FAITH STRENGTHENED

J.M.Wallach

Hebrews 2: 14,15; Luke 7: 11-14 (to 'stopped')

I thought we might be freshly strengthened in our faith, beloved brethren, in the presence of the triumph over death of our Lord Jesus Christ, that what He personally has done is ours by faith. What none other but He could do, in the glory of His own personal movements and activities, faith lays hold of, even in the presence of death as we have it before us in our beloved sister. If the Lord does not come and the normal course of events takes place, I shall be in a coffin like that, and so will you. But, dear brethren, our faith and hearts can be greatly strengthened that what the Lord has done personally and gloriously, we can have in our own souls. How glorious his movements as taking part in blood and flesh! He has annulled death according to another scripture (see 2 Tim 1: 10), but according to this scripture He has annulled him that has the might of death. What an object He is for faith! May He become increasingly the object of our hearts! He is worthy of it. Who else could claim the affections of the saints as He does? Who else is worthy of them as He is worthy of them? And that He "might set free all those who through fear of death": what a thing it is to be numbered amongst persons who have been set free from the fear of death! Fear is a very real thing. We have had the fear of man, and the fear of death too. How real it is to persons who are facing it! But the fear of it is taken away on account of what He has done, and our faith is in Him. May faith be strengthened today, faith in the Person of Christ and the work that He has effected for God and for me and for you. What a glorious Person He is!

Now in Luke 7 He moves into the presence of death itself. He went; He was not called, but He went into Nain, this city, and out comes a funeral procession. I would apply this simply, beloved brethren, that this widow had once accompanied her husband and now she was accompanying her son, the second time she had been in this kind of movement. It is the second time this week that in this city we have been in the presence of this movement; the second time. Let us prove in it the Lord's personal touch. It says "he touched the bier, and the bearers stopped". What a wonderful touch of compassion that is to our hearts! Who but He could touch the bier and arrest the movement of it! For a moment it was stayed at the touch of Christ personally. It says "he touched the bier, and the bearers stopped". Let us just wait for Him in His movements and in His speaking to us, the second time in our city this week. His touch is in it; He will have His own way, beloved, to touch our hearts, to speak to our affections, to draw us after Himself in what He is doing. We may think about our activities or our conversation or our movements, but what is He doing? He is coming into this matter and He touched the bier and the bearers stopped. Let us therefore consider, just for a moment, the Lord's activity, His personal activity. He has Himself moved to take our sister and He is coming Himself for us too. How wonderful! But today it is a second touch this week in this city. "The bearers stopped". Let us wait for His action, beloved, His movements, His voice to us in it, that we might get the gain of it. Surely His compassionate touch is in it . May we prove it and prove the strengthening of faith that we might be encouraged for whatever may lie ahead in the testimony. For His Name's sake.

 

LONDON

6 May 1981

At a burial