Priestly Power in Bereavement

PRIESTLY POWER IN BEREAVEMENT

Being an Address at a child's funeral 

Ezekiel 24:15 - 24, 27 

As is known to most of us, and has been intimated in prayer, we are together not at an ordinary funeral service, but an extraordinary one. Although that of a child who, as we may say, did not know his right hand from his left, yet the circumstances of his removal from our midst -- the sorrow being occasioned instantaneously -- are such as to appeal to us, and draw out those deep sympathies of which we Christians are peculiarly capable. Our sympathies are not now with regard to the child himself. It has been remarked in prayer that David, as his child was taken, through death, said: "I shall go to him, but he will not return to me" (2 Samuel 12:23). He spoke with intelligence and resignation, but then he did more -- he arose from the earth, on which he had rightly lain in suitable humility and contrition of heart, and washed and anointed himself and changed his apparel, and entered into the house of Jehovah and worshipped. He did a great thing. He acted as one who knew God, showing that grief occasioned by a governmental dealing of God may become power in the believer for worship. That incident encourages me in reading this scripture, although it has been on my mind since I heard of this great sorrow, and I mentioned it to our beloved brother for his comfort; and David's movement at that extraordinary time, to which I have referred, encourages me to take up this passage, because it is a priestly passage.

The more circumstances such as these are calculated to affect us naturally, the more the urgency to introduce what is priestly; and so that I may be understood, I use the word 'priestly' in its spiritual sense, that is, as referring to Christ, the great High Priest in heaven, and as referring to His people, for as here on earth having the Holy Spirit, they are priests. Thus the remark just made will be understood; the more the circumstances of an occasion like this are calculated to affect us naturally, the greater the need there is for the spiritual. This should be understood in result, for it lifts people out of the natural into the realm of confidence, into the realm of hope -- "and hope does not make ashamed" (Romans 5:5); so that, although we feel things, we are not as others who have no hope. We belong to the priestly family.

Now it was permitted the ordinary priests -- the sons of Aaron -- to mourn under certain circumstances in a limited way; but the high priest, never! Leviticus 21:10 - 12. That is to say, Christ has passed out of the circumstances of flesh and blood. Having died and risen He has gone into heaven, and is constituted a Priest for ever; and whilst He is capable of being touched with the feeling of our infirmities, it is not in a natural way. As here in the flesh, He was capable of tears; but it will be remembered by those who have read Scripture, that the Lord did not weep with regard to Lazarus, until He saw Mary weeping and the Jews that were with her. His perfect humanity was evidenced by the fact that He was capable of being affected by mourners. When He spoke of Lazarus's illness, He had no tears; when He spoke of Lazarus's death, He had no tears; because He was, speaking reverently, Priest, and had said that the sickness was not unto death, but for the glory of God. That was the priestly side. It was when He saw Mary's tears and those of the Jews that accompanied her, that He wept. He was a real Man; He was the Son of God; He was Himself God come down in real and holy incarnation: but He had already said that the sickness of Lazarus was not unto death, but for the glory of God. It was really unto death, but it was for the glory of God, for Lazarus was raised. Normally, every sickness and every death of a saint, is for the glory of God.

Having made these remarks, I would briefly direct your minds to the passage I read. As I said, in seeking to stress the spiritual, I am far from being oblivious of the actual circumstances in this sorrow: it is a great sorrow. Most of us have been to burial services before; but we are here today, not as business acquaintances of our beloved brother and sister -- not as neighbours -- not even as relatives in the flesh. There are indeed natural relatives here, also neighbours, and business or professional acquaintances; but most of us are here because we are Christians, because we are linked up vitally with our brother and sister, because we belong to the assembly: and it is said of those that if one member suffer, all suffer. Such is the living link among the people of God today.

Now, I am speaking of all Christians. Every true believer in Christ has the Holy Spirit, speaking generally, and is vitally linked up with all other Christians and with Christ in heaven as their great Head. So the assembly is not only an organisation, but an organism -- that which is capable of being affected throughout, as the human body is, if one member suffer. If one member suffer, all do. We are here in that keen sensibility of sharing the sufferings with our dear brother and sister. We do share them, but what I have to remark now in a very brief manner, is that the spiritual is the chief thought. It must be, for it implies God's part in what is before us.

