There is a sense in which we are less familiar with death than our forebears, more insulated from its horrors. Of course the death rate in the twenty-first century is identical to every century before and every century to come—“it is appointed for [each and every] man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” So perhaps it is better to say we are less familiar with what we consider premature death—the death of infants, children, and young adults.

Because we are less familiar with death, we tend to prepare less for its inevitable encroachment. With the average lifespan now extending well past the promised threescore and ten, it is easy enough to set death alongside retirement, pensions, and inheritances as matters that should concern us sometime in the future, but certainly not right now.
But it was not always so and there are lessons we can and should learn from previous generations of Christians, for they had a heightened understanding of the importance of being ready. They had to. Like first responders, they had to be in a state of constant preparation, ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice. Like servants, they had to be dressed and ready for the moment they were summoned into the presence of the king. They did not have the luxury of associating death with a life well-lived to a ripe old age. Death could come quickly and at any time. It commonly did.
In reading the Puritans and their successors, I’ve often come across a captivating little phrase: “knocking at the gates of the grave.” Jeremy Taylor wrote a whole book about Christian dying and said, “He that would die well must always look for death, every day knocking at the gates of the grave; and then the gates of the grave shall never prevail against him to do him mischief.” Theodore Cuyler sometimes recounted strolling through Greenwood cemetery where three of his children had been laid to rest—two as infants and one as a young adult—and using his time there to metaphorically knock at the gates of the grave, “to listen whether any painful echo comes back from within.”
We, too, should make it our habit to knock at the gates of the grave. To knock at the gates of the grave is to ponder the positive marks of grace that are associated with those who love the Lord and will depart this life to be with him forever. It is to ponder the marks of depravity and hypocrisy that are associated with those who hate the Lord and will depart this life to be separated from him forever. It is to heed the admonition of the Apostle who implored Christians to “examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
We knock when we pray, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24)! We knock when we cry to God, “Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind. For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness” (Psalm 26:2–3). We knock when we prepare to celebrate the Lord’s Supper and examine ourselves, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup (1 Corinthians 11:28). We knock when we consider whether our lives are increasingly marked by those precious evidences of God’s saving and sanctifying grace.
When we knock at the gates of the grave in these ways and many others, we meditatively listen to hear the distant echoes of the choir of angels or the distant echoes of the gavel of judgment. We knock and then listen for echoes that are encouraging or concerning, delightful or painful. We knock and listen so we are prepared for the day—the inevitable day—when the gates will open to receive us to new life or a second death, to the bliss of heaven or the horrors of hell. We knock to ensure we are waiting, to ensure we are ready, to ensure we will go to be with the Lord we love.

May the God of love and peace be with you today.

There’s a nice list of Kindle deals to begin the new month.
(Yesterday on the blog: My Favorite Family Memory)
What changes us as we read the Bible? Is it Scripture or the Holy Spirit?
Several of the Ligonier teaching fellows team up to provide a solid answer to this question.
Never Underestimate the Value of Ordinary, Brief, Christian Conversations
Just like the title says, you should learn not to underestimate the value of even very ordinary and brief conversations.
Join Alistair Begg, Kevin DeYoung & Others @ The Radius Missiology Conference
June 29-30, 2022 @ Christ Covenant Church in Matthews, NC. RMC is for pastors, aspiring missionaries, and anyone interested in biblical missiology. (Sponsored Link)
The Downside of Your Bible-Saturated Newsfeeds
“The amount of information that is not only available to us but that pings for our attention is enormous. In one sense, of course, it’s an incredible blessing. We’ve come a long way from the church in the second and third centuries where so many members could not own, let alone read, a copy of the Scriptures. Now, Bible commentaries flood in through radio, internet, podcasts, and television.” But…
The Act of Listening and Two Reasons Why It’s Important
“Patient after patient, you assess, diligently and purposefully. If you have eight patients per shift, and three shifts a week, that’s almost a hundred times a month you’re listening. Many of your patients will have normal sounding hearts and lungs, but as the months go on, you move from a fledgling ability to increasingly catch the differences.”
How to Spot Media Manipulation and Block its Effects
“There are two sides to every news story. The one that your favorite media outlet prefers, and the other side, which is the one that they will mislead you about. Or, so it often turns out. This is unfortunate. Media institutions play an outsized role in the life and health of communities and nations, and their abandonment of ethical principles causes untold harm.” With that, Bruce Ashford takes a look at media manipulation.
Winter Light
This is a wonderful bit of writing from Andrea.
Flashback: One Of The Ugliest Sights In The World
We have seen parents who tiptoe around their child’s cries, their child’s demands, their child’s outbursts of anger. They will do whatever he dictates, give whatever he commands. We look on with horror, knowing they have set their child on a path to destruction.

The best sermon ever preached is a holy life. The best music ever chanted is a consistent walk. If you want others to serve God, serve him yourself. —DeWitt Talmage

Good morning. Grace and peace to you.

Today’s Kindle deals include a long list of good books.
Logos is kicking off a new month with a sale on many of the best commentaries you can get. (Also, use the code EXTRASAVINGS to get $10 off a purchase of $100, $25 off $200, $45 off $300, or $75 off $500.)
(Yesterday on the blog: Fourteen Signs That You Might Be Legalistic)
Supreme Court Issues Ruling Protecting Religious Free Speech
Joe Carter explains an important Supreme Court decision. (See also Denny Burk)
Money Makes a Horrible Master and a Valuable Servant
Randy Alcorn: “Money has social and economic benefits that can be used for the betterment of people. As a plow can be used for honest labor and a sack of grain for feeding a family, so money, which simply represents their value, can be used for good.”
The Story of Us
Shane Rosenthal writes about words and stories and other important things.
Yearning for Oneness: A John 17 Meditation
What does it look like to yearn for oneness with God, and how do we get there? That’s the topic of this article.
Why Is it Better That Jesus Went Away?
“God never leaves his people. If the Holy Spirit has been God’s tangible presence among his people throughout their history, surely the Spirit’s descending on Jesus at his baptism and the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost are continuations of the same story. We see this promise coming to fruition in John 14–16.”
Not THAT Kind of Homosexual Behavior? (Video)
This is a good answer to a very common (but misguided) understanding of some Greek words.
Flashback: The Utter Horror of the Smallest Sins
…our hearts are so desperately wicked that there’s no area of life in which we won’t express our rebellion against God.

There is a difference between the preaching of someone who is, in disposition, on his knees before you and someone who is on his feet lording it over you. —Sinclair Ferguson