THE GRACE OF GOD
Jim T Brown
Hebrews 2: 9 (“so … everything” (note ‘f’ ‘every one’))
How vast and extensive the grace of God is, “the grace of God which carries with it salvation for all men”, Tit 2: 11. It “has appeared” in Jesus. By that same grace the Lord Jesus tasted “death for everything”; He tasted it for you and me. He, of course, personally was immune from death; He was superior to death. As John says, “we … report to you the eternal life, which was with the Father” (1 John 1: 2), that is, the Lord Jesus as He was down here as a blessed Man. Death had no claim on Him but He tasted it for us.
Our brother in prayer referred to the voice of the Lord Jesus. One day soon that voice will penetrate the graves of His lovers and bring them out in triumph. But His voice pierced the tomb, even as a living, glorious Man down here, reaching into the domain of death in the case of Lazarus: “Lazarus, come forth. And the dead came forth, bound feet and hands with graveclothes”, John 11: 43, 44. Lazarus came forth, irresistibly released from the grave and the grip of death.
Then there was the youth who was carried out of the city of Nain, Luke 7: 11, 12. “And the Lord … was moved with compassion … and coming up he touched the bier, and the bearers stopped”. He arrested the procession of death. “And he said, Youth, I say to thee, Wake up. And the dead sat up and began to speak, v 13-15. What a wonderful manifestation of the power of the Lord Jesus over death. Indeed, He was “marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead”, Rom 1: 4. But before you and I could experience the joy of forgiveness of sins, the Lord Jesus had to taste death and He tasted it for our dear departed sister.
In the greatness of His person, He was “Emmanuel … ‘God with us’”, Matt 1: 23. Butter and honey was the food of Emmanuel (Isa 7: 15); it did not require death to be assimilated. The Lord Jesus tasted the sweetness of the honey in His relationship with His Father. He says, “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places” (Ps 16: 6), but He also tasted, as no other could, the bitterness of death. What a contrast that was! Our sister has gone to be with the Lord Jesus because the Lord Jesus has overcome the power of death for her. How remarkable that is! But not only did He taste death; He went through death, “that through death he might annul him who has the might of death”, Heb 2: 14. He went in through the portals of death; He entered the domain of death; He went into the depths of death. Job says, “hast thou walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed unto thee? and hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death?”, chap 38: 16, 17. The Lord Jesus saw “the gates of the shadow of death”. Not only did He see them; He went through them. He went down to the lowest place in order that the power of death might be annulled. But He is risen again and each one of His own awaits that great assembling shout, to be taken to be with Him eternally.
His grace is very extensive, and our sister proved it in her lifetime. She was “saved by grace”, Eph 2: 5. How wonderful, if everyone here has had that experience. She was justified too by grace, “being justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus”, Rom 3: 24. And then, what a remarkable touch of grace that the Lord Jesus should Himself put our dear sister to sleep. How gracious and how gentle is the tender touch of the Lord Jesus as He takes His loved ones home. I suppose too that grace enters into that great, climactic moment when the dead in Christ rise from their graves: wonderful climax to love’s story! And then she is going to be like Him. Our hymn (No 131) referred to the fact that we long to see Him face to face: what a glorious privilege to be with Him and to be like Him!
May our sorrowing family be comforted by the fact that grace has met every need of our sister and given her a place in the presence of Jesus eternally, and He has done it by tasting death for ‘every one’, for His Name’s sake.
Word at the burial of Mrs Isabella Bailey
Edinburgh
9th December 2022