Precious in Yahweh’s sight is the death of his saints.
Parallel Translations
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Precious in Yahweh’s sight is the death of his saints.
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Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
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Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Psalms 116:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 72:14 He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence. Their blood will be precious in his sight.
- 1 Samuel 25:29 Though men may rise up to pursue you, and to seek your soul, yet the soul of my lord will be bound in the bundle of life with Yahweh your God. He will sling out the souls of your enemies, as from the hollow of a sling.
- Psalms 37:32-33 The wicked watch the righteous, and seek to kill him. Yahweh will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.
- Luke 16:22 The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried.
- Revelation 14:3 They sing a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the one hundred forty-four thousand, those who had been redeemed out of the earth.
- Revelation 1:18 and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.
- Job 5:26 You will come to your grave in a full age, like a shock of grain comes in its season.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 15. Precious in the eyes of Jehovah is the…
15. Precious in the eyes of Jehovah is the death of his meek ones. He goes on now to the general doctrine of God’s providential care for the godly, in that he renders them assistance in time of need; their lives being precious in his sight. With this shield he desires to defend himself from the terrors of death, which often pressed upon him, by which he imagined he would instantly be swallowed up. When we are in danger and God apparently overlooks us, we then consider ourselves to be contemned as poor slaves, and that our life is regarded as a thing of nought. And we are aware that when the wicked perceive that we have no protection, they wax the more bold against us, as if God took no notice either of our life or death. In opposition to their erroneous doctrine, David introduces this sentiment, that God does not hold his servants in so little estimation as to expose them to death casually. We may indeed for a time be subjected to all the vicissitudes of fortune and of the world; we will nevertheless always have this consolation, that God will, eventually, openly manifest how dear our souls are to him. In these times, when innocent blood is shed, and the wicked contemners of God furiously exalt themselves, as if exulting over a vanquished God, let us hold fast by this doctrine, that the death of the faithful, which is so worthless, nay, even ignominious in the sight of men, is so valuable in God’s sight, that, even after their death, he stretches out his hand towards them, and by dreadful examples demonstrates how he holds in abhorrence the cruelty of those who unjustly persecute the good and simple. If he put their tears in a bottle, how will he permit their blood to perish? Psalm 56:8 At his own time he will accomplish the prediction of Isaiah, “that the earth shall disclose her blood,” Isaiah 26:21. To leave room for the grace of God, let us put on the spirit of meekness, even as the prophet, in designating the faithful meek ones, calls upon them to submit their necks quietly to bear the burden of the cross, that in their patience they may possess their souls, Luke 21:19
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain I perceive that God hath a care over his,…
I perceive that God hath a care over his, so that he both disposeth their death, and taketh an account.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD…
Psa 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD [is] the death of his saints.
Ver. 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord] Rara, chara, God doth not often suffer his saints to be slain, Psa 37:32-33; or, if he do, he will make inquisition for every drop of that precious blood, Psa 9:12. See Psa 72:14. {See Trapp on "Psa 72:14"} This David delivereth here as a truth that he had experimented.
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 He sets a high price upon it; he will…
He sets a high price upon it; he will not readily grant it to those that greedily seek it; and if any son of violence procure it, he will make him, pay very dearly for it; and when the saints suffer it for God’s sake, as they frequently do, it is a most acceptable sacrifice to God, and highly esteemed by him. Thus the blood of God’s people is said to be precious in his sight, Psa 72:14. And, in the same sense, the life of a man is said to be precious in his eyes who spareth and preserveth it, as 1Sa 26:21; 2Ki 1:13. God’s people are precious in his eyes, both living and dying; for whether they live, they live unto the Lord; or whether they die, they die unto the Lord, Rom 14:8.
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 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving,....…
I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving,.... For deliverance from afflictions and death; for loosing his bonds, in every sense; for all mercies, temporal and spiritual; see Rom 6:17; Such sacrifices are according to the will of God; are well pleasing to him, when offered up through Christ, and in faith, and are a glorifying of him. These are more acceptable than all ceremonial sacrifices; and therefore the psalmist determined to offer this, and not them;
and will call upon the name of the Lord; See Gill on Psa 116:13.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord]…
Verse 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord] Many have understood this verse as meaning, "the saints are too precious in the Lord's sight, lightly to give them over to death:" and this, Calmet contends, is the true sense of the text. Though they have many enemies, their lives are precious in his sight, and their foes shall not prevail against them.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 116:15. Precious, &c., is the death of his…
Psa 116:15. Precious, &c., is the death of his saints — He sets a high price upon it: he will not easily grant it to the will of their enemies. If any son of violence procure it, he will make him pay very dearly for it. And when the saints suffer it for God’s sake, as they frequently do, it is a most acceptable sacrifice to him, and highly esteemed by him. Thus the blood of God’s people is said to be precious in his sight, Psa 72:14. And in the same sense the life of a man is said to be precious in the eyes of him who spares and preserves it, 1Sa 26:21; 2Ki 1:13. God’s people are precious in his eyes both living and dying, for, whether they live, they live unto the Lord, or whether they die, they die unto the Lord, Rom 14:8.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Precious in the sight of the Lord is the…
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints - Of his people; his friends. Luther renders this, “The death of his saints is held to be of value” - (ist werth gehalten) - “before the Lord.” The word rendered “precious” - יקר yâqâr - means costly, as precious stones, 1Ki 10:2, 1Ki 10:10-11; dear, beloved, as relatives and friends, Psa 45:9; honored, respected, Ecc 10:1; splendid, beautiful, Job 31:26; rare, 1Sa 3:1. The idea here is, that the death of saints is an object of value; that God regards it as of importance; that it is connected with his great plans, and that there are great purposes to be accomplished by it. The idea here seems to be that the death of a good man is in itself of so much importance, and so connected with the glory of God and the accomplishment of his purposes, that he will not cause it to take place except in circumstances, at times, and in a manner, which will best secure those ends. The particular thought in the mind of the psalmist seems to have been that as he had been preserved when he was apparently so near to death, it must have been because God saw that the death of one of his friends was a matter of so much importance that it should occur only when the most good could be effected by it, and when the ends of life had been accomplished; that God would not decide on this hastily, or without the best reasons; and that, therefore, he had interposed to lengthen out his life still longer. Still, there is a general truth implied here, to wit, that the act of removing a good man from the world is, so to speak, an act of deep deliberation on the part of God; that good, and sometimes great, ends are to be accomplished by it; and that, therefore, God regards it with special interest. It is of value or importance in such respects as the following:
(1) as it is the removal of another of the redeemed to glory - the addition of one more to the happy hosts above;
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(2) as it is a new triumph of the work of redemption - showing the power and the value of that work;
(3) as it often furnishes a more direct proof of the reality of religion than any abstract argument could do.
