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The Sinner’s Bones

[The humble man] sees that sin is so bred in the bone, that till his bones, as Joseph’s, be carried out of the Egypt of this world, it will not out.

-Thomas Brooks, The Unsearchable Riches of Christ, from Works vol. 3, p. 28.

Sin is so deep that until our bones be brought out of the grave and into the Promised Land they will never truly have rest. We’ll go to the grave in this world, but we will not be content to let our bones remain there. And we must have a greater Joshua (Joshua 24:32) to finish that work and plant us where we belong.

  • By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones (Hebrews 11:22).

Only a Seed

A cemetery flower, a real cemetery flower, not man-made,
Looked on as the mourners gathered around a grave.
He was a young flower, perhaps a bit naive and green,
But he could not understand the sight he had just seen.

As the men and women placed the casket in the ground,
Many were sobbing, weeping, and all were wearing frowns.
The flower wished that he could find a way to communicate
His own reasonings about what was taking place.

He thought to himself, ‘If I could only tell them about me,
That a short time ago I too was only a seed.’

Be Mindful of the Grave…and of the Empty Grave

We are more sure to arise out of our graves than out of our beds.

-Thomas Watson (see HERE), quoted in A Puritan Golden Treasury, p. 246.

Watson points two two great truths in one beautiful sentence: 1) We are not promised another day and 2) we are promised eternity. Or you could put it this way: We do not know what tomorrow brings, but nonetheless we know the future. We therefore should number our days and count on eternity – be mindful of the shortness of life, and of everlasting life.

We should improve the time while being mindful of the time of improvement. Make much of the time, knowing that eternity looms on the horizon.

Be mindful of the tomb and of the empty tomb.

  • James 4:14 Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
  • Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
  • 2 Peter 3:13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 14 ¶ Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.

 

The Lord has written the promise of the resurrection…in every leaf in spring-time

The Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in spring-time.

-Martin Luther, Watchwords for the Warfare of Life, p. 317.

  • Job 14:7 “For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease. 8 Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the soil, 9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put out branches like a young plant.
  • Psalm 1:3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.

Resting Until the Reaping

One of my favorite Q/A’s from the Westminster Shorter Catechism has been on my mind today for no particular reason:

Q. 37. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?
A. The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves, till the resurrection.

I don’t know where the following line of thought comes from (I know I got it from somewhere), but it is relevant: What is the difference between the act of burying a corpse and the act of planting a seed? The expectation.

But Christ is coming to reap a harvest of resurrected bodies. Our expectations should be different than what they generally are. A body united to Christ can’t stay dead because He is not dead.

Johnny Cash, and others, put it well:

There ain’t no grave can hold my body down.
There ain’t no grave can hold my body down.
When I hear that trumpet sound, I’m gonna rise right out of the ground.
There ain’t no grave can hold my body down.

  • 1 Corinthians 15:42 ¶ So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.