JESUS CHRIST THE SAME
Hebrews 13:8,9 (to ‘doctrines’); Isaiah 32:2; Psalm 84:5 - 12
Our sister whose death has drawn us together in view of her burial lived an amazingly long life. Our lives, whatever the number of years we live, are made up of days. It says of David that “he died in a good old age, full of days”, 1 Chron.29:28. Each day is different. What days there were in the lifetime of our sister! She was born into days that were very, very difficult. The First World War was just about to begin, and then there was the aftermath of that; she was born into a world of turmoil. How changed the world has become in the days that she has lived, but she found solace in a Man, Jesus Christ the Same. In these yesterdays in her life, she learned in her soul to put her confidence in Christ. In the experience of being brought through trials – the sorrows of bereavement, the sorrows of health and the things that beset us in the pathway – she grew in confidence in Jesus, because He was the Same, whatever the days were. These yesterdays brought confidence in Him.
Then we come to ‘today’. We do not know what the days will bring forth, but whatever they are, there is confidence in Jesus Christ. Our sister had learned Him as her Saviour, she had learned Him as her Priest; she had learned that whatever she needed, she could find it in Jesus, “yesterday, and to-day, and to the ages to come”. She is entering into those things now, things that she long hoped for. Her trust in Jesus was so great that she longed to be with Him. Things here had faded because she knew a better hope; she knew that Someone had prepared a better place for her, the Man that we read of in Isaiah, the Man who is a hiding place from the wind. The winds come in our lives, but our sister learned where to turn. She was never blown away by them, she was never overwhelmed by them. The winds came from different quarters, but she had a hiding place. It is fine to have a hiding place in our lives, a place into which we can turn that is unchanging and unchangeable; the Man Christ Jesus, “a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the storm; as brooks of water in a dry place”. Whatever was needed in each day, she could find it in this Man, Christ Jesus.
David had many experiences in his life. His imperfections are drawn to our attention as well as his great deeds, his exploits, and it was so with our sister. There are many days when we do not feel up to things, or may even get overcome, as David did, but he found a place where he could take refuge. Sometimes it was in a cave, somewhere that he could never be reached. Saul tried to get him there, but he could not reach him. He was safe in the hiding place. I trust we all know the hiding place, I trust we all know where to turn in these circumstances of life, somewhere that is sure and proved, where there are brooks of water. The circumstances may seem dry, they may seem overwhelming, but there are “brooks of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock”. That was a favourite word of David’s; in principle, Christ Jesus was his rock. This word has come into popular expression in our time, but the only rock is Jesus. The storms came upon Him; think of the trials of Gethsemane, think of the sorrows of facing death, but in it all, death had to bow to the Man Christ Jesus. That is why our sister is now where she was longing to be, with Christ, which “is very much better”, Phil.1:23.
Then there are days when we are not only facing exercises and sorrows, not only looking for refuge and protection. The psalm I read was written by the sons of Korah, persons who had no right to live because of their history. That is true of us all. We have forfeited our lives because of our history, we are sons of Adam’s race bound for death, but these sons of Korah wrote the most beautiful psalms, full of rejoicing in “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to-day, and to the ages to come”. In Psalm 84, it says “They go from strength to strength”. In the valley of Baca, our sister found Jesus Christ to be the Same. He was the Man who had been proved in her history, in her life, in her links with the Saviour. He was there in the valley of Baca, but then too He is in the house of God. That was another day. There are days of pressure, but there are days of great gladness. It says “They go from strength to strength: each one will appear before God in Zion”. Jehovah of hosts is our shield, then it says “For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand”. The courts are always open, dear brethren. That is a feature of the courts, they are always open, and you can go in at any time. I trust you have a closet, where you can go in and shut the door, and find yourself alone with Jesus, the Man who is the Same, yesterday and today, and to the ages to come. That is like a “day in thy courts”. How bright those days are, better than a thousand; “I had rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God” than be in turmoil in a world of pressure.
May our hearts be encouraged. Our lives are made up of days. May our sister’s life and history be an encouragement to us, that we may prove that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and to the ages to come”.
Word at a burial meeting, Kirkcaldy
3 October 2013
R. Taylor