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The Exile’s Longing

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 9, 1916

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 13.

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The Exile’s Longing

By G. W. Reaser

G. W. REASER
“THE captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.” Isa. 51:14.
These words express two of the most intense longings of the people of God throughout the history of the world. As sojourners in a world where sin, suffering, pain, and death reign, they are exiles from home, captives in a strange land, far away from their Father’s house.
The old earth, groaning under the curse of sin, has become a vast cemetery, a “pit,” where uncounted billions have been overtaken by death and have moldered to dust.
The children of God know that unless their Deliverer comes, they will all soon feel the chill of death. That Deliverer is Christ, who at his second coming will clothe his people with immortality and take them to a deathless abode.
Till Jesus comes there is no escape from death, no possible way to “be loosed,” even for the children of the kingdom. Till then all the captive exiles will continue to “die in the pit,”—feel the cruel grasp of death, and unwillingly surrender to its claim.
An inspired apostle expresses this longing to be delivered by the coming of the King, that he might “not die in the pit,” in these words: “Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”
The second great longing of the human heart, mentioned in our text, is, “nor that his bread should fail.” One of the fiercest struggles of the human family is the battle for bread, the ever-present anxiety of the masses to secure a livelihood. And this struggle, this anxiety, this dread, will abide with the race until the redeemed are finally “loosed” from this world by the coming of the King. Then, as it is written, “they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; . . . for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters.”
We may well inquire, In what way can the captive exile hasten, “that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit”? One thing must first be accomplished before deliverance will come. The King himself set the task. “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”
This, then, is the task set for the captive exiles, and it must be completed before they can be loosed. The last message of love and mercy must be proclaimed to all the world; and an all-consuming passion for souls, one mighty incentive, ought to urge onward the children of God to hasten and finish their task, that all the captive exiles may be delivered from death forevermore and be with their King.
Immediately associated with our text we find this precious, soul-inspiring promise: “The redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.”
Jehovah’s purpose is that the earth shall finally be entirely peopled with those whose characters are righteous; but he “is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
No remedy for repining is needed by him who, while waiting for deliverance, is imbued with the love of Christ and joins heart and soul with all the agencies of heaven in warning the world and in winning souls for the kingdom.
Glendale, Cal.