Riding the Death Train

“A train of cars was shown me, going with the speed of lightning. The angel bade me look carefully. I fixed my eyes upon the train. It seemed that the whole world was on board. Then he showed me the conductor, a fair, stately person, whom all the passengers looked up to and reverenced. I was perplexed and asked my attending angel who it was. He said, ‘It is Satan. He is the conductor, in the form of an angel of light. He has taken the world captive. They are given over to strong delusions, to believe a lie that they may be damned. His agent the highest in order to him, is the engineer, and others of his agents are employed in different offices, as he may need them, and they are all going with lightning speed to perdition.’” EW 283.

“For all (in the train) have sinned, and come short of the glory (standard) of God.” Rom. 3:23.

“For the wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6:23.

These verdicts from the supreme court of heaven imply that everyone is guilty of sin, and that all must be sentenced to hell; separated from God forever. Everyone without exception is under God’s judgment.

Imagine yourself on a train with a destination of a death camp. Everyone inside this train, including yourself, have been condemned and are being taken to the death camp for execution.

With His Stripes We Are Healed

Then, while the train is just a few yards from its destination, a young man is sighted on the railroad. This young man is waving a red flag to make the train stop. The train reluctantly pulls to a screeching halt.

The officers from the train rush to the man and after loudly interrogating him find that he is requesting to die on behalf of everyone inside the train. “I am here to stop the execution order,” the young man bravely declares. The officers being very much amazed at such an unusual offer, report this encounter to the judge who has issued the execution order.

The Judge, examining and questioning this young man, agrees to let him be the substitution for all the people on the train. According to this man’s record, which the Judge provides to the public, this man had never done anything wrong, unlike those inside the train. And now, he has volunteered to take their judgment upon himself.

With the people in the train, including yourself, watching, he is tortured, abused and led out to be executed at the death camp on behalf of all who have come so close to death. I want you to take a moment and really think about such a gesture. How unfathomable that someone should offer himself so voluntarily for the condemned.

Nonetheless, while this innocent young man is hanging on the tree in the death camp, he screams in agony and calls out loud for help. “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” but it never comes. He eventually takes his last breath. Why? That those inside the train could be spared and live. The judge issues a ruling about what the people on the train must do to be acquitted by the man’s sacrificial death. That is what Christ did for every sinner. He tasted death for every man. He was sinless, though He bore the burden of sin for others.

The Reality

Imagine yourself inside the train no longer. This is no longer just a story, it is an analogy. The Bible clearly states: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.

“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.” Eph. 1:7.

When a sinner accepts Christ as his Saviour, God counts the death of Christ as punishment for his sins. The sinner is forgiven and goes free. He is “redeemed” from death through the sacrifice of Christ. Sing unto the Lord, bless His name; show forth His salvation from day to day.

“Behold, behold the Lamb of God,
O the cross, on the cross,
For you He shed His precious blood.
On the cross, on the cross.
O hear His agonized cry,
‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani;’
Draw near, and see, your Saviour die,
On the cross, on the cross.

“And now the mighty deed is done;
On the cross, on the cross;
The battle fought, the vict’ry won.
On the cross, on the cross.

“‘Tis finished; now the Saviour cries;
To heav’n He turns His languid eyes;
Then bows His sacred head, and dies,
On the cross, on the cross.

“Where’er I go, I’ll tell the story
Of the cross, of the cross.
In nothing else my soul shall glory
Save the cross, save the cross.

And this my constant theme shall be,
Through time and in eternity,
That Jesus shed His blood for me,
On the cross, on the cross.”

What Must I Do to be Saved

The greatest question with which all human beings are confronted is: “What must I do to be saved?” This question comes to every individual for “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Man by nature is lost. No man has the slightest claim upon immortality.

Immortality has been the quest of the ages. Men of every generation and of every nation have sought for it. Who is there who has not said with the young ruler who came one day to Jesus: “What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” Hundreds of religions have risen, prescribing this or that method of reaching the goal; yet in the minds of millions this question has not found a satisfactory answer.

When the jailor, who with his family, was converted under the preaching of the great apostle, pressed for an answer to this great question, Paul replied without the slightest hesitation. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Acts 16:31.

Man Cannot Save Himself

Let us set it down here as a fundamental fact that man cannot save himself. No number of good deeds, self-abnegation, or philanthropy, can remove the guilt of sin from the human soul. Man, if saved at all must have a Saviour; and the only Saviour of man is Jesus Christ.

“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.” Isa. 45:22. To Jesus, the vilest sinner may come and find deliverance from his sins; but no man, regardless of how righteous he may appear in his own eyes, can save himself from sin’s guilt and power. Neither can he find a legitimate excuse for his sin. If the deliverance offered by Christ is not accepted by the sinner, he is utterly lost and absolutely without hope.

O sing unto the Lord a new song; for He has done marvelous things; His right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten Him the victory.
AMEN.

Golden Kayawa Hingabantu, Zambia