I Must Shortly Put Off This Tabernacle
“Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me.”—2 Peter 1:14
Nothing but the life of Jesus manifest in our flesh, can reconcile us to death. This, and this only delivers from the fears of death, disarms it of its sting, and fortifies the mind with the knowledge of complete victory over the king of terrors, ‘through him who hath loved us.’ Constant converse with Jesus makes death familiar. So we learn to die daily; so the spiritual, immortal life of the soul triumphs over the sensual, mortal life of the body. The happy spirit, in some highly-favoured seasons, is so far from fearing and trembling at the body’s dissolution, that it rejoices, and even longs to be set at liberty from its imprisoned state; it pants with desires after its beloved, and says, ‘Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.’ It wants to clap its glad wings and tower away, and mingle with eternal day.
How sweet to live in such a frame; how desirable, how daily and earnestly to be sought for! That when the frail body is attacked with any sickness, the soul may ask with great serenity, in the words of John the Baptist to Jesus, ‘Art thou he?’ Is this disorder to put the finishing stroke to all my trials and griefs; ‘or must I look for another?’ When a little child of mine saw a beggar ragged and deformed, it ran into my arms, and cried, ‘Oh papa, save me from that frightful man!’ Oh thought I, that in the views of death, may I ever thus, with boldness and familiarity, run to the arms of my heavenly Father.
All men know they must die. They confess this, but the thoughts of it are irksome. Believers in Jesus only have a peculiar knowledge of death, so as to dwell on the thought, that it will come shortly, with satisfaction, hope and comfort. Jesus hath showed them this. From him ‘the righteous hath hope in his death.’ Prov. 14:32.
Is it in vain then, the Saviour saith, ‘Forsake all, take up thy cross, and follow me.’ No, it verily is for the profit and the peace of the soul. For the more stedfastly we are attached to, and eagerly pursue the things of this life, so much the more we are loth to die. We fear the approach, and tremble at the very apprehension of the unwelcome messenger. All this is, because the objects of time and sense cloud our minds, and darken our views of the victorious Jesus, his perfect work and finished salvation for us. Only while Jesus is embraced in the arms of faith, the soul can say with Simeon, ‘Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.’ Luke 2:29, 30.
William Mason (1719-1791) was a High-Calvinist author. For many years he served as a Justice of the Peace, and in 1783 was appointed a Magistrate. He served as editor of the Gospel Magazine before and after the editorship of Augustus Toplady. He is best known for a morning and evening devotional entitled, “A Spiritual Treasury For The Children Of God.”