How much has the cause of religion been promoted by the patient deaths of Ignatius, and Polycarp, and Latimer, and Ridley, and Huss, and Jerome of Prague, and the hosts of the martyrs! What does not the world owe, and the cause of religion owe, to such scenes as occurred on the death-beds of Baxter, and Thomas Scott, and Halyburton, and Payson! What an argument for the truth of religion - what an illustration of its sustaining power - what a source of comfort to us who are soon to die - to reflect that religion does not leave the believer when he most needs its support and consolations; that it can sustain us in the severest trial of our condition here; that it can illuminate what seems to us of all places most dark, cheerless, dismal, repulsive - “the valley of the shadow of death!”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 15. Precious… the death of his saints—The word yahkar,…
15. Precious… the death of his saints—The word yahkar, applied to things, denotes that which is of rare value, costly, “precious;” applied to persons, it means special honour, excellence, reputation. The “death of” God’s “saints” is distinguished from death as the common lot of man, in the eyes of God, by rare excellence and honour, not physically, but morally, considered. If there is any meaning in language, here is proof of a future life, and of future rewards and punishments.
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 15. Precious &c.] Their death is not a matter…
15. Precious &c.] Their death is not a matter of indifference to Him. Cp. Psa_72:14. Babylas bishop of Antioch, who was martyred in the Decian persecution, met his death singing these words.
his saints] His beloved, or his godly ones. See Appendix, Note I.
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15–19. Jehovah’s care for His beloved ones has been illustrated in the Psalmist’s experience, and for these mercies he will give public thanks in the Temple.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (15) Precious . . .—This is only another form…
(15) Precious . . .—This is only another form of the statement in Psa_72:14. But again we have to ask why the thought of death should intrude upon the psalmist at this moment. (See Note, Psa_115:17.) The answer is that, as in Psa_116:8, a recent deliverance from death is spoken of. It is natural to take this psalm as a thanksgiving song for the safety, perhaps victory, of the survivors in some battle, but then the grateful community naturally and dutifully remember the dead.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Precious in the sight of the Lord is the…
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. (comp. Psa_72:14) It is not a matter of indifference to God, when and under what circumstances each of his saints dies. Rather, it is a matter of deep concern to him. "In him are the issues of life and death", (Psa_68:20) and he appoints to each man the day and attendant circumstances of his demise.
The Divine estimate of the saint"s death.
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The text is one of the precious words of the Bible one of the instances in which the Bible sheds bright light over the darker facts of life. Sorrow, temptation, disappointment, sin, and, as here, death, are all irradiated by the light the Bible sheds upon them. Our text calls death "precious." This a strange epithet for death one we should never have given to it. But it is true, nevertheless, as here used. Therefore note
I THE MEANING OF THE WORD "PRECIOUS." It is used frequently in a like sense, and means:
1. God will not suffer death to come to his saints save as he permits; and never shall his saints cease from off the earth. The fact of the old age to which they commonly attain seems to confirm what the text affirms. But:
2. The word precious denotes also the mind of God in contemplating the death of his saints. He delights in all their life in its beginning, its progress, and now its end. This is the last step of the saint, and our text tells with what loving regard the Lord looks down upon it.
II THE REASON OF THIS DIVINE ESTIMATE.
1. Because of his love and sympathy. His saints are dear to him.
2. At the time of their death there is more than ever a response of trust and desire made to the heart of God. In the full vigor of life we are apt to forget, or to think but seldom and slightly, of God; we do not feel our dependence upon him as we should. But when heart and flesh fail when all our strength is gone, then there is that utter casting of the soul upon God in which God delights.
3. The wondrous witness to others on behalf of God which the death of many a saint has borne. See how Paul never forgot the dying speech of Stephen. The blood of the martyrs has been ever the seed of the Church. And in calmer deaths than these witness for God has also been borne, and with power unknown before.
4. The precious blood of Christ is glorified. For at such times that is all their trust, During life we discuss all manner of questions, doctrines, and beliefs; but when we come to die, it is, "Thou, O Christ, art all I want!
5. It is the moment of their safe ingathering. Till then, they have been, as the sheep in the wilderness, liable to wander, exposed to peril, watched for hungrily by the wolves of hell, often all but lost. But death is God"s angel gathering them safe within the eternal sheepfold. Such are some of the grounds wherefore "precious in the sight," etc.
III BUT NOTE THE CONCLUSIONS THIS WARRANTS CONCERNING THE FUTURE OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD.
1. Death cannot end all. How could such death be "precious?
2. Nor can it introduce us into a state of mere unconsciousness. Death for God"s saints is not a sleep, but the entrance on fullness of life with Christ.
3. Still less into any purgatory. Scripture has nothing to say of such condition for God"s saints. But:
4. It is a departing and being with Christ, which is far better. Surely we may comfort one another with these words.
IV THE ONE LIMITATION OF THIS STATEMENT.
1. It is not as to time. We may die at any moment.
2. Nor as to place. It may be anywhere.
3. Nor as to manner. It may be in deep peace or dreadful pain.
4. But it is as to character. Of the saints of God alone is it said that their deaths are "precious in," etc. Therefore, by surrender to Christ, be one of God"s saints. S.C.
Consolations for the bereaved.
