ESCAPE FOR YOUR LIFE
Condensed from a sermon byDr. Joel R. Beeke preached on 16 September 2001 to his congregation
(Republished with permission)

God speaks. Sometimes He whispers by the still small voice of the gospel to usin tender overtures of mercy through the preached Word. Sometimes He speaksthrough His Word with power, warning us to turn from our iniquity. Andsometimes He thunders through His divine, providential judgments of famine,war, fire, or some other tragedy.

On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, God spoke to us in thunder. He did so becausewe as a nation [i.e., America] have not been bowing under His Word, have notbeen repenting under His stream of mercies showered upon us for decades, andhave not repented under the smaller judgments He has sent our way. God sent ajust, dreadful wake-up call to America—yes, to every one of us. The staggeringdestruction of lives at the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon and thesubsequent tales of horror, have left us stunned, speechless, and humbled.

Some heroically tried to save those in the buildings, and in the process, losttheir own lives. Countless stories have been told of heroic deeds. One, littlenoticed, contains much spiritual instruction. A policeman, situated justoutside the entrance of the buildings, shouted to the people as they streamedout,

“Don’t look up; don’t look back; run for your life!”

Those words remind us of Genesis 19:17b, “Escape for thy life; look not behindthee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou beconsumed.”

Let’s examine heaven’s message to us in this time of divine judgment byconsidering the theme, Escape for Your Life, in three thoughts:

1. Realise your danger—“lest thou be consumed”
2. Forsake all—“look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain”
3. Run for your life—“escape for thy life.”

I. Realise your danger

When the cry of “Fire! Fire!” ran up and down the floors of the World TradeCentre and filled the streets of New York City, people knew in a moment thatdanger was imminent. Flames are cruel tyrants and devour remorselessly. Thevery word “fire” can send chills down our spines.

But that word uttered by thousands of New Yorkers on September 11 is only ashadow of what Jesus called “hell fire” in Matthew 5:22. The eternal cry of“hell fire,” that shall ascend from millions of lips in the eternal abyss onthe Day of Judgment, comprehends weighty matters that only eternity can reveal.As dreadful as the events of the recent weeks were, they are all but child’splay compared with the wrath of God that will one day be poured out withoutmixture upon all those who do not repent and believe in God’s Son. God’s wrathagainst unbelievers has eternity and infinity and deity in it—and where thesethree oppose a person, woe be to that person! Who among us shall dwell with thedevouring fire of God’s wrath and with everlasting burning?

We deserve far worse than we have received, for North America has beenunfruitful spiritually. We have slighted God’s gospel, despised God’s law, andserved the Lord lukewarmly at best. We have neglected personal conversion andreformation. We have grown idolatrous, covetous, worldly, sensual, proud, andself-indulgent, addicting ourselves to a host of evils. We have become a nationof liars, backbiters, and murmurers. The blood of unborn millions is on ourhands. Every three days we murder more babies in their mothers’ wombs inAmerica than were killed in the New York, Washington, and Pennsylvaniatragedies combined. We have called evil good, and good evil.

And yet, God is speaking to us from the ashes of the World Trade Centre,“Escape for your life, lest you be consumed.”

Our danger cannot be overcome by any human help. Fire-engines went to the scenein New York, only to be burned up in the flames. Cranes are now picking upburned out fire-engines and casting them aside like toothpicks. The very meansused to extinguish the fire were consumed by the fire.

That is your danger, so long as you are unsaved. No means of your devising canenable you to escape the fire of God’s wrath. There is a fire of sin within youthat you cannot quench; there is a fire of hell outside of you that you willnever be able to extinguish. You are in danger beyond your coping ability, solong as you don’t escape for your life to Jesus Christ. Your most strenuousefforts, naturally and spiritually, cannot deliver you from the wrath of a holyGod who cannot dwell with sin and sinners. If you neglect the only way ofsalvation, how can you escape?

O sinner, seek His face,
Whose wrath you cannot bear;
Fly to the dying Saviour’s wounds,
And find salvation there.

Escape for your life. Realise your danger. Don’t trifle with your own soul,with hell and heaven, with God and His bleeding, inviting Son.

Your danger requires immediate attention. Those people who successfully escapedthe World Trade Centre this week, didn’t stop to fill their briefcases. Theyescaped for their lives! They ran for the stairs. There was not a moment towaste. So it is with you. You have not a moment to lose. “Escape, Lot,” theangels say, “for your life—it is now or never. A few more minutes, a few morehours, and it will be too late.”

