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Letters of Truth - Spirit of the Word - Covenant Eschatology - Introductory Note - New Stuff TO COMFORT ALL THAT MOURN
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because He has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; ... to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; TO COMFORT ALL THAT MOURN; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness..." (Isaiah 61:1-3).
"Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted."
(Matthew 5:4).It becomes a self-evident fact that you cannot be "comforted" if first you have not mourned. No one can wipe away all tears from your eyes, if there be no tears. God, in His great wisdom, declared, "I make peace, and create evil." (Isa. 45:7). Significant that the POSITIVE, peace, comes first. The initial principle of all things IS GOOD. Then, if it be perverted, turned into evil, when it is restored into its original state, again it is GOOD. However, in the outworking of His plan of the ages, God not only controls the interplay of good and evil, but HE USES IT IN OUR PROCESSING. And So we have our times of grief, trial, oppression of evil, and we are caused to MOURN. Not to be in a perpetual state of mourning, but that in due time He might comfort us, and receive us unto Himself, that we might partake of His life, joy, and peace.
And so the wise man wrote, there is "A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance." (Eccl. 3:4).
Among the many different Hebrew words that have been translated by the word "mourn," there are four that we would examine, each adding its own special inflection. The first time the word "mourn" is used is concerning death. "Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her." (Gen. 23:2). The Hebrew word is "caphad" meaning: to tear the hair and beat the breast, (as Orientals do in grief), thus, TO MOURN. It bespeaks of the intense grief one experiences at the death of a loved one.
THANK GOD, on such occasions, "we 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. - Wherefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thess. 4:13-14, 18).
It is true, when there has been the death of a loved one, it is a time for tears and mourning, in fact, it is right and proper for one to weep, for as the natural sorrow flows out then that DIVINE PEACE contained in our spirit is allowed to fill us, yet, thank God, when we do mourn the passing of a loved one, we do not sorrow as those that have no hope. We shed our tears, walk through the mourning, and know that there is LIFE BEYOND THE GRAVE, and so we rejoice in the hope of resurrection. And we can comfort ourselves and others with the Word of God-- and the hope set before us.
Next, Psalm 88:9, "My eye mourns by reason of affliction." Now we have the word "daab" meaning: to be grieved, pained. While the word "affliction" is "oniy" meaning: depression, misery, and also translated as trouble. Many times our mourning is simply due to the PAIN OF THE TROUBLE that comes our way. The humanity part of our being groans and moans because of the misery and depression of the trouble.
We read in Job 5:6-7, "For affliction does not come from of the dust, nor does trouble spring from the ground; yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward."
It is not the affliction, travail, misery that has emerged from the earth, it was MAN himself who was made a SON OF THE SOIL, "formed of the dust of the ground," (Gen. 2:7). And BORN UNTO TROUBLE-- born to be exercised, to be disciplined, tutored. FOR A PURPOSE-- "I have seen the travail, which God has given to the sons of men to be exercised in it." (Eccl. 3:10). It was God Himself who "turned man to destruction (to bruising, depression, crumbling away)." (em. ed.)
(Ps. 90:3), for a specific outworking of a purpose. And certainly He is also our release, our comfort, and able to lift us up out of our times of depression. But He is also the GRACE for our overcoming as "IN all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." (Rom. 8:37)."He went into a ship with His disciples: and He said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake." (Luke 8:22). This was a revelation of HIS WILL-- inherent is the promise, "WE WILL GO OVER TO THE OTHER SIDE." Then He goes to sleep, while a wind storm comes down on the lake, and the boat begins to fill with water, and the disciples become filled with fear, and are sure they are going to GO UNDER, and momentarily they forget that He said they were to GO OVER. So they awaken Him, He rebukes the wind and raging of the water, and there is a calm. Then "He said unto them, Where is your faith?" They didn't need the faith to stand up themselves and take dominion over the storm. All they needed was FAITH IN HIS WORD, HIS WILL, knowing that what He purposed would be fulfilled. Faith for overcoming is just that-- a believing that we will COME OVER-- because HE said so. Even if "all Your waves and Your billows are gone over me," (Ps. 42:7), and we go "through fire and through water," yet the end is secure, "BUT YOU BROUGHT US OUT INTO A WEALTHY PLACE." (Ps. 66:12).
