How Shall We Escape?

When we read this passage, then it seems as if the apostle Paul is overwhelmed with two things, namely, the great and wonderful salvation of God and the awesome responsibility of man. How lightly we pass over the great responsibility the Lord lays upon us when His gospel is brought unto us! In this gospel God speaks unto hell-worthy sinners, people lying under the everlasting curse, and points to them a way which has been opened for sinners to be saved. He then admonishes us to come upon our knees and to seek for that salvation which lies outside of ourselves. His Word is sent so that we may come to know how great our sins are, and seek to find a hiding place in Jesus Christ.

So great salvation! It is as if the apostle Paul is searching for words to reveal to us what the content of God’s salvation is. This salvation is as great as the one triune God is great. Oh, when the church of God may experience something of this salvation, then they may say, “Great is the love of God.” Has He not given a way to be saved where there was no way? Has He not freely given His only-begotten Son? When the children of God may see their wretchedness — how deeply they have fallen and how great and many their sins are — then, lying upon their knees in the dust, they may see something of the holiness and justice of this God. What an eternal wonder when the Lord opens their eyes and they may see something of the love of God in the giving of His Son! They then cry, “Lord, that one drop of that precious blood may be applied unto such a one as I am.”

This salvation is great for God is so longsuffering. He has not yet cast me into hell which is my due day after day. But He continues to send His blessed Word saying, “Turn ye, turn ye unto Me.” He is longsuffering in applying that call unto the heart of His chosen ones. They are a people who have never asked for God, but the Lord came to ask for them. They are a people who have never prayed unto God, but the Lord came and bound a prayer upon their hearts. Then they began to cry, “Lord, who art thou? What must I do to be saved?” They came to know themselves as a missing people.

In the very beginning of that new life, they could not even explain what they missed. But their life became known by their seeking. There they bowed before God as they had never bowed before and spread empty hands before the Lord saying, “Have mercy upon me.” God is longsuffering in the life of His children; He never becomes weary of them. All their backslidings He comes to heal in a wonderful way. He comes and makes wounds, not to hurt them, and He pours His balm into those wounds. God is longsuffering in the life of His children when He says, “He which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” He is willing to come and take away all the grounds His children have laid, and upon which they are resting. Oh, how difficult it becomes when He takes away the ground of our prayers, when the time comes that everything has become so hard and so cold! How difficult when His children cannot bring forth even one sigh that they may feel comes from a broken heart! How difficult it becomes in the life of the children of God when the Lord takes away the foundation out of their tears! Their eyes are then always dry and it seems as if their heart is never moved anymore. It then seems as if they stand with their back against the wall. There the enemy seems to have free reign, and is saying, “It was never really true in your life.” They then stand outside and do not know how they will ever be brought inside.

But the deepest wonder is that God is longsuffering in the life of His dear children. By breaking them down in such a way, a place is being made for the Lord Jesus Christ. They may look through the open veil and, casting a glance through it, may see the wonder of such a great salvation. There they may see that the ground is laid, not in them, but in another. There they may see how Jesus Christ has carried away the sins of His people. There they may see that the holy justice of God is satisfied, not because of anything they could do, but because of something which has been done. There they may bow deeply before this holy majesty. Hungering and thirsting they say, “Lord, those robes washed in Thy precious blood — may there be one for me to clothe and cover myself in the sight of Thy holy majesty?” God is longsuffering in bringing His dear children unto that blood which is precious in His sight. They then may hear, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).

This becomes for them the sweetest note sounded by the gospel trumpet. For is not condemnation the bitterest drop in their cup of trembling? This God is longsuffering in the life of His dear children, for He says, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you.” It may then become true for them that often the last steps upon the way unto everlasting glory are the most slippery. But He has promised that His hand will guide and uphold them. It is true, they will hear “dogs barking” which they have never heard before. But the long-suffering of their God will never fail. When they come to the shores of eternity, then their Jesus will be there. He will say, “Come in, blessed of My Father, into the kingdom prepared for you.” There they may sing forever, “Through Thee, through Thee because of thine eternal good pleasure.” There they may forever experience what the purpose of this great salvation is, namely, that the name of this triune God may forever be praised. There they may forever sing the song of the Lamb, saying, “Alleluia, salvation, and glory, and honor, and power unto the Lord our God” (Rev. 19).