Health and sickness, joy and sorrow, life and death, are strangely intermingled in the stories of human lives. They are the threads, the warp and the weft, of which the web of life is woven. Until sin is gone, it is better for us to keep the sorrows and the sicknesses and even the dyings; for these are God"s agents for stamping upon sin its true character, and he makes them to be but the anguish of our deliverance from sin"s power and dominion. In our times of bereavement we ought to know
I THAT THE DEATH OF OUR BELOVED ONES IS A PRECIOUS THING TO GOD. These "deaths" are certainly very precious things to us, whether they come as a sudden call or follow upon many days of weary watching. There is peculiar sacredness in a time of death for a family. The family bend never seems so closely knit as then. Each member makes so much of each other member in those hours of common sorrow. Our text says that the dying of our friends is so precious to God. We may think of God as our Father; as one of our family, the very Head of our family, and therefore the one on whom the heaviest part of the burden falls. No one feels so deeply as the father and the mother; and in calling himself the great Father, he unveils a heart of infinite sympathy, that "bears our griefs, and carries our sorrows." How God feels toward us finds its illustration in the manifested God Christ Jesus. The sympathies of Nain, the tears of Bethany, show us our God. The death of the saint is so precious to God:
1. Because the trust of the dying is so severely tested. What the mysterious conflicts of the time of death are none of us can know, perhaps none of us can imagine. In perilous disease we may have been to the "border-land;" but, then, the border-land is a very wide space, and we have not really felt what it is for the soul fully to face the eternal, The struggle must be a great and sore one, for even the best of men, when they come to die, have a time during which their faith seems to fail, and their hope to die out. It is a most "precious" thing to God for a human soul to be in struggle.
2. Because the living who are left are so overwhelmed with sorrow. Of the heavenly sphere it is said, "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." That means that the sympathy felt by God in their tear-bringing sorrows will by-and-by be able to express itself without limit or hindrance. Our tears are precious things to our heavenly Father, though, for the holiest ends, he may bid them flow on while we tarry here below.
3. Because through death God brings his children home to himself. To him death is precious; he thinks about it, is anxious about it, rejoices in the anticipation of that which follows it, looks on it much as the parent looks on the perilous journey which brings his absent child home. If we could always think of our beloved as gone home to our Father and theirs, their death would become precious to us. We think of them as dead, gone from earthly love and fellowship. Better think of them as having found the true love and the eternal fellowship.
II THAT THE DEATH OF OUR FRIENDS FITS IN WITH GOD"S PERFECT AND LOVING PLAN FOR US. When we look over our past lives we often can see the wisdom and goodness manifested in isolated scenes and incidents; but we fail to see the wonderful ways in which the various experiences fit in together. It is not always an easy thing to discern what the common things have to do with the special things, or how the special things have become necessary in order to teach more effectively the lessons learned from the common things. We fail to discern the plan. God"s plan in our life is not at present offered to our comprehension. It is offered to our faith. Our life is a worked pattern of various colors; the pattern is large, and it scarcely comes out until it is nearly complete. Our life is a complicated mosaic, and each day new shapes and new colors are added. God makes the pattern complete, but keeps it for a heaven-view.
III THAT THE MYSTERY HANGING ABOUT THE DEATH OF OUR BELOVED WILL ONE DAY BE DISPELLED. Familiar as we are with death, its ways always seem strange to us. We think it has stricken the wrong person; it has come at the wrong time; or it has done its work in the wrong way. Sometimes Death comes too suddenly. In a moment our friend went in, and all left to us was the outer robe flung off as he passed through. Sometimes Death tarries wearyingly. Sometimes Death gathers about him circumstances which add peculiar painfulness to the death-scenes. We incline to say, "It is all wrong." And yet it is God who arranges it. The wise God. The faithful Creator. The loving Father. It is precious to him. "Thou shalt know hereafter." Let us wait. We all have some mysteries to keep until the time for unfolding mysteries shall come. By-and-by "we shall know as we are known. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 15. Precious in the sight of the LORD…
Ver. 15. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints, and therefore he did not suffer the Psalmist to die, but delivered his soul from death. This seems to indicate that the song was meant to remind Jewish families of the mercies received by any one of the household, supposing him to have been sore sick and to have been restored to health, for the Lord values the lives of his saints, and often spares them where others perish. They shall not die prematurely; they shall be immortal till their work is done; and when their time shall come to die, then their deaths shall be precious. The Lord watches over their dying beds, smooths their pillows, sustains their hearts, and receives their souls. Those who are redeemed with precious blood are so dear to God that even their deaths are precious to him. The deathbeds of saints are very precious to the church, she often learns much from them; they are very precious to all believers, who delight to treasure up the last words of the departed; but they are most of all precious to the Lord Jehovah himself, who views the triumphant deaths of his gracious ones with sacred delight. If we have walked before him in the land of the living, we need not fear to die before him when the hour of our departure is at hand.
Ver. 15. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. It is of value or importance in such respects as the following: (1) As it is the removal of another of the redeemed to glorythe addition of one more to the happy hosts above; (2) as it is a new triumph of the work of redemption, allowing the power and the value of that work; (3) as it often furnishes a more direct proof of the reality of religion than any abstract argument could do. How much has the cause of religion been promoted by the patient deaths of Ignatius, Polycarp, and Latimer, and Ridley, and Huss, and Jerome of Prague, and the hosts of martyrs! What does not the world owe, and the cause of religion owe, to such scenes as occurred on the deathbeds of Baxter, and Thomas Scott, and Halyburton, and Payson! What an argument for the truth of religion, what an illustration of its sustaining power, what a source of comfort to those who are about to die, to reflect that religion does not leave the believer when he most needs its support and consolation; that it can sustain us in the severest trial of our condition here; that it can illuminate what seems to us of all places most dark, cheerless, dismal, repulsive "the valley of the shadow of death." Albert Barnes.
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Ver. 15. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. The death of the saints is precious in the Lord's sight. First, because he "seeth not as man seeth." He judgeth not according to the appearance; he sees all things as they really are, not partially: he traces the duration of his people, not upon the map of time, but upon the infinite scale of eternity; he weighs their happiness, not in the little balance of earthly enjoyment, but in the even and equipoised balance of the sanctuary. In the next place, I think the death of the saints is precious in the Lord's sight, because they are taken from the evil to come;they are delivered from the burden of the flesh; ransomed by the blood of the Redeemer, they are his purchased possession, and now he receives them to himself. Sin and sorrow for ever cease; there is no more death, the death of Christ is their redemption; by death he overcame him that had the power of death; therefore, they in him are enabled to say, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" Again, the death of the saints is precious in the Lord's sight, for in it he often sees the very finest evidences of the work of his own Spirit upon the soul;he sees faith in opposition to sense, leaning upon the promises of God. Reposing upon him who is mighty to save, he sees hope even against hope, anchoring the soul secure and steadfast on him who is passed within the veil; he sees patience acquiescing in a Father's willhumility bending beneath his sovereign handlove issuing from a grateful heart. Again, the death of the saints is precious in the Lord's sight, as it draws out the tenderness of surviving Christian friends, and is abundant in the thanksgivings of many an anxious heart; it elicits the sympathies of Christian charity, and realises that communion of saints, of which the Apostle speaks, when he says, "if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; if one rejoice they all joy."... The death of saints is precious, because the sympathy of prayer is poured forth from many a kindly Christian heart... Nor is this allthe death of saints is precious, for that is their day of seeing Jesus face to face. Patrick Pounden's Sermon in "The Irish Pulpit, "1831.
