Morning By Morning #278

When evening comes, there will be light.

Zechariah 14:7

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

We often look ahead to old age with fear and trembling, forgetting that “when evening comes, there will be light.” Yet for many saints, old age is the best season of their lives. A more pleasant tropical breeze warms the mariner’s face as he nears the shore of immortality. Fewer waves ripple his sea, and quiet reigns—deep, peaceful, and majestic. From the altar of age, the fiery flashes of youth maybe gone, but the more steady flame of true and sincere feeling remains. These older pilgrims have reached “Beulah” (Isa. 62:4), that blessed country where each day is like heaven on earth. Angels visit there, heavenly breezes blow across it, flowers of paradise grow on it, and its air is filled with the music of seraphim. Some people dwell here for years, while others reach it only a few hours before their departure. It is the closest thing to Eden on earth.

We may very well yearn for that time when we will rest in its shady groves and be satisfied with hope until the ultimate time of fruition arrives. The setting sun seems larger than when it is high in the sky, and a splendor of glory paints all the clouds surrounding it with tinges of color as it sets. Even pain does not break the calm of the sweet twilight of age, for “power…made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9) endures with patience through it all. The ripe fruit of blessed experience is gathered as a sumptuous meal of life’s evening as the soul prepares itself for rest.

The Lord’s people will enjoy His light at the hour of death. Will unbelief lament life and ask, “Are shadows falling, is night ahead, is existence facing an end?” “No!” faith will respond. “The night is far from over, for the true day has just arrived. The ‘light has come’ (Isa. 60:1)—the light of immortality, the light of the Father’s countenance. Prepare to rise from your bed. See the angels waiting to escort you away! Farewell, beloved one, for you are leaving as you wave your hand good-bye. Then suddenly—all is light! The pearly gates of heaven are open and the streets of gold shine with the brilliance of jasper. (See Rev. 21:11.) You shield your eyes as you see the unseen for the very first time. Adieu, dear brother, you have light ‘when evening comes’—light greater than you have ever seen!”

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

So many Christians fear death, but in truth a believer never really dies. Otherwise, eternal life would not be eternal. And if we think about it, do we really want to live forever in these earthly bodies, facing continual weakening, decline, and decay? Perhaps our thinking needs to be transformed regarding these worldly shells we call bodies. May we comfort each other with these words of Paul:

“The dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, 0 death, is your sting?’” (1 Cor. 15:52 – 55).