Lessons from the Wilderness, Volume 49:
His story continues, an ode for my brother. Part 2
…He Loved
His God…[i] [ii] [iii] [iv]
Or
Is this
the end of His Story?
To my readers: thank you for allowing me to share in three posts, my tribute to my brother, Homopher Reselap, who went home to be with God 5 February 2022. I miss him so much, but his life held so much meaning, that one post is not enough, because his story continues. He touched lives, and no matter how much he will be missed, I thank God for he now lives in the Kingdom and will always live in our hearts.
I want to thank today, on this solemn occasion, Homopher’s wife and children for allowing me the chance to say a few words. I am humbled by their trust; I pray that I am up to the task.
“…The Spirit of the Yahweh Adonai is
upon me… To bring good news to the afflicted… He
has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted…To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD… To comfort all who
mourn, To grant those who mourn in
Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of
mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of heaviness…they
will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of Adonai,
that He may be glorified…”
In light of all that is going on in the world,
fear is gripping our hearts. There is fear of tomorrow. Fear of plague. Fear of
war. And fear, is what I want to address today, and how the man of God we honor
here today pushed back against fear his whole life. There is one fear, one that
we all share, the sum of all our fears. What fear is that which overcomes all
who live, our perhaps, greatest fear of all?
It has but one
name: death.
We, as humans, are
afraid to die.
We are afraid when
death takes away from us one that we love,
And we are afraid
of what happens next, to ourselves and to them.
This life we live, whether or not we live it for the glory of God, or for the glory of ourselves, has but one end, in that it is short and so uncertain. James the brother of Jesus wrote:
Jesus Himself said something similar to us in Luke 12:22-26:
But never forget,
it is God who writes this story, a perfect story of our lives.
Death is not the
end to our story.
Not for those who
know the Lord.
The teacher in Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, wrote that:
For everything there is a season, and a
time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die; a
time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time
to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time
to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to
gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain
from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time
to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time
to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate; a time
for war, and a time for peace.
For us here today though, it is a time to
mourn, a time to heal, a time to weep, and a time to love.
If I could only sum up Homopher’s life in one word, in my humble opinion, it would be relationships, those he made first with God, then Jesus, then his family, then his friends. In his relationships, he invested time. He invested himself. He gave his heart and soul to his God; this allowed him to give his heart to his family.
We
can see this in 2 Corinthians. In the scriptures I am about to read, we can
understand how there is a hope in facing death and all its dark fears, no
matter what they be.
2Co 4:16-18 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
2Co 5:1-9 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened--not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So, we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.
Exo 33:8-11
“…And it came about, whenever
Moses went out to the tent, that all the people would arise and stand, each at
the entrance of his tent, and gaze after Moses until he entered the tent.
9 Whenever Moses entered the
tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent;
and the LORD would speak with Moses. 10
When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the
tent, all the people would fall on their faces and worship, each at the
entrance of his tent.
11 Thus the LORD used to
speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend…”
The people, they knew of God, His presence and power. Moses though, knew God, and God knew him, as a friend, as one to speak to face to face. The power of relationship. Either you have it, or you do not. Those in the wilderness never got to enter into the Promised Land, for they knew not God. Even Moses failed to get into the Promised Land at that time; though later, God did send him and Elijah at the Messiah’s transfiguration. This relationship with the living God and His Messiah [or Christ] transcends, surpasses, goes beyond religion. It is greater than church, it is better than denominations. Those three things, religion, church, denomination, all stand between you and God. To have a relationship means there is nothing between you and the one true God and His Messiah Jesus. The Holy Spirit leads you to truth; this is the truth.
Do you, have it?
Death is not separation, but a continuation of your story. Death is a trade in.
God gives us a new body for the old worn out one. This means then:
No more hatred; but while we are still on this side of eternity, remember, the world hates Christ, it will hate you; just be prepared.
Upon our own
resurrection, it will be to a better world – a world of:
No more sickness. No more sadness. No more death. No more tears.
But for us to have resurrection, we must die. So where does that leave us for now, while we still live in this fading tent? We still have fears, trials, and troubles. As we age, as we get closer to that realization that we are just one breath away from eternity, what are we to do?
Hope. Hold on. Do not give up. Our salvation is nigh,
nearer now than it was for the Apostles. Please, I am not talking this way to
frighten anyone, or make it seem that our loss of a dear husband, father, grandfather,
and brother, has no meaning. Our perspective, our view has to be on something
greater than loss, than death.
God will not let death win. Even in
death, believers Win!
Rev
12:10-12
“…Then I heard a loud voice in heaven,
saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and
the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been
thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.
11 "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and
because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even
when faced with death.
12 "For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them…”
The world will tell you to fear death. They all try hard to extend their youth, from plastic surgery, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, exercise till you drop, to God only knows what else. Diet and exercise are not bad things, as long as your motivation is not fear or shame. The world wants you to be afraid, afraid of a virus, a vaccine, or no vaccine; they want us to be afraid of something that no one alive can ever escape.
Remember, Death is not the end of the story for those who know the Lord!
From all the fears associated with death, one of the greatest must be that we will die alone and forgotten. The pandemic made the most vulnerable among us isolated in nursing homes, hospitals, and care facilities. Many died alone. How sad and frightening it must be to die alone. Trapped in a distant place, apart from family and friends, how much worse must it be to pass from this world with no one to comfort you, with no one near to say goodbye. How lonely it must be to take your last breath, and no one hears. No one to wipe your tears, no one to say, “I love you.” Sometimes this happens without warning, but it is not the way it should be. No one should suffer and pass alone. When I hear these stories or read about them, only one thing comes to mind, John 11:35:
“…Jesus wept…”
May we weep also. May the Son of David be with these souls, may He have dried their tears and brought them into their rest, Amen.
Because of the relationships he had, those he prayed for and the ones he prayed over, those for his wife, his children, his grandchildren, his brothers, and sisters, Homopher left this world blessed because he was not alone; they were by his side. When it was time, he left to be with those who passed before him, father-Otto mother-Ursila, brothers Ophin and Bernis, sisters Aster and Sandrina, and many others that he cared for, to enter into the kingdom of the God he loved. There, he stood, or more likely, he fell to his knees before the Jesus who loves him. I believe that is when he heard those words “Well done, thou good and faithful servant…enter into the joy of the Lord”. He is now with the Lord, and that great cloud of witnesses that went before.
One final though. If Homopher could speak to us all today, what would he say? I think, but I do not know, that he would ask us all:
“Where do you stand today? Do you know our God, and
are you known by Him? Are you ready?”
Do we know Him my brothers and sisters?
Homopher got to come home, to his family, so that he could go home to God and his family. God be praised, he was not alone. For that matter, neither are we, if we believe. One day, we all must face the inevitable as Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians 15:22:
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ, all will be made alive.
And that my brethren, is our hope, the hope of all who believe. As I wrote earlier about Homopher, I told him I would not say goodbye. I will just see him later, God willing.
O death, where is
thy victory?
O death, where is
thy sting?
One day, we will
see and be with those who stood and said:
“We love our God
and are known by Him.”
Our stories will never end.
May the Lord bless
you and keep you all, my beloved. Amein
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[iv] Author’s note:
Throughout this study I may be using the NET Bible® and the NET Notes®: within
the notes you will see symbols like this: (א B Ψ 892* 2427 sys). These are
abbreviations used by the NET Bible® for identifying the principal manuscript
evidence that they (authors and translators of the NET Bible®) used in
translating the New Testament. Please go to https://bible.org/netbible/ and see
their section labeled “NET Bible Principals of Translation” for a more complete
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