How often we have been in a ship (circumstance), and conditions become very distressful, and we are sure that the ship is GOING DOWN, unless we do some thing, so we set about to rescue the sinking ship. We think we must DO something to bolster and prop it up, lest it go down in defeat. That very mentality has so gripped mankind, propagated by Christendom, that even many believers who yearn for more of God, feel they have to DO something, rather than BECOME something. BECOMING is the result of HIS working in us, while the DOING is only the efforts of man trying to help God out. In the process of BECOMING, there is a ceasing from our own works, and entering into His rest-- yielding to Him, the Author and the Finisher of our faith.
Changing metaphors, but illustrating the same truth, Ezekiel prophesied, "Because they have seduced My people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar." They were sure they had helped strengthen the wall in their selfeffort. But, the prophet goes on, "It shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and you, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it." (Ezekiel 13:10-11). The storms reveal how ineffectual the works of man really are. "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it." (Ps. 127:1). And God is certainly causing some unusual storms these days to reveal what is man's effort, and what truly is OF HIM.
Storms-- trials-- indeed, "man is born unto trouble," by the sovereign act of the will of God, but with DIVINE PURPOSE, that we might relinquish all the image of the earthy, that we might bear the image of the heavenly. The storm comes, and we go into mourning-- we mourn the loss of the old. Death is not easy to cope with, but it becomes part of the transition into the new. Death-throes can become BIRTH-PANGS as we learn to see Him in it all.
So, continuing on in Job 5, with verses 8-9, "I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause: which does great things and unsearchable; marvelous things without number." SEEK HIM, COMMIT MY CAUSE TO HIM! That is the purpose of all these storms-- to turn us God-ward. "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way." Now God would turn us to HIS WAY, to "seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness." And so, "Lo, all these things works God oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living." (Job 33:29-30). That is the reason for these inworkings-- to bring us into THE LIGHT OF HIS LIFE. We thought He sent the storm to put us UNDER, and He was only processing us to BRING US OVER-- over into life!
Job 5:11, "To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety."
Safety-- Hebrew, "yesha," and is the Hebrew word from which we get our English word "Jesus," and it means: SALVATION, liberty, deliverance; from the root, to be open, wide, or free. HE is our Saviour! And He is WIDE OPEN unto us-- "Come unto me, ALL you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matt. 11:28). There is no greater OPEN salvation than Jesus Christ! Some have tried to restrict this "openness," and limit His salvation to those who subscribe to their doctrine and creed. But HE has become THE OPEN, THE WIDE AND THE FREE for all mankind. "And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:2).
Not only are those that mourn to be exalted to safety, but they shall be lifted up to become ONE IN HIM-- to share of that salvation with others, as it is written, "And saviours shall come up on mount Zion..." (Obadiah 21). Wide open and free dispensers of His salvation, life, peace, victory. "Such as I have, give I you ..." (Acts 3:6). Freely we have received of Him, and freely we shall give. "Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." (John 1:16). Therefore, with the same OPENNESS may we be empowered to bring deliverance to others-- that they might believe on Him and receive of His life even as we are now receiving from Him. But IF there is any restrictiveness in you, any hesitancy in giving Him to ALL MEN, then it is self-evident that you are not a part of the "saviour company" that He shall bring to mount Zion. Liberty in its fullest measure means LIBERTY FOR ALL!
"He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear (or reverence), and shall trust in the Lord." (Ps. 40:2-3).
Significant that the word "mourn" as used in the phrase "those which mourn may be exalted to safety," is the Hebrew word "qadar" meaning: to be ashy, dark colored, so to mourn in sackcloth, or in dark garments. The obvious is the black, or dark colored garments which so many wear to funerals.
But there is another thought obscured in this-- for sackcloth, the dark garments, bespeaks of our mortality-- and this grossly material body in which we dwell. Truly, we are MOURNING FOR A RETURN TO OUR BRIGHT GARMENT OF LIGHT, into His glory.
"Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." - "For in this we groan (grieve, mourn, sigh), earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from above. - For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life."
