THE DEATH OF THE GOOD
(Funeral Sermon.)
Isaiah 57:1-2. The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart, &c.
I. Though God’s people are the excellent of the earth, yet they must die. Though “righteous” and “merciful,” and on these accounts so precious in God’s eyes, and so useful in His cause, they are not exempted from that sentence of death which is passed upon all men. Were we consulted concerning many of them, we should entreat that they might be spared, and we see not how the cause of truth can be maintained without them. But they are “taken away,” to show us that though God uses them as instruments, they are not indispensable to Him. It is our want of faith and our selfishness that cause us to wish them not to be removed. They themselves desire to “depart,” &c.
II. Their death is a great blessing to themselves. They are “taken away,” but—
1. It is to be with Christ. The word here translated “taken away” is often translated “gathered.” When saints die, it is merely a gathering to Christ, And will not they account this a blessing? Being gathered to Christ includes, not simply His presence (though this is the choicest part of heaven), but the presence of the angels and of the spirits of the just made perfect. What a varied and glorious company do they form!
2. It is from the evil to come. From calamities and distresses that would otherwise befall them. From Satan’s temptations. From the persecutions of an ungodly world. From the sad corruptions of their own hearts, which distress them daily. From all the cares, conflicts, and sorrows connected with a mortal existence and a sinful state.
3. It is to rest and peace.
III. It is a grievous, though a common sin, that when men behold the death of the righteous, they do not lay it to heart.
1. As a public loss! When such men die, the Church loses its ornaments, the world its best friends. Well may we mourn individually, when the hallowing influence of a godly character ceases to be exerted upon us.
2. As a public warning!
CONCLUSION.—
1. Let us make the best use of our godly relations and friends while they live.
2. When our godly friends are “taken away,” let us not sorrow as those who have no hope.
3. Let us make sure that we are gathered to Christ now, that we may be gathered to Him hereafter.—James Sherman: Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. iv. pp. 1–12.
The characteristics here described are those produced by the operation of God’s grace in human hearts.
I. The prophet notices a familiar fact.
We find it difficult to regard death as other than an enemy. With the exception of Enoch, and Elijah, and perhaps Moses, and those who will be alive when the Lord comes, the reign of death is universal (Ecclesiastes 9:2; Romans 5:12; H. E. I. 1536, 1537). God’s people do not escape. Here a question arises: Since the redemption in Christ removes their sins, why should they be retained under the bondage of death? We suggest in answer—
1. That possibly man was never intended to abide perpetually on the globe, but after a lengthened probation to be removed to a higher existence.
2. The necessity for the removal of one generation to make room for another.
3. The wisdom of the arrangement by which old age is ultimately relieved of the weariness and infirmity incident to it.
4. The danger to the spiritual affections of the saints involved in a perpetuated residence on earth.
5. The exemption of believers from death would be an open declaration of and mark upon them; but such open destruction does not accord with the design of this world as a state of trial and discipline.
6. That by the grace of Christ the aspect of death is entirely changed to believers.
7. That the humiliation and sorrow of death are amply compensated by the glorious resurrection and immortal life.
II. The prophet laments the general indifference with which this familiar fact is treated.
This may refer specially to the time of Manasseh, but it is still true.
1. The world does not love the righteous, because they are such. If they care for them at all, it is for other reasons. So far as what is peculiar to them severally is developed, it is antagonistic.
2. The world is indifferent to the fact that the death of the righteous is a public loss. Godly men in their families, neighbourhoods, the nation, by their character, prayers, public spirit are a preserving influence. Sodom could not be destroyed while Lot was in it.
3. The world does not consider the true import and consequence of the death of the righteous. It is not considered in relation to eternity; but only in relation to time. Such a one is dead, his new life is not considered.
III. The prophet suggests the sufficient consolation. To the righteous death is—
1. Exemption from evil. Terrible evil was coming on Israel which those escaped who died at that time. There may be public, domestic, and personal evils impending, from which the Lord snatches His people away.
2. Enjoyment of good. The Gospel does not conduct its votaries to the bed of death, and then leave them there in dark uncertainty. The change that is made by death is their entrance into peace and rest. For there is final and undisturbed security, and the perpetual presence of the objects to which the believer’s spirit has been most closely united; God in Christ, holy angels, glorified saints, perfect purity.
1. How interesting to those left behind, to think of them thus!
2. See that you are among those of whom such thoughts are suitable.
3. Beware of being among those who are indifferent to the people of God and their fate. The world’s indifference to the Church is the reflection of its indifference to Christ.—J. Rawlinson.
