A Visit to the Tomb

DELIVERED

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where
the Lord lay." Matthew 28:6.

THE holy women, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, came to the
sepulcher hoping to find there the body of their Lord which they
intended to embalm. Their intention was good and their will was
accepted before God, but, for all that, their desire was not gratified
for the simple reason that it was contrary to God's design. It was at
variance with even what Christ had foretold and plainly declared to
them. "He is not here: for He is risen, as He said."

I gather from this that there may be good desires in our hearts as
Believers and we may earnestly try to carry them out, yet we may never
succeed in them because through our ignorance we have not understood,
or through our obliviousness we have happened to forget some Word of
Christ that stands in our way. I have known this to be the case in
prayer. We have prayed and we have not received because we had no
warrant in the Word of God to ask for the thing we

did.

Perhaps there was some prohibition in the Scriptures which ought to
have restrained us from offering the prayer. We have thought in our
daily life, amidst the pursuits of business, that if we could gain
such-and-such a position, then we should honor God–and though we have
sought it vigorously and prayed about it earnestly, we have never
gained it. God had never intended that we should and, had we succeeded
in compassing our own project, it might have been evil rather than
advantageous–an entail of trouble instead of a heritage of joy. We
were seeking great things for ourselves! We forgot that expostulation
of the Lord, "Do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not." Do
not, therefore, expect to realize all those desires which seem to you
to be pure and proper. They may not happen to run in the right channel.
It may be that there is a Word from the Lord that forbids your ever
seeing them brought to pass.

These good women found that they had lost the Presence of Him who had
been their greatest delight. "He is not here," must have sounded like a
funeral knell to them. They expected to find Him but He was gone. But
then the grief must have been taken out of their hearts when it was
added, "He is risen." I gather from this that if God takes away from me
any one good thing, He will be sure to justify Himself in having done
so and that very frequently He will magnify His Grace by giving me
something infinitely better.

Did Mary think it would be a good thing to find the dead body of her
Lord? Perhaps it would have given her a kind of melancholy
satisfaction–or so she thought according to her poor judgment. The
Lord took that good thing away. But then Christ was risen and now to
hear of Him, then presently to see Him–was not that an infinitely
better thing? Have you lost anything of late around which your heart
had intertwisted all its tendrils? You shall find that there is good
cause for the loss! The Lord never takes away a silver blessing without
intending to confer on us a golden gain! Depend upon it–for wood He
will give iron and for iron He will give brass–and for brass He will
give silver and for silver He will give gold!

All His taking is but preliminary to a larger giving. Have you lost
your child? What if you find your Lord more dear than ever? One smile
of your Lord will be better to you than all the cheerful frolics of
your child. Is He not better to you than 10 sons? Have you lost the
familiar companion who once cheered you along the valley of life? You
shall now, by that loss, be driven closer to your Savior! His promises
shall be more sweet to you and the Blessed Spirit shall reveal His
Truth more clearly to you. You shall be a gainer by your loss.

There is many a plant that has been protected by a great tree whose
spreading branches covered it from the drenching rain and the downfall
of hail. But the tree has been cut down by the cruel woodman's axe. At
the fall of that tree the little plant has been ready to cry out for
fear. Henceforth it will remain unprotected. Not so–these sad bodings
quickly vanish–for now the sun has come upon it as it never came
before and the dews have fallen more plenteously, and

the rain has penetrated to its roots! And the little tender plant
springs up to a stature it could never otherwise have known, seeing it
was dwarfed by the comfort it enjoyed.

You shall find that full many of the comforts taken from you were
drawbacks to your high culture and in the absence of them you shall get
an abundant compensation, a tenfold blessing. "He is not here"–that is
sorrowful. But, "He is risen"–this is gladsome! Christ, the dead One,
you cannot see. You cannot tenderly embalm that blessed body. But
Christ, the living One, you shall see! And at His feet you shall be
able to prostrate yourself! And from His lips you shall hear the
gladsome words, "Go, tell My Brethren that I am risen from the dead"!
That lesson may be worth your remembering! If God applies it to your
soul it may yield you rich comfort.

