Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Isaiah 57 and reading for
our text the first two verses, verses one and two. The righteous perisheth, and
no man layeth it to heart, and merciful men are taken away,
none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to
come. He shall enter into peace, they
shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness. Isaiah 57 and verses 1 and 2,
and that on my spirit is the righteous in death. The prophet speaks of those that
are not laying it to heart, are not considering it, when death
is present, God's people are taken away, and yet it does not
affect people, they do not think, they do not consider, They do
not lay it to heart. And we must ask ourselves, are
we amongst them? How do we lay these things to
heart and how do we consider these things? When we come to
a verse like this and there is mention of the righteous, we
need great care that we understand properly what is being described
here, who it is that is being described. The Word of God is
very clear that there is none righteous, no, not one, that
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The whole
reason why there is death in the world is because sin entered
into the world, and death by sin, and that all have sinned,
all must die. So when we read the righteous
perisheth, who are we looking at here? Who is the subject of
this? Really there are three ways that
the scriptures view those that are spoken of as righteous. We read the solemn words of our
Lord that he came not to call the righteous but sinners to
repentance. And so there are those that,
though the word is very clear that there are non-righteous
in God's sign, there are those that view themselves as if they
were righteous. Our Lord told of the parable
of the publican and of the Pharisee in the temple. And the Pharisee,
he could only speak of his good works and that which he had done,
that in his eyes recommended himself unto God. Meanwhile, the publican beat
upon his breast and prayed, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Word of God speaks of those that
are righteous in their own eyes. and those that view that their
deeds will recommend themselves unto God. Paul, when he writes
to the Romans in Romans 10, and he has that great desire that
his countrymen, the people of Israel, would be saved, and he
says that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. They being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. And so we have a most solemn
condition where there are those dying sinners, those who are
walking this earth, and they're viewing themselves as if God
would accept them, as if they are righteous, their works are
good and upright, Their thoughts, their deeds, everything in God's
sight are right, and yet God says that they are not right,
that they are unrighteous. And so we must be very careful
and search our own hearts as this regard in whose eyes are
we righteous, in our own only or in God's? The second way the scripture
speaks of righteous, the righteous, is our Lord Jesus Christ himself. John, in his epistles, he gives
this title to our Lord Jesus Christ, the righteous. And we have in Jeremiah two beautiful
passages. One, it speaks of the name of
the Lord Jesus. This is the name wherewith he
shall be called the Lord. our righteousness, and the other
he speaks of the Church, God's people. This is the name wherewith
she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. But it is
the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ that is so vital
for the Church of God. He had a righteousness that belongs
to him as the eternal Son of God, a righteousness that cannot
be imparted to any other, but then he has a righteousness that
he wrought out as being truly man, born of a woman and made
under the law that he might redeem them that are under the law. And that righteousness consisted
of his perfect life and obedience in all the days that he lived
here below. Never was there any sinful thought
or word or deed in the sight of God, not the sight of man,
the sight of God, in all his days. And we have it written
that he that hath two coats, let him give to him that hath
none. And the righteousness that our
Lord has wrought out is to be a righteousness to be given to
the people of God. It is that righteousness which
they rest and rely upon. We spoke on Wednesday at Selath
Chard of that word at the end of Isaiah 54. This is the heritage
of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of
me, saith the Lord. Isaiah 54 and verse 17. And so
that righteousness that the Lord Jesus Christ brought
out upon earth is to be imputed or put to the account of a believer,
of those that are brought to believe by the grace of God,
who have had their sins put away on Calvary's tree by our Lord
Jesus Christ. And he has then called them and
brought them to believe and to trust in his name, and He gives
them a righteousness, imparts it to them. He really only is
the only truly righteous one. He is the God-Man, the Savior,
the Redeemer, who has a righteousness to give to another, to give to
those that have none. So when we read the righteous
perisheth, and the righteous spoken of here We think of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and when we read this word perisheth, of
course, it cannot be that the Lord Jesus Christ perished, he
died, he rose again. It cannot be that God's children
perish. The word here really implies,
if we take it in the context, further in the verse, we have
and merciful men are taken away. And then the righteous is taken
