinities which call us back to the dust.
3. Further, Job had a recollection of mans sin, and knew that all men are under condemnation on account of it. Does he not say that the grave is a house appointed for all living? It is appointed simply because of the penal sentence passed upon our first parent, and in him upon the whole race.
4. Once more, Job arrived at this personal knowledge through his own bodily feebleness. Those who die daily will die easily. Those who make themselves familiar with the tomb will find it transfigured into a bed: the charnel will become a couch. The man who rejoices in the covenant of grace is cheered by the fact that even death itself is comprehended among the things which belong to the believer.
II. Having thus discoursed upon a piece of personal knowledge, I now beg you to see in my text the shining of holy intelligence. Job, even in his anguish, does not for a moment forget his God. He speaks of Him here: I know that Thou wilt bring me to death.
1. He perceives that he will not die apart from God. He does not say his sore boils or his strangulation will bring him to death; but, Thou wilt bring me to death. He does not trace his approaching death to chance, or to fate, or to second causes; no, he sees only the hand of the Lord. Let us rejoice that in life and death we are in the Lords hands.
2. The text seems to me to cover another sweet and comforting thought, namely, that God will be with us in death. I know that Thou wilt bring me to death. He will bring us on our journey till He brings us to the journeys end: Himself our convoy and our leader.
3. It may not be in the text, but it naturally follows from it, that if God brings us to death, He will bring us up again.
III. I pass on to notice the quiet expectation which breathes in this text. I want to reason with those disciples of our Lord Jesus who are in bondage from fear of death. What are the times when men are able to speak of death quietly and happily?
1. Sometimes they do so in periods of great bodily suffering. I have on several occasions felt everything like fear of dying taken from me simply by the process of weariness.
2. The growing infirmities of age work in the same way, beloved, without falling into sickness.
3. By being filled with an entire submission to the will of God. Delight in God is the cure for dread of death.
4. Next, I believe that great holiness sets us free from the love of this world, and makes us ready to depart.
5. Another thing that will make us look at death with complacency is when we have a full assurance that we are in Christ, and that, come what may, nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Live in such a way that any day would make a suitable topstone for life. Let me add that there are times when our joys run high, when the big waves come rolling in from the Pacific of eternal bliss; then we see the King in His beauty by the eye of faith, and though it be but a dim vision, we are so charmed with it that our love of Him makes us impatient to behold Him face to face.
IV. I conclude by saying that this subject affords us sacred instruction. I know that Thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
1. Let us prepare for death.
2. Live diligently.
3. Next to that, let us learn from the general assembly in the house appointed for all living to walk very humbly. A common caravansary must accommodate us all in the end; wherefore let us despise all pride of birth, rank, or wealth.
4. Be prompt, for life is brief.
5. Men and women, project yourselves into eternity; get away from time, for you must soon be driven away from it. You are birds with wings; sit not on these boughs forever blinking in the dark like owls; bestir yourselves, and mount like eagles. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.