“COME, SEE THE PLACE WHERE THE LORD LAY”
Dr. S. D. K. Roberts
The angel, dear brethren, knew just why the women had come to the sepulchre, and the Holy Spirit knows why each one has come here today. There were those around at that time who were against Christ, but we have come as those who have affection for Him. We have come to pay respect to our dearly-loved departed brother, and this is right. We have not come to eulogise him. There is no need for this, for we knew him and, as already mentioned in prayer, know his fidelity to the truth and his affection for Christ. How his face would light up whenever the name of the Lord Jesus was mentioned!
We have come here, too, because of our affection for the sorrowing ones. We are glad to show our affection for our beloved sister and the sisters of our brother. However, the time will come when there will be no need of sympathy, for every tear will be wiped away; no grief, no sorrow any more! Meanwhile the love and sympathy of Christ, expressed through His own, will be a great comfort to the sorrowing ones.
But there is another reason why we are here, and I am sure that it is the most important; it is that we may receive some fresh impression of Christ. When other reasons for our being here will have passed for ever, the impressions we receive by the
Spirit of the Lord Jesus today will last for eternity—never to be erased! There are many impressions of Christ that could be received at a time like this, of His life here, His death, His resurrection, His ascension and glorification, but the present occasion would serve to give us some impression—for eternity—of Christ as He lay in death.
You will notice that the angel changes from the name of Jesus to ‘the Lord’—“Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus the crucified one. He is not here, for he is risen, as he said.
Come, see the place where the Lord lay”. What a spectacle—to see the place where the Lord lay! the One who later says, “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth”, Matthew 28: 18. As we view that place in a fresh way today we shall find that any pride in us will recede, finally to disappear, with all self-esteem, when, as Mr. Darby says in his hymn—
‘All thought of self is now for ever o’er’—every heart finding in Christ its unmingled object.
Think of eternity with no thought of self, but Christ filling the vision.
The Lord has allowed many deaths and burials amongst us lately, and there is something for us to learn as to the burial of Christ. He went into the grave on our account, having voluntarily given up His life in order to remove for us death as a penalty, having already exhausted God’s just judgment on sin. In His vicarious death and burial He has also removed from God’s eye the order of man that incurred the penalty of death. How wonderful! The tomb is now empty!
I think the most testing time for the sorrowing ones is the moment of burial. I would like to
commend to our dear sister and all the sorrowing ones that, as our beloved brother is actually buried, and the break for ever of the natural tie is realised, the vision may fill their souls of the place where the Lord lay. He is not there now! He has been into the grave, into death itself, but the tomb hewn in the rock, and the stone, could not hold Him there; “He is risen, as he said”. The stone was not rolled away by the angel to let Him out, but to show the women that He was not there. He is now not only risen, but ascended and glorified, and the link that our much-loved brother had with Him while here can never be broken, no, not for a moment.
He is now with Christ, in the communion of love, and soon will have his body of glory.