More Precious Than Gold

It’s been said that “everything is perspective,” and this is true in the area of grief as well. What we felt like and believed on Day #1 of our bereavement is different from Year #1 or Year #5. The further we are removed in time from the loss of our loved one, the bigger our perspective is of the entire experience. For most of us, our healing comes slowly, and our sense of joy more slowly still. But one day we will be able to see the “big picture” for what it is. There is a passage in the first chapter of 1 Peter which helps us to keep the right perspective in the midst of our mourning:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (Verses 3-7)

We know that we have been “...grieved by various trials;” in fact, that has been the topic of this entire book. We have been tested beyond our limits, it seems, but it is our desire that this present affliction would result in “...praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” But is there really a reward for staying faithful to God through this difficult time? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?

Of course there is! These verses affirm that we have a living hope and an inheritance that cannot be taken away. Our hope is based on Christ’s resurrection, which assures us of our own future resurrection and the resurrection of our loved ones. In fact, this hope is already stored in Heaven itself! What a beautiful picture of a future reality. We may despair and doubt and struggle with unbelief when we are in the midst of grief, but the eternal salvation of God’s people has already been secured.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”

Who Sits Next to You in Church?

There is a final passage in the Book of Hebrews that is relevant to the topic at hand: 

“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” (12: 22-24)

There is something about this passage that makes me excited and glad and grateful and amazed all at once. It seems as though this is written to present day believers - even though it says that we have come to the heavenly Jerusalem now. How can that be? It must have something to do with worship - that somehow when we enter into that activity here on earth, we are also simultaneously entering into worship in Heaven. If that is the case, then our fellow worshippers are those that have gone ahead of us, namely our loved ones. Could it be that when we sing and pray and read God’s Word that the person sitting next to us in the pew is the very one that has departed from us and that we are missing so much?


My theory here seems to be supported by the ESV Study Bible, which states:

“This (passage) draws on extensive OT imagery of a new heavenly Zion/Jerusalem to say that Christian believers have access, in the invisible, spiritual realm, into the Heavenly Jerusalem, and therefore participate in worship with innumerable angels and the great assembly of those who have died in faith and are already in God’s presence.”

Certainly the language of these verses confirms the reality of existence for those who have gone before us. The “assembly of the firstborn,” for example, while initially referring to Christ, has been expanded to include all the heirs of salvation. Those “enrolled in Heaven” probably refers to the Book of Life referenced in several places in the Bible. And finally, “the spirits of the righteous made perfect” clearly refers to believers who were made righteous on earth because of Christ’s work on the cross, but were made gloriously perfect upon their entrance into Heaven.

Of course, we should not be overly fixated on the fact that our family and friends in Heaven are worshiping together with us on Sunday mornings. The most important person we should be focusing on is Christ, “the mediator of a new covenant,” who made all this possible. Without His sacrificial life and death, we wouldn’t be excited and glad and grateful and amazed at all.


Thanks be to God for the incredible privilege of entering into Heavenly worship while we are still living as sojourners here on earth. Better still, one day we will experience the fullness of worship that we now know by faith alone; in just a little while, our faith will be sight!

Words for the Weekend

“You have all the grace you need for now. You don’t have to worry about then. When then becomes now you’ll have all the grace you need.”
 
 Paul David Tripp,  Twitter Post

Running the Race

Immediately following the “Heroes of the Faith” chapter in the Book of Hebrews comes an astounding passage:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb 12:1)

I was once taught that anytime you see the word “therefore” in the Bible you should look to see what the “therefore” is there for. In most cases the preceding verse is the clue that unlocks the mystery, and this is certainly the case here:

“And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” (Heb 11:39)

So the ‘heroes of the faith’ are the ‘great cloud of witnesses’ watching us from above. It’s as though we are in a gigantic sports arena, “running with endurance the race that is set before us,” and they are cheering us from the stands in Heaven. How encouraging is that image? Remember, these witnesses once ran the same race that we are now running - and they had their own cloud of cheerleaders rooting for them. Amazingly, one day we will be up in the rafters as well, encouraging the generations of believers that come after us. What a privilege to be in that number!

As always, Jesus is the one to keep our eyes on. He is the “...founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” We who are grieving the loss of a loved one have the best coach - one who is the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He suffered so much more than we ever will. Therefore, let us follow His great example and run our race, even though we may feel as if we have been sidelined temporarily by sadness. The joy of Heaven is set before us - what a glorious finish line!

Be A Hero of the Faith!

