Daniel 12:13 But go you your way till the end be: for you shall rest, and stand in your lot at the end of the days. That is a dark leaf in the book of God's providence which, on account of one man's disobedience, made it necessary that death should pass upon all men. Partakers of Adam's fall, we share in Adam's penalty. The prophet Daniel is the most faultless human character on record. To the young, he is an example of humble and self-denying piety; to those of mature years, of stern and unbending uprightness; to the aged, of holy and triumphant faith in the promises of a covenant, keeping God. Daniel was a life-preacher. His influence is to be found in his daily life. His acts were a commentary on the purity of his creed, and himself a temple to his Maker's praise. Yet all this could not revoke the sentence of the angel, "Thou shalt rest." I. TO EVERY MAN THERE IS APPOINTED SOME USEFUL SPHERE OF LABOUR. Usefulness is one of the ends for which our Maker has formed us. No man can boast a charter for idleness. There is a restlessness about the mind of man which must be employed about something — a perpetual elasticity which must have occupation — whether it be to guide the plough or frame our laws. But if man scorns all useful and good occupations, Satan is sure to provide him with a bad one. Man has not a greater foe than sloth. There is no exemption from appointed labour for those whom Providence has enriched with "all manner of store," and released from the necessity of toil. Our work must not be confined to the duties which belong to us either as citizens or as men. We call ourselves by the name of Christ; and, if we are wise, we shall not rest till we have made that calling sure. We must, like our Master, "be about our Father's business" II. A TIME IS COMING WHEN THE SERVANT OF GOD SHALL BE DISMISSED AND REPOSE FROM HIS LABOURS. The state of the soul between death and judgment has always been a favourite subject of speculation. The state of the soul after death is entirely a matter of revelation. Admitting that the soul will have a conscious existence immediately it leaves the body, our enquiry is, What will that condition be? It is not its most perfect fruition. That is not till "the end of the day." And yet it must be fruition, or it would not be gain to die. The angel calls it a state of rest. It shall be the first stage in that moral progress in which the soul is changed from glory to glory; never completing the number of its perfections in finding that it can attain no more. III. THE PERIOD WHEN THE SERVANT OF GOD SHALL RECEIVE HIS ETERNAL RECOMPENSE. Days and months and years are milestones along the road of life. But there shall be an end of these days. Our joys will be always beginning then; one unceasing now of a space that shall never terminate. The soul of the righteous shall "stand" when all else have fallen, erect in the confidence of its own immortality, and waiting for its "lot at the end of the days." What shall the lot be? Will it be the same for all? Who, then, will be contented to shine as a star when there is another glory, "the glory of the sun," within his reach? Can we overlook the danger that if we are seeking only the poorest "lot at the end of the days," it may turn out that we shall find no lot at all; that having sown with a niggard hand we shall find no fruit but bitterness. Forget not that we have every one of us a work to do, and a work in which every day we live must bear its part. (Daniel Moore, M.A.) Parallel Verses KJV: But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. |
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