Should the Lord take away one joy from you, He will give you another
and a better one. "He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the
children of men." You never deny your children any pure gratification,
I am sure, without intending their real good. How many of you have a
way, when you put your child into a little self-denial, of making it up
to him again so that he is no loser by it? And your heavenly Father
will deal quite as gently and tenderly with you, His children.

With these two preliminary remarks, we proceed to our text itself. And
it may be well to say that some of us have been, this afternoon, to the
funeral of a dear friend and deacon of this Church–and as such, the
thoughts that stir in our breasts and the words that will flow from our
lips this evening would be more appropriate if the open grave were
before us. Let us stand there in imagination and conceive, if you will,
even yonder bell–though it often hinders our devotions so that I
wonder why any Christian people need annoy other Christian people with
it–to be a funeral knell for us.

Let it help to bear us on the wings of sound to the grave so that we
may the better realize the position in which these meditations will be
congruous to the occasion. The text contains, first of all, an
assurance! And secondly, an invitation. First, an assurance–"He is not
here, for He is risen." Secondly, an invitation–"Come, see the place
where the Lord

lay."

I. The assurance–"He is not here, for He is risen." Jesus Christ has
really RISEN FROM THE DEAD. Though superficial scholars have tried to
prove that this well-attested fact is but a fabulous myth, there is not
one doctrine of Holy Writ which has not been, in like manner, spirited
away. At first they denied out and out that such things ever happened
and said that they were a pure invention. But afterwards, when abundant
evidence was brought to prove a resurrection, this gross incredulity
gave place to a more refined skepticism.

Yet beyond a doubt it can be shown that there is as much evidence for
the resurrection of Christ as for any fact in history. There is
probably no fact in history which is so fully proven and corroborated
as the fact that Jesus of Nazareth, who was nailed to the Cross and
died and was buried, did rise again! As we believe the histories of
Julius Caesar–as we accept the statements of Tacitus–we are bound on
the same grounds, even as historical documents, to accept the testimony
of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John–and of those persons who were
eye-witnesses of His death and who saw Him after He had risen from the
dead.

That Jesus Christ rose from the dead is not an allegory and a symbol
but a reality! There He lay dead–friend or foe to witness–a corpse
fit to be committed to the grave. Handle Him and see. It is the very
Christ you knew in life. It is the very same! Look into those eyes.
Were there ever such eyes in any other human form? Behold Him! You can
see the impress of sorrow on His face. Was there ever any visage so
marred as His, any sorrow so real in its effects? That is the Emperor
of Misery, the Prince of all mourners, the King of Sorrow! There He
lies, unmistakably the same.

Now, mark the nail prints. There went the iron through those blessed
hands and there His feet were pierced. And there is the gash that found
out the pericardium and divided the heart–and brought forth the
marvelous blood and water from His side! It is He, the same Christ! And
the holy women lifted limb by limb and wrapped Him in linen and put the
spices about Him, such as they had brought in their haste. And they lay
Him down in that place–in that new tomb.

Now, let it be known and understood that our faith is that those very
limbs that lay stiff and cold in death became warm with life
again–that the very body with its bones and blood and flesh which lay
there became again instinct with life and came forth into a glorious
existence! Those hands broke the piece of honeycomb and the fish in the
presence of the disciples–and those lips partook of the same. And He
held out those wounds and said, "Reach here your finger and put it into
the print of the nails." And He bared His side, the same side, and
said, "Reach here your hand, and thrust it into My side and be not
faithless, but believing."

He was no phantom, no spectra! As He Himself said, "A spirit has not
flesh and bones as you see I have." He was a real Man as much after the
resurrection as He had been before! And He is real Man in Glory now
even as He was when here below. He has gone up–the cloud has received
Him out of our sight. The same Christ who asked Peter, "Do you love
Me?"–the same Jesus who said to all His disciples, "Come and dine"–a
real Man has really risen from a real death into a real life!

