Thou shalt stand in thy lot at the end of the days.' Stand', that is Daniel's way of preaching, what he has been preaching in several other parts of his book, the doctrine of the resurrection. Thou shalt stand in thy lot.' That is a reference to the ancient partition of the land of Canaan amongst the tribes, where each man got his own portion, and sat under his own vine and fig-tree. And so there emerge from these symbolical words thoughts upon which, at this stage of my sermon, I can barely touch. First comes the thought that, however sweet and blessed that reposeful state may be, humanity has not attained its perfection until once again the perfected spirit is mated with, and enclosed within, its congenial servant, a perfect body. Corporeity is the end of man.' Body, soul, and spirit partake of the redemption of God.
But then, apart from that, on which I must not dwell, my text suggests one or two thoughts. God is the true inheritance. Each man has his own portion of the common possession, or, to put it into plainer words, in that perfect land each individual has precisely so much of God as he is capable of possessing. Thou shalt stand in thy lot,' and what determines the lot is how we wend our way till that other end, the end of life. The end of the days' is a period far beyond the end of the life of Daniel. And as the course that terminated in repose has been, so the possession of the portion of the inheritance of the saints in light' shall be, for which that course has made men meet. Destiny is character worked out. A man will be where he is fit for, and have what he is fit for. Time is the lackey of eternity. His life here settles how much of God a man shall be able to hold, when he stands in his lot at the end of the days,' and his allotted portion, as it stretches around him, will be but the issue and the outcome of his life here on earth.
Therefore, dear brethren, tremendous importance attaches to each fugitive moment. Therefore each act that we do is weighted with eternal consequences. If we will put our trust in Him, in whom also we obtain the inheritance,' and will travel on life's common way in cheerful godliness, we may front all the uncertainties of the unknown future, sure of two things--that we shall rest, and that we shall stand in our lot. We shall all go where we have fitted ourselves, by God's grace, to go; get what we have fitted ourselves to possess; and be what we have made ourselves. To the Christian man the word comes, Thou shalt stand in thy lot.' And the other word that was spoken about one sinner, will be fulfilled in all whoso lives have been unfitting them for heaven: Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.' He, too, stands in his lot. Now settle which lot is yours.
THE END