Ver. 15. Precious. Their death is precious (jakar); the word of the text is, in pretio fuit, magni estimatum est. See how the word is translated in other texts.
1. Honourable, Isa 43:4 (jakarta); "thou was precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable."
2. Much set by, 1Sa 18:80: "His name was much set by."
3. Dear, Jer 31:20. An filius (jakkir) pretiosus mihi Ephraim:"Is Ephraim my dear son?"
4. Splendid, clear, or glorious, Job 31:10. Si vidi lunam (jaker) pretiosam et abeuntem: "the moon walking in brightness."
Put all these expressions together, and then we have the strength of David's word, "The death of the saints is precious"; that is, (1) honourable; (2) much set by; (3) dear; (4) splendid and glorious in the sight of the Lord. Samuel Totshell, in "The House of Mourning, "1660.
Ver. 15. Precious. It is proper to advert, in the first place, to the apparent primary import of the phrase, namely, Almighty God watches over, and sets a high value upon the holy and useful lives of his people, and will not lightly allow these lives to be abbreviated or destroyed. In the second place, the words lead us to advert to the control which he exercises over the circumstances of their death. These are under his special arrangement. They are too important in his estimation to be left to accident. In fact, chance has no existence. In the intervention of second causes, he takes care always to overrule and control them for good. Let the weakest believer among you be quite sure, be "confident of this very thing, "that he will never suffer your great enemy to take advantage of anything in the manner of your death, to do you spiritual harm. No, on the contrary, he takes all its circumstances under his immediate and especial disposal. This sentiment will admit, perhaps, of a third illustration; when the saints are dying, the Lord looks upon them, and is merciful unto them. Who can say how often he answers prayer, even in the cases of dying believers? Never does he fail to support, even where he does not see good to spare. By the whispers of his love, by the witness of his Spirit, by the assurance of his presence, by the preparatory revelation of heavenly glory, he strengthens his afflicted ones, he makes all their bed in their sickness. Ah! and when, perhaps, they scarcely possess a bed to languish upon, when poverty or other calamitous circumstances leave them, in the sorrow of sickness, no place of repose but the bare ground for their restless bodies, and his bosom for their spirits, do they ever find God fail them? No; many a holy man has slept the sleep of death with the missionary Martyr, in a strange and inhospitable land, or with the missionary Smith, upon the floor of a dungeon, and yet
"Jesus has made their dying bed
As soft as downy pillows are."
When no other eye saw, when no other heart felt, for these two never to be forgotten martyrs, murdered men of God, and apostles of Jesus, then were they precious in God's sight, and he was present with them. And so it is with all his saints, who are faithful unto death. Fourthly, we are warranted by the text and the tenor of Scripture, in affirming that the Lord attaches great importance to the deathbed itself. This is in his estimatewhatever it may be in ours too precious, too important, to be overlooked; and hence it is often with emphasis, though always with a practical bearing, recorded in Scripture. It is possible, certainly, to make too much of it, by substituting, as a criterion of character, that which may be professed under the excitement of dying sufferings, for the testimony of a uniform, conspicuous career of holy living. But it is equally indefensible, and even ungrateful to God, to make too little of it, to make too little account of a good end, when connected with a good beginning and with a patient continuance in well doing.
"The chamber where the good man meets his fate
Is privileged beyond the common walk of virtuous life."
Its transactions are sometimes as fraught with permanent utility as with present good. The close of a Christian's career on earth, his defiance, in the strength of his Saviour, of his direst enemy, the good confession which he acknowledges when he is enabled to witness before those around his dying bed, all these are precious and important in the sight of the Lord, and ought to be so in our view, and redound, not only to his own advantage, but to the benefit of survivors, "to the praise of the glory of his grace." W. M. Bunting, in a Sermon at the City Road Chapel, 1836.
Ver. 15. Why need they beforehand be afraid of death, who have the Lord to take such care about it as he doth? We may safely, without presuming, we ought securely without wavering, to rest upon this, that our blood being precious in God's eyes, either it shall not be split, or it is seasonable, and shall be profitable to us to have it split. On this ground "the righteous are bold as a lion, "Pr 28:1. "Neither do they fear what man can do unto them." Heb 13:6. Martyrs were, without question, well instructed herein, and much supported hereby. When fear of death hindereth from any duty, or draweth to any evil, then call to mind this saying, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his favourites." For who would not valiantly, without fainting, take such a death as is precious in God's sight? William Gouge.
Ver. 15. His saints imports appropriation. Elsewhere Jehovah asserts, "All souls are mine." But he has an especial property in and therefore claim uponall saints. It is he that made them such. Separate from God there could be no sanctity. And as his right, his original right, in all men, is connected with the facts of their having been created and endowed by his hand, and thence subjected to his moral government, so, and much more, do all holy beings, all holy men, who owe to his grace their very existence as such, who must cease to be saints, if they could cease to be his saints, whom he has created anew in Christ Jesus by the communication of his own love, his own purity, his own nature, whom he continually upholds in this exalted state, so, and much more, do such persons belong to God. They are "his saints, "through him and in him, saints of his making, and modelling, and establishing, and therefore his exclusively. Let this reference to the mighty working of God by his Spirit in you, your connection, your spiritual connection, with him, and your experience of his saving power, let this reference convert the mystery into the mercy of sanctification in your hearts.
"His saints" denotes, in the second place, devotedness. They are saints not only through him, but to him; holy unto the Lord, sanctified or set apart to his service, self surrendered to the adorable Redeemer.
"His saints" may import resemblance close resemblance. Such characters are emphatically God like, holy and pure; children of their Father which is in heaven; certifying to all around their filial relationship to him, by their manifest participation of his nature, by their reflection of his image and likeness.
