“...man is destined to
die once, and after that to face judgment…” (Hebrews 9:27)
I have
never thought much of “graveyard tales” – stories by preachers designed to
overly stir the emotions of hearers. Any
response based primarily upon feelings, apart from knowledge and conviction founded upon God’s inspired
Word will play out when such feelings
subside. First century evangelists
called upon their hearers to hear, know, believe the truth about Jesus, and to
respond in “the obedience that comes from
faith.” (Acts 2:14-41; Romans
1:5; 16:26. )
Nevertheless,
there is need that we contemplate the realities of life and of death that we
might live soberly in view of such. The
Psalmist prayed, “Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me
know how fleeting is my life. You have
made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you.”
(Psalm 39:4, 5.)
Some
time ago, while in a small town preaching the good news of Jesus, I went alone to a graveyard located nearby. The setting was well calculated to deepen reflection – removed from the rustle of the town, on a knoll overlooking a twisting creek, shaded by cedar trees aged and gnarled, the only sounds, the whispers of the cedar boughs and an occasional dirge by a mourning dove sitting in a dead tree across the creek.
As I
slowly walked among the graves a number of things there suggested truths which
the living need to consider. The
markers, some large and ornate, others but a moss covered rock turned on its
edge, remind us of several things about death.
Death is the great leveler. I saw
old graves in which slaves were buried, and nearby reposed their former
masters. “The small and the great are there, and the slave is freed from his
master.” (Job 3:19.) Row upon row of
tombstones reminded that death is as natural and certain for us as are birth
and life, unless the Lord comes first. “…man
is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment…”(Hebrews
9:27.) I further saw clear reminders
that the time of our departure is unknown.
Death has no favorite age. In the
same family plot were placed the bodies of a grandmother called from life at 84
years of age, and, of two of her grandchildren who died the day they were
born. Therefore, Jesus would say, “…you must also be ready, because the Son of Man
will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”(Matthew 24:44.)
Many
signs could be seen reflecting man’s feeling after his Maker in the hour of
sorrow – symbols on flower sprays, carved in stone, etched in bronze, of
Bibles, crosses and similar thngs. Over
the grave of an acquaintance of mine stood an open Bible of styrofoam
substance. My friend had died of
cirrhosis of the liver due to his heavy drinking. How strange that the very Book which we
neglect in life is the Book we crave in death!
A quiet
graveyard is a good place to go to reassess the true values of this life. One does not see shiny cars, flashing neon
nor digital lights, rowdy revelry, immaculate mansions, or the stock market quotations. One sees the
brevity of this life, the certainty of death, the need to live for the
Sovereign Savior and Judge before Whom we shall stand when called forth from the
grave. We are reminded of the folly of
procrastination. Not one person whose
body then lay in the dust of death intended to die in his or her sins, in an unsaved
condition. Knowing that Jesus promised,
“Whoever believes and is baptized will be
saved…”(Mark 16:16)), some truly intended to do so, but just waited too
long. Others were there who had really
meant to repent of breaking their covenant with the Lord Jesus. But death came before they got around to confessing
the evil they had practiced after they once became Christians. So, with all there, they wait for the
judgment which God’s Word promises they
will face after death. (Hebrews 9:27.)
Graveyards remind us of sobering truths, and that we would do well now
and then to ponder God’s truths in such a setting.
Ted Kell
Brownwood, Texas
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