The Dying Christian Come, Rifting His Soul to God
C. Bradley. Psalm 31:5 Into your hand I commit my spirit: you have redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. I. WITH WHOM DOES THE DYING CHRISTIAN WISH TO ENTRUST HIS SOUL? There are only two beings who can have charge of it when it quits the body — the Lord or Satan. Into the hands of one of these our souls must go when they die, and with one of these we must spend eternity. But men generally are quite indifferent on this matter. They feel no real concern. They have a vague hope of heaven and fear of hell. But neither influences their conduct in any important degree. Christians, however, must desire that which David so desired — that the Lord God should receive his spirit. II. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN COMMITTING HIS SOUL INTO HIS HANDS IN A DYING HOUR. 1. A firm persuasion that the soul will outlive the body. Not by reason but by the Gospel only does he first learn really and habitually to regard himself as the heir of eternity. And this conviction deepens as he grows in grace. 2. A high value for the soul. The body is as nothing compared to it. The body is the casket, but the soul is the jewel, and that he would, indeed, have saved. 3. A lively sense of the serious, and awful nature of death, a conviction of our need of help in a dying hour. The soul in such an hour will cling more closely to its God. No man will think lightly of death who has ever thought himself near death. 4. A belief that God is willing to receive the soul. III. THE WARRANT AND ENCOURAGEMENT THUS TO DO. 1. God is the Christian's Redeemer. 2. The faithfulness of God. He is the "God of truth," and He has promised to save them that trust in Him. IV. THE LESSON OF THIS SUBJECT. 1. The great value of Christian faith. 2. Here is a source of comfort under the loss of friends. 3. How confidently we may commit into the same hand all other things. 4. How important that now we should become the redeemed of the Lord. (C. Bradley.) Parallel Verses KJV: Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. WEB: Into your hand I commend my spirit. You redeem me, Yahweh, God of truth.