Why Do We Mourn Departed Saints

[An automated transcript of the teaching video]

The Apostle Paul instructed the churches at Colosse to teach and admonish one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. And that’s what I intend to do by explaining the meaning of this hymn—Why Do We Mourn Departed Saints? I like to explain the meaning of the hymn against the backdrop of the Framework of Sovereign Grace, which is God’s master plan for the ages.

You’ll notice the hymn was written by Isaac Watts. This was an 18th century sovereign grace Congregational preacher, also known as the father of Hymnody. Now, there’s three stanzas to the hymn. I’d like to read them to you.

1 Why do we mourn departed friends, 

Or shake at death’s alarms? 

’Tis but the voice that Jesus sends, 

To call them to His arms. 

Are we not tending upward too, 

As fast as time can move? 

Nor should we wish the hours more slow, 

To keep us from our love. 

2 Why should we tremble to convey, 

Their bodies to the tomb? 

There the dear flesh of Jesus lay, 

And left a long perfume. 

The graves of all His saints He blessed, 

And softened every bed; 

Where should the dying members rest, 

But with their dying Head? 

3 Thence He arose, ascending high, 

And showed our feet the way; 

Up to the Lord our flesh shall fly, 

At the great rising day. 

Then let the last loud trumpet sound, 

And bid our kindred rise; 

Awake, ye nations under ground; 

Ye saints, ascend the skies. 

You’ll notice, the theme of the hymn is designed to comfort the saints of God who are overcome with sorrow by the death of a loved one. We’re therefore looking at the experience of the Lord’s people as they walk with Him on their journey of grace this side of heaven, which of course, comes under the third branch of the gospel—the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit.

You realize, one of the most painful and torturous experiences the people of God pass through during their Christian pilgrimage is the death of loved ones. Now, how does one navigate such trying circumstances? Isaac Watts would remind us that the one who has passed from this world into the next has not ceased to exist, but has gone on living and now enjoys the full embrace of the TriUne Jehovah. That is, if our loved ones have been regenerated by the Spirit of God, then he or she has been prepared unto glory by the electing love of God the Father, the redeeming grace of God the Son, and the regenerating and sanctifying power of God the Spirit. And our loved one has therefore entered into that glorious place prepared for him or her.

However, this must be qualified. Not every loved one who dies has been prepared unto glory. It may be that God has fitted that person to destruction and as painful and excruciating as it may be to consider, we cannot avoid this reality. Now, there’s two things I want to say about the prospect of a loved one being fitted to destruction.

And first, if a loved one has been fitted to destruction, then we must resign that person to the Lord, committing his or her soul unto a faithful Creator. Shall not the Creator of this world do right? And you see, that must be the dominant desire of our hearts—that the Creator of this world be glorified and exercise His righteous judgment in accordance with His just and holy nature.

But the second thing I’ll say on this matter—we do not know for certain the hearts and eternal destiny of anyone. The best we can do is make educated judgements based on the lives and testimonies of those we know. But of course, our judgments are not absolute. Take, for instance, the thief on the cross. As far as all his acquaintances and family were concerned, that man was fitted to destruction. But as we know, the Spirit of God regenerated his soul just hours or moments before his death. And therefore, in actual fact, he was a special object of God’s love prepared unto glory. Yet none of his acquaintances or friends knew of that fact. I therefore say to you, my dear friend, that if you have lost a father, mother, son, daughter, uncle, aunt, or friend, and you’ve been agonizing over that death because you’ve concluded he or she must have been fitted to destruction, well I counsel you to take a step back, commit your loved one to the Lord, trust in a good and faithful Creator to do what is right, and stop entertaining thoughts and drawing conclusions on matters with which you have little knowledge to judge accurately. Rather than walking in the darkness of your ignorance, agonizing over dreadful thoughts of supposition, I believe you should be walking in the light of the Lord, clinging to the goodness, faithfulness and comfort of God, who after all, is the God of all goodness, of all faithfulness and of all comfort.

Now, with that said, as I mentioned earlier, the hymn before us is speaking specifically about the death of those who have been regenerated by the Spirit of God and we therefore judge them as having been prepared unto glory. The hymn is talking about the death of Christians and why we should not be overcome with sorrow, when the Lord calls such persons to Himself. Allow me now to turn you to the first stanza.

Stanza 1

Why do we mourn departed friends, 

Or shake at death’s alarms? 

’Tis but the voice that Jesus sends, 

To call them to His arms. 

Are we not tending upward too, 

As fast as time can move? 

Nor should we wish the hours more slow, 

To keep us from our love. 

As I said a moment ago, the departed friends referred to here are those who have been regenerated by the Spirit of God, and therefore prepared unto glory. And the question Isaac Watts is asking, why should we mourn their death—those whom Jesus has chosen to call home to Himself? Why should we shake at death’s alarms? And Oh, is it not an alarm that sounds when a loved one dies? Even if we’re expecting their death, it’s an alarm. How much more so when someone dies unexpectedly. But why should we shake at such alarming news? Are we not tending upward too as fast as time can move? Nor should we wish the hours more slow to keep us from our love—from the one who has departed from us. You see, we have also been regenerated by the Spirit of God and prepared unto glory. And therefore we at this time—as strangers and pilgrims in this world—we’re passing through it as transient travelers. We’re on our way to a heavenly country, to a better country. Our loved one who has died, well, he or she has already arrived at that country before us. We should therefore be rejoicing on their behalf, or on their part, but we are also heading to the same place. We’re just a few steps behind them now. Yes, we may miss our departed friends for a time. They’ve left us from this world, but we will meet them again when we enter that heavenly place of rest. Let us therefore look ahead in hope and joy to the time when we will meet our loved ones. Too often when a loved one dies, do we not become obsessed by looking back in nostalgic sorrow at the time that has passed? And by doing so, we end up adding sorrow unto sorrow, overwhelmed with grief. But you see, as believers in Christ, while it’s certainly permissible to remember the blessings of the past and even for a time to mourn and grieve over the departure of a loved one, yet we as Christians are to look to the future, to the glory prepared for the Lord’s people in hope to meet again. Look at the second stanza.