"His saints" suggests associations of endearment, of complacency. "The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in all them that hope in his mercy"; "a people near unto him"; "the Lord's portion is his people"; and "Happy is that people that is in such a case, yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord." Condensed from a Scranton by W. M. Bunting, 1836.
Ver. 15. Saints. The persons among whom implicitly he reckons himself, styled saints, are in the original set out by a word (Mydymx) that imports an especial respect of God towards them. The root whence that word issueth signifieth mercy (dmx consecravit, benefecit). Whereupon the Hebrews have given such a name to a stork, which kind among fowls is the most merciful; and that not only the old to their young ones, as most are, but also the young ones to the old, which they use to feed and carry when through age they are not able to help themselves.
This title is attributed to men in a double respect; 1. Passively, in regard of God's mind and affection to them; 2. Actively, in regard of their mind and affection to others. God's merciful kindness is great towards them; and their mercy and kindness are great towards their brethren. They are, therefore, by a kind of excellency and property styled "men of mercy." Isa 57:1. In regard of this double acceptation of the word, some translate it, "merciful, tender, or courteous, "Ps 18:25. Others with a paraphrase with many words, because they have not one fit word to express the full sense, thus, "Those whom God followeth with bounty, or to whom God extendeth his bounty." This latter I take to be the most proper to this place; for the word being passively taken for such as are made partakers of God's kindness, it sheweth the reason of that high account wherein God hath them, even his own grace and favour. We have a word in English that in this passive signification fitly answereth the Hebrew, which is this, favourite. William Gouge.
Ver. 15. Death now, as he hath done also to mine, has paid full many a visit to your house; and in very deed, he has made fell havoc among our comforts. We shall yet be avenged on this enemy this King of Terrors. I cannot help at times clenching my fist in his face, and roaring out in my agony and anguish, "Thou shalt be swallowed up in victory!" There is even, too, in the meantime, this consolation; "O Death, where is thy sting?" "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death for his saints, "in the first place; in the second place, and resting on the propitiatory death, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." The Holy Ghost, Ps 116:15, states the first; our translators, honest men, have very fairly and truly inferred the second. We are obliged to them. The death of your lovely child, loveliest in the beauties of holiness, with all that was most afflictive and full of sore trial in it, is nevertheless, among the things in your little family, which are right precious in the sight of the Lord; and this in it, is that which pleases you most; precious, because of the infinite, the abiding, and the unchanging worth of the death of God's own holy child Jesus. The calm so wonderful, the consolation so felt, yea, the joy in tribulation so great, have set before your eves a new testimony, heart touching indeed, that, after eighteen hundred years have passed, "the death of his saints" is still precious as ever in the sight of the Lord. Take your book of life, sprinkled with the blood of the covenant, and in your family record, put the death of Rosanna down among the precious things in your sight alsoI should rather have said likewise.
Present my kindest regards to Miss STell her to wipe that tear awayRosanna needs it not. I hope they are all well at L, and that your young men take the way of the Lord in good part. My dear Brother, "Go thy way, thy child liveth, "is still as fresh as ever it was, from the lips of Him that liveth for ever and ever, and rings with a loftier and sweeter sound, even than when it was first heard in the ears and heart of the parent who had brought and laid his sick and dying at the feet of Him who hath the keys of hell and of death. John Jameson, in "Letters; True Fame, "etc., 1838.
Ver. 15.
1. The declaration. Not the death of the wicked, nor even the death of the righteous is in itself precious; but, (a) Because their persons are precious to him. (b) Because their experience in death is precious to him. (c) Because of their conformity in death to their Covenant Head; and (d) Because it puts an end to their sorrows, and translates them to their rest.
2. Its manifestation. (a) In preserving them from death. (b) In supporting them in death. (c) In giving them victory over death. (d) In glorifying them after death.
Ver. 15. See Spurgeon's Sermons "Precious Deaths, "No. 1036.
Psalms 116:16*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Precious in the sight of the Lord is the…
Psa_116:15
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.
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Precious death
As we see death, it means decay, removal, absence--things which we do not prize. But as God sees death, He beholds something really precious to Him and, we may justly infer, precious to us, for whatever is against us cannot be precious to our Father. We are looking at the wrong side of the tapestry, where all is tangle and confusion. God sees the right side, where the design is intelligent and the colours harmonious. We are without the veil, and see but the dim light through the curtain; within is the Shechinah glory. We stand in the dark, believing and hoping; God is in the light, seeing and knowing.
I. To God death means the opportunity to supply every need of His child. Health means conscious strength. While we are well, we may feel that we are equal to taking care of ourselves. Dying means absolute helplessness. Such is Gods opportunity. When physicians give up the case, He takes it up. After human help has failed, the Lord delights to be to us all that we need.
II. To God death means the most intimate communion. He rejoices to have all to Himself those whom He loves. He said of Israel, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. No one else can help us die. Through the valley we must go alone--yet not alone, for Jesus accompanies.
III. To God death means rest. Jesus said, Come unto Me, etc. It was His delight to quiet the heart and give rest to the weary mind. The voice from heaven said, Blessed are the dead, etc. There remaineth a rest, etc. To us death looks like a rest of the body--the lifeless form no longer suffers; it sleeps until the waking on the resurrection morning. God sees the rest of soul, and the event which introduces His children into this restful state is precious to Him.
IV. To God death means larger life. Christ came to give life, and to give it more abundantly. Whatever imparts and increases the life of Gods people is of great value. While to us death seems to be the cessation of life, to God it is an increase of life. The last words of Drummond Burns were, I have been dying for years, now I shall begin to live. It is passing from the land of the dying into the land of the living.
V. To God death means joy. All through the Bible we are exhorted to Rejoice, rejoice evermore! The joy of His children is precious to God. Dying, Rutherford exclaimed, I feed on manna; oh, for arms to embrace Him! President Wingate, of Wake Forest College, whispered to his wife with his last breath, I thought it would be sweet, but I did not think it would be so sweet as this. It is passing from shadow into sunshine; from the discords of earth into the music of the celestial harps; from contraction into everlasting expansion.
VI. To God death means ministry to the living. Through death Jesus entered the family of the Jewish ruler, and the death of our friends often leads us to invite the Man of Sorrows to our homes. The departure of loved ones opens a window of heaven, and gives us a glimpse into the beyond; and in leaving us, they, in a very true sense, come to us. We appreciate them as we never did before; we see their virtues and forget their faults; they are to us transfigured, while everything about them shines with a peculiar glory. (A. C. Dixon, D.D.)
