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.

My gratitude goes to 21Five, the bookstore of Redeemer University (in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) for sponsoring the blog this week. If you’re shopping in Canada or for Canadians, be sure give them a look.

Yesterday I linked to a ton of Black Friday deals for Christians. Most of those specials are still available today and a few more have been added. Check back again on Cyber Monday to see what’s new.

The same is true of Kindle deals in that most of yesterday’s massive selection are still available while others have been added.

(Yesterday on the blog: Black Friday Deals for Christians)

“No revival can happen without the work of the Spirit. And the work of the Spirit will produce fruit leading to repentance and reliance upon Christ’s finished work on the cross, not upon the idea of Christianity, or the mental health and social benefits of Christianity. And certainly true Christianity cannot fall into becoming another social identity just like any other social identity. We are Christians because God’s revealed Word expresses the order of the cosmos, not because we want to differentiate ourselves from Others (Progressives, the Woke, and so on).”

The specific context is the UK but it applies more widely than that. “We are entering a new dark age: one where suicide has become not only legal, but celebrated as compassionate; where the hard-earned money of diligent citizens will be used to purchase the cocktail of pills that will snuff out the life of the elderly and the infirm, administered by the hand that ought to save. One where the selfless and infirm will feel, in the midst of misplaced compassion, the bitter call of death and self-murder – and none of us will be able to stop them.”

Andy Stearns reflects movingly and hopefully on the year since his wife went to be with the Lord.

This is a useful reminder that celebrating Christmas isn’t in the Bible and therefore can’t measure spirituality and should not bind consciences.

Jacob shares some useful thoughts on picking songs to sing as a church.

“For the Christian, gathering in fellowship should never be considered a chore or a begrudged obligation. Instead, meeting together to serve God and others in the ways we’ve been gifted is a glorious privilege. It’s something that the Lord has designed for us to do for eternity.”

Weaving together Scripture, poetry, quotes, and her own insights, Gibson has written a book that is sure to bless and comfort mothers who know the pain of a stillbirth or the grief of a miscarriage. It would be hard to recommend it too highly.

Expect Satan to tempt you most viciously at those moments and periods when you are seeking God most vigorously.
—Jeremy Walker

The God of love and peace be with you.

Today’s Kindle deals include a few picks for pastors and a few for others. As usual, there’s lots to choose from.

(Yesterday on the blog: Dumb Will Do)

If you are living in secret sin, please read what Esther Liu has written here. “From the title, you may assume I will tell you to bring your secret sin into the light, which is true. Yet, I know this invitation may sound trite and unappealing. If it were that easy, you would have done so already—but chances are it is more complicated for you.”

Olivia’s article is long but rewarding. She offers a biographical story of coming to a deeper understanding of God’s love and concern for those who are suffering. “I imagined my tears evaporating up to heaven. I wondered how many trucks full of tear bottles God had to reserve for me. Maybe he had to special order an extra large size or a whole fleet of those massive semis. ‘WIDE LOAD,’ they would say in a bright yellow banner while they drove down the heavenly highway.”

This is another excellent biographical article. Vanessa Doughty tells how the Lord brought her back when she began to stray. “Satan will use anything to entice us away from our devotion to Christ. He can use even good things like family, friends, a career, an education, entertainment, and prosperity as tools to draw us farther from Jesus. For me, he used my desire for knowledge to lure me farther from Christ.”

“Over and over, God commands his people to remember how hard, dark, sad, and ugly things were. And then, to celebrate the incredible contrast of his love, goodness, and might that rescued them from adversity of all kinds. The remembrance we’re called to isn’t a ‘focus on the positive’ outlook that skims past the hard and onto the happy ending. In order to truly understand the depths from which we have been saved, we have to admit how deep those depths were.”

Daniel considers what appears to be a rise in people instituting a no-contact rule in response to difficult relationships.

Those who are experiencing relational conflict (or attempting to help others through it) will benefit from this one by Brad Hambrick.

…what if your limits are not a bug but a feature of your humanity? What if these limitations are God’s gift and, therefore, good and worthy of embrace? 

The church is not only where disciples go once a week; it’s where disciples are made.
—Michael Horton