“Escape for thy life, lest thou be consumed” is a present-tense cry. “Behold,now is the accepted time—now is the day of salvation.” Now, now, now!Tomorrow’s faith is simply today’s unbelief. Good intentions will bring you tohell, not to heaven. Procrastination doesn’t only steal time; it destroyssouls. “Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die and not live.”

There is but a step between us and death. Repent and believe in the Lord JesusChrist, trembling and needy sinner, and you shall be saved. Don’t repent anddon’t believe, and you will be lost. John 3:36 says, “He that believeth on theSon hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not seelife; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

II. Forsake all

Lot had to forsake his former friends, who were not believers—including somefamily members. He had to forsake his former comforts. He had gone to Sodom tolive a comfortable life. No doubt he had a well-furnished home. But now, he hadto leave everything behind.

Lot had everything at stake. If he had stayed in Sodom, he would have lost all.He would not just have lost his home, his furniture, and his family, but hewould have lost himself.

Lot had to forsake all from his heart. His wife escaped, but not with herheart. She looked back and became a pillar of salt. “Remember Lot’s wife,”Jesus warned (Lk 17:32).

If you don’t forsake all to follow Christ—if you try to cling to this world, orallow your self-indulgence or possessions to stand between you and Christ—oneday, soon, you will lose everything, including yourself. What will it profityou if you gain the entire world, but lose your own soul? If you don’t forsakeall for Christ, Christ will forsake you on the great day, and if your soul goeslost in that day, it would have been far better for you to have never beenborn. Far, far better to enter heaven like Lazarus than to be the rich man castinto hell (Lk 16:19–31).

Escape for your life. Don’t look behind you. Don’t stay in the plains of thisworld. Forsake evil friends, materialistic bondage, worldly toys—yes, forsakeall to follow Christ. Take up your crosses, deny yourself, and follow Christ.

Escape for your life—your immortal life, your eternal life. Will you be contentto lose your life; content to perish in your sin? If your house was set on firetonight, and the cry arose, “Fire!”, would you not immediately leave everythingbehind and run out of your house to save your life? Today God calls to you thatthe fires of hell are stoked and that you must escape for your life.

Dear child of God, you have known what this is. You have forsaken all in thepast. Are you still forsaking all in the present? Or, are you like Lot,lingering too much in this world, becoming too cosy with worldly people? Areyou in danger again of perishing with the world? Don’t forget: if Lot had notescaped, he would have perished with the Sodomites. God, of course, graciouslypreserved him. But that doesn’t mean that Lot didn’t have to forsake all andescape for his life.

III. Run for your life

“Escape for your life, Lot,” the angels said. Lot must not stop to argue. Normust you. You don’t need more evidence of your need. Your conscience tells youthat you must be born again, that you must repent and believe.

As Lot must run from the doomed city of Sodom; as the people had to run fromthe doomed Trade Centre, so you must run from this present, evil world, this Cityof Destruction. Run for your life.

But where must I run? Run to the mountain. Symbolically, that means don’treturn to sin and Satan, for that is looking back to Sodom. Don’t rest inyourself or the world, for that is staying in the plain. But run to Christ andheaven, for that is escaping to the mountain. Entrust your soul, your all, toHim for this life and a better.

If you won’t entrust your soul to Christ, whom can you trust? Will you trustyourself?

Why do you linger? Is not Christ the Physician and His blood the balm that youneed? Why are you not recovered (Jer 8:22)? Your conscience tells you that Godis more willing to save you than you are to be saved. You know the good newsthat Christ came to save sinners. You know that the chiefest of sinners iswelcome with Him. Even the dying thief on the cross—whose record may well havebeen able to compete with the terrorists behind all of this recentdestruction—found mercy.

“Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out,” Jesus said. Oh, may Godhelp you to come now, for Christ’s sake.