Precious deaths
I. The statement here made implies a view of death of a peculiar kind. Death in itself is terrible. But to the saint death is by no means such a thing as happens unto the unregenerate. The change lies mainly in the fact that it is no more the infliction of a penalty for sin upon the believer. To him it is a privilege to die. The Head has traversed the valley of death-shade, and let the members rejoice to follow. We know that to die is not to renounce existence; we understand that death is but a passage into a higher and a nobler existence. The soul emancipated from all sinfulness passes the Jordan, and is presented without fault before the throne of God.
II. The statement here made is of a most unlimited kind.
1. There is no limit here as to whom. Provided that the dying one be a saint, his death is precious. He may be the greatest in the Church, he may be the least: he may be the boldest confessor, he may be the most timid trembler; but if a saint, his death is precious in Gods sight.
2. There is no limit as to when. What, shall the hero fall when the battle wants him most? Shall the reaper be sent home and made to lay down his sickle just when the harvest is heaviest, and the day requires every worker? To us it seemeth strange, but to God it is precious. Oh, could we lift the veil, could we understand what now we see not, we should perceive that it was better for the saints to die when they died, than it would have been for them to have lived longer lives.
3. There is no limitation as to where. Up in the lonely garret where there are none of the appliances of comfort, but all the marks of the deepest penury, up there where the dying work-girl or the crossing-sweeper dies--there is a sight most precious unto God; or yonder, in the long corridor of the hospital, where many are too engrossed in their own griefs to be able to shed a tear of sympathy, there passes away a triumphant spirit, and precious is that death in Gods sight. Alone, utterly alone in the dead of night, surprised, unable to call in a helper, saintly life often has passed away; but in that form also precious is the death in Gods sight.
4. There is no limit as to how. Their deaths may happen suddenly; they may be alive, and active, and in a moment fall down dead, but their death is precious.
III. The statement of the text may be fully sustained and accounted for. Precious in the eight of the Lord is the death of His saints, is a most sober and truthful declaration.
1. Because their persons were, and always will be, precious unto God. His saints! These are they whose names are borne on Jesus breast, and engraven upon the palms of His hands; these are His bride, His spouse; therefore everything that concerns them must be precious.
2. Because precious graces are in death very frequently tested, and as frequently revealed and perfected. You cannot tell what is in a man to the fulness of him till he is tried to the full, and therefore the last trial, inasmuch as it strippeth off earth-born imperfections and develops in us that which is of God, and brings to the front the real and the true, and throws to the back the superficial and the pretentious, is precious in Gods sight.
3. Because precious attributes are in dying moments gloriously illustrated. I refer now to the Divine attributes. In life and in death we prove the attribute of Gods righteousness, we find that He does not lie, but is faithful to His word. We learn the attribute of mercy, He is gentle and pitiful to us in the time of our weakness. We prove the attribute of His immutability, we find Him the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
4. Because it is a precious sheep folded, a precious sheaf harvested, a precious vessel which had been long at sea brought into harbour, a precious child which had been long at school to finish his training brought home to dwell in the Fathers house for ever. God the Father sees the fruit of His eternal love at last ingathered: Jesus sees the purchase of His passion at last secured: the Holy Spirit sees the object of His continual workmanship at last perfected. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The preciousness in Gods sight of the death of saints
I. As the supreme crisis of human experience. This life is a life of changes, of pains, of destructions. But all are dwarfed by that change, that pain, that destruction.
1. Physically.
2. Socially.
3. Spiritually.
II. As affixing the seal to human character.
III. As the entrance into new fellowship with God (Ecc_12:7; 2Co_5:8; Php_1:2-3). To the wicked, such nearness of the soul to God, with all disguises stripped away, must be an embrace of fire; but to those that are the saved of the Lord, an ineffable blessedness. The children are at school now, and the time is often a time of weary waiting; but there shall be the homecoming then!
IV. As the beginning of a boundless life. The intermediate waiting, be it what it may, shall be but as a watch in the night. And then? Then a perfect manhood, a perfect world, a perfect progress for ever! The long waiting is all for this crowning joy; the many hindrances and oppositions are but a discipline to prepare for this consummate blessedness; the great salvation finds its full completion in the all-perfect life whose beauty dawns immortal at last. (T. F. Lockyer, B.A.)
The preciousness of the saints in life and in death
I. The Lord has His saints--His holy ones. This imports--
1. Appropriation. They are His saints--saints through Him and in Him, saints of His making and modelling and establishing.
2. Devotedness. They are holy unto the Lord, sanctified or set apart to His service, self-surrendered to the adorable Redeemer.
3. Resemblance. Such characters are emphatically Godlike, holy and pure; children of their Father which is in heaven; certifying to all around their filial relationship to Him, by their manifest participation of His nature, by their reflection of His image and likeness.
4. Endearment.
II. They enjoy no immunity from bodily death. Waiving whatever is occasional, arising out of circumstances peculiar to individuals, it is easy to see that, though this is so painful for the time being to Gods dear children, it is well adapted to promote such important ends as these;--the trial and improvement of their present grace,--the consequent heightening of their happiness in the future state ,--the arresting of the sinners attention,--the encouragement of many feeble and wavering believers through their dying testimony,--the illustration, in a stronger light, of the awful evil of sin,--the demonstration, too, of the spiritual and superior nature of Christian joy, and its absolute independency on artificial circumstances, and its true character, the joy of the Holy Ghost,--and the complete, eventual display, in the sight of heaven, and earth, and hell, of the conquest of Christ, and of His religion, over suffering, and death, and hell.
III. Yet, even in death they are the continued objects of Gods complacent regard.
1. He watches over, and sets a high value upon the holy and useful lives of His people, and will not lightly allow those lives to be abbreviated or destroyed.
2. He exercises control over the circumstances of their death.
3. When they are dying, He looks upon them and is merciful unto them.
4. He attaches great importance to their deathbed itself. The close of a Christians career on earth, his defiance, in the strength of his Saviour, of his direst enemy, the good confession which he acknowledges when he is enabled to witness before those around his dying bed, all these are precious and important in the sight of the Lord, and ought to be so in our view, and redound, not only to his own advantage, but to the benefit of survivors, to the praise and glory of His grace.