away from the evil to come. So the picture is the death of
the righteous taken away from this earth, taken away from the
evil to come. But thirdly, we have then the
people of God when our Lord stood before Abraham, and Abraham pleaded
for Sodom, and especially for Lot. One of the things that Abraham
said, that God would not destroy the righteous with the wicked. And so there was a distinction
made between those that were walking in a wicked and an evil
way, and those that were walking in a righteous and an upright
way, and not a righteousness that would purchase us heaven
or make us acceptable in the sight of God, but walking in
a way that proved that the fear of God was before their eyes. They had been partakers of a
new birth. They were then walking as new
creatures in Christ, yes, as Old Testament saints by faith
in Christ, to come and so there was to be a distinction between
the two, those that were accounted righteous and who walked in a
way that was glorifying to God, not in open ways of wickedness
and of sin. And we read a lot that he vexed
his righteous soul day by day with their wicked deeds of those
that were round about him. And yet Lot by no means was not
perfect. He pitched his tent towards Sodom. He chose out that which was pleasant
and good with little regard of those that were living there
or walking there. And then we find by and by he's
not only pitching his tent toward, but he is in Sodom. And then
he is silent to his family concerning the wickedness. So when he has
to speak to them because the angels have come, they view him
as one that just mocks and they deride him. And yet he was righteous
and he was delivered. The Lord had mercy upon him and
set him apart. And all of God's children, they
in God's sight are accounted righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. Their righteousness is of me,
saith the Lord. They are in the sight of God,
clothed with that robe so typified by the skins that were used to
clothe Adam and Eve in their nakedness, by the robe that the
soldiers said of our Lord, let us not divide it, but let us
cast lots for it. that to be undivided, robed to
be as that which clothes the people of God, a righteousness,
so that they appear in the presence of God, faultless. There is no
spot in thee, says the Lord, thou art all pure, my love. And the bride, the church of
God, she says, I am black, but come thee. She feels her sinfulness,
she feels what she is by nature, but she has regard to what God
has given her in the Lord Jesus Christ. "'Tis He,' says the hymn
writer, "'instead of me is seen when I approach to God.'" So
we do need to be careful when we read of the righteous, to
understand who is being spoken of here, and of course here is
not those that are righteous in their own eyes. It is not
speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ, though indeed it would be a very
good thing if we did lay to heart the death, the sufferings, the
rising again of our Lord Jesus Christ. But this is speaking
of those who have been called by God's grace, whose lives,
while they are on this earth, have reflected that as new creatures
in Christ, where their trust has been, where they have looked
for redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, it is not so
much how we die, but how we live. There's a most solemn thing that
Balaam said, let me die the death of the righteous, and let my
last end be as his. And yet he did not desire to
live the life of the righteous. In fact, he died fighting against
Israel, and he taught Israel to sin, laying snares before
them. But if we are to die the death
of the righteous, then we also must live their life as well. Live trusting in the Lord and
His righteousness. Live seeking to walk in the fear
of the Lord and in the ways of the Lord. Growing in grace and
in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Known and read of all men, having
that witness that they seek after the Lord Jesus Christ that He
is precious to them, they love Him, they love His Word, they
love His people, they love His appearing, they love His blessing
in their souls, and they seek by grace to hate what He hates
and to walk in those ways that are pleasing to Him. The righteous,
not in their own eyes, they feel and know their sin, in the eyes
of the Lord, accounted righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our
text says, The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart,
and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous
is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace. They shall rest in their beds,
each one walking, in His uprightness. So I want to look then with the
Lord's help. Firstly, of the death of the
righteous. Secondly, a time to lay to heart
and consider. And then thirdly, the blessedness
of the righteous beyond the grave. But firstly, the death of the
righteous. How solemn that all must die,
even the righteous, even God's children. There are many things that lead
up to death, many afflictions and sicknesses that also come
as the fruit of sin. Every man, whether he fears God
or not, must surely die. That itself cannot be changed
or put away, and nor the afflictions and trials. We think especially
of the sovereignty of the Lord in this. We think of the Lord's
dear servant, Clifford Woodhouse, now for many years he has been
on a bed of affliction and for much of that time not able to
really communicate or recognise many that came to see him. And yet the Lord was pleased
to bring him into that path. And we know whatever the Lord
does, he has a purpose and reason for it. And much grace was seen
