Seeking a Sign: The Language of a Man Desirous of Life

Real religion remains constant across every country and age. We find in Scripture the recorded history and experience of God's people, permitting us to compare our own experience with theirs. Consider these words in four ways.

First, as the language of a man desirous of life. Death is a solemn thing, yet even good men hesitate before it—not always from fear of death itself, but from earthly attachments. A minister may long to "depart and be with Christ," yet sees a congregation hanging upon his lips. A husband and father, assured of heaven, willingly foregoes that blessedness year after year, willing to "weep on and war on" for usefulness to others. This is self-denial of the highest order.

Second, a believer's evidences of glory are not always clear, affecting his experience profoundly. David pleaded: "O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more seen." Simeon held assurance he should not see death until he had seen the Lord's Christ.

Third, constitutional timidity afflicts many. The apostles themselves wished to enter heaven without being "unclothed," preferring that "mortality may be swallowed up of life." Fear of death is not sinful; nature must abhor its own destruction. Only the supernatural can reconcile us to it.

The fear reflects not weakness but wisdom—acknowledging that Adonai alone provides strength for the final passage.