Charles Spurgeon In The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death

“It is a fact we do not often think of-that we shall all be dead in a little while. I know that I am made of dust and not of iron. My bones are not brass, nor my sinews steel-in a little while my body must crumble back to its native elements.  But do you ever try to picture yourself the moment of your dissolution? My Friends, there are some of you who seldom realize how old you are, how near you are to death. One way of remembering our age is to see how much remains. Think how old eighty is and then see how few years there are before you will get there. We should remember our frailty.  Sometimes I have tried to think of the time of my departure. I do not know whether I shall die a violent death or not but I would to God that I might die suddenly, for sudden death is sudden glory. I would I might have such a blessed exit as Doctor Beaumont and die in my pulpit laying down my body with my charge and ceasing at once to work and live.  But it is not mine to choose. Suppose I lie lingering for weeks in the midst of pains and griefs and agonies? When that moment comes, that moment which is too solemn for my lips to speak of, when the spirit leaves the clay-let the physician put it off for weeks or years, as we say he does, though he does not-when that moment comes, oh, you lips, be dumb and profane not its solemnity.

“One more doctrine we learn and with that we will conclude-the doctrine of the resurrection. Jesus rose and as the Lord our Savior rose, so all His followers must rise. Die I must-this body must be a carnival for worms, it must be eaten by those tiny cannibals-perhaps it shall be scattered from one portion of the earth to another. The constituent particles of this my frame will enter into plants, from plants pass into animals and thus be carried into far distant realms. But at the blast of the archangel’s trumpet every separate atom of my body shall find its fellow-like the bones lying in the valley of vision, though separated from one another-the moment God shall speak, the bone will creep to its bone, then the flesh shall come upon it. The four winds of Heaven shall blow and the breath shall return!

“So, let me die, let beasts devour me, let fire turn this body into gas and vapor-all its particles shall yet again be restored!  This very selfsame actual body shall start up from its grave, glorified and made like Christ’s body, yet still the same body, for God has said it. Christ’s same body rose-so shall mine. O my Soul, do you now dread to die? You will lose your partner body a little while, but you will be married again in Heaven, soul and body shall again be united before the Throne of God. The grave-what is it? It is the bath in which the Christian puts the clothes of his body to have them washed and cleansed.”