Now we always need to have that doctrine stated to us plainly, for
though we believe it, we do not always realize it and even if we have
realized it, it is good to hear it again so as to let our minds be
confirmed about it. The Resurrection is as literal a fact as any other
fact stated in history and is so to be believed among us. "He is not
here: for He has risen." Pursue the narrative, Beloved, and you will
see that when our Lord Jesus Christ had risen on that occasion, being
quickened from the slumbers of death, it was not only true that He had
really risen from the sepulcher, but He had risen in order to His being
further raised up in His ascension into the Glory which He now
possesses at the right hand of the Father.

When He had burst the iron bonds of the grave, the disciples had this
for their consolation–that He was now beyond the reach of His enemies.
During the few days that our Lord lingered, none of His enemies
attempted to do Him hurt. Against Him not a dog dare move his tongue.
We can scarcely tell why, but so it was. There seemed to be a
remarkable acquiescence in the minds of all His foes during the time in
which He sojourned among His people below. He was beyond the reach of
His enemies. They could hurt Him no more. And it is so now!

He is not here, in another sense, and He is now beyond the reach of all
His malignant adversaries. Does not this cheer you? It does me. No
Judas can betray the Master now to be seized by Roman guards. No Pilate
can now take Him and bribe justice and give Him over to be crucified
though he knows Him to be innocent. No Herod can now mock Him with his
men of war. No soldiers can now spit in His dear face. Now none can
buffet Him, or blindfold Him and say to Him, "Prophesy who it is that
struck You."

The head, the dear majestic head of Jesus can never be crowned with
thorns again and the busy feet that ran on errands of mercy can never
be pierced by the nails any more! Men shall no longer strip Him naked
and stand and exult over His agonies. He is gone beyond their reach.
Now they may rail and seek to spite Him through His people who are the
members of His body. Now they may rage, but God has set Him at His own
right hand and He is inaccessible to their malice! It comforts me, just
as I think it would comfort the soldier in the day of battle when he
saw the fight going very hard, to feel that the commander whom he loved
was out of bullets' range.

"There," he would say, "You may strike us as you will. The bullets may
rain red death through our ranks but our commander-in-chief, upon whom
all the conflict hangs, is safe." Oh, blessed are those words and
blessed was the pen that wrote them–and blessed was the Spirit who
dictated them–"Wherefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him
a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under
the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord to
the glory of God the

Father"!

It matters not, dear Brothers and Sisters, what becomes of us poor
common soldiers. We feel as if our being slandered, our being
disgraced, our being persecuted, our being put to death would not
matter the turn of a straw in view of the momentous issues, so long as
our beloved Master that once was crowned with thorns is crowned now
with glory! And so long as He who stood at Pilate's bar to be condemned
now sits on His Father's Throne, waiting till He shall come to judge
the princes and kings of the earth, it matters not what we suffer for
Him! With regard to our Lord's not being here, but having risen, it
should console us to think that He is now beyond all pain as well as
beyond all personal attack.

I comforted myself in thus reflecting of our friend who is lately
deceased. He was struck, as many of you know, with sudden paralysis and
he had lain so some six weeks. If it had pleased God, he might have
lain six years or 16 years and it would have been a very painful thing
to see him with life still in the body but with a mind sorely darkened.
We are thankful–I feel personally grateful to God–that our friend has
fallen asleep–that he has escaped from the miseries of this present
evil life.

But how much more grateful ought we to be concerning our dear Lord,
whom our soul loves! Oh, can you bear to think of Him, that He had not
where to lay His head? Who among us would not have left his couch to
give Him a night's

rest? Yes, and have forsworn the bed forever if we might have given Him
soft repose. Would we not, ourselves, have fallen to the hillside and
been there all night till our head was wet with dew, if we might have
gained rest for Him? He is worth 10,000 of us–and did it not seem as
if it were too much for Him to have to suffer–to be homeless and
houseless? He was hungry, Brothers and Sisters! He was thirsty! He was
weary! He was faint!

