Whence and Why and Whither? – Sunday, April 10, 1955
Not long ago I watched a loving family before an open grave, as the casket of a beloved silver-haired father was lowered to its resting place. There was calm. There was peace, and no evidence of irreconcilable sorrow.
In their hearts there seemed to be assurance that all that is most loved in life is everlasting. And then I thought of other somewhat similar scenes—similar, but different in that there seemed to be little assurance; different in that the cry of the heart was reflected in the fear that this parting was final—the fear of anguished utterance: “Oh, if only we knew, if only we could be sure that it is so—that death is conquered, that life is everlasting, that personality is forever perpetuated, that our loved ones will be there to welcome us.”
These are the age-old cries and questions—the questions of Whence? and Why? and Whither? —questions concerning the open grave that have faced men from the first-time death intruded into the realm of life. These questions the disciples of Jesus faced. And to the chief priests and Pharisees who requested . . . “that the sepulchre be made sure . . .” Pilate replied, “Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.”1 And so, they did. But no man can secure the grave against the glorious eternal reality of everlasting life. “And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.”1 Yes, some doubted.
Some still doubt. Some say in their loss and loneliness: “O if only I knew, if only I could be sure.”2 But you who wrestle in your souls with the question of everlasting life, take peace unto your hearts, for God has not deceived us in the assurance that the sweetest, finest things of life are everlasting, including the promised renewal of the association with those we love.
Scripture, logic, reason, revelation, all confirm it, with all the intimations of immortality within us, and with the added word of witnesses. He who holds creation in its course, and who brought us to birth, has not deceived us in letting us so much love life, and so much love our loved ones.
Let faith overcome fear, for the question of the open grave was. solved some nineteen centuries ago—and as surely as we lay away our loved ones, just so surely do they live always and forever.
1Matthew 27-64, 65.
2Matthew 28.17.
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April 10, 1955
Broadcast Number 1,338