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The Blessed Hope

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Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · May 12, 1914

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 41, No. 18.

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The Blessed Hope

By LeRoy Edwin Froom

FOR six thousand years, Death, that grim-visaged monster, has been stalking back and forth upon the earth. One by one the human family have been silenced by his icy touch. They have passed through the gloomy portals of the tomb, till old earth has become a vast burial-place for her dead.
We wistfully listen at those sealed doors which "never outward swing," but profound silence reigns. We seek to catch a glimpse of the mysterious, unknown beyond, but the massive gates open only to those who enter its domain never to return. The aching heart cries out, "If a man die, shall he live again?"
To whom shall we turn in our sorrow? From whose lips shall we seek knowledge and comfort? We can not afford to be mistaken. Life is too short, and the end too important.
Shall we listen to the seductive voice of stoical philosophy? Let us be careful lest our judgment be captivated by the beauty of its imagery. It is not so impressive when stripped of its flowers of rhetoric. Its fascination is gone when stated in plain prose.
What grim satisfaction is there in the thought that we are simply going the way of all the great and wise of earth! What cold comfort in the fact that all the rest will soon follow us, and we are therefore to face death calmly! What barren consolation when Death's cruel figure is approaching with rapid strides!
In glorious contrast, what a blessed hope is set forth in the grand old Book! This is the Christian's hope, and it is a "hope big with immortality." Listen to these consoling words of life:
"But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thess. 4:13-18.
L. E. FROOM.