in his dear wife during that time. And no doubt many things
have been before the congregation there. Sometimes it is that death
is very sudden. We might not then have much time
to consider it ourselves or in others. Other times it is very
long. and afflictions very long. We
think of the dear friends in the pilgrim home, we hope to
minister to them this afternoon. But many of them may long, long
to go home, long to be taken, long to be with the Lord. And
yet the Lord spares their lives here, and they continue, sometimes
in great afflictions and great trial. But the Lord is sovereign,
in how he will bring those of his dear people home to glory. In John 17, he prays that first
that they be not taken out of the world, but that they be kept
from the evil. He doesn't pray that they be
kept from afflictions and trials and sorrows, but they be kept
from the evil. And then he prays that they might
be with him where he is, that they might behold his glory. There is a time, a time to live
and a time to die, and it is so then with the righteous. There's one sense with the righteous
that their death is not the first death that they will know. We
know that we all come forth into this world, we are dead in trespasses
and sins. But the Apostle Paul, who was
once a Pharisee of the Pharisees, trusting in his own righteousness,
tells of that time where the law came, that sin revived, and
I died. And so he came from that character
we described first as righteous in his own eyes to be unrighteous
in his own eyes and die to a help in self and die to saving himself
and made alive unto God. And really we may say all of
God's dear children know that change fast. that is typified
in baptism, buried with him by baptism into death and risen
again in newness of life. Tending forth the experience
of those that are slain by the word of God, those that are brought
into condemnation here below, not beyond the grave, brought so
that it can be said as the apostle testifies when he goes from Romans
7 to Romans 8, there is therefore now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after
the Spirit. And so when the righteous die
in that sense, it is a way that they go from being dead in sin
to alive unto God here. When they come to the end of
their journey here, then it is death again that provides that
vital transition, that change from being in the body, a body
of corruption, a body of death, being found separated from God,
and that death then makes that way and that channel that they
should appear in the presence of God. Paul says, absent from
the body, present with the Lord. It is vital that we must pass
that way. Yes, some, Enoch and Elijah,
did not. They were taken up, they were
transformed. And at the last day, when all
of the people of God are born and born again of the Spirit,
when the Lord comes again, there shall be those on earth that
will not die, that shall be changed, shall meet the Lord in the air,
and shall be forever with the Lord, of which Enoch and Elijah
are types. But the rest of us, the only
way that we can appear in the presence of God is through death. And the Lord Jesus Christ, in
what He has done, has conquered death and brought immortality
to life. He has brought that, that death
should be, as it were, a sleep, a channel that shall bring into
the presence of God and the blessings that flow beyond the grave. But we would remember this because
with the Lord's dear people, many have suffered some terrible
deaths. We think of Abel, the very first
person that ever died. died at the hand of his brother,
murdered, and murdered because God had respect unto his sacrifice
but not unto Cain's. And so Cain took away his brother's
life. We think of Josiah who died in
battle, yet a godly and a good king. We think of John the Baptist
who came before our Lord, the last of the prophets, to see
our Lord and to testify and point to behold the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world. And yet his death was so sudden
from the prison and in darkness and beheaded at the request of
a wicked woman. We think of Stephen. the first
martyr in the Christian Church. He who was stoned to death as
he testified to his nation, going right back through their history,
showing how they had dealt with the prophets of the Lord and
how they had responded to the message that had been brought
to them again and again. And as he died, he looked up
and he testified of seeing the Lord standing at the right hand
of the throne of God, the death of the righteous. Although we
have the word that we are to behold the upright and behold
the righteous, for the end of that man is peace, yet we know
that there are those that are very clearly the Lord's dear
people, yet they've died in war, they've died as the martyrs in
the fires, And sometimes these things can be a real trial to
the people of God. We think of the psalmist in Psalm
73, when he saw the life of the wicked. And one of the things
that he said, and how that his feet were in slippery places,
almost gone, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked, And one of the
first things he mentions is not their life, but their death. And he says in verse four, for
there are no bands in their death, but their strength is firm. They're
not in trouble as other men, and he's referring to God's children
as those other men. Neither are they plagued like
other men. In other words, God's children
are in trouble. God's children are plagued, but
here is the wicked, and there's no bans or no trouble. But you
know those wicked, they don't know what is beyond the grave.
