The Future

In the midst of our darkest grief, it is hard to imagine anything being worthwhile to anticipate. Even the most joyous future events seem incredibly painful to us. Imagine a brother’s wedding and his sister is not in attendance. Or a woman meeting her first grandchild in the delivery room without her husband - the baby’s grandfather. Any scenario would work here - imagine your own circumstance. Most of us have only flippantly used the word “bittersweet” in the past, but now we truly understand the meaning. Try as we might, it is difficult to rejoice in future joyous events.

But we must do just that. Why? Because God calls us to do so. In Romans 8 we are confronted with a seemingly impossible task: to happily consider what lies ahead of us:

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Since my son’s death I have often commented on the dichotomy between my head and my heart. Although these two organs within my body are not that far from one another, in reality they are worlds apart. What I feel is often in conflict with what I know, and what I know rebels against my feelings. Perhaps God, knowing our frailty, gives us passages like this one to lead us into healing. We must meditate continually upon the promises of God to calm our feelings of sorrow and despair.

Matthew Henry has an interesting commentary on this verse, beginning with the obvious statement that Paul, of all people, was personally acquainted with suffering, but also with future glory:

“Now Paul was as competent a judge of this point as ever any mere man was. He could reckon not by art only, but by experience; for he knew both. He knew what the sufferings of this present time were; He knew what the glory of heaven is. And, upon the view of both, he gives this judgment here. There is nothing like a believing view of the glory which shall be revealed to support and bear up the spirit under all the sufferings of this present time... As the saints are suffering, so they are waiting. Heaven is therefore sure; for God by his Spirit would not raise and encourage those hopes only to defeat and disappoint them. He will establish that word unto his servants on which he has caused them to hope (Ps. 119:49), and heaven is therefore sweet; for, if hope deferred makes the heart sick, surely when the desire comes it will be a tree of life (Prov. 13:12).”

Experience has shown you what your present suffering is. Through faith and the Word of God, however, you can hold on to what your future glory shall be. One day there will no longer be any event that is bittersweet; in fact, bitterness will be eliminated from our vocabulary and from our lives.

Let’s ask God to enlighten our hearts to the glorious truths of Heaven, where eternity future will be forever as wonderful as eternity present.

Words for the Weekend

“The gospel is the best news we could ever hear. The gospel is about Jesus Christ and his power to transform our lives and relationships, communities, and ultimately, the nations. Through this gospel, we are freely given a new identity — an identity not based on race, social class, gender, a theological system, or a system of rules and regulations. Rather it is a new and perfect identity based solely on faith in Jesus — an identity that defines every aspect of our lives. We are now forgiven, righteous, adopted, accepted, free, and heirs to everything that belongs to Christ. So even our sin, weakness, and failures do not define who we are. Because of this good news, we no longer have to hide from our sin and pretend that we have it all together, for God knows and loves us as we are, not as we pretend to be.”

- Neil H. Williams, Gospel Transformation

What's in a Name?

It should come as no surprise to believers that the words of Jesus bring great comfort to a grieving soul. When we experience great sorrow, we need to know that He notices our tears. Psalm 56:8 actually affirms that "You have ... put my tears in your bottle." God keeps count of our every tear. What an amazing, personal God we serve.

But there is an even clearer incident in the life of Jesus to demonstrate how He knows each one of us by name. It occurs on the day of His resurrection. Mary, one of the faithful women who cared for Him in life and death, has arrived at the tomb to anoint His body with spices.

“And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).” (John 20)

Isn’t this lovely? Through her tears Mary was unable to recognize the one that she was seeking, until He uttered a simple word: “Mary.” Immediately she recognized Him and was able to then respond to Him in a similar way: “Teacher.”

We should respond in a like manner. We should ask ourselves “Why are we weeping?” when the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth is waiting for us to recognize His voice through the Scriptures. “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out... for they know his voice.” (John 10)

So the next time you and I are overwhelmed with distress and grief, let’s imagine ourselves in the presence of our Lord as He comforts us with this just one word: [insert your name here].

The Tears of Jesus

It’s pretty amazing that the shortest verse in the Bible is perhaps the best one for comforting those who are grieving the loss of a loved one. It occurs in John 11, as Jesus is standing outside the tomb of his good friend Lazarus, who died four days before His arrival.

“Jesus wept.”

What makes these two words so remarkable? It’s that Christ knew that He would be raising Lazarus from the dead in just a few moments, and yet He still cried tears. He was sad that Lazarus had died, and sad that his family and friends were grieving:

“When Jesus saw her (Mary) weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.”

What a compassionate Lord and Savior to grieve Himself at the loss of someone He loved. It says much about His dual nature, being Man and God, that He would cry in His humanity before resurrecting Lazarus in his divinity.