The visitations of death are frequently mysterious. Often the most talented, and pious, and useful are cut down, while mere cumberers of the ground are spared, &c. Piety exempts none from the arrests of death; it delivers from the sting of death, but not from its stroke. How affecting the death of a statesman, a minister, an influential Christian, or a pious parent in the meridian of life and usefulness, &c. Isaiah was deeply moved in consequence of the death of good men, and the indifference of his countrymen, &c. It matters little that we cannot accurately determine who these good men were, or the manner of their death. Consider—
I. The character of the good as here portrayed.
1. They are righteous. As none are so naturally, a real and radical change in the governing dispositions of the heart is implied, &c. Believing in the Lord Jesus, and being accepted righteous in Him, they come under an obligation to practise universal righteousness, and to present to the world a character of uniform and sustained holiness (Romans 6:18-19; 1 John 3:7). They are men of rectitude—men right in their moral relations and in their principles of action—right in heart, and habit, and life (1 John 3:7). Such a man, however, will always feel that his claim to be regarded as a righteous man is not to be traced to what he is in himself, but to what he owes to the grace of God.
2. They are merciful. Not only the subjects of God’s mercy, but merciful in their own dispositions—“men of kindness or godliness” (margin); forgiving offenders, compassionating the suffering, helping the weak and needy, and evincing kindness, consideration, and bountifulness towards all (Genesis 32:10; Psalms 119:64; Joel 2:13; Romans 12:8; Colossians 3:12). In nothing do we imitate God more than in showing mercy. And we have abundant opportunity to do it, for the world is full of sin and misery, which we may help to relieve, &c.
3. They walk in their uprightness. They avoid the crooked path of sin, and pursue the straight line of righteousness (Psalms 125:5; Proverbs 2:15; Isaiah 59:8; Philippians 2:15). The Christian life does not consist in mere sentiment or feeling, &c. Feeling and practice, like twin sisters, must go hand in hand. Christianity is pre-eminently a practical system. The doctrine of the kingdom is, that “faith without works is dead”—that faith contains a seed of virtue or holy living, so that good works are not an adjunct of faith, but a necessary fruit of faith. Light must shine, and where there are the principles of holiness there will be all the habits of holiness pervading the whole life.
Is this a description of your character? Have you sought and secured “the righteousness of faith;” are you showing mercy to all men, walking uprightly, &c.?
II. The death of the good as here presented.
1. As the perishing of the body. The soul lives on, and will do for ever; but the mortal body decays, returns to its native dust, &c. The bodies of all the untold myriads of the human race have perished. The mightiest share the same fate as the meanest. Evident to all. Then why pamper the body, &c.
2. As disregarded by the vast majority. Only the few lay it to heart—lament it as a public loss, and regard it as a public warning. How soon the best are forgotten! How can we account for this?
(1.) The commonness of the event.
(2.) The thought of death is repugnant.
(3.) The concerns of life engross both the time and attention of the multitude. This general disregard of the death of the good is to be lamented because it implies—
(1.) Painful ingratitude. Good men are the world’s greatest benefactors, “the salt of the earth,” &c.
(2.) Deplorable moral insensibility. Their removal is a public calamity, for they are the strength of a nation and the safeguard of the land, &c. To treat their death with stolid indifference indicates the highest degree of moral blindness and perversity. Of such a state of things there is but one explanation—“God is not in all their thoughts.” Little children least lament the death of their parents, because they know not what a loss it is to them, &c.
3. As a blessing to themselves.
(1.) They are delivered from the miseries which attend the sins of man. Whatever they are, the good man escapes them by death (1 Kings 14:10-13; 2 Kings 22:20).
(2.) They enter into peace—rest Their bodies “rest in their beds” or graves. The grave is a quiet resting-place, out of which they shall rise refreshed on the morning of the resurrection. No agitations or alarms can disturb their peaceful slumbers (Job 3:17; Job 17:16; Psalms 16:6; 2 Chronicles 11:14; Isaiah 14:18). Their souls enter into the rest of heaven—the world of eternal repose, where peace is in perfection. They rest not only from all trouble, but from all sin, and sorrow, and strife, from everything that can create pain and uneasiness, for “the former things are done away” (Revelation 14:13; Hebrews 4:9). No wave of trouble shall roll into that beautiful and peaceful haven, and the sense of past trouble will only add to the intensity of present enjoyment.
Such are the prospects of the good. If they were highly consoling and encouraging to the troubled prophet, they ought to be the more so to us, for we have added the disclosures of the Gospel, by which “life and immortality are brought to light.” Then let us take encouragement as the rest and recompense opens to the eye of faith, &c. Sweet thought; we are nearing it every Sabbath. But no such prospects gladden those of you who are unconverted. If you would die the death of the righteous, you must live the life of the righteous, &c. (P. D. 1124).—A. Tucker.
Isaiah 57:5-9. I. The abominable idolatries of Israel. II. A parallel found in the covetousness and worldliness of professing Christians. III. These evils proceed from the same principles of unbelief. IV. Are equally offensive to God and debasing to the human mind. V. Must as certainly occasion final retribution.