AS A FOOL DIETH by G. B. Thompson

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 19, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 25.

“AS A FOOL DIETH.”

By G. B. Thompson

Reader, you may be dead to-morrow; yes, to-day’s sun may not sink from sight ere your race is run, and you are dead. You have not ascertained that you will not so depart. And if you do, will it be “as a fool dieth”?

To fall asleep “in Him” is pronounced “blessed.” “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.” Rev. 14:13. But how sad, beyond the power of mortal tongue to express, is it to die “as a fool dieth,” “without God in the world.” A dead, Christless sinner is a terrible object to behold! To be wrapped in a Christless shroud, sleep in a Christless tomb, sleep a Christless sleep, O my soul, how sad! The death and funeral of such a person may be truthfully said to be among the saddest things on earth.

He will awake; but while he lived he cast the die, fixed by his own voluntary choice his doom, and now it is given him—“weeping and gnashing of teeth,” thrust out, yet seeing “Abraham, Isaac, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God.” He “shall come forth,” but to “the resurrection of damnation,” to “shame and everlasting contempt.” The Son of God endured the cold, forbidding portals of the tomb that man might be a victor over it, and offered to guide him to the land of life; but the offer was rejected, the proffered hand was spurned, and he went down in gloom; beyond lies darkness, eternal night, oblivion.

By and by the Life-giver will appear on yonder cloud with His trumpet, speaking life to His children locked beneath the cerement of the grave, and they will come forth changed to a glorious immortality and caught up to meet Him in the air; but the Christless sinner will not be there. There awaits no welcome for him in that glorious day. The redemption song will be chanted, but not by him. The ten thousand times ten thousand of angels will sing, “Glory to God in the highest,” but he hears it not. Jesus, with the tread of a conqueror, and leading a great multitude which no man can number, will approach the pearly gates of the Eternal City, exclaiming, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in,” and angels will open wide the celestial gates and the weary pilgrims will enter in; but he will not be there. On the lips of the ransomed multitude will be an eternal song; but he will not be there to join this heavenly chorus. Angels will bring lovely crowns, and, with His own hand, our Redeemer will place them on the head of the saints; but he will not be there to receive one. He chose the muck-rake and disregarded the crown. Born to be a king and to glorify his Redeemer, he exchanged his birthright for a mess of pottage. The fadeless flowers of the beautiful new earth will bloom eternally, and the dome of heaven ring with the voice of gladness and joy; but not for him. Instead of listening to the hymns of seraphim, he hears the unchangeable decree, “Depart.”

To live without Christ is to die without Him. O what a sad moment when the taper of such a soul is extinguished; when the brittle thread of life has been severed; when the span of life has gone out like a spark from a smelter’s anvil! To behold in the casket the face of a poor human being, who lived and walked the earth by your side, buffeted with the enemy of righteousness, and cut down at last by the grim reaper, and to know that, if that face is ever seen again, it will

be on the “left hand,” among those who might better never have been born, is a sad thought. As I pen these lines, my soul is stirred as never before to reach and save poor perishing souls from the abyss of ruin before mercy shall cease to be offered, and the irrevocable fiat shall go forth, fixing the destiny of the race. The needs of humanity all around us should energize us to labor as the Master labored. Our own needs should cause us to bestir ourselves, lest we be found at last among those who are “weighed in the balance and found wanting.”

Reader, do you know God to-day? If not, there is need of haste; for we have reached a time in the plan of the mysterious problem of salvation when God announces that there shall be “delay no longer.” Rev. 10:6 (Rotherham’s Trans.). To-day is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. You may not see the noon-day sun sink to rest; you may not behold it arise. The present moment is the opportunity of your life. That moment lost, all may be lost, and the combined wealth of all the Napoleons of finance can not buy back the neglected opportunity. To-day you are living, and Jesus Christ is your friend. He freely offers His life an atonement for yours. For you He endured the cross, despising the shame. Now the Spirit is saying, “Come.” Your Elder Brother stands with arms extended wide, longing to enfold the vilest of the race, and make them pure. The marriage supper is ready. You have been bidden, and the Bridegroom is tarrying. He awaits your decision. Will you accept His gracious invitation, or reject it and die “as a fool dieth”? 2 Sam. 3:33.

G. B. Thompson.

Rome, N. Y.