(2 Cor. 5:2, 4).How we yearn for the day when we shall have an outward expression of the indwelling Christ. This present "dark garment of humanity" CONCEALS THAT TRUE LIFE THAT ABIDES WITHIN. Only in the measure we know by the Spirit do we know the real you-- for your outer garment conceals, covers up the inner nature. And only on occasion do we get glimpses of the inner man. But when He has changed our body "that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body," (Phil. 3:21), it will REVEAL what we have truly become In Him. Your new body will be an open declaration of your standing in the fulness of God. There is the glory of the sun, of the moon, of the stars, and "one star different from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead." (1 Cor. 15:41-42). "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." (Daniel 12:3). May we indeed yield ourselves, completely to Him, to be filled with Him, that we might express that glory.
Methinks that in the final analysis that there will be but one question the Father will ask, when we stand before Him, namely, "HOW MUCH OF MY SON IS IN YOU?" And this presupposes another question which can be asked now. How much of "you" has been removed? Well did John the Baptist state it, "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30). All of this sojourn as we pass through the valley of the shadow of death, with all its mourning, is to bring us to an end of SELF, in its self-willed rebellion, that HIS WILL alone might be fulfilled in us. We learn to cast ourselves upon Him, and to trust in Him, knowing that "I can of mine own self do nothing." "No more I, but Christ lives in me." Bless His wonderful name!
The fourth Hebrew word for "mourn" that we would note, is found in Psalm 55:2-3, "Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn on my complaint, and make a noise; because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me."
The word is "rawd" and means: to tramp about (modern speech, TO WALK THE FLOOR), ramble, disconsolate, thus, to mourn. Someone pours out the tale of their grief, over and over again-- TO RAMBLE. The fact is, they are in mourning, and need to be comforted. Someone walks the floor, pacing back and forth, why? because they are in mourning, and don't know what to do. They need to be comforted, not censored. Aimlessly tramping about, a sure sign of a creature in mourning-- longing for reality, answers for living.
All of the evil in society, the confusion, the frustration, the bleakness, the unsolvable state humanity has gotten into-- cause enough for mourning.
"When a wicked man rules, the people mourn." (Proverbs 29:2). Slip into the local coffee shop and listen to the people ramble about conditions in the government, the lack of solutions, the greed of those who bear rule, etc. and it soon becomes obvious that we are a people in mourning, and need to be comforted. Truly, the real comforting answer is in the fact that the day is coming when it shall be said, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever." (Revelation 11:15).
"Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." (Luke 12:32). He will institute all outward manifestations of His kingdom in His time, in His way, and it is not man's responsibility to "bring in the kingdom." Contrary to the teaching of some, a man cannot legislate it, organize a march for it, vote it in, etc. We can but RECEIVE IT when He gives it-- and the timing of every manifestation is in His hand. You can ramble about it in endless conversations, walk the floor over it in anxiety and consternation-- mourn, and make a noise, but GOD ALONE controls the future. However, the mourning is a sign that the old is passing, and that He is preparing us for the entrance of the new. Praise His name!
Samuel had been the one who, at the word of the Lord, had anointed Saul to be king over Israel, and then he watched the steady decline as Saul failed to obey the commands of the Lord. Finally we read that God let Samuel know that Saul was rejected from being king, "And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night." (1 Sam. 15:11). Then God spoke to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel?" (1 Sam. 16:1). This is a very applicable illustration. How often have we wept all night and mourned over something that God was finished with? Yet we wanted it to carry on some more, and hoped maybe we could even heal it if we tried hard enough, prayed long enough, fasted some more, and wept enough, etc. Some lose a night's sleep weeping over it all.
But it was time for a new king to be anointed for his preparation process. So, at the word of the Lord, Samuel went to Bethlehem, and called Jesse and his sons to a sacrifice, and in the process anointed David to be king. Now Samuel's mourning came to an end, and HOPE took over. There was not an immediate transition of the kingdom from Saul to David, but the PROCESS OF PREPARING DAVID was on-- a king was now in preparation. Once you know that the new king has been anointed, quit your mourning, and start praising God while the preparation goes on-- the end is secure in God. If you have seen any where in the land that God is anointing a firstfruits of a new creation order, then cease your mourning over the old one that has failed so miserably. Our HOPE is in the ANOINTING which is producing the new order. Yes, the process may seem long, but "Faithful is He that calls you, who also will do it." (1 Thess. 5:24).
