The Life of a Beggar

Rev. P. Blok, Dirksland, the Netherlands

(Translated from Uit de opperzaal, Gebr. Koster, Barneveld, the Netherlands, 1998)

“The elders have ceased from the gate.” These are the words which Jeremiah wrote in his Lamentations. Because of the judgments of the Lord, Jerusalem, the city of God, had fallen into the hands of the enemy. The administration of justice for the people was no longer practiced in the gates of the city because the aged men had been taken away captive. No one was found among the people to take their place. Their wise counsel was lacking, and who then would judge and instruct the people?

It is because of the judgment of the Lord that the aged ones vanish from the gate. When that happens, a generation arises who is not acquainted with these wise people and have seldom or never heard about their life of grace. How fearful are those times when the “elders have ceased from the gate.” I was thinking about that in the “upper room.”

It is with a tender longing that I thought of those aged ones with whom we have gathered. Their wise instructions were a guiding light in the lives of the congregations. How great were the impressions when they instructed within the congregations about God and spiritual life. They were placed and qualified in the consistories with great blessing by the Lord Himself. At congregational and church meetings they were listened to with deep respect.

Today there is a strange spirit which manifests itself in the visible church. It is a spirit which tries to do away with everything which is old and from “the past.” After obtaining some head knowledge, these people think to be partakers of the wonder of life-renewing grace. They have never experienced the secret of the new birth and do not begin their spiritual journey with true humility and creeping in the dust but immediately begin to speak with great authority. When the few aged ones whom the Lord has still left behind speak warning words, the open enmity of those who oppose them is revealed. They do not wish to let go of that which they have wrongly taken to themselves, and in this manner they travel to eternity with a lie (assumed regeneration) in their right hand.

Happily there are still some “elders in the gate.” I am thinking of a congregation which I was privileged to serve. One of the aged ones continued to serve in the consistory even though his weakened condition did not allow him to do much official work anymore. It was customary for him to come to the parsonage on Saturday evening. At those times, the conversations were about God and spiritual matters. He could still recall the ministry of Rev. Makkenze. What wise lessons that old servant could give about the leadings of the Lord with His people. He always left his listeners with food for further conversation. He could still remember a sermon preached about the leper. With deep emotion he spoke after the service, “I am acquainted with that man, for I am that man.”

He was able to serve in the office of elder for many years. His wise lessons in meetings of the consistory gave direction to church life. Whenever the truth was threatened, he was as a lion. He loved the old experiential doctrine. In the little village where he lived, his walk testified of God’s free and sovereign grace. Certainly he was one of the “elders in the gate.” The years, however, took their toll, and he became weaker and weaker. At first, he was able to still walk with the aid of a cane, but, in the end, even that was no longer possible. It was for this reason that he was confined to his home and was dependent on others to help him. We have shared many pleasant moments in his modest home. A wheelchair was purchased for him to provide an opportunity for him to go outdoors. I can still see him being placed in the wheelchair. Also, here it is so true that such a condition must be experienced in order to be realized. A person would rather not be dependent on others; to need help is against our human nature. God’s people know that by experience, both in nature and in grace. One of his daughters pushed him out of the house and asked him, “Father, where should we go?”

He answered, “Go past the church, to the outskirts of the village.”

In my thoughts I can still see them go. A man who had received great benefits and who had had richly filled his official office was now dependent upon someone else’s help. Happily, he had learned to live out of the ministration of Him who has called a sip of vinegar a token of kindness. After riding about one kilometer, they arrived at the place where he had wanted to go. There they stood on a summer morning upon the dike in the polder surrounded by the ripening fields of grain.

His daughter asked him, “Father, why did you want to come to this spot?” She saw that her father was deeply moved.

With tears in his eyes he said, “Oh, my child, it is on this spot that the Lord set my soul at liberty. Here I appeared before Him in the court of justice, and as one who is guilty of death I stood before my Judge. He had to pass sentence upon me, but wonder of wonders, when I had to accept God’s righteous judgment and as a guilty one be banned from His communion, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes for the wonder of the interceding work of my precious Mediator and Deliverer. He asked for my acquittal upon the grounds of His mediatorial suffering and death where He took my sins upon Himself. Thereupon, the Father granted me that acquittal, and I became His for time and for eternity.”

It became quiet upon the old dike in the polder. Here was an old broken-down man who was joyful in God with a daughter who was deeply affected by what she had heard. At his becoming old he could experience light upon his pathway here below.

A person cannot live out of the benefits; one must learn to live out of Christ, but, at times, according to His sovereign good pleasure, the Lord does renew what is old. He grants grace, He maintains grace, and He confirms grace. Happy are the people that may learn to live by grace; for them there is no want. The want occurs when there are no new blessings and we try to live out of the benefits received in an earlier day. Ruth had to experience that the barley harvest was past. That which she had received from Boaz was used up, and her life was still a riddle. Happily, there was Naomi who spoke to her, “My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?

Only a short time after the visit to the dike in the polder, the old elder was prepared for the removal from this Mesech here below to the place where God is all and in all. Around his deathbed stood many of God’s people and also the minister of the congregation. It is a great privilege when we may stand with a clear conscience at one another’s deathbed. Parting from a loved one causes pain. Also when God’s children must part from each other there is sorrow, for there is a love which surpasses that of the love of women (read 2 Samuel 1:26).

The old man was asked, “Well, dear brother, how goes the journey?”

“Just a few more moments,” he answered.

“And where is the journey going?”

Very clearly he answered, “And the beggar died.”

The minister spoke, “There is written, ‘and he was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom.’”

The dying elder replied, “That is the way it shall be, and it will all end in an eternal wonder.”

Truly, what a deeply moving testimony was heard from this old exercised elder. As a beggar he laid waiting upon God. He had lived as a beggar, and he died as a beggar, yet he was buried as a child of the King. How often he had said that a close examination was necessary. He had read in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress that there was a way to hell even from the gates of heaven. He could say with such emphasis, “It shall be such an eternal wonder if they will ever await me there.”

The thoughts in the upper room are multiplied. We meet few beggars on our journey. There are few people who die as poor sinners. The official work within the congregation can frequently be so disappointing. We hear little of the dying of the old man. Many are rich with an unwavering conversion. There are no more doubts. They have found their conversion themselves; therefore, they never become sick whereby they have to cry to the Great Physician. They speak glowingly of Christ, but how he is granted from heaven in the life of a lost and fallen sinner is not understood. The elders cease from the gate. They are neither missed nor desired.

After the funeral one of the aged ones spoke, “This man lived respectfully, died respectfully, and was buried respectfully.” It was quiet in the house of mourning.

One of the other aged ones then spoke, “How shall I be buried one day?”

The question is, “How will our dying be?”

I can hear Jeremiah, as one of the remaining “elders in the gate,” speak, “Turn Thou us unto Thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.”

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