They don't see their own unrighteousness. They don't know the judgment
of God. They cannot see that which the
righteous can see. They do not know the issues of
life and death that the righteous see. We read the effect of this on
the people of God. Therefore his people return hither,
and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. But then Asaph, he goes into
the house of God. He says, when I thought to know
these things about the end of the wicked, end of the righteous,
It was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of
God, then understood I their end. Surely thou did set them
in slippery places, thou castest them down into destruction, brought
into desolation, as in the moment they are utterly consumed with
terrors. And so it is beyond the grave,
the death of the righteous, the righteous must pass from this
time state into the presence of the Lord, must go through
that change, and he's spoken of as the last enemy. And when
we think of it, we've never walked that path before. We breathe
the air of this world, we eat the food of this world, we fashioned
our bodies for this world, The thoughts of another world, the
thoughts of another state, we cannot enter into that but by
faith. And so the death of the righteous,
it is a hope beyond the grave. In the Proverbs we read, the
wicked is driven away in his wickedness, but the righteous
hath hope in his death, a hope in his death. For many are by
nature, all their hopes, if they have been placed in this world,
are gone in death. But with the righteous, they
have hope in their death. And that is emphasized here in
this text. But one thing is clear. that
when the Lord takes away his dear people, it is the same as
with any. The place that knew them shall
know them no more forever. Whatever benefit and blessing
the Church of God, their families, their loved ones had here below,
that benefit, apart from their prayers that still remain, may
be unanswered, that shall be answered. They do not have that
benefit of them here. Sometimes we cannot understand
this. We puzzle when those that are
so useful in the Church of God are taken away when they're young,
taken away in their prime, and we wonder what the Lord is doing. But the Lord is sovereign, shall
not he do with his own as he will? that time when he takes
them, he will come again and receive them unto himself, that
where he is, there they will be also. And so the death of
the righteous is a time when the Lord shall come for his people. It is spoken of like Stephen,
he fell on sleep. It is like the apostle was persuaded
of absent from the body and present with the Lord. And yet it is
through death to many, they view it exactly the same as the righteous,
unrighteous, he that serveth God and him that serveth him
not, they all must pass that way. And looking upon those that
die, they see the breath go from the body, the life go, lifeless
form there, And it is by faith that we view and see the reality
of that change, how very, very different it is between God's
people and those that are not, those who are saved and those
that are lost. The righteous perisheth, the
death of the righteous. We must die. For God's dear people, they are
being gathered and they're gathered home, so he bringeth them to
their desired haven. In this manner and in this way
he bringeth them to their desired haven. On to their notice in
the second place. There is a time to lay to heart
and to consider. It's a solemn thing in the words
of our text, that the Holy Spirit has recorded that no man layeth
it to heart, none considering the righteous is taken away from
the evil to come. So it is a time to lay to heart
and a time to consider. And yet it appears to be something
that most men, or here it says no man, will actually do. We'll just pass on, we'll just
say, well, it's just another person that has died, and not
give it a second thought. Not really have it laid upon
the heart to really feel it and to be touched by it, to be affected
by it. And we need to ask ourselves
why this is so. You might say, sometimes we might
really be affected if we see a terrible accident or a terrible
judgment upon someone that has been very wicked, and we think
what a solemn thing that that is. But this is the Lord's people
being taken. The Lord taking his sheep home. The Lord taking his ransomed
people home. The church on earth has been
deprived of them as it were. The church in heaven has had
them gathered. But what about our own condition? a reminder that we also must
die, a reminder that we also must depart this life. And when we are faced with the
death of the righteous, very often there are aspects that
are to be laid to heart, are to be noticed. Some of the Lord's
dear people They have been struck down with illnesses that they
have then groaned under for many a day. And some people, they
live in thinking, well, we can just put off and there'll come
a time when when we see death near, then we can turn to the
Lord, then we'll seek the Lord. But you know, I've seen so many
times the afflictions that come gradually, or some that they'll
come very suddenly, and the reason the mind is taken away, and those
dear people have known the Lord, blessed with the Lord's presence,
and it is all settled. But what a solemn thing to be
in that case, and I know the Lord can break through it, but
it is easy for us to rest in prosperity, in health, in strength,
and to put off that time and not really be honest with ourselves
or to consider how we would stand. The words of our text, in one
sense, make a judgment. He's looking upon those that
we esteem as being the Lord's and taken home to glory. But
do we make that judgment on ourselves? How easy it is to be partial
how easy it is to pass over things that really we should be laying
to heart and really considering how the state of our soul is. We mentioned before, Josiah. Josiah was prophesied of coming
