A FUNERAL ADDRESS by Stephen Nelson Haskell

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Michigan · Feb 19, 1901

A FUNERAL ADDRESS

By Stephen Nelson Haskell

S. N. HASKELL

(Concluded)

The highest type of heaven on earth is an entire family — father, mother, and children — united in the service of God. They will be a family in heaven, as far as association is concerned. The bond of union is the blood of Christ; and if that blood has washed away the sins of the entire family upon earth, they will be united as such in the kingdom of glory. The families in the kingdom of God will not be families as they were here; for their relationship is the blood of Christ. They will be arranged by the grace of Christ. They will be associated together with those who have been instrumental in their salvation here. That the influence of parents should be instrumental in the salvation of their children is in harmony with the original plan of heaven. The family are thus brought together in the kingdom of God through the merits of Jesus Christ. So when that family, begun on this earth by natural ties, is sanctified by the blood of Christ, then in the kingdom will be accomplished what would have been accomplished if sin had not marred all.

Three characteristics will identify the redeemed in the kingdom of God. We shall recognize them by the peculiar tone of their voice. We shall recognize them by their personal appearance. And we shall recognize them by their former peculiar ways, which are God-given.

“Then shall I know,” says the apostle, “even as I am known.” Our individuality we shall carry with us into the next world. God gave it to us to be sanctified by the grace of Christ. There are no two persons alike in this world. They do not do the same things alike. God works through these personalities to carry forward His work. They go with us into the kingdom of God. Paul was not Peter, nor was Peter John. But they were men of God, and each had a part to act through His own individuality.

Let us turn back again to Thessalonians, and by reading further we may find something more that is interesting and profitable for us on this occasion: “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 [that is, we shall not go before those who 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.” 1 Thess. 4:15, 16.

Here, as in other portions of the Scripture, the resurrection of the dead is based upon Christ’s resurrection, and will take place when He comes to take us from earth to heaven. The apostle then concludes, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” Here is another reason why our friends are taken away — for their own good as well as ours. First, He takes them away from the evil that is to come. Second, He would have us, on all such occasions as this which has called us together here to-day, look forward with increasing interest to the time when Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven, — to the time when He who alone has the keys of death and the grave will unlock the prison house, and say to the sleeper: “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” And as Christ walked forth from Joseph’s new tomb, so they, in response to the voice of Christ, will again appear with all the vigor and freshness of youth, clad with immortality. Yes, He will take the prisoners out of their prison house, and then we who remain shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air.

To me there is something very comforting in all this. I have passed through trials similar to the one that has called us here to-day. I often contemplate these scriptures when I think of my wife who sleeps, of her habits, and the words she frequently used while living. When the needs of the cause called me from home, often her parting words were, “We will take our visit in the kingdom of God.” This one thought was ever uppermost when going to some foreign field. Do you suppose she will not think of it in the resurrection of the just? I think she will. No partings! No going to a foreign field! No separation by death! All tears are wiped away, and sorrow is not found. The resurrection leaves in the grave only that which is earthly, that which is related to sin and pertains to mortality, that which is of the earth, earthy. But the current of thought which grasped eternal things will be resumed the same as it existed before the dissolution.

This brings us to another inquiry, What is death? It is ceasing to think. It is returning back to earth. The life is hid with Christ in God. To the child of God, the instant he ceases to think, that very instant comes the Archangel’s trump and the resurrection of the dead. He measures no time; to him it is a rest, beyond all trouble, beyond Satan’s temptations. The dead know not anything. We who live and remain are among the snares of Satan; but those whom the Lord takes from the evil to come, quietly rest in their graves. In the twinkling of an eye from the time they fall asleep, they awake to find themselves and their friends in the kingdom of glory.

There is an expression in Rev. 14:13 which I would like to read as I bring my remarks to a close: “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.”

