While the gospel does not tell us to prepare for death, nor should we exchange that goal which God has set us (the coming of the Lord) for the expectation of death, yet if I fall asleep before the Lord comes, I would want to be found in this attitude:
- In a living faith in Him who was dead and is alive for evermore, and has possession of the keys of death and the unseen world. (Rev. 1:18)
- Since the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law (1 Cor. 15:56), I should want to be found freed from the law, and “whiter than snow” in that Blood which cleanses from all sin. (Gal. 3:10,13; Rom. 10:4; 1 John 1:9)
- Since the portals of Hades (the place whither the dead go) cannot prevail against the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, to shut that church in and hold in prison, I should not want to face death except as a member of that church. (Matt. 16:18)
- The man who can say with Paul, “For me to live is Christ,” can add with Paul, “and to die is gain.” I want to be found living in, through, and for Christ, that I may gain by dying. (Phil. 1:21)
- Finally, I want to have labored enough to be tired and able to enjoy a rest, and that my works of faith and labor of love may follow me.
—R. H. Boll, in the Gospel Advocate, 1909