to be a king, 300 years before he was born. He was told what
he should do when Jeroboam took the kingdom from Rehoboam and
he made those false and wrong altars to stop the people of
God coming to Jerusalem. Then the prophet, often known
as the disobedient prophet because he didn't do what the Lord commanded him
to do, that is, not to eat and drink in that place, but to go
out another way. And a lion slew him. But it came
to pass, 300 or so years after, that he did break down those
altars, he did burn men's bones on them. He was a godly king,
godly king, eight years old, reigned 31 years. But when they were renovating
the temple, they found the law of the Lord. And Josiah humbled
himself greatly before the Lord because of realizing that they
had done so evilly as a nation. And God said there was a message
that he would bring judgment on that nation for those sins,
that the man that sent to the prophetess, because of those
words, because his heart was tender, because he'd humbled
himself, that he should be gathered to his fathers in peace, and
that he would not see that evil that was coming. And yet Josiah
died in battle. And you might say, how does that
be, to die in peace? He died in battle. But the emphasis
is For Josiah to live as Jeremiah did, and see God's judgment on
the land, and to see the destruction of the temple, that was what
he was preserved from, that he was kept from. Because we are
told, he and none considering the righteous is taken away from
the evil to come. So the emphasis here in relation
to Josiah is not the manner of his death, but what he was preserved
from seeing would come after he died. Now of course Jeremiah
was not spared that, he did see it. We think of the martyrs,
there were those that would have died before the reign of Bloody
Queen Mary. as she is known, as slaying so
many of the Lord's people. And they are preserved from that
time and seeing all what's happening that time. Others of the Lord's
dear people, they had to walk through that time, that is very,
very clear. But the Lord put such a weight,
the Lord's dear people, they love his name, they love the
church. And yet how many of them, The
Lord has spared them seeing what has happened to the house of
God, seeing what has happened to their children or grandchildren,
seeing what is coming upon the earth. And so this is one of
the things that is emphasized here, non-considering the righteous
is taken away from the evil to come. The evils that are coming,
we that are still alive, we've still got those things. in front
of us still may have to walk through those things. We think of Hezekiah. Hezekiah
was raised up from death, given an extra 15 years of life, and
yet then he showed to the messengers from Babylon all his household.
So the Lord sent a prophet to him and asked him what they'd
seen. and prophesied that it would
happen some 150 years later, that Babylon would come and take
all those things away. But he was also given the promise
that he would be gathered to his fathers in peace. And Hezekiah
felt that a blessing, that he would not live to see all of
that destruction that was to come. There are many things,
O Lord, has said will come upon this earth and is counted here
a blessing when the Lord takes his dear people home and they
don't see it. Many of us can think of our parents
or grandparents and sometimes may have said that we are thankful
that they did not live to see this or that happen in our families
or the Church of God. And so It is something to really
consider our own state, our condition, what is before us on the earth,
and are we really setting our affections, not on earth, but
on heaven. Not only is the picture in our
text set before us as death, but it's also the things that
are coming on the earth, the judgments of the Lord. And what a reminder that our
affections, our desires, should be above. That we should be as
strangers as pilgrims here, that declare plainly that we seek
a city yet to come. And that when the Lord's people
go before us, that we should have that desire and longing,
that we might be followers of them who, through faith and patience,
inherit the promises, that we might desire to get there too. So let us consider lastly the
blessedness of the righteous beyond the grave. There's a most
solemn contrast in scripture. Our Lord told the parable of
Lazarus and the rich man. On earth, the rich man had everything. Lazarus was laid at his gate,
covered with sores. Now, of course, he's not suggesting
that the rich always go to hell, and that the poor, they go to
heaven. But it is a contrast, and Lazarus
obviously had the faith of God, he's bound up in the covenant,
and when, after death, we have another picture, a picture so
different than on earth. Maybe never fall into the trap
of judging that because We are blessed temporally on earth,
will be blessed in heaven. Or because we have poverty and
trial on earth, we shall not have the blessings of heaven.
Because the Lord gives us the picture of Abraham having Lazarus
in his bosom in the covenant, comforted in the peace that Lazarus
had. But the rich man, lifting up
his eyes in hell and in torments, desired that. Lazarus might come
and quench his tongue with water, tormented in the flame. What
a contrast that that was so. What a contrast we had in Psalm
73 as well. But for the people of God there
is a blessedness. They are given that entrance
into heaven, that sight Now his sight, Paul says, we shall know
even as we are known. The Lord, who is the author and
finisher of faith, changes that faith that was first given at
the new birth into sight, and that we shall see him as he is. It is a great blessedness for
the people of God, no more sin, no more sorrow, no more Satan. Number one time so favoured and
blessed in my soul, you know, I feared life more than death.