Stanza 2

Why should we tremble to convey, 

Their bodies to the tomb? 

There the dear flesh of Jesus lay, 

And left a long perfume. 

The graves of all His saints He blessed, 

And softened every bed; 

Where should the dying members rest, 

But with their dying Head? 

Now, how sorrowful it is to say the last goodbye to the body of a father, or the body of a mother, or the body of a son or a daughter, the body of an uncle or an aunt, a grandparent, the body of a friend. How sad indeed it is to say our last goodbyes as the body, the casket, is lowered into the ground. Now listen, although the soul is gone and all that remains is the marble corpse of our loved one, yet conveying that body into the grave is a heart wrenching anguish words cannot articulate. But my dear friend, Jesus has led the way! Jesus has gone before and He Himself has experienced that very thing. His lifeless body after His death at Calvary was also laid in a grave. His body went where your loved one has now gone. And if the grave was good enough to keep the precious body of Jesus, do you not agree that it is good enough to also keep the body of your loved one? The body of Jesus, which laid in the gray for three days and three nights was perfumed with fragrances. And I say to you, the perfume of Christ’s body in the grave remains. It lingers. It continues. And it is in the grave where your loved one now lays. It is a fragrance that perfumes the grave. It’s a beautiful fragrance for Christ has gone there before your loved one, before the graves of all His saints. He blessed and softened every bed. Where should the dying members rest, but with their dying head? You see, the grave that keeps your loved one has been blessed and sanctified by the Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps you’ve never considered this glorious truth before. The grave that keeps the body of your loved one is consecrated ground. It’s holy ground, for in it lays the body of a vessel unto honor, and in it lays a body of a vessel of mercy, and in it lays the body of a vessel of gold and silver. You see, when Jesus shed His precious blood on the cross, He redeemed not only the souls of His people, but also their bodies. He purchased both body and soul. The body of your loved one, therefore, has been purchased by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a precious body to the Lord and it is this which therefore blesses and consecrates the grave which keeps the body of your loved one. And it is this which softens the blow of death, giving to the bodies of the Lord’s people a place of rest while they await the resurrection of their bodies. For death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is thy sting? Paul asked, Oh grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be unto God, which giveth His people the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ, their dying and living Head. The third stanza,

Stanza 3

Thence He arose, ascending high, 

And showed our feet the way; 

Up to the Lord our flesh shall fly, 

At the great rising day. 

You see, my dear friend, not only has Jesus gone before us when His body was conveyed to the grave, but He has also gone before us when His body was reunited with His soul and He ascended on high. And, as He ascended on high, so shall He one day come again through the clouds and in the air. And you see, it is in this way the Lord Jesus Christ has led the way as He Himself enjoyed the resurrection of the body. So shall we all who are in Christ, enjoy the glorification and resurrection of our bodies. And it will happen on that great rising day, that our flesh, our bodies, shall be resurrected to meet the Lord in the air. Henceforth, 

Then let the last loud trumpet sound, 

And bid our kindred rise; 

Awake, ye nations under ground; 

Nations—referring to God’s elect people that have been called out from every nation and whose bodies are in the tomb or under ground.

Ye saints, ascend the skies. 

My dear friend, on that great rising day, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself shall descend from heaven—through the clouds in the air—with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel, and with the Trump of God. And the Lord Jesus Christ shall bring with Him all of the departed saints that have been ushered to heaven throughout the ages. They will all gather in the skies with Him and it will be then that the Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of God, will reassemble the bodies of those that lay in the grave. And those bodies will rise in the air and shall be reunited with those souls. And the bodies will also be glorified—without sin, incorruptible, no decay and never to die again. In this way their resurrected bodies will resemble the resurrected body of Christ. They will be glorified bodies. And you see, this is the great day, the great rising day, the resurrection day. And it is this that gives to you and me the blessed hope when a loved one leaves this world, having been prepared unto glory. Their souls have been ushered to heaven and are in the bosom of Christ. Their bodies have been conveyed to the grave and the bodies wait for the great rising day when the Lord Jesus Christ will reunite the soul with the body. And, if you be a regenerate sinner, then one day likewise you will have that resurrected body and you will be rejoined with your loved ones. And you see, it’ll be then, once this resurrection occurs, that God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes, there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying. Neither shall there be any more pain. For the former things at that point will have passed away.

And this is our great hope of glory, my friend. The story has not finished with the soul of your loved one being ushered to heaven and his or her body conveyed to the grave. No, no! The story has not yet finished. The story will only finish on the great rising day, and that is the hope that should comfort your soul. So, rather than being overcome with grief, I ask you the question:

Do you believe the teachings that have here been presented to you? Do you believe in the gospel of our blessed God? Do you believe God has prepared His people unto glory? Do you believe that the soul of your loved one has been ushered to heaven and is resting secure in the bosom of Jesus? Do you believe the body of your loved one that you have conveyed to the grave is resting safe and secure under the ground? Do you believe that Christ is coming again? Do you believe that when He comes again, He’ll bring with Him your departed friend or family member? Do you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ will reunite the soul of your loved one with their body? Do you believe the same will occur for you?

Then my dear friend, as the apostle Paul said in First Thessalonians chapter four, comfort one another, comfort yourself, with these truths. I pray God will comfort your heart with these truths, and if you have found any measure of comfort, then this is your opportunity to sing the hymn to the glory of God and to the further comfort of your soul.

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