What should be the focus of a Christian funeral?

At Christian funerals we have noted again and again how a note of holy triumph has been struck as the mourners looked into the grave, and realised that the body of their loved one, sown in corruption, dishonour and weakness, will assuredly be raised in incorruption, glory and power, aye, even in the likeness of their Lord and Saviour, who died for them that this hour of holy triumph might be theirs.

On Monday morning they went up the hill. The white flower-covered casket in which Caroline’s body rested was carried by four members of the faculty. The preacher read: “For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

After the casket had been lowered into the ground, the father with bowed head stepped forward and in the presence of the large assembly of people said: “Friends, my darling is gone. She is with Him Who died for her, and I want to confess Him before this open grave as my Saviour Who came to earth from heaven’s glory to die for our sins, Who was buried, rose again on the third day, and Who will come again to take us into His own glorious presence. Then my Caroline will be clasped to my bosom again. This faith which I denied so often in your presence, students and colleagues, is the only faith which gives peace and hope.”

"But are there any in our company today who are still strangers to the Saviour in whom beloved Hugh Jameson rested, who do not know our God, the God of resurrection? To you we appeal. Christ died for sinners, therefore He died for you. We can bear witness to His saving power, and to the fact that His blood cleanses from all sin. He will receive you today, even as He saved our dear brother. We beseech you to turn to Him, here and now, beside this open grave, and be assured that none who come to Him will He cast out."

The 23rd of Genesis, therefore, is worthy of special notice. It opens with the death of Sarah, and introduces Abraham in a new character, viz., that of a mourner. "Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her." The child of God must meet such things; but he must not meet them as others. The great fact of resurrection comes in to his relief, and imparts a character to his sorrow quite peculiar. (1 Thess. 4:13-14) The man of faith can stand at the grave of a brother or sister, in the happy consciousness that it shall not long hold its captive, "for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." The redemption of the soul secures the redemption of the body; the former we have, the latter we wait for. (Rom. 8:23)

If, however, in these scenes we see shining examples of the faith of God's elect in the presence of death, we also learn that faith does not set aside natural affection. Thus we read, "Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her" (v. 2). Full well faith knows that our loved ones that die in the Lord will rise again, and that for them death is gain, but nonetheless we rightly mourn and feel their loss. Our sure and certain hope of resurrection tells us indeed, as the apostle reminds us, that our sorrow is not the sorrow of those who have no hope. But there is no word to say we are not to sorrow. None could know the power of resurrection like the One who is Himself the resurrection and the life, and yet He wept at the grave of Lazarus.

If bereaved of those we love in Christ there is the sorrow as having lost their affections and companionship, but “we sorrow not as others which have no hope.” The death of Christ has made all the difference to our sorrow, for we know the loved one is with Christ, which is far better, and His death has given us the hope of soon seeing our loved ones in Christ again, at His coming. Besides, we have the knowledge of Christ’s love in our sorrow, and the sympathy of Him who wept with Mary and Martha; and His companionship in the trial brings its own sweetness and gain.

The Spirit of God soon made all plain by means of the Apostle. "I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." Do not misunderstand these words. Saints are not forbidden to sorrow. By no means. God would not have His children stoical. He would have us feel the circumstances of the way, but would not have us swallowed up by them, as others. "The Hope" comes into the Christian's sorrow. It sweetens the most bitter cup and brightens the darkest hour. "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep through Jesus will God bring with Him." This is wonderful! The sleeping saint, instead of being a loser, is only the more like his Lord. And what God did for Christ He will do for all who are His. He raised Him out of the cold tomb and placed Him in glory; He will do the very same at the appointed hour for all His beloved sleeping ones. "Through Jesus" is more correct in 1 Thess. 4:14. "In Jesus" has no real meaning, not being a Scriptural phrase at all. "In Christ" expresses our standing before God in Him risen, as Rom. 8 shows; "in Jesus" is nowhere found that I am aware of. "Through Jesus" is very sweet here, and stills every rising murmur. When a loved one is called hence it is no mere accident or circumstance; it is the act of Jesus. "He does all things well."

Again (1 Thess. 4), with comfort at the death of brethren, where it is still more remarkable. They were uneasy at seeing Christians die (so present a thing was the hope of the return of Christ), and it was therefore a mutual comfort at the deathbed of a saint, to be enabled to remind one another of a mutual meeting. "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent [go before] them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." The apostolic consolation to saints mourning the death of brethren was not, 'Be content, they are gone to heaven,' then it would have been, 'You will go to them;' but so did the coming of the Lord fill the soul, as a present thing, that he gives this comfort, as it were, at the dying-bed of a Christian, 'Be content, God will bring him back when Jesus comes.' It need not be said that it is not death, for it is comfort against death.

A striking proof of the "comfort of the Scriptures" was afforded in the early days of the church, when a special word from the Lord was sent, through Paul, to the young Thessalonian saints at a time when their hearts were much exercised, and cast down. Not only had they been "turned to God" from idols, to serve a living and true God; but also "to wait for His Son from heaven." This being the constant hope, and immediate expectation, of their souls, they were cast down, though wrongly, at the thought that their fellow-believers, who had recently passed away, would not share with them the glory of the kingdom. Hence their sorrow and disappointment, through ignorance, was just the fitting occasion for the "God of all comfort" to send them an inspired, and special, revelation concerning those who had "fallen asleep." "As for God, His way is perfect"; and, through the pen of the very servant who had been the means of their conversion, He sends these troubled saints the glorious news, "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Thus we have a further revelation concerning those who had died; for these would God bring with Jesus, so that they should not in any way lose their place in the coming kingdom. "Wherefore comfort one another with these words." Nor was this comfort intended merely for those young Thessalonian converts; but also to be the church's bright and glorious hope from that day till its blessed fulfilment; now so much nearer its sweet consummation than ever before.

So as to funerals, as well as worship. In other days they were to be gorgeous. Because resurrection was then only in prospect; and funerals then were a kind of pledge of the expected resurrection; and it was fitting that the pledge should be magnificent according to the glory of that which it pledged. But now, since resurrection has been realized in the person of the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, the gorgeous funeral, like the ceremonious worship, is rather a reproach, as though the great mystery itself had not been yet realized in its substance and efficacy. For it is not funereal pomp which is now the pledge of our coming resurrection — the resurrection of the Lord is that, the first-fruits of a promised harvest.

Accordingly, worship and funerals are now, in like simplicity, to bespeak the Church's faith in accomplished mysteries. We are now in sight of the victory of the Lord Jesus. We no longer give or receive pledges of it, as in ordinances, but we celebrate it. Joseph of Arimathea gave His body a costly burial, as Joseph the son of Jacob here gives the body of his loved and honoured father. We read of Jesus: "He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death." In that day of Joseph of Arimathea the grave had not been spoiled; and pledges therefore — like pledges with these in the day of the Patriarch — might still be given. But in the burial of the Lord Jesus we properly see the last of these pledges; because in Him we see the first-fruits of them that slept. The grave-clothes and the napkins lie in the empty sepulchre as spoils of a glorious war, and trophies which tell of glorious victory. Death was overthrown, and faith now celebrates what offices and usages, as well as ordinances and ceremonies, had once only pledged and foreshadowed. And let me add, that faith did learn this lesson, for the burial which followed that of Jesus had neither its embalming nor its magnificence. It was shortly disposed of, reverently withal, and lovingly. "Devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him."

Had we faith, deeply should we prize all this. Our privileges are great indeed. In the services of the house of God now, the table has succeeded the altar, and instead of a sacrifice we have a feast upon a sacrifice. And so have we to see death and burial, too, in the light of the resurrection of Jesus.