Magyar Egyház, 1971 (50. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1971-04-01 / 4. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 11 MAGYAR CHURCH The Birthday of our Eternity Dying, and, behold, we live. (II Corinthians 6:9) “The Birthday of Our Eternity” is what some people have called our final going away from this earthly realm. Paul, for example, knew that death’s door opens not to a dusty dungeon but into an eternal life for he said we die and “behold we live.” “Some day,” said Dwight L. Moody, “some day, you will read in the newspapers that Dwight L. Moody of Northfield is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now.” There, you see, was a man who lived with the, Easter Faith in his heart. When he got up in the morning it set him on his feet and in the evening, worn out by the hard work of the day, it put him to sleep in peace. That is what the Easter Faith does for a person, it gives him strength and peace and courage because, working and playing and living, he knows that come what may, as we die “behold we live.” That is our hope and that is our faith and that is our surety on this Easter morning and always. But I can see someone almost standing up in the pew and wanting to speak out, “What are the reasons for the faith that is in you?” Well, this morning I am going to tell you some of them. For one thing, there is that longing in my heart and in your heart and in everybody’s heart to go on living forever. Everybody has that longing. Napoleon once voiced it as he was looking at a valuable painting, and he asked the artist this question, “How long will that painting last?” “Perhaps it will last about eight hundred years,” replied the artist. “Such a poor immortality!” exclaimed Napoleon. “I want to live not for eighty times eight hundred years, but forever.” Well, you see, he longed for that continuance of life as you do, and I do, and all people do. And I say that that longing is significant, most significant. It is a sign that death is merely a birthday into life. And why is that true? Because, so far as I am able to see and understand anything at all in this world, for every real longing which is universal there is a reality which meets and satisfies that longing. You long for and need food, and it is provided. Y ou long for and need truth for your mind to grapple with and grow by, and truth is here in the world waiting for you to discover and understand it. You long for and need fellowship, and fellowship is available. For every real longing which is found universally in human hearts there is a reality to meet it and satisfy it, and that is at least one reason why death must be a birthday into life. God has provided a reality to meet and satisfy that longing for as we die “behold we live.” Another reason for the faith that is in me is that this life always remains incomplete. Work remains incomplete. If you have ever been in Spain you perhaps saw some of the paintings by the artist known by his nationality, El Greco. In one of the cathedrals there you can see his paintings of Apostles and Saints. Some of these works are merely bare sketches in outline. He expected to complete them but his life here on earth came to an end before he was able to do so. Bacon started an essay on the subject “Fame.” He wrote only a paragraph or two and then at the end of the page he left a note saying, “The rest is unfinished.” And only the other Saturday afternoon I happened to listen to the broadcast of an opera and during the intermission in which a quiz was held I learned something about that particular opera which 1 had not known before. Toscanini on one occasion The Resurrection of Jesus.
