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Charles H. Spurgeon wrote a powerful little book. He called it The
Mourner's Comforter. The title paired a seemingly depressive word, mourner, with a highly soothing one, comforter.
On the Internet, mourner and comforter searches point to
death and funerals or bed comforters and hotel ads, respectively. Word
searchers also may think of comfort zones, comfort foods, and comfort levels. A long list relates to physical and material satisfaction. The church traditionally has recognized earthly satisfactions as temporal...for limited, time.
Product ads often refer to "heavenly comfort." And that is truly the comfort that Charles Spurgeon had in mind. The warmth and sense of security we desire relate to the comfort and security of heaven and eternity.
All true comfort gets its meaning from the spiritual term, the
Comforter. This is God as Father in heaven, His only-begotten Son, and the abiding
Holy Spirit.
When Spurgeon wrote of comfort, he explained the first three, powerful verses of
Isaiah 61:
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is
upon Me,
Because the LORD has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.
Isaiah's message foretold the perfect comfort and consolation of Jesus Christ. "Mourning in Zion" is the heart's longing for Him and for peace with God. That is heavenly peace.
In "The Mourner's Comforter," Charles H. Spurgeon wrote:
"Faith takes the telescope, looks
beyond the narrow range of time into the eternal heavens, and sees a crown laid
up for the faithful. Yes, and her ears are opened so that she hears the songs
of the redeemed by blood before the throne. Thus, she bears away the spirit of
heaviness."
May ever reader be encouraged by those words that point beyond this "narrow range of time"!
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