He suffered our sicknesses–we are told that He took them upon Himself.
Often had He heartache. He knew what "cold mountains and the midnight
air" were to chill the body. And He knew what the bleak atmosphere and
bitter privation were to freeze the soul. He passed through innumerable
griefs and woes. From the first blood-shedding at His birth, down to
the last blood-shedding at His death, it seemed as if sorrow had marked
Him as her peculiar child. Always was He troubled, tempted, vexed,
assailed, assaulted, molested by Satan, by wicked men and by the evils
that are without!

Now there is no more of that for Him–and we are glad that He is not
here for that reason. He is no child of poverty now! There is no
carpenter's shop for Him now! No longer for Him is the smock frock of
the peasant, woven from the top throughout. No longer the mountainside
and heather for His resting place. No more jeering crowds around Him,
now! No stones to stone Him, now! No sitting on the well, weary and
saying, "Give Me a drink." There is no longer a need that He should be
supplied with food when He is hungry.

No more, Brothers and Sisters, scourging and flagellations. No more
will He give "His back to the smiters and His cheeks to them that
plucked off the hair." No piercing His hands and His feet, now! No
burning thirst upon the bloody tree–no cry of, "Eloi, Eloi, lame
Sabacthani." God's waves and billows went over Him once, but no more
can they assail Him! He was brought into the dust of death and His Soul
was once exceedingly sorrowful–He is beyond all that. The sea is
passed and He has come to the Fair Havens where no storms can beat upon
Him. He has reached His joy! He has entered into His rest and He has
received His reward!

Brothers and Sisters, let us be glad about this! Let us enter into the
joy of our Lord! Let us be glad because He is glad–happy because He is
happy! Oh that we might feel our hearts leaping within us though we,
for a little while longer are on the field of battle, because He is
clean gone from it and now is acknowledged and adored King of kings and
Lord of lords! The fact that our Lord has risen has not only these
consoling elements about it with reference to Him, but we must remember
that it is the guarantee to every one of us who believe in Him, of our
own resurrection!

The Apostle, in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, makes the whole
argument for the resurrection of the body hinge upon this one
question–did Christ rise from the dead? If He did then all His people
must rise with Him! He was a representative Man, and as the Lord our
Savior rose, so all His followers must. Settle the question that Christ
rose and you have settled the question that all who are in Him and
conformed to His image must rise, too! As for ourselves, it is certain
that we, as believers in Jesus, if we shall die and be put into the
grave, will be fed upon by the worms–will go back to mother earth and
mold.

For my part, I would never wrap the body in lead or do it up in any way
that would keep it from melting back speedily to the earth from which
it came. It seems fittest and holiest to let it speedily mold back to
its native dust. But here is the appointed issue–no matter what
becomes of that dust and through what transitions it may pass–the
roots of trees may drink it up in this form. It is true it may turn to
grass and flowers to be fed upon by beasts! The winds may waft it
thousands of miles away, atom from atom–bone may be scattered from its
bone. But, as surely as the Savior rose, we shall rise, too!

We say not that each actual particle of this flesh shall rise–it is
not necessary for the identity of the body that it should be so–but
still, the body shall be identical and the same body that is sown in
the earth shall rise again from the earth in a beauty and a glory of
which we know but little as yet–be assured of it! That body of the
dear child of God to which you bade farewell some years ago shall rise
again! Those eyes that you closed–those very eyes–shall see the King
in His beauty in the land that is very far off. Those ears that could
not hear you when you spoke the last tender word– those ears shall
hear the eternal melodies! That heart that grew stone cold and still
when Death laid his cold hand upon the bosom shall beat again with
newness of life and leap with joy amidst the festivities of the
home-bringing, when Christ the Bridegroom shall be married to His
Church, the bride!

That same body!–Was it not the temple of the Holy Spirit? Was it not
redeemed with blood? Surely it shall rise at the trumpet of the
archangel and at the voice of God! Be you sure of this! Be you sure of
it–sure for your friend and sure for yourself! And fear not death!
What is it? The grave is but a bath wherein our body, like Esther,
buries itself in spices

to make it sweet and fresh for the embrace of the glorious King in
immortality! It is but the wardrobe where we lay aside the garment for
a while. It shall come forth cleansed and purified with many a golden
spangle on it which was not there before. It was a work garment when we
put it off–it will be a Sabbath robe when we put it on and it will be
fit for Sabbath wear! We may even long for evening to undress, if there
is to be such a waking and such a putting on of garments in the
Presence of the King.

