Just Something To Think About...
In my 25 years of ministry I conducted so many funeral services and sometimes I just couldn’t come up with the right words to say. So I did a lot of reading and studying. But the most profound revelation came directly to me from God while studying Ecclesiastes 12:6, ere the silver cord is loosed. I had never heard anyone preach on this, either before or even until this day.
I have used it so many times and tonight one of my very best friends lost her husband. He had been sick for so long and was under hospice care so it seemed very appropriate as I shared this with her.
I see the “silver cord” as the umbilical cord that tethers our earthly body to this world.
While living here, we are able to move about, albeit in a limited fashion. We can eat and drink and take care of our physical needs.
But there comes a time when we outgrow the womb of our earthly existence and just as the baby’s umbilical cord must be cut before the baby can realize complete freedom from the womb, so the silver cord must be loosed.
Death for the Christian is just like birth for the baby. It is just a change in residence. The newborn baby is just as much alive outside the womb as it was when it was enclosed inside. My friend’s husband is just as much alive right now as he was at 6 p.m. tonight before he died at 6:30.
But oh what a difference in the quality of life for each. The newborn infant finds himself in a much larger world of light and sound and knows more love than he ever knew in the womb.
Our deceased loved ones who pass into the other world find themselves surrounded with a light more brilliant than the sun.
They hear angels singing sweeter music than the most beautiful southern gospel quartet you ever heard. Harmonies beyond what this world can imagine accompanied by heavenly instruments. Rev. 14:2 describes it as the sound of harpists playing their harps (English Standard Version)
We know there are trumpets there and is there anything more beautiful and majestic than trumpets playing the great anthems of the church.
And the agape love emanating from the throne of God - “The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell”. Being caught up and wrapped in the arms of Jesus, what could be more comforting for someone who has fought a great battle with pain and sickness for so many years. I know I’m looking forward to it!
Earthly life is great. I’m sure glad my mom didn’t get an abortion even though she was only 16 when I was born. All the trials and hassles of life have been worth in all. But eternal life in heaven? The only comparison we can make is that of being tethered and enclosed in our mother’s womb compared to the glories of heaven. It seems very trite to use such a common everyday phrase but hey, it just doesn’t get any better than that.
© Joan Rowden Hart 2014
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