PREPARATION FOR DEATH
Isaiah 38:1. Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.
This announcement was made to Hezekiah when suffering under dangerous illness. In answer to his prayer the sentence was mitigated. Fifteen years were added to his life. It is not wrong to pray for the prolongation of life when important interests are concerned, and when we pray with due submission to Him whose prerogative it is to fix its duration.
The text furnishes a theme for useful meditation. It contains—
I. A SOLEMN ANNOUNCEMENT.
“Thou shalt die.” It may be viewed either as the declaration of a familiar truth or as the prediction of an immediate event.
1. As the declaration of a familiar truth. Nothing is more familiar. The universal reign of death over all the generations that have preceded us necessitates the conclusion that, unless we are alive when the Lord comes, we shall follow them. We are reminded of the truth by obituary notices in newspapers, by the spectacle of funerals passing quietly along the streets, by the silent departure of friends. “The sentence of death has passed upon all men.” However long life may be protracted in individual instances, it never suggests the question whether they will be exceptions to the general rule. It only suggests the wonder that in any instance life is so far protracted. The only uncertain thing is how much longer or shorter than the average our own life will be. Death may come to us when in fullest health by the unexpected accident, or by the illness which has been caught we know not how, or by the subtle disease which silently undermines the system, eating away the cord that has bound us to life (H. E. I. 1536–1546; P. D. 751, 752).
Nor is this event a mere departure from the present life. To our friends it is chiefly that. It is their deprivation of all that makes us interesting and valuable to them. To ourselves it is very much more. It is the precursor of our appearance before the judgment-seat of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10; Romans 14:12; Matthew 25:34; Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:12). It is to us a much more serious matter than passing into nothingness.
Is it, therefore, a subject to be studiously avoided? Is it not one that should be often before us? Look it in the face; dwell on it. Such thought will not produce indifference to the present It will invest it with a deeper seriousness. Its interests and duties will be contemplated in their connection with the great future. The smallest thing has such a connection. The attitude we assume towards God, Christ, the Divine commands, His kingdom. Our conduct in business, the family, among men. The influence of our words, acts, spirit, character. All these come into this great account. Death closes the account. Does not this attach dignity, solemnity, earnestness to the whole of life? (H. E. I. 1557–1566).
2. As the prediction of an immediate event. Supposing, instead of the familiar truth, it were announced to us on good authority that immediately, or within a given time, we should die, what would be the effect? There are aged Christians, whose life-work is done, to whom it would be welcome news. There are young Christians who have recently found peace in Christ but have not yet realised the privilege of working for Him, to whom it would be welcome. There are others to whom it would be terrible, because they have not found Christ nor surrendered to God. It would be to them like the knell of doom (P. D. 684). And yet it may be the duty of some one to make that announcement [1261]
[1261] It is a distressing duty. It requires the skilful and delicate hand. But it must be performed. There is the tender and delicate girl who took a cold some time ago. She was better and worse. It was nothing. Somehow she became weaker. At length she had only strength to lie in bed She is sure that with more genial weather she will recover. All has been done. One day the physician, with grace and sympathetic manner, tells her mother the case is hopeless. Break it to her. How can she? There is a fear that the revelation may accelerate the catastrophe. It may not. The sick are not usually so much alarmed at the thought of death as is supposed. At any rate, it seems only fair to them that they should know the seriousness of their position. If they are already saved, it will probably lead them to plant their feet more firmly on the Rock of Ages. If they are not yet saved, it may not be too late.—Rawlinson.
II. A SUITABLE DIRECTION.
“Set thine house in order.” This direction is twofold.
1. With regard to your worldly affairs. The king was directed to give command concerning his house. His wishes respecting the succession to the throne. Every business-man should keep his affairs in such order that if he were suddenly called away there would be no difficulty. Every one possessed of property should, in view of the uncertainty of life, make his will. Many leave this duty to the last. If it has been so left and sickness comes, it should be one of the first things done. It will not hasten death. It will save expense. It will secure the rights of all. It will prevent disputes. It will relieve the mind. It will leave it free to attend to the soul.
2. With regard to your eternal interests. Think of the soul’s future. Are you prepared for the great journey? Are you ready with your accounts? Recall your obligations to the Almighty. Consider how they have been discharged. Overcome your reluctance to a thorough conviction of sin. Let there be humility, contrition, repentance. Seek mercy. There is a Saviour. Believe in Him. Yield your heart. If already a Christian, survey the position. If near death, all this is obviously necessary. If not near death, or death not apparently near, it is necessary on the ground of your liability to death. It will come some time. The only safety is to close with Jesus now.—J. Rawlinson.
DUTIES OF THE SICK AND DYING
Isaiah 38:1. Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die.
This message sent from God to Hezekiah in his sickness contains a warning applicable to us all. It becomes us all to maintain such order in our worldly and spiritual affairs as that death, whenever He knocks at our door, may find us prepared to obey his summons (H. E. I. 1562–1566). But this is especially the duty of those who are visited, even now, by the forerunners and harbingers of death (H. E. I. 1561).
