Hebrews 11:35

Hebrews 11:35

Consider:

I. The better resurrection. Think (1) of the place of it. "There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie." The body which here depresses the soul shall be framed to lift it up, to give it perception and vigour, insight and wing, and made like unto Christ's glorious body. (2) Think of the company in the place. In this world our dearest friends become at times more dear to us. Some glow in them, or in us, suffuses the soul, and we feel that they are more ours, and we can be more theirs; times when we see deeper into each other's nature, and melt into one spirit; those times, above all, when we know that we are touching one another in the thought and life of God. Now, in that heavenly world we shall have the best at their best. (3) Think of the essence of this eternal life. Its essence consists in its entire freedom from sin. (4) Think of the security of that state. The children of the heavenly resurrection die no more; death hath no more dominion over them. The shadow is all behind, the light before, and the light shall no more go down.

II. Consider next the higher faith required for this resurrection. It needed very great confidence in the living God to believe that He could reanimate the dead frame which the soul had quitted for a few hours or days; but to face entire decay and mouldering dust, and to believe that those who sleep in it shall yet awake and sing, this requires a frame of soul still nobler. Let us mention some of its features, that we may aim at them. (1) It needs more of what I may call the patience of faith. The faith of the sisters of Bethany demanded one great effort, and the battle was gained. But ours cannot be so compressed. We have to bury our dead out of our sight, to wait the weary days and years, and "feel God's heaven so distant." And yet, you see, there are those who endured it all, of whom the voice from heaven has said, "Here is the patience and faith of the saints." (2) It needs also more of what we may call the sanctified imagination of faith. The circle of these earthly resurrections was very narrow and very simple compared with that which we expect. Their faith had only to bring back the dead to their old accustomed house, the well-known seat, the familiar haunts. Ours has to find out a footing for itself from the void and formless infinite, where the scenes and inhabitants and states of mind are so different that our friends seem to have passed away beyond our knowledge. There is an imagination of faith which helps to the evidence of things not seen. (3) This better resurrection needs more of the spiritual insight of faith.

III. Note some of the ways in which we may strengthen ourselves in this higher faith. (1) The first thought is addressed to your reason. We read here of men who were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Can you imagine that their self-devotion was founded on delusion, and that God has made His world so that the noblest and divinest deeds in its history have a perpetual falsehood at their hearts? (2) " Women...received theirdead." God intended that our deepest heart affections should be the helpers of our highest hopes and the instinctive guarantees of a life to come. (3) There is no certainty about immortality save what, grows from union with the dying and living and risen Son of God.

J. Ker, Sermons,2nd series, p. 336.

Reference: Hebrews 11:36. F. W. Aveling, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xiv., p. 84.