John 5:25-27 Truly, truly, I say to you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God… After a mission festival several pastors and deacons continued an hour together, when the conversation drifted from the heathen abroad to those around us, and the following story was told by a village miller: — "I sat at a garden concert with a friend of mine. The first part of the programme was ended, when an acquaintance of my friend's came to us. 'Have you heard,' said he to my friend, 'that Mr. R — died yesterday quite suddenly? A great pity; he was an agreeable and clever business man, and a pleasant companion. Ah well! he enjoyed life while he lived, and he was quite right; for when we are once dead it's all finished.' 'Is it all finished? Do you really think there is an end of it?' said I. 'Ah!' returned he, 'I see you are one of the old superstitious ones. What shall come after death greater or better than this life? "As the tree falls, so it lies."' 'Quite right,' said I; "As the tree falls, so it lies;" but — do not take it amiss, friend — when you wish to prove by this quotation that after death it is finished with respect to us, you have not considered the matter on all sides, or your opinion is a blind one. Near my mill I have a woodyard, and now and then I buy some trees to cut down. Often have I stood over the fallen trunks and thought of those words, "As the tree falls, so it lies;" none will grow one inch taller or thicker, better or worse; all that can be done in him is done. But now, dear sir, it is not all finished; does it not rather begin? I go from trunk to trunk proving the wood. "This," I say to myself, "will be good for building purposes, that will prove useful;" but for others, I say it is but fit for the fire. You know now how I think of the text. May God help us to become trees of righteousness.'" (Der Glaubensbote.) Parallel Verses KJV: Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. |
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