Yes, but how do I come? You come, by the Spirit’s grace, just as you are, withall your sin, repenting, believing, surrendering all into the arms of God,pleading on God’s promises to save the lost. You come trusting wholly in theblood of Jesus Christ to save your soul, forsaking the ways of sin. You come ingracious response to the free offers and promises of the gospel as a poor,needy sinner, trusting in the full righteousness of Jesus Christ alone for yoursalvation. You come trusting Christ’s perfect, active obedience to the law andHis perfect, passive obedience in paying for sin to be your satisfaction ofGod’s holy justice; to be your only ground of reconciliation with God, as Paultells us. You come, saying with a poet,

A wounded, weak, and helpless worm,
On Christ’s kind arms I fall;
Be thou my strength and confidence,
My Jesus and my all.

Oh, I beseech you, run for your life; run straight to Christ. Don’t run toceremonies, feelings, ministers, works, orthodoxies—but run straight to Christ.Fall into His arms—the arms of the evangel, the arms of the Saviour who Himselfis the gospel.

Don’t look behind you. Run for your life. Be ye reconciled to God.

[Ed. note: Dr. Joel R. Beeke, who was our conference speaker inthe year 2001, is president and professor of Systematic Theology and Homileticsat Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, and pastor of the HeritageNetherlands Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA.

Recently, while in Latvia to conduct some seminary lectures, Dr. Beeke wasrobbed at knifepoint by some Russian mafia. We reproduce below (with hispermission) a portion of his heart-moving account. The full account, which wewould encourage all to read, may be found inhttp://www.banneroftruth.co.uk/articles/2002/01/latvia.htm.]

—10 March 2002

Extract of Dr. Beeke’sExperience in Latvia

After answering all the students’ questions, I went to my apartment flat.(Artis had to leave before the lectures were over because he was looking aftertwo overseas mission guests who came for a short visit.) I opened the door tomy apartment, set my books down immediately, then turned to lock the door fromthe inside, when the door was suddenly flung open by two young men, who pushedtheir way in. I tried to resist them, and shouted for help, but one hit me inthe face with his fist, then tackled me, covered my mouth, and held a knifemenacingly above my head. They were both talking quite loudly to me in Latvianor Russian, but of course I couldn’t understand anything, except that they keptrepeating, “Russian mafia! Russian mafia! Russian mafia!”

They then threw me on the couch. I gave them my wallet, hoping that would help.They appeared quite happy with the money and credit cards, but the knife didn’tcome down. The one holding the knife above me then pointed to my watch andring, motioning for them, asking, “Gold? Gold?” He then motioned to me to getdown on the floor, and made me lay face down. The other man came from thebedroom with a sheet, and within seconds, they had the sheet cut up into longnarrow strips. They wrapped one long strip tightly around my head and eyesseveral times, blindfolding me, then pulled my arms behind me roughly and tiedmy wrists together just as tightly with another long strip. With yet anothertwo strips, they bound my ankles together as tightly as possible, tying eightto ten knots.

One man guarded me while his partner searched the apartment. My guardalternated from roughness and threats to leaving me alone for the nextforty-five minutes while I lay there. Sometimes he would stand on me, othertimes he would put his boot on the centre of my back and press down, but mostlyhe would use his knife—alternating from slapping it up against my face a fewdozen times to pressing the point against my spine at different points. Nothinghe did hurt me badly, but the constant threats made me feel like I wascertainly about to be murdered any second.

I cannot put into words how the Lord helped me in those forty-five minutes. Formany years now, I have a practice that whenever I feel physical pain, I try todiscipline my mind to think of Christ’s pain. That is the best means I know toreduce one’s own pain. But this time it was as if the Lord simply gave it tome. Most of the time the Holy Spirit filled my mind with sweet meditations onthe sufferings of Christ. Every time that knife poked at my spine and Iexpected the end a knife’s stroke away, God enabled me to meditate on the bloodof Christ. When the knife pressed sore, I thought of Christ’s sword-piercedside. I was given to surrender all my sins and my soul to the blood of ourprecious Mediator with such freedom that I wanted to sing with joy. I thoughtof Paul and Silas singing in the inner prison. I received much comfort from thetext that believers should count it all joy when they suffer for Jesus’ sake.Though I was acutely aware of my misery and unworthiness as I lay there, I wasfully assured in my soul that my every sin was covered with the precious bloodof Immanuel.