Further–not to linger too long on any one thought–let us remember
that our Lord's not being here, but having risen, has in it this
consolatory thought that He has gone where He can best protect our
interests. He is an Advocate for us. Where should the Advocate be but
in the King's court? He is preparing a place for us. Where should He be
who is preparing a place but there–making it ready? We have a very
active adversary who is busy accusing us. Is it not well that we have
One who can meet him face to face and put the accuser of the Brethren
to silence?

I think, if Christ were here at this very moment in proper Person, we
should be inclined to say to Him, "Good Master, You can serve us well
here. Your going about to heal the sick and teach the ignorant is very
blessed. And we love to see You. The vision of Your face makes earth
Heaven to us. But still, our great interests demand Your absence, for,
good Lord, our prayers need someone to present them at the Throne. As
one by one our prayers go up to Heaven, we would not have You here and
send them away to a place where You are not. Besides, where the enemy
goes to accuse, we need You there to defend–and since our best
heritage is up above we need a Keeper who shall preserve it for us.
Good Master, it is expedient that You go away."

We have not to say that to Him, for He is gone and if ever the one
Christ was of double value if ever the advantage of His position
enhanced the value of His services–it is now that He is in Heaven. He
would be precious here, but He is more precious there! He is doing more
for us in Heaven than it could have been possible for Him to do for us
here below, as far as our finite intelligence can judge and as truly as
His infinite wisdom can pronounce. Meanwhile His absence is
well-compensated by the Presence of His own Spirit. And His Presence
there is well consecrated by His personal administration of sacred
service for our sake.

All is well in Heaven, for Jesus is there! The crown is safe and the
harp is secure and the blessed heritage of each tribe of Israel all
secure, for Christ is keeping it. He is, to the Glory of God, the
Representative and Preserver of His saints. And does not this Truth of
God, that Christ is not here, but is gone, fall upon our ears with a
sweet force as it constrains us to feel that this is the reason why our
heart should not be here? "He is not here." Then our heart should not
be here! When this text, "He is not here," was first spoken, it meant
that He was not in the grave. He was somewhere on earth. But now He is
not here at all. Suppose you are very rich and Satan whispers to you,
"These are delightful gardens. This is a noble mansion, take your
ease"? Reply to him, "But He is not here. He is not here. He is risen,
therefore I dare not put my heart where my Lord is not."

Or, suppose your family makes you very happy and, as the little ones
cluster around you and sit around the fireside, your heart is very
glad–and though you have not much of this world's goods, yet you have
enough–and you have a contented mind. Well, if Satan should say to
you, "Be well content and make your rest here." Say to him, "No, He is
not here and I cannot feel that this is to be my abiding place. Only
where Jesus is can my spirit rest." And have you lately begun in life?
Has the marriage day scarcely passed over? Are you just now beginning
the merry days of youth, the sweet enchantment of this life's purest
joy?

Well, delight yourself, but still remember that He is not here and
therefore you have no right to say, "Soul, take your ease!" Nowhere on
earth is Christ and therefore nowhere on earth may our heart build her
nest. Nowhere–no, not in the high places or in the quiet resting
places! Not in the garden of nuts, or in the beds of spices. Not in the
tents of Kedar or between Solomon's curtains. Not even at His
sacramental table, nor yet among the means of Grace is Christ bodily,
actually, present.

So we will take the sweetness of all and the spiritual good there may
be in all outward means–but still they shall all point us upward–they
shall all draw us away. As the sun exhales the dew and attracts it
upward towards Heaven, so shall Christ magnetize and draw our hearts
away and our thoughts up–and our longings up and our whole spirits
up– towards Himself! "He is not here." Then why should I be here? Oh,
get up, my Soul! Get up and let all your sweetest incense go towards
Him who "is not here, for He is risen."

