Absalom's Monument!

(J.R. Miller)  LISTEN TO AUDIO!  Download Audio
 
"They took Absalom, threw him into a big pit in the forest and piled up a large heap of rocks over him . . . 
During his lifetime, Absalom had taken a pillar and erected it in the King's Valley as a monument to himself . . . He named the pillar after himself, and it is called  Absalom's Monument to this day." 2 Samuel 18
 
It has been said that every man lives for a funeral—that is, a man's funeral often tells what kind of a man he has been. Absalom had already built a splendid monument, which he meant should mark his grave. Instead, however, of being laid away to rest in honor by a weeping nation, beneath the shadows of a noble monument—his mangled body was hurled in dishonor into a pit in the forest, and covered with a large heap of rocks.
 
It was still true, however, that Absalom built his own monument. His own hand dug the grave of shame into which his body was cast. Sin's harvest is sure and terrible!  
 
Too many young men think that it is unmanly to be holy, true-hearted, and pure—and that a sinful life is the manly one. We have, in the story of Absalom, an illustration of the career of one who lived such a life—and we must notice that the story is written out to its last chapter.
 
The trouble too often is, that men do not think of what the end  will be.
 
"It is appointed for man to die once, and after that to face judgment!" Hebrews 9:27
 
"It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!" Hebrews 10:31