I finished up the burial service and spent a few moments with the family. While I walked to my car, I started to smile, then to chuckle, and finally, to laugh. Yes, it was ridiculous, from one point of view, to be laughing in a cemetery.
Who laughs in such a place of sorrow?
The words I had read from the Scripture as I stood beside the coffin at the grave took hold in my heart. Those words overwhelm the sorrow of death with God’s declaration. And, yes, I laughed with real joyful hope in a cemetery.
"Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, NIV)
Lord in the sky, angels shouting commands, the trumpet of the Almighty summoning us home - it’s a grand scene defying human imagination! Paul tells us to share these words, not avoid them, to remember them often so we will stay encouraged. Remembering our mortality and keeping the promise of the Resurrection always in the forefront of our minds will help us not to wander from the Way! We love life, and that is as it should be, but we can never forget we are destined to died. Our existence on this earth is limited. However, that fact need not be a terror to us. Why? Because heaven is waiting. At death we do not cease to exist, we begin to really live!
Christian, we need to sing the songs of Heaven’s promise. We must not try to make what is temporary into our forever home. If we do, we set ourselves up for awful sorrow and certain heartbreak. Life will slip away. Friends will die and grief will be too much to bear. So we set our hearts on pilgrimage, we put our hope in Christ, and we live for our Home.
Jesus says, “Don’t let this throw you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live." (John 14:1-3, The Message)
Here’s the word from the Word. Let the wise call to living for eternity reshape your day and fill you with hope. "You are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you- from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.
Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives." (1 Peter 2:9-12, The Message)
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My Redeemer Lives
For I know my Redeemer lives,
And in the end He will stand on the earth!
For I know my Redeemer lives,
And in the end He will reign on the earth!
Though my flesh it be destroy'd
Yet, with my eyes I will see God.
For I know that my Redeemer lives
And I will stand with Him on that day!
Oh my heart it yearns within me,
For the day when Jesus returns.
Oh my heart it yearns within me,
For the day when Jesus shall reign.
Though my flesh it be destroy'd
Yet, with my eyes I will see God.
For I know that my Redeemer lives
And I will stand with Him on that day!
John Willison
© 1993 Mercy / Vineyard Publishing (Admin. by Vineyard Music USA)
CCLI License # 810055
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