Only one other time in my life were the promises of God so richly unveiled tome. When God revealed Christ to me as my portion at the age of sixteen, promiseafter promise (Mt 11:28; 1 Tim 1:15, etc.) flowed into my soul. I have neverexperienced such an unbroken string of promises made sweet within from that dayuntil now, as I lay under my assailant’s knife. I cannot repeat them all now,but the most comforting ones were those that spoke of assurance in Christ. Thetwo most helpful were Job’s “I know that my Redeemer liveth” and Paul’s “I knowin whom I have believed.” At this moment, I cannot even repeat those full textsaccurately but in those long minutes these promises and others flowed throughmy soul like such a peaceful river that I could say with Simeon, “Lord, lettestnow thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.”

I was ready to die, and kept repeating, “For me to live is Christ, and to dieis gain.” I thought of the joy of glory—of being with Christ and of neverhaving to wrestle with sin anymore. I could surrender everything to the Lord—mydear wife and children, my congregation as a dear flock, the seminary and itsstaff. I felt grateful that Rev. VanderZwaag is in Grand Rapids as full-timepastor and that the Seminary is sufficiently organised that it could continuewithout me. My life’s work is done, I thought. On the way to Riga, I had calledMary from Toronto, and told her not to be alarmed but I felt that I needed totell her something and to ask someone to do something for me if I were to die.That is unusual for me to do something like this, but Mary understood and tookcare of my request. Now, as I lay on the floor, I felt sure that this was thereason I had to make this request before I died.

Much of my life came back to me. It’s hard to explain. The only thing I can compareit to is when married couples sometimes have a short slide presentation oftheir past at receptions. The Lord took me with giant steps through my past.Everywhere I saw His faithfulness. Everywhere I saw grace. I could “amen” God’sways in all. It was allsola gratia—grace alone.

But there were also other moments—moments when I feared, when I wanted to live.I thought of my wife as a widow, my children as fatherless. I knew God wouldtake care of them, but for a few moments it was hard to let them go. In thosemoments, my unfinished work, my human relationships, my own comfort loomedlarge. I thank God these moments were infrequent—certainly no more than 10% ofthe time. In these moments, I felt just like Peter when he was sinking becausehe looked away from Jesus. As soon as I looked away from Jesus, numbness wouldtravel up my hands to my elbows, my mouth would become incredibly dry, my rightshoulder and left knee would ache. I would then literally talk to myself—“Focuson Jesus! Focus on Jesus!” and would again feel God’s intervening grace.

ESCAPE FOR YOUR LIFE
Condensed from a sermon byDr. Joel R. Beeke preached on 16 September 2001 to his congregation
(Republished with permission)

God speaks. Sometimes He whispers by the still small voice of the gospel to usin tender overtures of mercy through the preached Word. Sometimes He speaksthrough His Word with power, warning us to turn from our iniquity. Andsometimes He thunders through His divine, providential judgments of famine,war, fire, or some other tragedy.

On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, God spoke to us in thunder. He did so becausewe as a nation [i.e., America] have not been bowing under His Word, have notbeen repenting under His stream of mercies showered upon us for decades, andhave not repented under the smaller judgments He has sent our way. God sent ajust, dreadful wake-up call to America—yes, to every one of us. The staggeringdestruction of lives at the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon and thesubsequent tales of horror, have left us stunned, speechless, and humbled.

Some heroically tried to save those in the buildings, and in the process, losttheir own lives. Countless stories have been told of heroic deeds. One, littlenoticed, contains much spiritual instruction. A policeman, situated justoutside the entrance of the buildings, shouted to the people as they streamedout,

“Don’t look up; don’t look back; run for your life!”

Those words remind us of Genesis 19:17b, “Escape for thy life; look not behindthee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou beconsumed.”

Let’s examine heaven’s message to us in this time of divine judgment byconsidering the theme, Escape for Your Life, in three thoughts:

1. Realise your danger—“lest thou be consumed”
2. Forsake all—“look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain”
3. Run for your life—“escape for thy life.”

I. Realise your danger

When the cry of “Fire! Fire!” ran up and down the floors of the World TradeCentre and filled the streets of New York City, people knew in a moment thatdanger was imminent. Flames are cruel tyrants and devour remorselessly. Thevery word “fire” can send chills down our spines.

