SOWING
[p. 322] SOWING
The gospel presents great generalities, that is to say, great truths that are applicable to all, but it also presents specialities. And so you find with Abraham the purchase of a field, a field that I believe will yield a greater crop of fruit than any field, that is the field that Abraham bought of Ephron the Hittite with current money of the merchant. It was a definite transaction on both sides. It had reference, beloved brethren, to the burying place of the lovers of Christ, of the dead in Christ. You will observe in reading the well-known chapter which treats of the subject of the first burial recorded in Scripture, that much more is made of the field and the cave than is made even of the dead saint, that is Sarah. Not that she is not spoken of as she should be, for Scripture is not only verbally accurate but spiritually accurate, and so we find the years of the life of that dear saint of God, that sister, who is classified among the holy women of old — a model sister. The Spirit of God dwells upon the years, not simply of Sarah, but “the years of the life of Sarah”, Genesis 23:1. She is the seed, but what is in the mind of God is the life of that dear saint, the years of the life mentioned twice, as you will observe, in that verse — “The life of Sarah was a hundred and twenty-seven years: these were the years of the life of Sarah”. Genesis 23:1. She is the first to be sown in this field; she is one of the dead in Christ. It is well for us, dear brethren, to face this matter of dying in Christ. Blessed are they, it says later, “who die in the Lord from henceforth” Revelation 14:13 under certain circumstances. It is blessed to live in Christ — “the years of the life of Sarah” — it is blessed to die in Christ — “to depart, and to be with Christ” Philippians 1:23 indeed.
[p. 323] Sarah is the first, as I said, to be buried, to be sown in that field. Jacob refers to it, and refers to others who joined her, the great family of the dead in Christ who shall rise first. What a crop will appear! I am using the agricultural term because Scripture does. Scripture makes the clearest possible statement as to the dead in Christ, that the dead saint is “sown in corruption” 1 Corinthians 15:42 — a very sorrowful consideration, and yet it has to be faced — “Sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruptibility”. “Sown in dishonour” — a word we had better note, too; whatever our ancestors, whatever our distinctions in this world, king or beggar — “sown in dishonour” but “raised in glory”. 1 Corinthians 15:43. What a crop, beloved, incorruptible persons standing up in that field, as it were, honourable, glorious persons come up out of that sowing standing there side by side. “Sown in weakness”, 1 Corinthians 15:43 we are told, for it is really a question not of breathing out but breathing in — “Sown in weakness, it is raised in power”. Think of these things put together. “Sown”, again it says, “a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body”. 1 Corinthians 15:44. Put these four things together, dear brethren, and you will become encouraged to face death if it be the will of God that we should die. And it is the will of God — that is the thought of the death of the saint in Scripture; Moses, who represents the ministry, standing out pre-eminently as dying by the will of God. He went up to die at the direction of God. So that these four things put together in our souls as a matter of faith enable us to face death, to face it victoriously, because of our knowledge of our faith of the operations of God that raised Christ, for Christ is the first-fruits — again an agricultural term, as I may say — “Then those that are the Christ’s at his coming”. 1 Corinthians 15:23. What a glorious prospect enters into that field. The Spirit of God stresses that the money was weighed out by Abraham, “four hundred shekels of silver, current with the merchants” Genesis 23:16 — [p. 324] there is no question about it. It is a question of what the Lord Jesus has secured now, a right of way for the burial of His people where they are watched over, where He can find them, where He will know where to go to get them. He will stand and call them out and they will come out, they will come out in incorruption, in glory, in power, and as spiritual. What an army, what a family, all in accord and correspondence with Christ the first-fruits — “those that are the Christ’s at his coming”. 1 Corinthians 15:23. And indeed we are told, so as to make it more glorious — “they lived and reigned with the Christ a thousand years”. Revelation 20:4 “Blessed and holy he who has part in the first resurrection”. Revelation 20:6. I am speaking of this because it is so necessary that we should face this matter as real christians, real believers, real men and women of faith as believing in the resurrection, believing in Christ risen — Christ the first-fruits “then those that are the Christ’s at his coming”. 1 Corinthians 15:23. Therefore, as I said, what a field!