and of the great change that we must
everyone remains well, this is a mercy we ought to value and thank God for. Such a blessing should be appreciated in proportion to the great affliction endured where sickness prevails.
Some are kept awake by fear—fear of enemies, soldiers, or thieves. The head of the household may watch through the night to prevent intruders from breaking in. Yet we are not kept from lying down, nor is our rest disturbed by the alarms of war. We are delivered from the noise of archers in our places of rest. Therefore, we should recount the righteous acts of the Lord, even his righteous acts towards the inhabitants of peaceful villages in Israel, who, under his protection, are as safe as those living in walled cities with gates and bars.
When we lie down, let us thank God that we are able to do so.
2. Let us lie down with thoughts of death and of the great change that we must
undergo at death.
The end of each day should remind us of the conclusion of all our days—when our night comes, our long night, which will bring an end to our work and lead the honest labourer both to take his rest and to receive his reward. It is good for us to think frequently of death, to reflect on it each time we go to bed. Such thoughts will help to mortify the corruptions of our hearts, which burden us daily; to guard us against the temptations of the world, which are our daily snares; to loosen our attachment to daily comforts, and to make us more patient under daily crosses and fatigues. Thinking often of death—and thinking of it as going to bed—can help us rise above the fear of it.
a. At death, we shall retire, as we do at bedtime.
We shall go into privacy for a while, until the great day of public appearance: "Man lieth down, and riseth not till the heavens be no more; they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep," Job 14:12. Now, during the day, we go out to see and be seen, and some spend their whole lives on nothing higher than such fleeting purposes. But when death comes, this will end. We shall no longer see the world—"I shall behold man no more," Isaiah 38:11—and the world shall no longer see us—"The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more," Job 7:8. We shall be hidden in the grave and cut off from the land of the living.
To die is to bid goodnight to all our friends, ending our conversations with them. Though we bid farewell, thanks be to God, it is not an eternal farewell. We hope to meet them again in the morning of the resurrection, never to part again.
b. At death, we shall put off the body, as we put off our clothes when going to bed.
The soul is the essence of the person; the body is merely clothing. At death, we shall be unclothed. "The earthly house of this tabernacle shall be dissolved," and the garment of the body shall be laid aside. Death strips us, sending us naked out of the world as we came into it. It removes all disguises in which we appeared before men so that we may stand naked and open before God. Our grave clothes are, in a sense, nightclothes.
When we are weary, hot, and burdened, we eagerly remove our clothes at night for rest. Similarly, "we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened," but when death releases the soul from the
encumbrance of the body, how much easier will it be! Let us then look forward to putting off the body at death as willingly as we look forward to undressing at night. Be as unattached to the body as we are to our clothes, and take comfort in the thought that though we are unclothed at death, if we are clothed with Christ and his grace, we will not be found naked. Instead, we shall be clothed with immortality. We have new garments being prepared for us, which we shall put on in the morning—a glorious body, like Christ's, replacing the vile body we now have.
c. At death, we shall lie down in the grave, just as we lie down in bed.
The grave is our resting place. "His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust," Job 20:11. For those who die in sin, unrepentant, the grave is a dungeon. Their iniquities lie with them and make it so. But for those who die in Christ and in faith, the grave is a bed of rest. There are no tossings and turnings until dawn, as there sometimes are even in the most comfortable beds of this world. In the grave, there is no fear of being disturbed by dreams or terrifying visions of the night. There is no pain, no chastening on that bed, nor strong agony in the bones.
It is the privilege of those who walk uprightly in life that when they die, they "enter into peace; they shall rest in their beds," Isaiah 57:2.
Holy Job comforted himself in his suffering with the knowledge that he would soon "make his bed in the darkness" and find rest there. For believers, the grave is a fragrant bed—filled with roses and spices —because of him who lay there before us, the one who is the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valleys.