Day 29. Are We Ready
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"And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Spirit, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ." Luke 2:26
It is a fearful thing for anyone to see death — before seeing Christ. Death is terrible. It is a valley of shadows. It ushers us into the presence of God to be judged! What if we have never seen Christ? It does not matter how many great men we have seen during our life. It does not matter what we may have done in the way of good or great deeds. We may have seen the wonders of every land; we may have achieved honour and fame. But if we have not seen Christ — we are not prepared to die! Even wicked men want to see Him before death, although all through their life they have rejected Him. They can live without Him — but without Him they dare not die.
There is a story of an infidel, whose wife was a lovely Christian. Their beautiful young daughter was dying. Her father had always ridiculed Christ in her presence. When she was near death, she asked him whether he wanted her to die in his — or in her mother's belief; as an infidel — or as a Christian. With great emotion he said, "Mary, I would rather you would die in your mother's faith — die as a Christian!" He was not content for his child to meet death as an unbeliever; all his scepticism vanished in the presence of the dread mystery of eternity.
Death tests all creeds. A belief which is not good to die in, which a man wants to give up and throw away as he enters the portals of eternity, surely cannot be worthy of acceptance by an immortal being. No one, as he entered the valley of shadows, was ever heard regretting that he had entrusted his soul into Christ's hands. "Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my end be like theirs!" Numbers 23:10
When we have truly seen Christ — then we are ready for death any moment. We have already passed from death unto life, and have nothing to dread in the experience of dying. Death will only be a translation from darkness into light.
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