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Paul’s Triumphant Testimony, December 28
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day.
2 Timothy 4:7, 8
.
This man of faith [Paul] beholds the ladder of Jacob’s vision, representing
Christ, who has connected earth with heaven, and finite man with the infinite God.
His faith is strengthened as he calls to mind how patriarchs and prophets have
relied upon the One who is his support and consolation, and for whom he is giving
his life.
From these holy men who from century to century have borne testimony for
their faith, he hears the assurance that God is true. His fellow apostles, who,
to preach the gospel of Christ, went forth to meet religious bigotry and heathen
superstition, persecution, and contempt, who counted not their lives dear unto
themselves that they might bear aloft the light of the cross amidst the dark mazes
of infidelity—these he hears witnessing to Jesus as the Son of God, the Saviour of
the world.
From the rack, the stake, the dungeon, from dens and caves of the earth,
there falls upon his ear the martyr’s shout of triumph. He hears the witness
of steadfast souls, who, though destitute, afflicted, tormented, yet bear fearless,
solemn testimony for the faith, declaring, “I know whom I have believed.” These,
yielding up their lives for the faith, declare to the world that He in whom they
have trusted is able to save to the uttermost.
Ransomed by the sacrifice of Christ, washed from sin in His blood, and clothed
in His righteousness, Paul has the witness in himself that his soul is precious in
the sight of his Redeemer. His life is hid with Christ in God, and he is persuaded
that He who has conquered death is able to keep that which is committed to His
trust. His mind grasps the Saviour’s promise, “I will raise him up at the last day”
(
John 6:40
). His thoughts and hopes are centered on the second coming of his
Lord. And as the sword of the executioner descends and the shadows of death
gather about the martyr, his latest thought springs forward, as will his earliest in
the great awakening, to meet the Life-giver, who shall welcome him to the joy of
the blest....
Like a trumpet peal his voice has rung out through all the ages since, nerving
with his own courage thousands of witnesses for Christ, and wakening in thousands
of sorrow-stricken hearts the echo of his own triumphant joy: ... “I have fought a
good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is
laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord ... shall give me at that
day.”—
The Acts of the Apostles, 512, 513
.
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