II. I must leave that point and come, with a few words, to speak upon
the second point which is AN INVITATION. "Come, see the place where the
Lord lay." Not, Beloved, that I am going to take you to Joseph of
Arimathea's tomb. About that I shall not speak much. But I think any
tomb might suffice to point the same sacred moral. I felt this
afternoon, while I stood by the open grave in Norwood Cemetery, as
though I heard a voice saying, "Come, see the place where the Lord
lay." It does not matter much to us about the precise spot. He lay in
the grave–that is the prominent fact that preaches to us a pithy
sermon.

Any grave may well suit our purpose. In the little town of Campodolcino
I once realized the tomb of Christ very vividly in an affair which had
been built for Catholic pilgrims. I was upon the hillside and I saw
written upon a wall, these words, "And there was a garden." It was
written in Latin. I pushed open the door of this garden. It was like
any other garden, but the moment I entered, there was a sign with the
words, "And in the garden there was a new tomb." Then I saw a tomb
which had been newly painted and when I came up to it I read on it, "A
new tomb wherein never man

lay."

I then stooped down to look inside the tomb and I read in Latin the
inscription, "Stooping down, he looked, yet went he not in." But there
were the words written, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay." I
went in and I saw there, engraved in stone, the napkin and the linen
clothes laid by themselves. I was all alone and I read the words, "He
is not here, for He is risen," engraved on the floor of the tomb.
Though I dread anything scenic and histrionic and popish, yet certainly
I realized very much the reality of the scene–as I have this afternoon
in standing before the open tomb.

I felt that Jesus Christ was really buried, really laid in the earth
and has really gone out of it. And it is good for us to come and see
the place where Jesus lay. Why should we see it? Well, first, that we
may see how condescending He was that ever He should lay in the grave.
He that made Heaven and earth lay in the grave! He who gave light to
angels' eyes lay in the darkness three days! He slept in the darkness
there. He, without whom was not anything made that was made, was given
up to death and lay a Victim of death there! Oh, wonder of wonders!
Marvel of marvels! He who had immortality and life within Himself,
yields Himself up to the place of death!

"Come, see the place where the Lord lay," in the next place, to see how
we ought to weep over the sin that laid Him there. Did I make the
Savior lie in the grave? Was it necessary that before my sin could be
put away, my sweet Prince, whose beauties enchant all Heaven, must be
chill and cold in death and actually be laid in the tomb? Must it be
so? O you murderous sins! You murderous sins! You cruel and cursed
sins! Did you slay my Savior? Did you tear apart that tender heart?
Could you never be content until you had led Him to His death and laid
Him there? Oh, come and weep as you see the place where the Lord lay!

"Come, see the place where the Lord lay," that you may see where you
will have to lie unless the Lord should come on a sudden. You may take
the measure of that tomb, for that is where you will have to repose. It
does us good to remember, if we have great estates, that six feet of
earth is all that will ever be our permanent freehold. We shall have to
come to it–that solitary mound with two spears' length of level
ground–

"Princes, this clay must be your bed,

In spite of all your towers.

The tall, the wise, the reverent head

Must lie as low as ours."

There is no discharge in this war. To the dust we must return. So,
"Come, see the place where the Lord lay" to see that you must lie
there, too.

But then, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay," to see what good
company you will have there! That is where Jesus lay–doesn't that
comfort you?–

"Why should the Christian fear the day That lands him in the tomb?
There the dear flesh of Jesus lay, And left a long perfume."

What more appropriate chamber for a Prince's son to go to sleep in than
the Prince's own tomb? There slept Emmanuel! There, my Body, you may be
well content to sleep, too! What more royal couch can you desire than
the bosom of that same mother earth where the Savior was laid to rest
awhile? Think, Beloved, of the ten thousands of saints that have gone
that way to Heaven! Who shall dread to go where all the flock have
gone?