Hebrews 11 is known as the “Great Heroes of the Faith” chapter in the Bible. After stating in Verse 1 that “...faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” the author of Hebrews then lists the servants of God that fit this criteria for faith: Abel, Abraham, Moses, and many others that cannot be mentioned “...for time would fail me.” Here is the common thread that unites all these saints together:

“These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”

Those of us who struggle with grief know that we will not receive the “things promised” this side of Heaven. The point of this whole book is for all of us to encourage one another to strive to enter into the eternal rest that we have been promised. When we become overcome in sorrow we are tempted to believe that this earth, this awful reality that we are living, is ALL that there is. What we forget is that we are strangers and exiles here, and we have to make it clear to others, but more importantly to ourselves, that we are journeying toward our homeland. We really don’t have the option to travel “...back to the land from which we have gone out.” There is no returning to our previous lives in order to reclaim our loved ones from the grave. Instead, we need to seek a “...better country, that is, a Heavenly one.”

The promises of Heaven are real and true, and we need continual reminders of these promises in order to move forward toward this Celestial City where we will once again be reunited with our loved ones. How wonderful is it that despite all our doubts and unbelief God will not be “...ashamed to be called our God?” Let us greet that great Land “...from afar” and look forward to the life to come.

Windows To Heaven

There is an amazing display of unbelief in the words of a trusted advisor to the King of Israel recorded in 2 Kings 7.  The context is that the city of Samaria has been besieged by enemies for a long time and has undergone substantial economic distress.  The King is frustrated and even wants to kill Elisha, blaming him for the disaster that has come upon his city.   But Elisha has a surprising word for the King from God:

 

Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord: thus says the Lord, Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.”  

Apparently rescue from this disaster is planned for the very next day; the marketplace will be open for business as usual, prices for grain and other goods will drop, and the economy will be restored.  Good news indeed.

But one of the King’s closest advisors voices great skepticism that this “good news” can happen overnight: 

“Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, ‘If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?’ But he (Elisha) said, ‘You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.’”

There is undoubtedly a connection between this man’s unbelief and the punishment which follows. For there is a great victory the next day - the opposing army flees unexpectedly, leaving behind wonderful provisions for the starving people.  While the disbelieving captain does indeed “see” this wonderful rescue, he doesn’t see it for long:

“And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate and he died.”  

Matthew Henry sees this connection between unbelief and punishment in very stark terms:

“Unbelief is a sin by which men greatly dishonour and displease God, and deprive themselves of the favours he designed for them. The murmuring Israelites saw Canaan, but could not enter in because of unbelief. Such will be the portion of those that believe not the promise of eternal life; they shall see it at a distance—Abraham afar off, but shall never taste of it; for they forfeit the benefit of the promise if they cannot find in their heart to take God’s word.”

This insight should cause us to fight all the more the great sin of unbelief in our own lives.  How can we disbelieve the great promises of God and still think that we are worthy to inherit them?  When we are tempted to doubt the Word of God we should be like the father of a son tortured by evil spirits who cries out to Jesus: “I believe; help my unbelief!”  (Mark 9)

Therefore, let us repent of our unbelief, and by doing so, we will honour and please God.  It turns out that this advisor did speak some truth with the imagery of God “...making windows in Heaven.”  God has graciously given us many glimpses into eternal life in His Word.  Why should we not believe Him?

A Shining Lamp

Ask any Christian when they became really knowledgeable of the doctrine of Heaven, and I’d bet it would be AFTER the death of a loved one. There is something of the desperateness of a grieving soul that needs to grasp the reality of where loved ones have gone that propels the searching out of Scripture verses to help ease the pain. Certainly that was the case with me; as stated in the introduction, this book is a result of my own frantic need to understand the realities of life after death.

And what did I find? That God is most gracious to give us information that will indeed aid in our healing. Sometimes it comes in a very small verse, like Philippians 1:21: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Thanks be to God that He informs us that being with Him in Heaven is better than life here on earth, as wonderful as life in this world may be. Consider all the best of life experiences here below: precious relationships, the beauty of creation, the joy of new life, etc. But Paul is stating that “...to die is gain.” What an encouraging thought.

Or sometimes God through Scripture gives us a whole new way of looking at the big picture of life, as in Philippians 3:20: “But our citizenship is in Heaven...” Any rumblings of homesickness for an unseen place of glory that we feel here on earth are understandable in light of this passage - we were not destined to be comfortable in this present life because we are not HOME yet. Our true home is in Heaven, where we will experience all the privileges of real citizenship, including not being stung by sin, death, or pain anymore.

