These Famous Last Words!
"I have fought the good fight."
2 Timothy 4:7
Due to modern medicine and hospice care, fewer people die
now with “famous last words” on their lips. But, in days past,
friends would sit with pen and paper to
record the final words
of dying Christians. Evangelist D. L.
Moody said, “This is my
coronation day! It is glorious!” John Nelson Darby, the British
evangelist, said, “Beyond the grave comes
heaven. Well, it
will will be strange
to find myself in Heaven, but it won’t be a
strange Christ.
One I’ve known these many years. I am glad
He knows me. I have a deep peace,
which you know.”
Compare those with the last words of French writer
Francois Rabelais: “Bring down the curtain—
the farce is played out.”
The reality is Jesus Christ gives us a merry heart in life
and a contented heart in death. His grace is sufficient
for every hour, and for the believer, death is but the
moment we pass from the land of the dying to the
land of the living. Therefore, there is laid up for
us
the crown of righteousness.
Jesus, Himself, has swallowed
up death with victory.
"A life spent in the service of God and in communion
with Him is the most comfortable and pleasant life
that anyone can live in this present world."
Last words of commentator Matthew Henry