Dear reader, that is a song we must learn here below upon this earth during this time of grace. Otherwise we will never be among those who may sing hereafter in heaven. Come, lay your heart next to this. May there be times when deep in the dust you cannot deny that you may know something of this salvation? This great salvation excludes all that is of man. The apostle Paul spoke of this when he said, “For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to Him be glory for ever” (Rom. 11). If one sigh from us would have to be added, then it would be forever impossible to be saved. For we learn that we cannot bring forth anything that can merit in the sight of this holy God. This great salvation includes all that is needed unto salvation.

Dear reader, this is the day of God’s grace. Soon in hell it will be forever too late. This great salvation is proclaimed unto us from heaven. It is compared to a pearl of great price, to a treasure in a field. Unto this very day it is preached to us. No preacher has preached as pure and with such authority as the Lord Jesus Himself. No one has more knowledge of what it is to miss this great salvation, and of what it will be to be forever lost, than the Mediator. Weeping, He preached, saying, “Flee from the wrath that is to come.” How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It is as if the apostle Paul were saying, “Where will you hide yourselves when you have lived under the preaching of God’s Word, when the Lord has had so many dealings with you, and then to die unconverted?” It will be fearful to have neglected all the callings and then to fall into the hands of a living God. The Lord will then say, “I have never known you; go ye out into outer darkness.”

How shall we escape in that day when we neglect all the callings today, when we do not consider the day of grace, and do not consider the shortness of it? How swiftly it flies away! We live on as if there will never be an end. We fill the days to the brim with the world and all the pleasures of the world, so there is no time left to think of an approaching eternity. How shall we escape when we do not take heed and bow before the preaching of such a great salvation?

There are many reasonings against this, especially in our day. The one says, “I am for Apollos,” the other, “I am for Paul.” But, dear reader, we cannot die with Apollos nor with Paul, but only when as a lost sinner we may by grace have come to know the words of the Lord Jesus, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? No, that does not mean that man has any strength or ability of himself, or that his salvation would depend upon his desire or his will. No, man is unwilling and does not want to be saved in the way that the Lord comes to save a sinner. Of this the Word of God convinces us in many places. But when the Lord comes and our eyes may be opened, then we come to know how unwilling we are. Then by God’s grace we come to know ourselves as an enemy of God and His salvation. But then in due time, there also is a seeking to know this great salvation.

May the Lord by His Spirit so come to open your heart that as a Lydia you may begin to take heed unto the Word. Then you may learn something of what David knew when he said, “From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the Rock that is higher than I” (Ps. 61:2).

The Harvest is Past

The harvest is past, and the reapers are gone,
The summer is ended, I sorrow alone
God’s mercies and judgments were slighted by me,
And now for deliv’rance no hope I can see.
The harvest is past, and the wheat all returned,
And now with the chaff I am doomed to be burned;
All warnings of danger I madly out-braved —
The summer is ended and I am not saved.

The harvest is past, and my soul in despair,
Must dwell with the lost, and their agonies share;
In deep desolation I mourn at the last —
All hopeless the future— the harvest is past.
The harvest is past— I must part with my friends,
Forever with them all dear friendship ends;
With darkness around me, I feel the dread blast
Of God’s indignation— the harvest is past.

O, that I could now all my lifetime forget!
’Twill fill my poor soul with eternal regret,
To think of the season of mercy and grace,
When I with the people of God took my place;
To think how the Spirit oft strove with me then,
And called me to Jesus, again and again;
I think of the promises ofttimes I made,
Alas! to fulfill them I always delayed.

To think of prayers offered, and tears which were shed,
That I, in my youth, to the cross might be led;
To think of the loved ones who pleaded with me,
Whose faces no more I’m permitted to see,
To think of a heaven, and friends who are there —
O! memory, why dost thou enhance my despair?
If with those dear loved ones my lot I had cast,
I now would be saved— but the harvest is past.

O! sorrow of sorrows, eternally great!
I’d now accept mercy, but now ’tis too late!
God’s justice on me is exerted at last —
I have my reward, and the harvest is past.
Though banished from God, in this torment to dweil,
If prayers for the erring could rise from heil,
I’d groan out petitions for ages to come,
To save one poor sinner from this awful doom!

Rev. J. den Hoed is pastor of the Netherlands Reformed congregation of Rock Valley, lowa.

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