And so the passage I read records this remarkable experience of the prophet Ezekiel, which doubtless has struck some of you as very extraordinary; but, as I said at the beginning, it is a priestly matter. It is a passage calculated to lift us out of the natural into the spiritual, to take us out of immediate natural surroundings into the wide realm of God and His purpose; for His government here has His eternal purpose in view. Ezekiel is one of the two prophets formally mentioned as priests. Jeremiah was a priest, but it is only said of him that he was one of the priests in a certain place; whereas, Ezekiel is the priest. He is said to be Ezekiel, the priest; so that in his book we are in the presence of ministry that is peculiarly priestly. This passage represents the book as much as any other in it, and so the word is that the desire of his eyes is to be taken away from him.

It might seem extraordinary that a wife should thus have to die in order that Ezekiel should be a sign -- a sign to Israel; In other words, the death of this woman -- evidently a wife to be desired, as it is said "the desire of thine eyes" -- a wife that would be missed, a wife whose death would be an irreparable loss, speaking naturally, has got to die, not on her own account, but on account of Ezekiel, on account of the testimony, that Ezekiel should be a sign to Israel. How remarkable all this is! How remarkable are the ways of God! If a child has to be sacrificed in the ways of God and a sign is established in Israel, in the assembly, as a result, how differently we must look at it! How different it is! We are not minimising the natural, no! The Lord Jesus did not at the grave of Lazarus; but He had already established what I am speaking of; that the great spiritual side of the death of Lazarus should be for the glory of God: and it was. And so here, this woman -- this wife -- has to die; and she dies the next day. And Ezekiel abides by the commandment of Jehovah; he does not depart for a moment from it. He refuses to mourn, to shed tears. He is just as he had always been and as God commanded, and the people are noticing. "Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us which thou doest?" How important that is!

Now our dear brother is no less than a priest, let it be understood; our sister is no less than a priest, let it be understood; that is to say, they are Christians; they have the Holy Spirit, and not only this, but our brother is a minister of Christ. These things are of prime importance in heaven, and all the movements of heaven in regard to them have these things in view. "Wilt thou not tell us", the people say to Ezekiel; and he tells them exactly what the thing means; that he was to be a sign to Israel, and that Israel was to learn the mind of God from him. Israel now had an asset they did not have before; they had indeed in Ezekiel a priest before; they had a prophet, before: but they did not have the man who had lost his wife in these extraordinary circumstances, nor did they have a man who had such communications from Jehovah in regard to the loss of his wife; that the loss of his wife would make him a sign to the people of God.

The immediate lesson to be learned was that God was dealing with the temple in Jerusalem (verse 21). It was the desire of the eyes of Israel; they prided themselves in it; it was the ornament on earth in God's mind, too; but the circumstances required that He should deal with it judicially, and there was to be no mourning. Ezekiel was to be a sign with regard to all this. And so it is that this circumstance now before us may result similarly; that we may all learn not to value unduly what stands in a similar relation here, even although it may have had a spiritual setting at one time; that is to say, the public body, the assembly, has become such that God has had to deal with it judicially. There are those who cling to it; they cherish it, but they do not see that God is removing it judicially; and this is to be a sign. It may be some local matter; it may be a general matter: but what is before us today is to be a sign that God is dealing with something else; in other words, that we are all to come round to the priestly position; and then how great the gain will be! Our brother and sister are suffering for us, if this is to be the case; they are to be the sign to us; and they are to be in the good of it and are to act in it; they are to prove that they are superior to the natural for the sake of the spiritual.

And so at the end, as you will observe, it says, "In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him that is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb. So shalt thou be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am Jehovah". Is that not a wonderful result? I am not speaking theoretically, beloved; far otherwise. I know something whereof I speak, that these things are worth the while. God forbid that any should be hard in any way, but these things are worth the while if the saints of God come into such results as these; that a saint opens his mouth and is able to speak and the people come to know God, as it says: "Be no more dumb. So shalt thou be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am Jehovah".

That is what I had in my mind. What I am saying is not exactly the gospel. We are nearly all Christians here, and it is a question in the mind of God in these things -- what He has in view. And we are not to sorrow as those who have no hope. It is only a moment until all this is over. It is a question of looking things in the face. In the meanwhile, we shall have the sympathies of our great Head. It is only a moment until all is over, and in the meantime we are to be here with a sense of what is priestly; so that the people may come to know Jehovah; that is to say, they may know the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.