But that word uttered by thousands of New Yorkers on September 11 is only ashadow of what Jesus called “hell fire” in Matthew 5:22. The eternal cry of“hell fire,” that shall ascend from millions of lips in the eternal abyss onthe Day of Judgment, comprehends weighty matters that only eternity can reveal.As dreadful as the events of the recent weeks were, they are all but child’splay compared with the wrath of God that will one day be poured out withoutmixture upon all those who do not repent and believe in God’s Son. God’s wrathagainst unbelievers has eternity and infinity and deity in it—and where thesethree oppose a person, woe be to that person! Who among us shall dwell with thedevouring fire of God’s wrath and with everlasting burning?

We deserve far worse than we have received, for North America has beenunfruitful spiritually. We have slighted God’s gospel, despised God’s law, andserved the Lord lukewarmly at best. We have neglected personal conversion andreformation. We have grown idolatrous, covetous, worldly, sensual, proud, andself-indulgent, addicting ourselves to a host of evils. We have become a nationof liars, backbiters, and murmurers. The blood of unborn millions is on ourhands. Every three days we murder more babies in their mothers’ wombs inAmerica than were killed in the New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania tragediescombined. We have called evil good, and good evil.

And yet, God is speaking to us from the ashes of the World Trade Centre,“Escape for your life, lest you be consumed.”

Our danger cannot be overcome by any human help. Fire-engines went to the scenein New York, only to be burned up in the flames. Cranes are now picking upburned out fire-engines and casting them aside like toothpicks. The very meansused to extinguish the fire were consumed by the fire.

That is your danger, so long as you are unsaved. No means of your devising canenable you to escape the fire of God’s wrath. There is a fire of sin within youthat you cannot quench; there is a fire of hell outside of you that you willnever be able to extinguish. You are in danger beyond your coping ability, solong as you don’t escape for your life to Jesus Christ. Your most strenuousefforts, naturally and spiritually, cannot deliver you from the wrath of a holyGod who cannot dwell with sin and sinners. If you neglect the only way ofsalvation, how can you escape?

O sinner, seek His face,
Whose wrath you cannot bear;
Fly to the dying Saviour’s wounds,
And find salvation there.

Escape for your life. Realise your danger. Don’t trifle with your own soul,with hell and heaven, with God and His bleeding, inviting Son.

Your danger requires immediate attention. Those people who successfully escapedthe World Trade Centre this week, didn’t stop to fill their briefcases. Theyescaped for their lives! They ran for the stairs. There was not a moment towaste. So it is with you. You have not a moment to lose. “Escape, Lot,” theangels say, “for your life—it is now or never. A few more minutes, a few morehours, and it will be too late.”

“Escape for thy life, lest thou be consumed” is a present-tense cry. “Behold,now is the accepted time—now is the day of salvation.” Now, now, now!Tomorrow’s faith is simply today’s unbelief. Good intentions will bring you tohell, not to heaven. Procrastination doesn’t only steal time; it destroyssouls. “Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die and not live.”

There is but a step between us and death. Repent and believe in the Lord JesusChrist, trembling and needy sinner, and you shall be saved. Don’t repent anddon’t believe, and you will be lost. John 3:36 says, “He that believeth on theSon hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not seelife; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

II. Forsake all

Lot had to forsake his former friends, who were not believers—including somefamily members. He had to forsake his former comforts. He had gone to Sodom tolive a comfortable life. No doubt he had a well-furnished home. But now, he hadto leave everything behind.

Lot had everything at stake. If he had stayed in Sodom, he would have lost all.He would not just have lost his home, his furniture, and his family, but hewould have lost himself.

Lot had to forsake all from his heart. His wife escaped, but not with herheart. She looked back and became a pillar of salt. “Remember Lot’s wife,”Jesus warned (Lk 17:32).

If you don’t forsake all to follow Christ—if you try to cling to this world, orallow your self-indulgence or possessions to stand between you and Christ—oneday, soon, you will lose everything, including yourself. What will it profityou if you gain the entire world, but lose your own soul? If you don’t forsakeall for Christ, Christ will forsake you on the great day, and if your soul goeslost in that day, it would have been far better for you to have never beenborn. Far, far better to enter heaven like Lazarus than to be the rich man castinto hell (Lk 16:19–31).

Escape for your life. Don’t look behind you. Don’t stay in the plains of thisworld. Forsake evil friends, materialistic bondage, worldly toys—yes, forsakeall to follow Christ. Take up your crosses, deny yourself, and follow Christ.

