“Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king’s dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom’s place” (2nd Samuel 18:18).
Absalom, son of David, King of Israel, was concerned about the fact that, having, no son, his name might be forgotten, and took steps to prevent this. How long his pillar remained we do not know, but if it were not for his name being included in the Scriptures, he would be totally forgotten today.
When David, hiding in a cave because Saul was pursuing him, suddenly found himself in a position to kill Saul, but instead cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe and spared his life, Saul made a long speech to David, ending with the words: “Swear now therefore unto me by the Lord, that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me, and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father’s house (1st Samuel 24:21).
These men were all interested in being remembered after they had passed from the scene. However, neither wealth, nor fame nor any other attribute can guarantee that our names will not be swallowed up in oblivion. As the Psalmist phrases it in the forty-ninth Psalm: “They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: . . . that he should live forever and not see corruption. For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others. Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue forever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names” (verses 6-11).
Human nature does not change. Rich men today seek to perpetuate their names by endowing libraries, hospitals, foundations for scientific research, and numerous other worthy charities. Knowing that death will eventually claim them, they seek for some method of keeping their names alive in the public mind.
Archeological explorations have unearthed many statues of once mighty kings and tablets recording their battles and conquests, and yet most of us have never heard of them until the diggers have removed the dust of centuries. Shelley’s poem comes to mind:
I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the dessert. Near them on the sand
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that the sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
— Ozymandias of Egypt
So much for human efforts to live, even in memory, forever. Man cannot reconcile himself to a few short years of life and then oblivion forever, nor is it necessary that he do so. God has provided that those who obey His commands, meditate on His Word, and conduct themselves in accordance with the pattern outlined in the Bible, will have their names written in the Book of Life (Philippians 4:3). These are the ones who have “laid up for themselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal (Matthew 6 19) They have set their affections on things above, and where their treasure is, there will their hearts be also.
It will not be necessary for them to go to heaven to get their reward, for Jesus will come again, and those who are looking for Him will receive the re ward when He comes For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works (Matthew 16 27) No one will receive a reward for going to church on Sunday and then forgetting all about God until the following week Their knowledge must be put into practice, thereby influencing their entire way of life In the third chapter of Malachi we read Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels, and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him (verses 16,17).
Why should a Book of Remembrance be written for those who spake often one to another? These were the ones who feared the Lord It was in their hearts to do according to His will, and Matthew 12 34 explains out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh Therefore, they were not dis cussing trifling, everyday matters, but were talking together about the things concerning God.
It is a losing battle to try to be remembered for any length of time after death How many graves can be located after a few hundred years? Even if some method could be devised for keeping our names in mind what a sterile accomplishment it would be! If, however, we are remembered by God, to whom a thousand years is as one day, we need never fear that a fickle memory will overlook us and we shall fail to receive the promised reward of everlasting life in the Kingdom of God.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One