When we have that sweet assurance and blessing of the Lord in our
soul, there is that longing after Him. But here below we have so
many adversaries, so many sins. I always think of the time of
the late deacon in Geelong Chapel in Australia. He spoke of the
death of his mother, just before she breathed the last, taking
the bedclothes, moving them round in a circle, and she said, victory,
victory, victory, and then lay down and died. And I thought,
that dear woman, she must have seen so clearly as it were, one
foot one side of the grave and one the other, and in the actual
article of death, realised that she'd obtained the full and complete
victory. And that is a very sweet and
blessed blessing to have. I think of that time, seeking
to find the grave of a dear sister of faith that I'd buried in Australia
sometime after in the large cemetery. And as I drove around the roads
of that cemetery, the Lord dropped in the words, among the dead. And that beautiful
realization that though her mortal remains were there, she was with
the Lord. The reality of that is a great,
great blessing. Absent from the body, present
with the Lord. Our text says the righteous perisheth. Yes, they perish or they cease
to be here below. but they do not perish, they
are not lost, they're not destroyed, they do not die eternally, their
body dies, the tabernacle is laid down, but their souls are
forever with the Lord. So shall we be forever with the
Lord. The apostle was seeking to comfort
the Thessalonians who thought that those of their loved ones
had perished and had died The resurrection was passed in that
beautiful fourth chapter in the first epistle to the Thessalonians. He tells them the reality that
their loved ones are with the Lord. When the Lord comes again,
he'll bring them with them. They haven't perished, they're
with the Lord. And he says, wherefore comfort
one another with these words. The reality of that which is
to come, that beautiful chapter one, Corinthians 15, where the
Lord, the Apostle Paul counteracts the error that the Corinthian
church had, saying there was no resurrection of the dead.
There is. And that blessed chapter, he
opens up how it shall be. In Christ's day on earth, there
were those that came seeking to trip him up, or to prove that
there could not be a resurrection through the law, that when a
man died without an issue, that his brother should raise up seed
to him. And they proposed and said there
was one woman that had five husbands, seven husbands. Who should she
be in the resurrection? They all had her. And the Lord
said, ye do err not knowing the scriptures and the power of God. There is a resurrection and the
power of God to bring a soul to Him, to raise up that mortal
flesh again and to present us faultless before the throne.
In Ephesians 1, the apostle tells the Ephesians that the power
of God was wrought in them To call them by grace was the same
power that raised up Christ from the dead. That power is put forth
in regeneration, and that power is put forth to bring safely
unto the Lord. But what a description we have
here in verse 2. He shall enter into peace. They
shall rest in their beds. but lest it be thought, as it
were, that it is just resting or just peace in that way, each
one walking in his uprightness. That existence and that blessing,
Paul said, it has not entered into the heart of man what God
hath prepared for them that love him. And I've often thought If
here below are types and shadows, this is a shadow, and yet we
can see each other, we can hear, we have all our senses of touch,
of smell, the enjoyment of everything here, and yet these are but shadows. That which is beyond the grave
is more real, more beautiful, more lovely. No sin mixed with
it, and no death. we cannot enter into, really,
what it will be like. The same as when it was said
in Isaiah 64 concerning the Old Testament Church, the Jewish
Church could not anticipate what it is today in every nation,
kindred and tongue, with the Gentiles entering into and being
fellow heirs. They could not have pictured
all of the churches in every nation They could not have pictured
in gathering together for worship and to seeing so clearly the
fulfilment of all the types and the shadows. But we see that
which is being done and we as well looking forward cannot really
enter into what the Lord has prepared for them that love Him. But when the Lord's people are
taken home, These are times that we should lay this to heart,
and we should consider it. We should think of those things
coming on the earth when we are making this world our rest, when
perhaps we are, shall I say, sitting on the fence, not in
the church, not out the church, amongst the people of God, but
not really with the people of God. and we are to lay this to
heart and really ask ourselves where we stand. Are we amongst
those made righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ, those for whom
it shall be at death to enter into peace? May the Lord bless
us with prophet at such times as this that are repeated again
and again in our lives, not just once, but many times, certainly
with myself over the last couple of months, known several, the
Lord's dear people taken home. So may we have the Lord bless
this word to us. May He comfort those in bereavement
at this time. Amen.