112. Eternal Comfort
Isaiah 51:12 I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass.
Many Biblical promises from God involve comfort:; God comforts. Apparently, we need comfort: it seems that mourning and sorrow is an integral part of the human condition. Because of sin, death and the devil we experience trouble, sorrow, sadness and mourning. Because of grace, forgiveness and life from Jesus we experience comfort. Jesus promises, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
God comforts. When God does the comforting you can be sure the comfort is real, deep, and abiding, and He applies it exactly and directly to our need. Our biggest problem is Sin and all the problems caused by sin. Something must be done about Sin; Sin must be dealt with. And so the Lord did: He became a human to suffer and die for our sin, so He could forgive us of sin. Then the Holy Spirit uses the Gospel to comfort us with this glorious message; and we are comforted.
The second issue we face is death. We are surely going to die, and while we wait for it many loved ones in our life die and we are separated. We are, all our lifetime, subject to death and the fear of death. So we mourn. If anyone ever died on you, you mourn the loss. The Spirit replaces the loss with the promise of life; He replaces the separation with the promise of resurrection and reunion; He replaces death with life; He replaces mourning with comfort; He replaces memory with hope.
With the comfort of the Lord we are no longer afraid of any man, nor are we afraid of anything mortal and temporary. Mortal men will die and are like grass that flourishes for a season and then perishes. We look to the things that are unseen, for the things that are not seen are eternal. This we can trust in. We trust in the Eternal God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we are comforted.