724 The Spiritual Man
completely from death since we shall be raptured at the Lord’s
return. Let us ponder these one by one.
Death after our Work is FinishedUnless a Christian plainly knows his work is finished and he no
longer is required by the Lord to remain, he should by all means
resist death. If the symptoms of death have been seen already in his
body before his work is done, he positively should resist it and its
symptoms. He should believe that the Lord will undertake in what he
has resisted, for He has work for him yet to do. Hence before our
appointed task is discharged we can trust in the Lord restfully even in
the face of dangerous physical signs. In cooperating with the Lord
and resisting death we will soon see Him work towards the
swallowing up of it by His life.
Notice how the Lord Jesus resisted the jaws of death. When
people tried to push Him down a cliff He passed through the midst of
them and went His way (Luke 4.29-30). On one occasion “Jesus
went about in Galilee; (but) he would not go about in Judea, because
the Jews sought to kill him” (John 7.1). On another occasion the
Jews “took up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself, and
went out of the temple” (John 8.59). Why did He thrice resist
mortality? Because His time had not yet come. He knew there was an
appointed hour for the Messiah to be cut off; He could not die in
advance of God’s appointed moment nor could He die at any other
place than at Golgotha. We too must not die before our time.
The Apostle Paul likewise had the experience of resisting death.
The powers of darkness pressed for his premature departure; yet he
overcame them in each instance. Once when he was imprisoned with
death as the possible outcome, he confessed as follows:
If it is to be life in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet
which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the