Revelation 9:6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. We take these words as a picture of the extremest anguish. Here we have - I. A STATE OF MISERY IN WHICH DEATH IS SOUGHT. 1. Death, is universally regarded amongst men as the greatest evil. It is the "king of terrors." It gives terror to everything terrible in the world. The ravenous beast, the furious storm, the destructive pestilence, the engulfing earthquake, are only terrible because death is terrible. 2. The relief which men generally seek in this world in their sufferings is from death. The mariner will forsake his ship with valuable cargo, the king will resign his kingdom, the wounded will suffer the amputation of every limb, if thought needful, to avoid death. Yet here we have a state of being where death is sought as a relief. II. A STATE OF MISERY IN WHICH DEATH IS SOUGHT AS A RELIEF IN VAIN, "And death shall flee from them." It is miserable to seek relief in the most deeply felt evil, but to seek it in such an evil in vain adds wondrously to the misery of the case. Fatigue, disappointment, the consciousness of lost energy, add to the anguish. Earth runs from death, hell runs after it and runs in vain. In conclusion, I infer: 1. That the fact that men are exposed to such a state of being implies that some sad catastrophe has befallen our nature. Could Infinite Goodness have created beings designed and fitted by their nature for such a state? Nay; deep within us has the Great One planted the love of life, and to seek death is to go against our nature. Sin explains it. 2. That there is something in the universe to be dreaded by man more than death, and this is sin. Death, though an evil, is not to be compared to sin. Sin, though robed in beauty and adorned with a thousand attractions, is the evil of evils. 3. That Christianity should be hailed as the only means to deliver us from this extremity of anguish. It destroys sin, it "condemns sin in the flesh." - D.T. Parallel Verses KJV: And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. |
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