"They Shall Be As Still As A
Stone"
Exodus 15:16
As Israel had to go through Jordan to reach the land of Canaan, so God's pilgrims in this world must
pass through death to reach their home in glory. Death for the believer is just
a passage. It is passing from this world into the eternal world. It is going
from this foreign, condemned land to our homeland in glory.
The believer's passage through death into
glory is perfectly safe. There is nothing in death which should cause God's
saints fear. When Joshua and the children of Israel came to Jordan and passed over it, not one was lost,
missing, or hurt by it. So it shall be with you and me! Everyone
of the Lord's purchased people shall pass through death and enter into the
heavenly Canaan. As Israel lost nothing by passing from the
wilderness through Jordan into Canaan, so God's elect lose nothing by passing
through death into glory. For us "to die is gain!"
Generally speaking, God's saints pass
through death into glory peaceably, as well as safely, with quiet, comfortable
confidence in Christ. When the hour comes your God will give you dying grace.
When Israel went out of Egypt not a dog was allowed to move his tongue
against them.No enemy molested them. No foe gave them any disturbance. They
left Egypt with a high hand, triumphantly! When they
passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan,though they had many enemies,not one was to be
seen or heard. They were,as Moses said, "as still
as a stone" until God's people had passed over. So it is with God's people
in the hour of death. Your spiritual enemies which now harass you will give you
no uneasiness as you leave this world. Was it not so with David (II Sam.
23:1-5) and Paul (II Tim. 1:12; 4:6-8)? As God gave them quiet
confidence in the face of death, so he will give it to you. "He may look
upon death with joy who can look upon forgiveness with
faith" (Thomas Watson). John Gill said, "The believer, perceiving his
dissolution drawing nigh, spies deliverance from it through Jesus our
Lord" (Rom.7:23-24). He has confidence and peace arising from "a
comfortable view of the free and full forgiveness of his sins through the blood
of Christ; and of his justification before God, and his acceptance with him
through his pure and perfect righteousness." "Mark the perfect man,
and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace" (Ps. 37:37).
Don Fortner