The tolling bell!

In 17th-century England, church bells tolled out the news of what was happening in a parish. They announced, not only the times of the various worship services, but also important events such as weddings, and funerals. Indeed, I believe that, in many places, the custom continues to this day.

When John Donne, the Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral and also an author, lay desperately ill with the plague that was killing Londoners by the thousand, he could hear the bells ringing constantly, announcing death after death. he kept a "devotional diary" that was to become a classic of the English language and, writing down his thoughts, he urged his readers: "Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."!

How true those words and, if nothing else good comes out of the current Covid-19 pandemic, it appears to have reminded people of their own mortality! Certainly, the author of the great Letter to the Hebrew disciples of Jesus made the point that: "... it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment," (9:27).

That is not news that many wish to hear! However, if we are truly disciples of the Lord Jesus; if our salvation rests solely, and wholly, on His atoning sacrifice at Calvary; if we acknowledge that ".. there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12), then the thought of death does not need to arouse dread. We know, as Paul joyfully assures us, that by His resurrection from the dead, the Lord Jesus has broken, for ever, the power of death. He has "... abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." (II Tim. 1:10). Death has been "... swallowed up in victory ..." (I Cor. 15:54) and we may ask, triumphantly: "O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?" (v.55).

Another occasion on which, traditionally, church bells have been rung, is to announce a great victory, or the end of hostilities. So, when the bell tolls for the true disciple of Jesus, it announces the good news of Jesus' victory over death, and hell, and the grave.

He is our Certainty, in uncertain times.