Most men, when laid aside by sickness, are disposed to turn in their pain and apparent peril to God who hath smitten, and who alone can heal; and to prepare for the great change in which the sickness may terminate. But few when thus called upon know how to set about the work, which they are then ready to allow to be most necessary and urgent. Even those who have lived outwardly blameless lives, are apt to be so distressed and confused by fear of death, that they do not know how to do what will turn the king of terrors into a messenger of peace, rest, and immortality (H. E. I. 1567, 1568, 1570; P. D. 684, 741, 761). Therefore, let those who are now in health receive some hints for their behaviour under sickness.
I. DUTIES TO BE PERFORMED BY THE SICK AND DYING.
1. The first act of the mind on receiving any warning of our mortal and most frail condition should be an act of recollection, a solemn meditation on the power, wisdom, and goodness of the Most High, in whose hands alone we are, who can kill and make alive [1264] Let us think especially of the love which He has shown us in the gift of His Son and the help of His Holy Spirit.
[1264] This will lead us to submit with more temper and mildness to whatever means are prescribed for our recovery, and also to wait their event with less querulous eagerness than if we corroded our thoughts by the pangs we endure or by the earthly succours whereby we hope to escape or lessen them. There is something soothing as well as sublime in the contemplation of greatness and power. We feel it when we gaze on the great works of Nature. He whose heart expatiates in the prospect of the ocean or of the starry heaven is for a time insensible to his own resentments or misfortunes, and is identified, as it were, with the glorious and tranquil scene before him. One of the principal joys of heaven, we are told, is the delight of gazing upon God; and even in this state of mortal darkness and misery, if we can for a time so forsake the thoughts of earthly things as to call up to our mind whatever images of greatness, and power, and perfection the Scriptures have revealed to us concerning Him, our heart will be filled as by necessity with love and admiration for an object so glorious, and our resignation to His decree will become a matter, not only of necessity, but in some respects of choice.… Most unreasonable is their conduct who, in the beginning of sickness, drive away all serious thoughts from the soul, through a fear of injuring the body. Even if this were necessarily the case, the risk is so far less in dying soon than in dying unprepared, that the former danger should be cheerfully encountered rather than incur the possibility of the latter. But the cases of sickness are very few in which, at the beginning of a disorder, such religious considerations can do our bodily health any harm. On the contrary, that awe and tranquillity of soul which are induced by them may in many cases be of real advantage.—Heber.
2. When our minds are thus sobered and composed, we must consider what means are yet within our reach to interest God’s power and mercy in our favour. This may be best accomplished by repentance. To this an examination of our past life is absolutely necessary.
In this examination let us attend to the following cautions:—
(1.) Let it be honest, however much this may humble us.
(2.) Let us not attempt to plead our own good deeds in extenuation of our sins.
(3.) Let us not be too particular or dwell too long in our recapitulation of such sins as are gone by and are irremediable; for these regrets, however natural, are useless, and beyond a certain degree injurious. With such recollections a guilty pleasure may be revived in our souls; our fancy may return with more regret than horror to the scenes of our former enjoyment.
(4.) Let us be more anxious to recollect those sins, if there be any, for which it is in our power to make reparation. In this let us be most searching and honest. Thorough restitution is essential to prove that our repentance is genuine, and so also is sincere forgiveness of our enemies.
3. Thus truly penitent, let us by faith grasp firmly God’s promises of forgiveness through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 John 1:9).
4. If we have been so unwise as to have left our worldly affairs unsettled, let us not be influenced by any foolish fear of alarming our family, or of appearing alarmed ourselves, from immediately making such a disposition of our property as we shall not fear to give account of in the hour of judgment.
5. Let us make up our mind to renounce the world entirely, and all restless hope of recovery; resigning all our prospects entirely into the hand of God, who is best acquainted with our wants and with the wants of those whom we are about to leave behind; and who is infinitely able to protect and provide for us and them (H. E. I. 157, 158, 4055).
6. That our meditations may become holy and comfortable, our repentance sincere and effectual, our restitution humble and public, our charity pure and edifying, our justice without taint, our resignation without reserve, let us give ourselves diligently to prayer (H. E. I. 177, 178, 3739–3746).
7. In order that we may be assisted in these spiritual duties, let us send promptly for the minister of the Church to which we belong.
II. SINS AGAINST WHICH WE MUST BE ON OUR GUARD.
The sins to which the sick and dying are most exposed are evil and trifling thoughts, unthankfulness, impatience, peevishness, and hypocrisy. To the first two of these men are liable on any remission of pain, or appearance of approaching amendment. There is no other cure for these than an immediate return to prayer and meditation. These remedies will also keep us from murmuring and ill-temper. Hypocrisy may seem a strange vice to impute to a sick or dying person, but it is not uncommon. It is shown in seeking compassion and kindness by counterfeiting the appearance of greater suffering than really belongs to our cases, or in the affectation of more faith, or resignation, or humility, or peace of conscience than either our own hearts or God will sanction. The desire of worldly praise will sometimes linger so late, and cling so closely about the affections of man, that some persons continue to act a part until their voice and senses fail them.
Let the difficulty of the duties which a sick man has to perform, and the number and greatness of the temptations to which he is liable, be an argument with us to leave as little as possible to be done in that state of weakness and alarm (H. E. I. 4251–4258).—Reginald Heber: Sermons, vol. i. pp. 92–111.