Escape for your life—your immortal life, your eternal life. Will you be contentto lose your life; content to perish in your sin? If your house was set on firetonight, and the cry arose, “Fire!”, would you not immediately leave everythingbehind and run out of your house to save your life? Today God calls to you thatthe fires of hell are stoked and that you must escape for your life.

Dear child of God, you have known what this is. You have forsaken all in thepast. Are you still forsaking all in the present? Or, are you like Lot,lingering too much in this world, becoming too cosy with worldly people? Areyou in danger again of perishing with the world? Don’t forget: if Lot had notescaped, he would have perished with the Sodomites. God, of course, graciouslypreserved him. But that doesn’t mean that Lot didn’t have to forsake all andescape for his life.

III. Run for your life

“Escape for your life, Lot,” the angels said. Lot must not stop to argue. Normust you. You don’t need more evidence of your need. Your conscience tells youthat you must be born again, that you must repent and believe.

As Lot must run from the doomed city of Sodom; as the people had to run fromthe doomed Trade Centre, so you must run from this present, evil world, thisCity of Destruction. Run for your life.

But where must I run? Run to the mountain. Symbolically, that means don’treturn to sin and Satan, for that is looking back to Sodom. Don’t rest inyourself or the world, for that is staying in the plain. But run to Christ andheaven, for that is escaping to the mountain. Entrust your soul, your all, toHim for this life and a better.

If you won’t entrust your soul to Christ, whom can you trust? Will you trustyourself?

Why do you linger? Is not Christ the Physician and His blood the balm that youneed? Why are you not recovered (Jer 8:22)? Your conscience tells you that Godis more willing to save you than you are to be saved. You know the good newsthat Christ came to save sinners. You know that the chiefest of sinners iswelcome with Him. Even the dying thief on the cross—whose record may well havebeen able to compete with the terrorists behind all of this recentdestruction—found mercy.

“Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out,” Jesus said. Oh, may Godhelp you to come now, for Christ’s sake.

Yes, but how do I come? You come, by the Spirit’s grace, just as you are, withall your sin, repenting, believing, surrendering all into the arms of God,pleading on God’s promises to save the lost. You come trusting wholly in theblood of Jesus Christ to save your soul, forsaking the ways of sin. You come ingracious response to the free offers and promises of the gospel as a poor,needy sinner, trusting in the full righteousness of Jesus Christ alone for yoursalvation. You come trusting Christ’s perfect, active obedience to the law andHis perfect, passive obedience in paying for sin to be your satisfaction ofGod’s holy justice; to be your only ground of reconciliation with God, as Paultells us. You come, saying with a poet,

A wounded, weak, and helpless worm,
On Christ’s kind arms I fall;
Be thou my strength and confidence,
My Jesus and my all.

Oh, I beseech you, run for your life; run straight to Christ. Don’t run toceremonies, feelings, ministers, works, orthodoxies—but run straight to Christ.Fall into His arms—the arms of the evangel, the arms of the Saviour who Himselfis the gospel.

Don’t look behind you. Run for your life. Be ye reconciled to God.

[Ed. note: Dr. Joel R. Beeke, who was our conference speaker inthe year 2001, is president and professor of Systematic Theology and Homileticsat Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, and pastor of the HeritageNetherlands Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA.

Recently, while in Latvia to conduct some seminary lectures, Dr. Beeke wasrobbed at knifepoint by some Russian mafia. We reproduce below (with hispermission) a portion of his heart-moving account. The full account, which wewould encourage all to read, may be found in http://www.banneroftruth.co.uk/articles/2002/01/latvia.htm.

Extract of Dr. Beeke’sExperience in Latvia

After answering all the students’ questions, I went to my apartment flat.(Artis had to leave before the lectures were over because he was looking aftertwo overseas mission guests who came for a short visit.) I opened the door tomy apartment, set my books down immediately, then turned to lock the door fromthe inside, when the door was suddenly flung open by two young men, who pushedtheir way in. I tried to resist them, and shouted for help, but one hit me inthe face with his fist, then tackled me, covered my mouth, and held a knifemenacingly above my head. They were both talking quite loudly to me in Latvianor Russian, but of course I couldn’t understand anything, except that they keptrepeating, “Russian mafia! Russian mafia! Russian mafia!”

