Years ago when I first began my new, renewed, or certainly deeper walk with God, one of the first books I remember reading was Walking from East to West by Ravi Zacharias. The book was an autobiography of Ravi’s early life up to I don’t remember how old, but certainly after the founding of his RZIM. Many know him for his radio program, sharp wit, and being a huge apologist. To me, Ravi's book was a huge blessing and I wrote of it a few times (just search his name in the box at the top). Today, this great man went to be with Jesus Christ.
A few months ago he shared a very inspirational and powerful stanza of a hymn from Richard Baxter (1615-1691), “Lord, it belongs not to my care whether I die or live; to love and serve Thee is my share, and this Thy grace must give. If life be long, I will be glad, that I may long obey; if short, yet why should I be sad to welcome endless day? Christ leads me through no darker rooms than He went through before; He that into God’s kingdom comes must enter by this door. Come Lord, when grace hath made me meet Thy blessed face to see; for if Thy work on earth be sweet what will thy glory be! Then I shall end my sad complaints and weary sinful days, and join with the triumphant saints that sing my Savior’s praise. My knowledge of that life is small, the eye of faith is dim; but ‘tis enough that Christ knows all, and I shall be with Him.”
While copying these words of sweet reflection and acceptance of eternal life and blessed heaven from Baxter, I cannot help but think of the words sung by Keith Green, “Make my life a prayer to You. I wanna do what You want me to…I wanna die and let You give Your life to me so I might live, and share the hope You gave me the love that set me free.”
David said it this way in Psalm 39:4-5, “LORD, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am. Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You; certainly every man at his best state is but vapor.”
For the Christian, death is not final and is no keeper. The end of 1 Corinthians 15:54 and all of verse 55 says, “’Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’” As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:8-9, “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.” When our lives are given to Him in full surrender—the good, the bad, and the ugly—then we are confident in His rich mercies and because of His gift purchased on Calvary’s tree, we can be assured of Heaven. King David knew this. Richard Baxter knew this. Billy Graham knew this. Keith Green knew this. Ravi Zacharias knew this. Do we know this?