Jeremiah 28:16 Therefore thus said the LORD; Behold, I will cast you from off the face of the earth: this year you shall die… 1. Let men live ever so many years, some one year will be the year of their death. 2. Every year is a year of death to many; there never was a year since the abbreviation of human life, since the extensive propagation and dispersion of mankind over all countries on the face of the earth, which has not been a year of death to tens of thousands, 3. Last year was a year of death to very many. 4. This year, very probably, will be a year of death to some of us. This or the other tree may be cut down; this or the other branch may be lopt off, and fall to the ground. Let us see then that we be ready, that if cut down, it may be in mercy, not in wrath; that if plucked up by the root and transplanted, it may be to be transplanted in a far better soil, where the air is more genial, where the fruits are always ripe. 5. No one of us knows but God may be saying to him or her, "This year thou shalt die." Futurity is wisely hid from man; we know not the year or day of our death we need therefore constantly to watch. 6. It may be in mercy or in wrath that God is saying to this or the other one, "This year thou shalt die." It was in wrath that this was said to Hananiah. 7. The year of one's death is a most eventful year to him. This dissolves our connection with the present world; it issues us into the world of spirits. If we are the Lord's people, it associates us with God, Christ, angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect in the state of glory and blessedness. 8. There is no outliving the appointed year of one's death. No distinction of rank, no worldly pre-eminence, no degree of riches, influence, or power, no plea of necessity, no supposed usefulness in civil or sacred society, can prevent death. 9. The year of one's death may come very unexpectedly. (Anon.) Parallel Verses KJV: Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the LORD. |
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