from Come Walk With Me
Selections from Come Walk With Me:
The Funeral, Calvary—Never Again!, Risen With Him
by Elwood McQuaid
The Funeral
Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and
his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town,
behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother,
and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with
her. And when the Lord
saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep." Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers
stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say
to you, arise." And the dead man sat up and
began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has arisen
among us!" and "God has visited his
people!" And this report
about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding
country. (Luke 7: 11-17)
Death and Jesus never were fit companions. As a matter of fact, Death fell into a habit of leaving whenever Jesus came into his presence.
They say he leaped from a casket outside the little village of Nain when Jesus placed His hand on the coffin of a widow’s boy.
He ran from a room one day up in Capernaum where he had held a twelve-year-old girl captive for but an hour.
And there was that time in Bethany when, with all of the enemies of Jesus pulling for him, he had to turn Lazarus loose and step aside to let him leave the grave.
When Jesus was about 33, they met on a little hill outside the old city of Jerusalem. Death tried his best to force a reconciliation that time. But Jesus would have none of it, and, after three days, He ordered him out of the tomb.
Paul says his sting is gone. Says he’s running kind of an escort service now. He’s helping world-weary Christians fold the little tents they’ve lived in down here then turning them over to the angels for the trip to Heaven.
He’ll come for me one day—maybe soon. But when he finds out Jesus lives here, he won’t stay around—just long enough to set my spirit free and let me get on home.
Calvary—Never Again!
To Pilate it was minor compromise,
one small concession made to serve an end.
That Roman guard might know
a peaceful night
devoid of strident cries
and milling throng.
Within the High Priest’s court
a sigh was raised.
The matter was resolved,
the issue done.
This One who raised the rabble’s
hope was dead,
and with Him rested a
delusive dream of being
God and man, Messiah-King.
Time, they thought, would serve
to do its work,
and full unmask the Dreamer’s
manic claim.
Theirs but to watch and wait
at chamber side.
Yet quite beyond their view
another stood
to savor memories of
the lash and tree.
For Lucifer it was triumph
supreme.
He’d met his Maker’s Christ
and laid Him low.
No matter that the Nazarene
approached His cross
with confidence
and word He’d rise again
Death and quiet held sway
in the tomb,
and Satan saw himself
as Sovereign Star.
But word rang clear in Heaven:
“All is well!”
For from a brooding hill
where once He hung
echoed still
His message true:
“It is finished!”
And that transaction, thus complete,
would shine emblazoned by
confirming word:
“He is not here,
but is risen
as He said.”
Now over all peals one resounding
strain:
CALVARY—Never Again!
Believing Jews approach
that withered hill,
and contemplate how truly
it could be
that God, as man, could come
and suffer there
to once-for-all
relieve sin’s burden sore.
Then lifting thankful voices
join the heavenly song:
CALVARY—Never Again!
Gentiles wonder at the herald’s word,
how on a wooden cross
He’d chosen to die.
And how believing on his finished work
they, too, could stand at
His once-riven side.
With hearts and voices clear they
hymn the phrase:
CALVARY—Never Again!
So man and seraphim survey the scene;
the study of the ages, all agree.
Out of death came life,
and peace sublime from cruelest
agony.
No more would ever an altar
need be raised
where sacrifice would suffer,
bleed, and die.
It was enough for Him to taste our death
that we might rise with Him to say:
CALVARY—Never Again!
Risen With Him
Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep,
or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died
and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those
who have fallen asleep in him. According
to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who
are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those
who have fallen asleep. For
the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with
the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the
dead in Christ will rise first. After
that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together
with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be
with the Lord forever. Therefore
encourage each other with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
Soon Christ will come
To call His Church—His own,
Who often walk their earthly paths
Aweary and alone.
And what a glad transition
We who are His shall know,
Arrayed in heavenly vestments
That pale the driven snow.
But, oh, the thought most glorious,
It guides us through the fray:
We’ll join our risen Savior
On resurrection day.