Encouragement for Those Who Grieve

The Lord has borne our griefs.

 

Ps 69:20-21 Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

These verses prophesy of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. His heart was broken by the rejection of His people and the disgrace of being crucified. He was overwhelmed with a feeling of despair. Those who crucified Him treated Him with extreme cruelty; and He did not receive any pity or comfort from any of them.

Isa 53:3-6 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

All our sins were laid upon the Lord. He was crucified in our behalf because of our evildoing, our immorality, our wickedness, our injustice. He took our griefs and our sorrows upon Himself, He was stricken and smitten of God; so that, we would not need to be punished for our sins. As a result of His suffering on our behalf, we do not need to suffer for our sins; therefore, we can now enter into the presence of God, when we leave this body of flesh.

Acts 10:43 To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

All the true prophets testified that we receive forgiveness of sins through the name of Jesus Christ.

Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

We are saved by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Many times God chooses whole families to be saved. I know that many people will not agree with me, but God chooses us, we do not choose Him.

Eph 1:3-6 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Because no one seeks after God, it was necessary that He choose some to believe in Him. If we believe in Jesus Christ it is because God chose us before He created the world. He chose us because He loved us and always will love us. Furthermore, it was according to His good pleasure that He chose each of us and adopted us that we might be His true children. His purpose for choosing us is that we might be To the praise of the glory of his grace, that we might know His grace and be a living demonstration of His grace.

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Our salvation is all of grace and it is a gift of God; furthermore, the faith by which we believe is also a gift of God.

Ps 90:10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

No one will live forever in this world of labor and sorrows. The average person can expect to live seventy years and the stronger than average eighty years; that is not long when compared to all eternity. However, because Jesus Christ took all our sins upon Himself we can have eternal life, in the presence of God, where we will be free from labor and sorrows.

Isa 57:1-2 The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.

The Lord sometimes takes the righteous away from this world in order to protect them from the evil that is in this world. Sometimes it is far better to die than it is to live in this world. Because the Lord loves a person He sometimes takes that person away from this world. When they are taken from this world they experience peace and rest like they could never know in this world. Dying is sometimes a blessing in disguise.

Ps 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

We are treasured by the Lord and when we die He takes us to Himself and blesses us with all the blessings of heaven. As long as we live in this sin cursed flesh we cannot see God and live; and we cannot experience all the fullness of the joy of heaven. The Lord looks forward to the time when He can fully shower His love upon us.

Rom 14:8-9 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

Jesus Christ died for us and rose again in order that we might be His, in order that we might have eternal life. If we truly believe in Him we belong to Him and we always will. Both the dead and the living are spiritually alive unto God, with a life that will last forever.

2 Cor 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

The apostle Paul, who believed himself to be the chief of sinners, was confident that he would be in the presence of the Lord as soon as he left this life. All believers immediately go into the presence of the Lord, when they die.

1Thes 4:13-18 But 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

The spirits of all those who die before the Lord returns for His church will return with Him when He comes back for His church. Those who return with the Lord will be the first to receive their new glorified bodies, then we who are still alive at the time will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and receive our new glorified bodies. The next time we see our loved ones who have died, we will all be in our new glorified bodies and in the presence of the Lord.

It is only natural to grieve at the loss of our loved ones, when they die. Nevertheless, we can take great comfort in knowing that their spirits are in a far better place, in the presence of the Lord; and that they are experiencing fullness of joy and happiness and peace and fulfillment. A Christian does not miss out on anything when he or she dies; but on the contrary, the Christian just begins to live.

All Scripture taken from King James Bible

* Bible Studies by Max Swan
Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD. (NAS) Jer 9:23-24