Jottings

As one stands beside the open grave in the cemetery and sees the coffin lowered in which are the earthly remains of a human being, one lifts one's eyes and sees in the faces of some of the mourners the light of faith and hope, but others show no indication other than that they are in the dark as to what lies beyond death. The service over, the mourners turn away, some to be consoled and comforted by tile assuring words of Holy Scripture, others to pursue their darksome way in the pursuit of earthly affairs and worldly pleasures.

It is, in these days of increased light in many material things, a sad reflection on human intelligence that increased darkness prevails in things spiritual and eternal. One of the phases of this deepening darkness is seen in the increase in the numbers of Crematoriums that are being built for the destruction of human bodies by burning. It is in one sense an enigma, this burning of the human body, when one thinks that so often the body which is destroyed was the sole part of the human being to which any attention was paid as to its needs. The spirit and tile soul, as to their eternal well-being, are entirely neglected. It is still as the Lord said, that the nations of the world seek after what they shall eat and what they shall drink (Luke 12.29, 30), but He said to His own, "Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment ?" (Matthew 6.25).

The body, on which so much was spent in clothes, foods and drinks, and so much paid for its carnal amusement, is taken at the end and cast into the fire. Some say it is more hygienic to destroy the body thus than to put it in a grave to moulder away to dust. Others claim that it is necessary to conserve land for the production of food and not use it up in cemeteries, but at the same time thousands upon thousands of acres are in use in golf courses and sports fields, not to speak of the acres used in fields at aerodromes. The argument about the conserving of land just does not fit the proposal of doing away with cemeteries. But what may be the chief reason that lies behind the Crematorium and the burning of human bodies is the thought of resurrection and the accountability of men for their deeds done in their bodies. Perhaps they think that with the destruction of the body will go the destruction of their deeds also. Resurrection involves judgement, and judgement punishment, and so to evade the due punishment of sin, and that greatest of sins the rejection of Christ as Saviour, the body by burning is dissolved largely to gases, and the Lord of Creation and resurrection is defied by man's puny and rebellious action.

Can we not learn from that earliest action of faith in connexion with the blessed truth of resurrection? Abraham, in Genesis 22, goes to Moriah in obedience to God's command to offer up his beloved son Isaac as a burnt offering. He had no doubt, though he burnt Isaac to ashes, that he would rise again from the dead, but not in a newly created body that was in no sense related to the body that he purposed to destroy by burning, but that Isaac would be raised in the body that had been burnt, the burnt body raised and quickened, as the Lord shows how the dead are raised in John 5.21. See how Abraham's faith shines brightly in the words of Hebrews 11.17-19; he believed that that Isaac, in whom his seed was called, would be raised, he "accounting that God is able to raise up even from the dead," and that, the dead Isaac whose body was burnt. We too have an Abraham-like faith; we believe that the dead whose bodies are burnt to ashes will be raised. God will not be mocked!

Man's present ignorance of, or unbelief in, the fact of resurrection is going to be dispelled as a morning mist by the rising sun. Think of that group of promises in Isaiah 25.6-8:

"And in this mountain shall the LORD of Hosts make unto all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering that is cast over all peoples, and the veil that i~ spread over all nations. He hath swallowed (will swallow, A.V.) up death for ever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of His people shall He take away from. off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it."

"This mountain" is mount Zion of Isaiah 24.23, where "the LORD of Hosts," our blessed Lord Jesus," shall reign.... before His ancients (or elders) gloriously." The feast of trumpets in the Lord's coming to earth is past (Leviticus 23.28-25; Matthew 24.30, 31), the day of atonement for Israel and the nations, in the finishing of transgression, making an end of sins, and reconciliation for iniquity, and bringing in everlasting righteousness and anointing the most holy (Daniel 9.24) is also past, for men shall then understand and enjoy the work of Calvary. The feast of trumpets and the day of atonement will be followed by the feast of tabernacles, and at His holy mountain God will make for the peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees. There Abraham and the prophets and the saints shall recline having been raised from the dead, and surging multitudes of men shall be there in the enjoyment of the goodness of divine grace which has been richly poured out upon them in the coming of the Son of Man to earth.

There too shall be the removal of or swallowing up of the face of the covering which is cast over all peoples. Alas, how great is the darkness and ignorance of men under this dark murky fog which has spread over all the earth shutting out the light For those who believe and know the Scriptures this covering has gone, the veil has been done away in Christ, in Christ who died at Jerusalem and was raised again from the dead. In such mighty and glorious facts lie all truth and from them we derive the light we enjoy. Without the death of Christ we would be yet in our sins, and if He did not rise from the dead we would also yet be in our sins and all the saints who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished (1 Corinthians 15.17, 18). What awful and dreadful thoughts! But for the believer the darkness is gone; his mind is illuminated; his faith is steadfast; his hope is sure. He is more sure and certain that Christ is alive than he is sure of anything. Often he follows the steps of Mary Magdalene to the Cross and to the tomb in the garden, to see the Saviour die and to see Him again alive from the dead. The face of the covering is gone for us, but not for all peoples, but one day men shall look on Him whom they pierced. One day those pierced hands of His shall be raised both to bless and to smite, to break some as a potter's vessel is broken and He will say to others, "Come ye blessed of My Father."

He shall swallow up death for ever. Tears will then be wiped away. We know this means resurrection, for Paul so uses these words in 1 Corinthians 15.54. "When this corruptible (the saved dead, as to their bodies) shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal (saints living in mortal bodies) shall have put on immortality, THEN (and not till then) shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." Victory, glorious and complete, shall be wrought by Him who alone is the Resurrection and the Life. The reproach of His people shall then be gone, whether we think of His people of this dispensation or those which went before and follows this. Glorious Saviour! Jehovah of Hosts is His name.

unknown | Jun 1954
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