Comfort in Hopelessness

There are situations of sickness, of financial loss, of job loss, of rebellious children, and many more where our hope of a recovery is tested. However, nothing challenges our hope more than death. 

Death is inevitable. If we can somehow find hope amidst death, then we may even be comforted amidst death. And if this hope is truly one that carries us beyond death, then we ourselves can face death without fear. 

There are four instances we can consider from the Bible, where amidst the gloom of death, the sorrowing found comfort. 

• The death of Sarah – comfort in God’s providence  
• The death of Joseph – comfort in God’s promises 
• The death of Lazarus – comfort in God’s power 
• The death of Christ – comfort in God’s presence 

The death of Sarah

(Gen. 23; 24:67)

Isaac lost his mother Sarah. Being the beloved of his parents, he felt a loss that couldn’t be replaced. However, in the series of events that would follow after her death, we see God at work in bringing a wife in Rebekah for Isaac. In this was Isaac comforted after his mother’s death. It seems that this 40 year old man, Isaac, was in a state of grief after his mother’s death. With the coming of Rebekah, her love filled up the void of his mother’s love. 

When God was at work, Isaac was in prayer. His hope was in God, knowing that he would provide for him. He was, therefore, comforted in seeing God’s hand of providence. As the One who created us, the Lord knows exactly what we need. 

The death of Joseph

(Gen. 50:24-26, Ex. 13:19, Josh. 24:32)

Joseph, the second in command in Egypt, had a respectable arrangement made at his death. He was embalmed and put in a Egyptian coffin. What to an Egyptian was his eternal abode, was to Joseph a temporal one. He believed the word which the Lord had spoken concerning his people, the Israelites, that they would dwell in the land of Canaan, and not Egypt. He, therefore, gave a command concerning his bones that they must be carried along to the land of promise. 

This eventually happened 400 years later. As the Israelites left Egypt, they took his bones (and probably left the coffin behind). The death of Joseph teaches us that God’s word is faithful, his promises sure. If ever the Israelites needed comfort in their 400 years of rigor and toil in the land of Egypt, they needed to hope in the word of the Lord in the bones of Joseph. 

The death of Lazarus 

(John 11)

During the times of Jesus Christ, Lazarus, a young man, fell sick and died. A young life came abruptly to an end. However, Jesus said that this was for the glory of God. Four days later, when the body would’ve started corrupting, Lord Jesus came, and with a loud voice raised him from the dead. The people expected the Miracle Worker to have come earlier and heal him when he was sick. But they never thought that he would raise him from the dead! 

From a hopeless situation and grief insurmountable, came a comfort beyond what words can express. This we can experience only when we know the power of God. 

The death of Christ 

(John 20:1-18)

It may be absurd to think that he which gave life to the dead, died himself. But Christ’s coming into the world was to die for the sins of mankind. But this, his disciples did not understand. One such was a woman, Mary Magdalene, whose life came to a standstill with the death of Christ. On the third day, she came to the tomb to embalm his body. But to her shock, the body was missing from the tomb. She was perplexed and distressed, not knowing what to do. 

As she wept, she heard a voice so familiar, so reassuring, so comforting. Behind her stood Jesus – not as a spirit, or in a vision, but in his body. He had risen from the dead! In a moment, her grief was all forgotten. Joy unbounded filled her heart. It was the dear presence of the Lord that comforted her heart. 

The tomb points to the inevitability of death. For by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned (Rom 5:12).  

However, Christ is apart from us in that he is sinless. Unlike us who die due to our sins, he died for our sins. His life was not taken away, but having the power to lay it down and take it up again, he did so (John 10:18). 

The comfort at the tomb of Christ is for all the world to enjoy. Christ is the provision of God for the problem of sin; for his death satisfies God’s demand for the punishment of sin (Rom. 3:25; 5:9). He is the promise of God for the redemption of mankind; for he is the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls (1 Pet. 1:10-12). He is the power of God unto salvation; for on the cross he met the lofty standards of God, and accomplished that which no one else could do (1 Cor. 1:18). The risen presence of Christ tells us that death no longer need be feared; for he, having gained victory over death, will also raise up those who believe in him unto eternal life to be with him in his presence eternally (1 Thess. 4:13-18). 

In Christ alone there is comfort in the gloom of death, for he gives us hope beyond death.