You one poor timid sheep, if you, alone, had to go through this dark
valley, you might well be afraid! But, oh, in addition to your Shepherd
who marches at the head of all the flock, listen to the footsteps of
the innumerable sheep that follow Him! And some were very dear to you
and fed in the same pasture with you. Do you dread to go where they
have gone? No, see the place where Jesus lay to see what good company
is to be had though it may seem to be in a dark chamber.

"Come, see the place where the Lord lay," to see that you cannot lie
there long. It is not the place where Jesus is. He is gone and you are
to be with Him where He is! Come and look at this tomb. There is no
door to it. There was one–it was a huge rock, a monstrous stone–and
none could move it. It was sealed. Can you see how they have set the
stamp of the Sanhedrim, the stamp of the Law, upon the seal to make it
sure that none should move it? But now, if you will go to the place
where Jesus lay, the seal is broken, the guards are fled, the stone is
gone! Such will your tomb be. It is true they will cover you up and lay
on the sods of green turf. If you are wise you will prefer these things
to the heavy slabs of stone they sometimes lay upon the dead.

That sweet mound, with here and there a daisy like the eye of earth
looking up to Heaven asking mercy, or smiling in joy of
expectation–there, there will you sleep! But just as in the morning
you do but open your eyes and the curtains are opened and you come
forth, none standing in your way, to do the labor of the day, so, when
the trumpet of the Resurrection sounds, you will rise out of your bed
in perfect liberty, none hindering you, to see the light of the day
that shall go no down more forever! You have nothing to confine you!
Bolt and bar there are none! Guard and watchman none! Stone and seal
none! "Come, see the place where Jesus lay."

I would not care to go to bed in a prison where there stood a turnkey
with his iron key to fasten me in. But I am not afraid to go to sleep
in the chamber out of which I can come at the morning's call a
perfectly free man! And such are you, Beloved, if you be a Believer.
You come to lie in a place that is open and free–a fit slumbering
place for the Lord's free men!

"Come, see the place where the Lord lay," in order to celebrate the
triumph over death. If Miriam sang at the Red Sea, we also may sing at
Jesus' tomb. If she said, "Sing unto the Lord, for He has triumphed
gloriously," shall not we say the same? If all the hosts of Israel went
out with her–the women with dances–and the strong men with their
voices in the song, so let all Israel go forth this day and bless and
praise the Lord, saying, "O Death, where is your sting? O Grave, where
is your victory?" The place where Jesus lay has told us that–

"Vain the watch, the stone, the seal! Christ has burst the gates of
Hell.'" Now let us sing unto Him and give Him all the praise.

I was thinking to say to you, Beloved, let us come and see the place
where Jesus lay to weep there for our sins. Let us come and see the
place where Jesus lay to die there to our sins. Let us come and see the
place where Jesus lay to be buried there with Him. Let us come and see
the place where Jesus lay to rise from that place to newness of life
and find our way through resurrection-life into the ascension-life in
which we shall sit in the heavenly places and look down upon the things
of earth with joyous contempt, knowing that He has lifted us up far
above them and made us to be partakers of brighter bliss than this
earth can ever know.

But I will forbear. I have done. I would to God that all here present
had some share in this! You all have a share in dying. There is a tree
growing out of which your coffin will be made, or perhaps it is already
cut down and seasoning against the time when it shall make you a timber
suit–the last suit that you shall ever need. There is a spot of earth
that must be shoveled out for you to be laid into to fill up the
vacuum. But your soul shall live–your soul shall never die! Let not
those who tell you of annihilation be believed for a moment! It must
exist. Put it to yourself whether it shall be with the worm that never
dies and the fire that never shall be quenched or with Christ who lives
in His Glory and who shall come a second time to give Glory to His
people and raise their bodies like His own!

Oh, it will all hinge on this–"Do you believe in Jesus?" If you do,
you may welcome life and welcome death and welcome resurrection and
welcome immortality! But if you believe not, then a blast has come upon
you and to you it is terrible to die! It is terrible, even, to
live–but more terrible to die! It will be terrible to rise again! It
will be terrible to be damned and that forever! God save you from it,
for Christ's sake! Amen.
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The Life, Walk and Triumph of Faith