But we are also encouraged to stand firm in the midst of suffering and grief while we live this side of Heaven: “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” (2 Thess 2:16-17) It certainly sounds as though God has already given us this “...eternal comfort and good hope...” Somehow we need to grasp hold of these eternal concepts in order to be equipped to do good works and to give words of comfort to others now.

We truly need to praise God for all these morsels of Heavenly truths that He distributes throughout His Word. They truly are “... a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105) Let’s use every Scriptural help God gives us to bravely continue our journey here below until we see the glories of Heaven with our own eyes.

Words for the Weekend

“Our obtuseness, our deep self-centeredness, our love of pomp and power and prestige, simply would not have allowed us to understand the cross or our need of it. In short, our very lostness demanded the work of the Spirit of God, to the end that we might “understand what God has freely give us” (1 Cor 2:12).

What a great God we have! Not only does he redeem us through the ignominious crucifixion of his much-loved Son, but he sends us his Spirit to enable us to understand what he has done. So obtuse and blind are we that we would not have begun to grasp “what God has freely given us” unless God had taken this additional step.”

D.A. Carson, The Cross and Christian Ministry  (Of First Importance)

Comfort One Another

At some point on our journey of grief, we will begin to feel better. This healing will certainly be experienced in different ways and at different times for different people. Some of us will not cry as much, angry thoughts might disappear, others will be able to laugh again, and some will even find that their memories of their loved one have become more sweet than bitter. We might even begin to give comfort to others in their loss. This seems to be God’s design for grieving people.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Cor 1: 3-4)

As God comforts us, we are to comfort others. Paul Tripp states that we who have been confronted with death and then comforted by God should not become just “...containers of comfort, but conduits of comfort.” As we experience the healing that comes from God alone, we should look around at the misery in this world and attempt to alleviate the sufferings of others with the comfort we have received. As weak as we may feel, Jesus calls upon us to minister His comfort to others. This is all so mysterious to us, but God has ordained that frail people are to be His healing hands to a hurting world.

And how is this done? A few verses after the above passage Paul recounts some of his own afflictions, and states that this was God’s purpose for them:

“That was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” (v. 9)

Isn’t this the greatest comfort that we can give others who are feeling pain and misery? We can attest to the fact that in our own despair we have learned not to rely on ourselves (have we been able to help ourselves? probably not...) but on God alone who freely and generously relieves our sorrows and burdens. He is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.

The ultimate encouragement, of course, is that God will raise the dead. Those who have died and gone before us will one day welcome us into the gates of Heaven. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Be still, my soul: the hour is hast’ning on

When we shall be forever with the Lord,

When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,

Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.

Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past,

all safe and blessed we shall meet at last.”

The Death of Death

I once saw this Scripture on the door leading into the nursery at a local church: “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.” While this is a creative and humorous sign regarding the care of children, it is also a wonderful help to those struggling with loss and bereavement. It is found in the 15th Chapter of 1 Corinthians, and is part of a beautiful description of the great reality that awaits us someday.

In fact, this entire chapter of the Bible is devoted solely to Paul’s thoughts and reflections on the doctrine of the resurrection. It would take weeks to unpack the insights that this one chapter gives to us, but a few highlights will have to suffice for now.

Paul reminds us as early as Verse 3 what he considers to be crucial information for us:

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.”

Why is Christ’s resurrection “of first importance” to those of us who are mourning the loss of someone dear? Because without it, nothing else matters. There is no hope of any meaning to life if Christ did not show Himself to the world after His death on the cross. As Paul so correctly states in verse 19, without His resurrection, Christians “...are of all people most to be pitied.” Faith is pointless without Christ’s resurrection. If the historical account of Christ’s rising from the dead is not to be trusted, then there is no way we can ever hope for our own resurrection. We are then left with an Ecclesiastes kind of moment: what’s the point of living and dying? Is our existence and suffering just some cosmic bad luck?

Ah, but the good news of Christ’s resurrection reigns over all the skepticism and doubt that anyone of us can experience, and it is a truth to be embraced and celebrated:

“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor 15: 51-55)

As we fight despair and depression after the death of a friend or relative, let’s remember what is of first importance. Because of God’s incredible mercy to us, we will one day be celebrating the victory of Christ over death. We will be granted the privilege of witnessing the ultimate irony: the death of death. And none of us will be crying at that funeral.