The Divine estimate of the saint's death.
The text is one of the precious words of the Bible—one of the instances in which the Bible sheds bright light over the darker facts of life. Sorrow, temptation, disappointment, sin, and, as here, death, are all irradiated by the light the Bible sheds upon them. Our text calls death "precious." This a strange epithet for death—one we should never have given to it. But it is true, nevertheless, as here used. Therefore note—
I. THE MEANING OF THE WORD "PRECIOUS." It is used frequently in a like sense, and means:
1. God will not suffer death to come to his saints save as he permits; and never shall his saints cease from off the earth. The fact of the old age to which they commonly attain seems to confirm what the text affirms. But:
2. The word "precious" denotes also the mind of God in contemplating the death of his saints. He delights in all their life—in its beginning, its progress, and now its end. This is the last step of the saint, and our text tells with what loving regard the Lord looks down upon it.
II. THE REASON OF THIS DIVINE ESTIMATE.
1. Because of his love and sympathy. His saints are dear to him.
2. At the time of their death there is more than ever a response of trust and desire made to the heart of God. In the full vigor of life we are apt to forget, or to think but seldom and slightly, of God; we do not feel our dependence upon him as we should. But when heart and flesh fail—when all our strength is gone, then there is that utter casting of the soul upon God in which God delights.
3. The wondrous witness to others on behalf of God which the death of many a saint has borne. See how Paul never forgot the dying speech of Stephen. The blood of the martyrs has been ever the seed of the Church. And in calmer deaths than these witness for God has also been borne, and with power unknown before.
4. The precious blood of Christ is glorified. For at such times that is all their trust, During life we discuss all manner of questions, doctrines, and beliefs; but when we come to die, it is, "Thou, O Christ, art all I want!"
5. It is the moment of their safe ingathering. Till then, they have been, as the sheep in the wilderness, liable to wander, exposed to peril, watched for hungrily by the wolves of hell, often all but lost. But death is God's angel gathering them safe within the eternal sheepfold. Such are some of the grounds wherefore "precious in the sight," etc.
III. BUT NOTE THE CONCLUSIONS THIS WARRANTS CONCERNING THE FUTURE OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD.
1. Death cannot end all. How could such death be "precious?"
2. Nor can it introduce us into a state of mere unconsciousness. Death for God's saints is not a sleep, but the entrance on fullness of life with Christ.
3. Still less into any purgatory. Scripture has nothing to say of such condition for God's saints. But:
4. It is a departing and being with Christ, which is far better. Surely we may "comfort one another with these words."
IV. THE ONE LIMITATION OF THIS STATEMENT.
1. It is not as to time. We may die at any moment.
2. Nor as to place. It may be anywhere.
3. Nor as to manner. It may be in deep peace or dreadful pain.
4. But it is as to character. Of the saints of God alone is it said that their deaths are "precious in," etc. Therefore, by surrender to Christ, be one of God's saints.—S.C.