Praise the Lord for this new day.
The Lord blessed us with a wonderful Wednesday Evening gathering. He always
prepares a banqueting table before us. There was food galore. We have been
studying the Book of Acts, and looking at the sermons Peter preached. I believe
that every preacher has only one sermon. He proclaims it in various formats and
vignettes. Peter had only one sermon: Jesus's death and Resurrection and
second coming.
Often we hear about Christmas sales
in July. I was listening to Handel's Messiah few days ago. In my
contemplative moments I go around humming some of the portions from Messiah.
This happens to me throughout the year. Every time I get go to London I make a
point to visit the historic and the majestic Westminster Abbey. When ever I am
in the Abbey I stand by the grave of David Livingston and I also visit the Poets
Corner at the Abbey. At Westminster Abbey there is an impressive monument to
G. F. Handel, sculpted by the Frenchman Louis-Francois Roubiliac. There
the great composer stands against a tableau of musical instruments, holding a
sheet of music that reads: "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall
stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though worms destroy this body, yet
in my flesh shall I see God."
Handel's monument is doubly
appropriate. First, it preserves in stone the memory of one of the sweetest
melodies from Messiah, the composer's greatest masterpiece. More than
that, it expresses Handel's only hope of immortality. There is in the soul of
every man a desire to live forever in the presence of God. However, not even
Handel's music—as great as it is—can make him truly immortal. Eternal life only
comes from the Redeemer Jesus Christ, who is alive by the power of his
resurrection, and who has promised to make every believer see the glory of
God.
The resurrection of Christ was
mentioned already in Part II of Messiah, with a promise from Psalm 16: "But thou didst not leave
his soul in hell, nor didst thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption." The
oratorio proceeded to describe the Messiah's ascension to heaven, followed by
the extension of his kingdom. The work seemed to reach its musical and
theological climax at the end of Part II, with the famous Hallelujah Chorus:
"The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ;
and he shall reign for ever and ever." The
Messiah's work is not finished, however. If his people are to join the
everlasting song, they too must be raised from the dead. For this reason Part
III of Messiah celebrates the bodily resurrection of God's people,
including their justification at God's throne and their glorification of the
Lamb.
The Old Testament contains many promises of God's plan to raise his people from the dead. One of the strongest comes from the life of Job, who spoke from the very depths of human suffering: "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" (Job 19:25-27). Job's many sufferings brought him near to the point of desperation, yet rather than giving in to despair, he made his remarkable statement of faith. It is especially significant that Job should believe in the resurrection of the body because he had endured such painful physical torment.
Job had an even deeper longing, a
longing that could not be satisfied merely by his resurrection in the flesh. He
longed to see God. The Holy Spirit revealed
to Job that one day his longing would be satisfied. "I myself will see him with
my own eyes—I, and not another" he said (Job
19:27).
Lately I have been reading about
the Scottish Presbyterian Thomas Boston. When
Boston was a young boy, playing in the church cemetery, he happened upon an open
grave. There , to his unforgettable horror, he saw a blackened corpse. He later
wrote that this experience helped him "perceive what a loathsome thing my body
must at length become before it be reduced to dust." The experience also gave
Boston a deep yearning for the resurrection of the body, a yearning that
deepened when he had the sad misfortune to bury six of his ten children in
infancy. In his memoirs, Boston describes burying
one of his newborn sons: "When the child was laid in the coffin, his mother
kissed his dust. I only lifted the cloth off his face, looked on it, and covered
it again, in confidence of seeing that body rise a glorious body."
As much as Thomas Boston longed to
see his son in glory, he had an even more passionate longing. Like Job, he
wanted to gaze upon the Son of God. This is the way he imagined it:
[The saints] shall see Jesus Christ, God and man, with their bodily eyes, as He will never lay aside the human nature. They will behold that glorious blessed body, which is personally united to the divine nature, and exalted above principalities and powers and every name that is named. There we shall see, with our eyes, that very body which was born of Mary at Bethlehem, and crucified at Jerusalem between two thieves: the blessed head that was crowned with thorns; the face that was spit upon; the hands and feet that were nailed to the cross; all shining with inconceivable glory. The glory of the man Christ will attract the eyes of all the saints.
Boston had the same faith as Job.
He knew that after his skin was destroyed, yet in his flesh he would see God.
Everyone who trusts the living Redeemer has this same hope and this same
assurance.
in Christ,
Brown
No comments:
Post a Comment