Language fails in the attempt to present in a few words the thought expressed in this verse. You will notice these words came directly from the throne of God, and not through the angel, as almost every other expression in the book came. When a certain period of this world was reached, and the ravages of death were invading the ranks of God’s people, sorrows were being multiplied on account thereof, some charging the misfortune of dying upon a mistake or sin as the cause of death, then the great heart of God was stirred, and from His own throne came a voice to His prophet, saying, “Write.” What shall I write? “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.” What works follow them? — “Their works.” The very works they would have done had they lived, the confessions they would have made for Christ, the works of righteousness they would have done, the testimonies they would have borne, are taken up by Christ, in the heavenly sanctuary, and by His abundant righteousness He carries them forward as He would have done in them had they lived. Do you think, my friends, that Christ is competent to do this? Will this be done as acceptably to the Father as if they had lived? Then will they in any sense whatever be losers? One answer alone can be returned, “He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.”

“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit,” as if all heaven bore testimony, “that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.” Shortsighted humanity often reasons that in death the believer’s usefulness ends. But God can use death itself to produce more good than all the past life, and more than could the future had life continued. “But,” it may be said, “they have not lived through the time of trouble, they have not performed the works they would have done, and therefore their position is not as it would have been in the future state.” But who was responsible for their not living? Is it not He in whose hand is the life of every created thing? Is it not He who is at the right hand of the Father? Does He not promise to take up the works left undone, and to carry them forward? Think you He will do it so that the believer will come out as well as if he had lived and performed them himself?

The more implicitly we trust our Saviour, the better; the more we quietly rest in Him, the better it will be for us here and hereafter. He sees the end from the beginning, and what He permits to come to His people is in the great plan of God, and designed by Him to accomplish His own purpose, which can be accomplished better by the death than by the life. Yes, I repeat it, God permits it to come, and He would not permit it to come were it not for the best.

He has marked the pathway all the way through the journey of life. He knows who will be translated, and who will sleep; and if He permits death to overtake some, it is because death is a blessing to them and their friends. They lose nothing; but they gain something. They gain rest,— rest in peace. They have lost nothing because they fail to live out their works; because Christ takes them up.

We can thank God for the Christian’s hope. And the more we contemplate it, the more impressed we shall be with the importance of the time in which we live, and the more will this scripture impress itself upon the mind, “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.”

The most important thing with each of us is to know that we have a living connection with the Lord, and that our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Then if the Lord says we had better sleep, we shall sleep, and shall praise God for the privilege. If He says, “Live,” then we shall live; and no power of the enemy can take life from us; for it is hid with Christ in God. My dear friends, we who live, live in perilous times. There are dangers along our pathway at every step we take, which the one who sleeps in Jesus is allowed to escape, perfectly free.

I remember a dear sister, one of the first to accept the Sabbath, who was taken very sick one winter, and being, as she thought, about to die, gave away many of her things. But she lived until the next winter, and was then again taken sick, and died. In conversing with one who had cared for her, she was asked how she felt when she learned she was to live. The only reply was: “When you get ready to go somewhere, as I got ready one year ago, it is a disappointment not to go. But now,” she continued, “it seems so peaceful and happy that I can be laid away to rest. It will be but a short time. They will put me in my coffin, and lay me in the grave, and

shall lie there peacefully until the Archangel’s trump shall sound, and then I shall arise, and see my Saviour. And no man can hinder me; no snares of Satan can be set for my feet, which would entangle them in this world.”

We can say the same of every one who sleeps in Jesus. We can not mourn as those who have no hope. We can look forward to the resurrection of the just, and point to the tie that will connect the souls of the parents at that time—a stronger tie than anything that has ever bound them in the past. And we can point them to the hope of the gospel. We can only give them the words the Saviour, the prophets, and the apostles have given, when pointing to the second coming of Christ. Angels will be sent to gather the faithful, and the great Magnet, the Lord Jesus Christ, will draw the living and the dead around Him in mid-air, and then Christ with His people will ascend to a heavenly paradise, remain there a thousand years, and then return to the earth made new, and dwell through all time, even forever and ever. This life and all it gives is but a speck in comparison with the reward of His people. May the Lord enable us to put our faith in Him, lay hold of the promises He has given us, and live so near to Him here that we shall be saved with an everlasting salvation in the kingdom of God.

A FUNERAL ADDRESS*

A FUNERAL ADDRESS