5. He evinces his estimation of their character, and of their circumstances, by providing for their recovery from the grave, and their enjoyment of a glorious immortality. (W. M. Bunting.)
The preciousness of the death of believers
I. The death of the saints is a great and momentous event in the sight of God.
II. It affords supreme gratification to His paternal love. O believers, it is precious to the Father to see your trials close, to see you entering on the glories of the spotless bride of Christ, to see all tears wiped from your eyes and your voices tuned to the song of Moses and the Lamb, to see you lay aside the cross and take up the crown.
III. It exerts a powerful influence on the salvation of others. Can you forget the prayers breathed out for you amid uttered longings to depart and be with Christ?
IV. The place it occupies in the salvation of the saint himself. The time of death is a most precious time for God to work. It is the time when all pride is laid in the dust, and the soul, emptied of itself, is ready to be filled with the fulness of Christ. It is a time when lusts and passions have lost their power, and the poor sinner is ready to acquiesce in salvation by free grace. It is the time of mans extremity which is Gods opportunity; a time when all human help fails, and Jehovah comes in mercy to aid.
V. The saints death is so precious to the Lord that He takes care to order all things respecting it for the saints good and for His own glory. (J. Walken, D. D.)
The death of good men dear to God
I. Whence it is that the death of the saints is dear to God.
1. Because then they are delivered from all their sufferings.
2. Because an end is then put to all their labours.
3. That He may approve their conduct, and confer upon them a glorious recompense.
4. Because they are then made capable of serving Him better than in this present world.
II. The practical influence which the consideration of the death of the saints being dear to God should have upon us.
1. It should make us ambitious to attain their character.
2. It teaches us that none are exempted from mortality. All the ingenuity of the sons of men hath not been able to discover an antidote against mortality, and the saints must submit to it as well as others. What, then, remains for us to do? Surely to live the life of the righteous, that we may have our last end like his,
3. The death of the saints should fill us with the deepest regret. I may call them the pillars of the earth, which preserve it from destruction. When these are removed, there is reason to apprehend approaching desolation. (D. Johnston, D.D.)
Death of saints
I. Consider why God claims saints as His own.
1. He has set them apart for Himself, in His original purpose of redemption.
2. He has enstamped His moral image upon them.
3. They have freely and sincerely given themselves away to Him.
II. Show that God takes peculiar care of the death of His Saints.
1. He always takes care when His saints shall die.
2. He takes care that they shall die, not only at the best time, but under the best circumstances.
3. God takes care of His saints, when their pure and immortal spirits leave their clayey tabernacle, and take their course to the world of light. He knows that death is a great and solemn change, and He will not forsake them while passing through it.
III. Improvement.
1. If God treats His saints in such a manner as has been said, then we may learn the extent of His sovereignty towards all mankind.
2. In the view of this subject, we may see that real saints have a permanent source of comfort, to which all who disbelieve and reject the Gospel are entire strangers.
3. Since God claims all real Christians as His own, and always takes a gracious care of them, they ought to make their calling and election sure to themselves. They are absolutely secure in His view, and they ought to be absolutely secure in their own view.
4. If the death of saints be precious in the sight of the Lord, then it ought to be precious and desirable in their own sight. They ought to live in hope, and not in fear of death.
5. Since God claims saints as His own, and takes peculiar care of them both living and dying, it infinitely concerns sinners to become saints, and live a holy and devout life.
6. If God takes peculiar care of saints in life, and often gives them a peaceful death, then their death ought to be peculiarly regarded as very precious and instructive.
7. If God claims all real saints as His own, and takes peculiar care of their death, which is precious in His sight, then pious mourners have ground of support and consolation under the bereavement of their pious relatives and friends. (N. Emmons, D.D.)
The importance which God attaches to the death of His saints
I. He will not permit it to take place at the will of His enemies, or whenever they in their malice may seek to compass it. He who turned the hearts of Josephs brethren rather to sell him into slavery than to slay him and conceal his blood; He who preserved the three Hebrew children in the midst of the fiery furnace, and brought Daniel unhurt out of the lions den; He who sent His angel and delivered Peter out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews; He who, when His servant Paul was pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that he despaired even of life, but had the sentence of death in himself, delivered him from so great a death as that which he feared, has still the hearts of all men in His hands, and all events at His disposal. He knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust to the day of judgment to be punished.
II. He will not permit the death of His saints to take place but for purposes worthy of being gained even by such a price.
1. The impression it may make on others who remain for a time behind those who are taken away.
2. The acceptable homage which God may purpose to derive to Himself from the death of His saints.
3. The purpose of their death to the saints themselves, which is to usher them into a blessed immortality. (J. Henderson, D.D.)
The death of His saints precious to God
I. Precious, therefore, in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints, because it brings them nearer to God. How strange, indeed how absurd, this life would be if death ended all! Think of a man like Gladstone, who lived under a high sense of duty, whose life was one of prayer, who sang Praise to the Holiest in the height amid the sufferings of his last days;--just imagine all this ending in nothingness! Why, it reminds one of the famous Amblongus pie of the nonsense book. It was a pie of most elaborate construction. Particular directions were given as to the making of it, what was to be put in, and in what quantities. It was to be very carefully compounded, and most scientifically baked, and then the final instructions were to open the window and pitch it out as fast as possible. Just as laughable, so to speak, is the idea of a man, trained to high thought and holy feeling and submissive will, being, at the last, simply cast as rubbish to the void. But Christ hath brought life and immortality to light.
II. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints, because it ends their struggle. There is no surer thing about life here than that it is a struggle. The road is uphill all the way, and you must wrestle on towards heaven. But it is just this struggling that makes us, and gives us a character worth taking into the next world. It is told of the mother of Mr. Balfour that, on one occasion, when her sons were going to play in a football match, some friend advised her to keep them from going because of the danger. Would you have me spoil a character? was the mothers reply. She herself was anxious about them, and didnt like their playing; but to keep them back from joining their comrades merely because of any risk, she felt, would do more harm than good. All the same, you may be sure, it would be a relief to her to see them safe home again after it was all over. And so God does not separate us from the need for struggle here, and the risks attending it. We have to face them all. He wants us to gain and acquire character through a well-fought fight. But will not He too be pleased,--relieved, might we say?--when all the struggle is safely over, and death brings His children home?
III. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints, because it ends their ignorance. It is said, and with a good deal of truth, that most people who do any good in the world die without knowing it. That is very hard. Surely such, above all, deserve to know at least the good they have done. But often not till they are gone is the value of their work realized. They may have thought they were failures, they may have longed to be taken away as useless; and yet, when they are gone, others rise up and call them blessed. Ah! we say, if they had only known, if they had only had the satisfaction of knowing that while they were with us! But do you not think they know now? We may be sure that death ends their ignorance as to that, and as to many of the things that men here have for ages desired to look into. (J. S. Maver, M. A.)
The death of the righteous precious in the sight of God
You might have thought that it would have been their life which was declared precious; for what are they but the army of the Lord? Are they not those who maintain His cause against a wicked and rebellious generation? And when withdrawn from earth, are they not comparatively withdrawn from all opportunity of witnessing for the truth, and upholding Christs kingdom against the powers of darkness? Oh, it does but show more clearly how much of danger surrounds the saints during their sojourning below, that their death should be counted so valuable, notwithstanding that it interrupts their usefulness, removes them from the scene where alone they can wage the war with the enemies of God. Was the death of Paul precious, though his death was as when a standard-bearer fell, and there have arisen none since to take up his mantle as a champion of Christ? Then does not the very preciousness of his death give additional meaning and emphasis to his own words--I keep Under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway? The death is precious because the life is perilous; and God rejoices over His saints when He has gathered them into the separate state, because then they can be no more tempted to the forsaking His law, no more exposed to the assaults of the evil one, no more challenged to a battle in which if victory be glorious there is all the risk of a shameful defeat. And though it may seem to you that the usefulness of life must after all detract from the preciousness of death, so that you can hardly see how that is to be thought of great worth which transplants the believer from activity to quietude, from the maintenance of Gods cause to the deep recesses of the separate state, yet reflect for a moment on the power of a saints death, and you may believe that, even as a weapon against the unrighteous, death must be precious. It was in dying that Christ conquered. What was so precious as His death, forasmuch as through death He destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil? It is in dying that saints often achieve their greatest victory, or do most for the cause of God or the truth. There is a power in their memory which makes them survive dissolution. The death of the righteous is often effectual in convincing those who were not moved by their life. The piety which can smile at the grim tyrant, more persuades men of its truth, and more urges to imitation, than piety under lesser trial and demonstration, as it was not in the pulpit, nor in the study, but at the stake, that martyrs lighted the candle which yet sheds over nations so rich an illumination. Let us not, then, speak of death as necessarily the termination of usefulness. It may often be only that which carries usefulness to its height, and gives it perpetuity, Having put off their armour, they may still be in the fight, their example remaining to incite others to constancy, their memory descending to lead on successors in the championship of truth. Housed, then, by death, so that everlasting blessedness is made theirs beyond every possible contingency; removed from a scene where every hour in danger of dishonouring and denying God, to one where they are certain to love Him and adore Him without the slightest interruption, the dissolution moreover of this framework of flesh being often but a process through which righteousness takes a higher stand in the witnessing for the Gospel, and in the advancement of the kingdom of Christ--oh, tell me not that death can be other than valuable in the eyes of the Almighty; valuable as securing those whom He loves and promoting that which He designs. (H. Melvill, B.D.)
The death of Gods saints
The word here rendered saints means those that are saved by grace, to use the New Testament language, and are now endeavouring to live soberly, righteously, and godly in the world, because they are taught or trained so to do by the grace of God which has brought them salvation. Now, all through their lives God watches over these, His saints. Precious are their lives in His sight. He hears their supplications, and when they are brought low He helps them; He makes all things work together for their good; precious to Him are their prayers and their praises. Their very tears and cries and the sobs of their hearts are known to Him. Precious is their daily service, whether rendered in silence and obscurity or under the stimulus of publicity and the responsibility of a high position. Precious to the Lord is their walk before Him. In their going out and their coming in, their rising up and lying down, the Lord knoweth them that are His, and the Lord careth for them. He will not let them die at any such time or in any such way as may do them hurt. They may die early or late (God appoints the time)--early with much promise unfulfilled or just in the midst of a very useful life; or in old age, after years of helplessness. No one can tell you why. But God knows, and the death of His saints, at what time and in what manner soever it occurs, is always watched over by His unsleeping eye, engaging the tender pity and lovingkindness of Him who is Lord both of the Lead and of the living, for these have fought a fight of faith, and their Master calls them to peace. Peace, at last: no enemies any more; no enemies within; no enemies without; no more wounds from false tongues or blows from hands unjust; no more conflict in the heart; no more temptation of the world, or of the flesh, or of the devil. They have finished their work, and their Master calls them to rest. Their bodies rest in the tomb, but their spirits rest in the light of God. Oh, happy release to those that have laboured and not fainted! Absent from the body, they are present with the Lord, and it is far better. (D. Fraser, D.D.)
Death culminates Gods designs for saints
The death of His saints is the climax and culmination of all Gods works on their behalf; therefore does He rejoice in it. As fathers welcome home their boys and girls when holiday-time arrives--as the shepherd looks with joy upon the sheep gathered in the fold, and welcomes the late-comer with special gladness--as they who stand upon the pier look on with pleasure when the sails are furled and the anchor dropped and the voyage over--as the husbandman gazes with delight upon the sheaves ingathered, and hears with delight the cries of harvest home,--so does our Father stand with rapture at His gate to welcome home the children for their eternal holiday; so does our Shepherd gather to His side in heaven the sheep for whom He bled; so do the heavenly watchers on the quays in glory look with glistening eyes upon those who have an abundant entrance into the kingdom of His dear Son, like ships that have sailed from far, and weathered many a storm, arriving safely in the harbour with their precious freight; so does the Lord God, the Husbandman of our souls, look on with great delight when shocks of corn that are fully ripe fall beneath the sickle and are gathered into His garner. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints, for it is the fulfilment of all Gods designs of life; and, when the topstones are brought on with shouting, they shall pass from sonnets of His grace to singing of His glory, which He has made to be theirs as well. (T. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 116:15-19 No one lives or dies outside of God’s…
116:15-19 No one lives or dies outside of God’s will. Having been given a second chance at life, the poet readily commits himself to the Lord with renewed acts of public devotion.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.