The Death of the Righteous
Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!—Num. 23:10
The soul continues after death. In Numbers 23:10, Balaam wishes to die the death of the righteous, not for anything excellent in their deaths, but regarding the existence and continuance of their souls after death. Scripture, reason, and nature enforce this, that the soul has a life of itself, distinct from the life it communicates to the body. Now when the life it communicates to the body is gone to dissolution, the soul has a life in heaven. The life of the soul is the whole man. Abraham was Abraham after he was dead, when his soul was in heaven, and his body in the grave.
Let us know what our best part is, namely, the soul that has a being after death, that we do not employ it in lower uses, for which it was not made nor given us. Do we think that these souls of ours were made and given us to scrape wealth or to travel in our affections to the lower things of this world? Are they not capable of supernatural and excellent things? Are they not capable of grace and glory, of communion with God, of the blessed stamp of the image of God? Let us use them, therefore, to the end that God gave them. What is the life of most men but a purveying and prowling for the body? Were our souls given us for this end? And especially considering this, that our souls are immortal, that they will never die, but live forever. Let us not waste the precious time that has been given us to save our souls, and to get the image of God stamped upon them. Let us not spend this precious time in things that will leave us when our souls live on. The souls of such men that seek the things of this life will have a being in eternal misery. These souls of ours, next to angels, are the most excellent creatures of God, and all the more excellent if they get the image of God stamped upon them, become new creations, and have the life of grace within them.
Let us know what our best part is, namely, the soul that has a being after death, that we do not employ it in lower uses, for which it was not made nor given us. Do we think that these souls of ours were made and given us to scrape wealth or to travel in our affections to the lower things of this world? Are they not capable of supernatural and excellent things? Are they not capable of grace and glory, of communion with God, of the blessed stamp of the image of God? Let us use them, therefore, to the end that God gave them. What is the life of most men but a purveying and prowling for the body? Were our souls given us for this end? And especially considering this, that our souls are immortal, that they will never die, but live forever. Let us not waste the precious time that has been given us to save our souls, and to get the image of God stamped upon them. Let us not spend this precious time in things that will leave us when our souls live on. The souls of such men that seek the things of this life will have a being in eternal misery. These souls of ours, next to angels, are the most excellent creatures of God, and all the more excellent if they get the image of God stamped upon them, become new creations, and have the life of grace within them.
Devotional Readings taken from Puritan Richard Sibbes 'Refreshment for the Soul.'
Balaam's Wish, Works, vol. 7, pp. 4-5
Banner of Truth has granted permission for the use of this material.
Balaam's Wish, Works, vol. 7, pp. 4-5
Banner of Truth has granted permission for the use of this material.
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