What benefit is this short verse to us? If ever we’ve been told that we should “just get over our grief,” or that if “we were stronger in our faith we’d be able to stop crying,” this passage would carry us through. No one would dare accuse Jesus of being too emotional or spiritually weak. The fact that Jesus experienced the same emotions of mourning that we do should be of great comfort to us - we have a God who understands that death is the enemy, that losing a loved one hurts, and that our spirits will be greatly troubled by the grief and despair of those around us.

But even greater is the fact that Jesus has the power to reverse the awful reality of death, and will do for our loved ones what He did for Lazarus: raise them from their graves. He not only feels our pain, but does something about it.

Let’s look through our tears to the One who will wipe them away someday, while praising God today for His sympathy toward us. Our losses matter to God, and thankfully He has created Heaven as a place where everything that is so badly broken now will be made finally and perfectly whole. 

Words for the Weekend

“There are but two lessons for Christians to learn: the one is, to enjoy God in everything; the other is, to enjoy everything in God.”

Charles Simeon, quoted by John Piper in The Roots of Endurance

Together Forever?

There is one sentence in the New Testament that has caused much anguish and heartache to those who have lost spouses to death.

“And Jesus said to them, ‘The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, or they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.’ ” (Luke 20)

Jesus is making a point about two different eras of time: now on earth, and later in Heaven. Many lament that they will no longer be ‘married’ in Heaven, but if one looks closely at this passage, it is stating that there will be no ‘weddings’ in the age to come. Marriage is a holy ordinance provided by God from the beginning of time that according to His direction a “...man should leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24) One of the main purposes of marriage is the procreation of children, and it is clear that such activity will be not be taking place after our lives are completed here on earth. So ‘marriage,’ in this sense, will not be necessary.

However, we don’t have to insist, as some do, that those that are married here on earth will not be especially close to one another when reunited in Heaven. Jesus is not saying that our spouses will be irrelevant to us in our new lives in Heaven. If the rich man could remember his dealings with Lazarus (previous post) how could it be that husbands and wives would forget their special love for one another? Why would we think that God will not enrich our experience in Heaven through our reunion with special people? It seems unlikely that we will be in Heaven saying “This is great, but I just wish I could see my husband of 55 years...”

Better to trust that your husband or wife will be special to you in Heaven, with the greater promise that “...they cannot die anymore.” And praise God that because of God’s electing love, Christ’s atoning work on the Cross, and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon our hearts, we will forever be sons and daughters of the resurrection, and the bride of Christ, our Husband.

And that is one wedding that we will all attend!

Please Send Someone!

As if wondering whether we will know one another in Heaven isn’t big enough to wrap our brains around, how about this: Will those in Heaven be able to speak with those in Hell? Yikes. Here is a passage of Scripture which will either clarify our thoughts or confuse us even more in answering this question:

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— for I have five brothers —so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’” (Luke 16)

These verses describe a conversation between someone in Hell and someone in Heaven. So what can we learn from this story?

1. Jesus wants us to know that there is a Heaven and a Hell.

2. At least in this passage, a man in Heaven and and a man in Hell are interacting with each other.

3. Life after death does not mean the loss of personal history and memory. The rich man remembers his life on earth and knows very well who Lazarus is.

4. The rich ruler still thinks Lazarus should be his errand boy. He wants him to bring water to Hell, and then later he wants to send Lazarus back to earth.

5. The rich man is concerned with the fate of his brothers, not wanting them to end up in Hell as he has. His solution is to send someone who has died back to earth to encourage them to repent.

6. There is no second chance after death. We need to repent now.

7. Jesus DID come back from the dead, telling us that Heaven and Hell are real.  Let’s be sure that we listen to what He says.

Words for the Weekend

“Do you want to know supreme joy, do you want to experience a happiness that eludes description? There is only one thing to do, really seek Him, seek Him Himself, turn to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

If you find that your feelings are depressed do not sit down and commiserate with yourself, do not try to work something up but go directly to Him and seek His face, as the little child who is miserable and unhappy because somebody else has taken or broken his toy, runs to its father or its mother. So if you and I find ourselves afflicted by this condition, there is only one thing to do, it is to go to Him.

If you seek the Lord Jesus Christ and find him there is no need to worry about your happiness and your joy. He is our joy and our happiness, even as He is our peace. He is life, He is everything. So avoid the incitements and the temptations of Satan to give feelings this great prominence at the centre. Put at the centre the only One who has a right to be there, the Lord of Glory, Who so loved you that He went to the Cross and bore the punishment and the shame of your sins and died for you.”

- Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression