WHAT CAN THE DEAD TELL US?

My first real exposure to the dead (up close and personal) was the day I went to the local hospital and had to find the “necrology” department.  Let me give you some background; Judy and I had moved into the upstairs apartment of a local funeral home and, as our third job between the two of us, we were the live-in caretakers.  Our job description included, but was not limited to: working visitations, keeping the place clean, answering the phone throughout the night, helping during services, and making removals from homes, or the hospitals.  The first time I went to the necrology department by myself was the first time I ever went there.  Naturally it was an old hospital and necrology was in the basement.  I will spare you the details, but it was just like in the movies: a long hallway with half the light bulbs burned out, not another soul around, just me and…you know…it’s the necrology department.

I think most people have at least some aversion to the dead.  Most of us don’t spend any great deal of time around those who are deceased and I have found an awkwardness exhibited by most when they have to come in contact with someone who has died. 

There are those among us who claim they can make contact with the dead – we call them: spiritualist, mediums, or necromancers.  In a more “culturally sensitive” form there are also fortune tellers, palm readers, and those who play with Ouija Boards.  Scripture says that these people are all to be avoided.  We are to have nothing to do with them or anyone else who thinks they can communicate with the dead or tell the future.  There are only two sources of knowledge of the future or communication with any other realm of existence: Satan and the Lord.  The Lord will contact us if He deems it necessary.  If we go looking for Satan, he is only too happy to oblige our ignorant search for what we are forbidden to seek.

All of this is an introduction to the prophet Isaiah’s world where necromancers were operating with the blessing of king Ahaz.  The kingdom of Judah is seemingly going down the drain, so Ahaz has made a bargain with the Assyrians, seeking their protection against lesser invaders, and now the Assyrians have decided that the kingdom of Judah is “easy pickings” and they will take the land for their own.  Where is God when His covenant people need Him most?  God is still around…His people are the ones who have trusted in gods of lesser abilities.

I don’t know the attraction, but in this day people are moving away from church and yet studies show they are more interested in ‘spiritual” things than ever before, so why is it that they turn to horoscopes, mediums, and even all sorts of false ways to seek the Truth?

Even though Ahaz was seeking after other gods, the Lord was still about the business of keeping His people safe.  He told Ahaz this and even gave him the chance to ask for a sign as proof of His promise to act to keep His covenant people secure.  When Ahaz declined to ask for a sign God gave him one anyway – a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Immanuel. 

My friends, anything other than the God of Scripture, the God who created all we see and the God who knows your very thoughts is a false god and one that will provide false assurance, false knowledge and false hope.  Our Heavenly Father did not want there to be any misunderstandings about His intentions: He will save His people!  And to make sure we understand this He chose to achieve this in a way that could not be misunderstood as anything other than divine power – the Son of God came into this world, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. 

Let’s see your daily horoscope top that!

DO THEY HATE YOU ENOUGH?

“I have decided to stick with love.  Hate is too great a burden to bear.”  Martin Luther King, Jr.

“It is a curious subject of observation and inquiry, whether hatred and love be not the same thing at bottom. Each, in its utmost development, supposes a high degree of intimacy and heart-knowledge; each renders one individual dependent for the food of his affections and spiritual life upon another; each leaves the passionate lover, or the no less passionate hater, forlorn and desolate by the withdrawal of his object.”  Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

The most hated words ever spoken were…”Lazarus, come out.”  Jesus spoke these words knowing they would drive the Sanhedrin to plot His death.  These words of love, healing, grace and resurrection; of such comfort and mercy were the very words that would send men over the edge in hatred for Him.  Why is this?  How is this possible?

It happens often enough to ask the question, “Why, in demonstrating acts of love are Christians hated?”  Jesus raised a dead man.  Four days Lazarus had been in that grave and when Jesus told the men to move the stone Martha yells out “by this time there will be a stench!”  The man was dead.  Jesus brought him back to life.  Jesus brought him back from the bliss of heaven into the sinfulness of this world in a grand demonstration of love and mercy and all the Sanhedrin could think to do was to redouble their efforts to kill Him.

It is a very tough predicament for the believer: the love of Christ compels us to act in ways that will cause those who are in darkness to hate us.  Paul says that some of the marks of a true Christian are: feeding your enemy when he is hungry, giving your enemy something to drink when he is thirsty.  What is the purpose of these actions of love?  For some non-believers it will be a physical act of Christ-like love that the Lord will use to open their eyes to the saving grace of Christ.  For others it will be like hot coals heaped upon their heads that will lead to anger, hatred or possibly shame. 

This miracle of Jesus, which could not be denied, results in greater hatred of Him by those whose expectations He was not meeting.  Their hearts were not softened by His mercy, they were hardened. 

How about this for a thought – If you have never been screamed at, threatened, spit upon or kick, maybe it’s because you haven’t acted enough like Christ? 

That is a frightening thought.  Is it true?

LORD, YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!

I was 17 years old and had been a believer for 2 of those years.  I was on hiatus from the northern Presbyterian Church that I had attended since I was carried up the aisle to be baptized and was spending some time in a Full Gospel Church.  I remember the first time I heard the pastor mention a certain girl’s name and the very serious illness that she had – we, as a church, on that Sunday began to pray for the Lord to heal her…and we prayed with expectation!  Every week we heard reports on her continued decline and every week we would pray in earnest for her healing.  After all, wouldn’t God be glorified if this young girl, who medicine could not heal, got out of her sick bed and walked into church one Sunday morning perfectly well? 

She died and I faced my first great theological conflict.  Why hadn’t God healed this precious girl?  She was a believer, she was “innocent” as far as the standards of the world, it was a great chance to demonstrate His grace and power, and we were praying for it to happen.  We all wept that Sunday at the news of her death and the pastor, in all earnestness and humility said that perhaps he had not had enough faith or that there were some who doubted the possibility of her healing.  He did not mention God’s sovereignty.  He did not mention the possibility that God was glorified in this girl’s sickness and death.  He did not mention that her suffering could have been for our benefit and His glory. 

In John 11, Jesus did not rush to the sick bed of Lazarus to provide healing.  Mary and Martha were well aware that Jesus could heal their brother, even from afar, so they placed their faith in Him by simply stating that the one Jesus loved was sick.  Jesus purposely delayed His departure for two more days – Lazarus died.  Why? 

Lazarus died because those around Jesus did not need to see Him heal a sick man; he died so that their faith would be strengthened and God glorified by the raising of a dead man.  It was a greater demonstration of love to allow Lazarus to die than to heal him.  That can be a tough think to understand! 

I have seen much death, much suffering and some miraculous healing.  I have reached the point that I no longer ask the Lord “why He didn’t heal my friend.” I have been at Central long enough that every funeral I do is for one of my friends, so now I ask Him, “How is your glory manifest in their suffering and death?”  It may not always be readily visibly, but His glory is there; in fact, I may not even be able to see it in my lifetime.  Do I pray that the Lord will bring healing and manifest His glory in that fashion?  Yes, every time.  But I also realize that the greater demonstration of His love may be in a negative answer to my prayers.