They then threw me on the couch. I gave them my wallet, hoping that would help.They appeared quite happy with the money and credit cards, but the knife didn’tcome down. The one holding the knife above me then pointed to my watch andring, motioning for them, asking, “Gold? Gold?” He then motioned to me to getdown on the floor, and made me lay face down. The other man came from thebedroom with a sheet, and within seconds, they had the sheet cut up into longnarrow strips. They wrapped one long strip tightly around my head and eyesseveral times, blindfolding me, then pulled my arms behind me roughly and tiedmy wrists together just as tightly with another long strip. With yet anothertwo strips, they bound my ankles together as tightly as possible, tying eightto ten knots.

One man guarded me while his partner searched the apartment. My guardalternated from roughness and threats to leaving me alone for the next forty-fiveminutes while I lay there. Sometimes he would stand on me, other times he wouldput his boot on the centre of my back and press down, but mostly he would usehis knife—alternating from slapping it up against my face a few dozen times topressing the point against my spine at different points. Nothing he did hurt mebadly, but the constant threats made me feel like I was certainly about to bemurdered any second.

I cannot put into words how the Lord helped me in those forty-five minutes. Formany years now, I have a practice that whenever I feel physical pain, I try todiscipline my mind to think of Christ’s pain. That is the best means I know toreduce one’s own pain. But this time it was as if the Lord simply gave it tome. Most of the time the Holy Spirit filled my mind with sweet meditations onthe sufferings of Christ. Every time that knife poked at my spine and Iexpected the end a knife’s stroke away, God enabled me to meditate on the bloodof Christ. When the knife pressed sore, I thought of Christ’s sword-piercedside. I was given to surrender all my sins and my soul to the blood of ourprecious Mediator with such freedom that I wanted to sing with joy. I thoughtof Paul and Silas singing in the inner prison. I received much comfort from thetext that believers should count it all joy when they suffer for Jesus’ sake.Though I was acutely aware of my misery and unworthiness as I lay there, I wasfully assured in my soul that my every sin was covered with the precious bloodof Immanuel.

Only one other time in my life were the promises of God so richly unveiled tome. When God revealed Christ to me as my portion at the age of sixteen, promiseafter promise (Mt 11:28; 1 Tim 1:15, etc.) flowed into my soul. I have neverexperienced such an unbroken string of promises made sweet within from that dayuntil now, as I lay under my assailant’s knife. I cannot repeat them all now,but the most comforting ones were those that spoke of assurance in Christ. Thetwo most helpful were Job’s “I know that my Redeemer liveth” and Paul’s “I knowin whom I have believed.” At this moment, I cannot even repeat those full textsaccurately but in those long minutes these promises and others flowed throughmy soul like such a peaceful river that I could say with Simeon, “Lord, lettestnow thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.”

I was ready to die, and kept repeating, “For me to live is Christ, and to dieis gain.” I thought of the joy of glory—of being with Christ and of neverhaving to wrestle with sin anymore. I could surrender everything to the Lord—mydear wife and children, my congregation as a dear flock, the seminary and itsstaff. I felt grateful that Rev. VanderZwaag is in Grand Rapids as full-timepastor and that the Seminary is sufficiently organised that it could continuewithout me. My life’s work is done, I thought. On the way to Riga, I had calledMary from Toronto, and told her not to be alarmed but I felt that I needed totell her something and to ask someone to do something for me if I were to die.That is unusual for me to do something like this, but Mary understood and tookcare of my request. Now, as I lay on the floor, I felt sure that this was thereason I had to make this request before I died.

Much of my life came back to me. It’s hard to explain. The only thing I cancompare it to is when married couples sometimes have a short slide presentationof their past at receptions. The Lord took me with giant steps through my past.Everywhere I saw His faithfulness. Everywhere I saw grace. I could “amen” God’sways in all. It was allsola gratia—grace alone.

But there were also other moments—moments when I feared, when I wanted to live.I thought of my wife as a widow, my children as fatherless. I knew God wouldtake care of them, but for a few moments it was hard to let them go. In thosemoments, my unfinished work, my human relationships, my own comfort loomedlarge. I thank God these moments were infrequent—certainly no more than 10% ofthe time. In these moments, I felt just like Peter when he was sinking becausehe looked away from Jesus. As soon as I looked away from Jesus, numbness wouldtravel up my hands to my elbows, my mouth would become incredibly dry, my rightshoulder and left knee would ache. I would then literally talk to myself—“Focuson Jesus! Focus on Jesus!” and would again feel God’s intervening grace.