My Beloved Child Series

Introduction

In his book titled All the Last Words of Saints and Sinners, Herbert Lockyer writes:

Infidels and agnostics are usually cowards when the death dew lies cold on their brow. Unprepared to enter eternity, they lose their braggadocio as its gates open to receive them. What fear grips their hearts and how pathetic and hopeless their last words are! The only Light that could have shone through the gloom of death and pointed them to the skies was rejected, and they die, even as they lived, without God and therefore without hope.

One example of an unbeliever named Antitheus who died without Christ gave this despairing, final cry:

“You must not let me die! I dare not die! Oh, doctor, save me if you can! My mind is full of horror, and I am incapable of preparing for death. As I was lying sleepless in my bed this night, the apparition of my friend presented itself before me, and unfolding the curtain of my bed, stood at my feet looking earnestly upon me for a considerable space of time. My heart sank within me, for his face was ghastly, full of horror, with an expression of such anguish as I can never describe. His eyes were fixed upon me, and at length, with a mournful motion of his head, “Alas! Alas!” he cried, “we are in a fatal error,” and taking hold of the curtain his hand shook them violently and disappeared. This, I protest to you, I both saw and heard. And look! Where the print of his hand is left is blood upon the curtains.”

When a person knows that his life is coming to an end, he wants to pass on to others that which is on his heart. His focus is on the things that are most important to him. Lockyer summarizes that truth as the purpose of his book All the Last Words of Saints and Sinners with these words:

As this volume deals with the last words of both saints and sinners about to enter eternity, what they had to say before their stammering tongues lay silent in the grave demands our deepest attention and most earnest concern. If, when the soul is face to face with eternal realities, true character is almost invariably manifest, then we can expect the lips to express glorious certainty or terror concerning the future.

As King David came to the end of his life, he passed on important instructions to his son Solomon, who was to succeed him. In 1 Kings 2:1-4, we read David’s final instructions to Solomon:

1 When David’s time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon his son, saying, 2 “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man, 3 and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn, 4 that the Lord may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ ”

Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy is the last letter he wrote. At least, it is the last letter Paul wrote that is extant. Paul wrote this letter from prison in Rome (1:16; 2:9). Timothy was still serving the churches in Ephesus. Unlike Paul’s confident hope that he would be released from his first imprisonment in Rome (Philippians 1:19, 25-26; 2:24; Philemon 22), Paul had no such confidence as he wrote his Second Letter to Timothy, for he wrote in 2 Timothy 4:6-8, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”

So this final letter of Paul is his final testimony before his death. It expresses his deepest concerns about living in God’s church. John MacArthur summarizes this letter as follows:

In this letter, Paul, aware the end was near, passed the non-apostolic mantle of ministry to Timothy (cf. 2:2) and exhorted him to continue faithfully in his duties (1:6), hold on to sound doctrine (1:13, 14), avoid error (2:15–18), accept persecution for the gospel (2:3, 4; 3:10–12), put his confidence in the Scripture, and preach it relentlessly (3:15–4:5).