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The allusion here is to the state which in the Hebrew is called Sheol, and in the Greek, Hades; which means the dark abode of the dead.

I. THE MENTAL DARKNESS THAT ENSHROUDS US. All the phenomena of the heavens, the earth, and the multiform operations of the Creator, referred to in this Divine address, were designed and fitted to impress Job with the necessary limitation of his knowledge, and the ignorance that encircled him on all questions; and the region of death is but one of the many points to which he is directed as an example of his ignorance. How ignorant are we of the great world of departed men! What a thick veil of mystery enfolds the whole! What questions often start within us to which we can get no satisfactory reply, either from philosophy or the Bible! I am thankful that we are left in ignorance —

1. Of the exact condition of each individual in that great and ever-growing realm. In general, the Bible tells us that the good are happy and the wicked miserable. This is enough. We would have no more light.

2. Of our exact proximity to the great realm of the departed. We would not have the day or the hour disclosed.

II. THE SOLEMN CHANGE THAT AWAITS US. "The gates" have not opened to us, but must.

1. The gates are in constant motion. No sooner are they closed to one, than another enters.

2. The gates open to all classes. There are gates to be only entered by persons of distinction.

3. The gates open only one way — into eternity.

4. The gates separate the probationary from the retributionary.

5. The gates are under supreme authority.

III. THE WONDERFUL MERCY THAT PRESERVES US.

1. We have always been near those gates.

2. Thousands have. gone through since we began the journey of life.

3. We have often been made to feel ourselves near. In times of personal affliction; and in times of bereavement.

IV. THE SERVICE CHRISTIANITY RENDERS US.

1. It assures us there is life on the other side the gates.

2. It assures us there is blessedness on the other side the gates.

3. It takes away the instinctive repugnance we feel in stepping through those gates. "It delivers those who through fear of death are all their lifetime subject to bondage." It takes the sting of death away, etc.

(Homilist.)

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KJV: Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?

WEB: Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?