Jeremiah weeps! "The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts..." (Lam. 1:4). Here is a mourning for the move of God that ceased. People just don't come to the services like they used to do. We do not see revivals like the good old days. In spite of all the hype and fanfare that men promote as they try to convince themselves that all is well, the life has gone out of the Latter Rain, out of the Charismatic, out of the Jesus movement, etc. Programs might be bigger-- great crowds, great offerings-but the SPIRIT-LIFE is missing. We have watched the decline, and mourned!
"The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests, the Lord's ministers, mourn." (Joel 1:9). A dispensation was ending, and until they had a vision of the new that was coming, it was a time of mourning. We turn from all the weeping, mourning, to read on- "Fear not, O Land; BE GLAD, AND REJOICE: for the Lord will do great things. -- I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh..." (Joel 2:21, 28). Look back at what is ending, and you mourn; look ahead to the beginning of a new move of God, and you surely rejoice. THE COMFORT COMES WITH THE NEW OUTPOURING.
They brought to Nehemiah a report of the condition of Jerusalem, how people were in great affliction and reproach, the walls broken down, and the gates burned with fire-- devastation and woe everywhere. "And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven." (Nehemiah 1:4). God used all the mourning and sorrow to prepare him for a whole new working, as
He imparted a vision to restore, to build anew that which was broken down. Praise God, "They that be of you shall build the old waste places: you shall raise up the foundation of many generations; and you shall be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in." (Isaiah 58:12). Let devastation be behind us, restoration is before us!
"O God, who is like unto You! You, which have showed me great and sore troubles, shall quicken me again, and shall bring me up again from the depths of the earth. You shall increase my greatness, and COMFORT ME ON EVERY SIDE." (Psalm 71:19-21).
To comfort all that mourn! Yes, there have been trials, God placed them in our path for our development. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil..." But though "He has torn, He will heal us; He has smitten, and He will bind us up." (Hosea 6:1). Restored into the positive-- He binds up the wounded.
Betimes we forget this, and find ourselves in the same frame of mind as Job when he said, "Oh that I might have my request; that God would grant me the thing that I long for! Even that it would please God to destroy me; that He would let loose His hand, and cut me off! Then should, I have comfort." (Job 6:8-10). Forget the struggle, forget the pain, just let me die! That was not to be, for God made it very clear to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand; but save his life." (Job 2:6). The trials may be severe, but you can not cop-out by wishing you were dead-- HE IS FORMING OVERCOMERS, and this is in your path for you to COME OVER. Job was processed, not unto death, but UNTO VICTORY! That is the outworking of the whole thing. Comfort was not to be found in death, but in the final blessing of the Lord.
But then Job tried another angle, he would just go to bed and sleep, however this didn't work either. "When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint--THEN YOU scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions: so that my soul chooses strangling, and death rather than life." (Job 7:13-15). Many times people would rather take to their bed and sleep, rather than face up to their challenges, but GOD DOES NOT ALLOW ESCAPISM TO COMFORT US. Oh, the love of God to us-ward, that He does not give up on us, even when we try to find comfort in all of these fleshly cop-outs. People try drink, pleasure, food, sleep, things that please the flesh-- and hope to solace themselves. But true comfort is found only in our Lord, and He will bring us out of the pits, increase, and comfort us on every side.
"I will pray the Father, and HE shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever." (John 14:16). And thus Acts 9:31 tells of those who were "walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the holy Spirit." Certainly walking in the fear of the Lord is essential if we would receive the comfort of the Spirit. But the more we turn to Him, the more we find He is there to "comfort all that mourn."
Indeed, "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT; Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds by Christ." (2 Cor. 1:3-5).
Praise God, though weeping endures for a night, joy comes in the morning. And in that day we shall say, "You have turned for me my mourning into dancing: You have put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; to the end that my glory (soul) may sing praises to You, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto You for ever." (Psalm 30:11-12). Great is His mercy and love, all mourning shall be turned into joy. Amen!