THE FAMILY ALTAR

April 21.

"Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee that, if thou

wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" John 11:40.

Our Savior speaks these words to Martha at the grave of her

brother Lazarus. When He said to the grief-stricken sister : "Thy

brother shall rise again," she plaintively replied: "I know that

he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day." But that

event seems too far off to give her any comfort in her present

bereavement. In vain the Lord tries to revive her drooping faith

by fixing her eyes on Himself, before whom death is but a passing

sleep. He tells her those blessed words that have ever since dis-

pelled the grave's tearful gloom with their radiant light: "I am

the Resurrection and the Life," He says to her; "he that belie veth

in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever

liveth and believeth in Me shall never die." But even now in

her overwhelming grief she fails to grasp and see the glory of

the living God and Eedeemer in these majestic words; and when

the Lord proceeds to resurrect her dead brother, she interferes

and says : "Lord, by this time he stinketh ; for he hath been dead

four days." Hence the Lord in our text rebukes her for her great

lack of faith in Him and His almighty power. But are we not

like Martha in our great bereavement when death enters our house-

hold? Do not we also think that we have lost our loved ones,

and let their resurrection on the last day give us so little comfort?

Yet all the while our Lord, our Resurrection and our Life, is

with us in His blessed Word to assure us that our dear ones have

not perished, but are fallen asleep in Him. They are with Him

and He is with us, and therefore we are still united with them

and not separated from them, though their visible presence is

gone from us for a while. Verily, we need to study, learn, and

believe the article of our resurrection more every day. Luther

says rightly: "This is the principal article; on it rests our final

hope and salvation, and without it all the others would be useless

and without any fruit." And again : "There can be no forgiveness

of sin and salvation where this article of Christ's resurrection is

not believed." On the walls of his study he often wrote with

chalk the word Vivit, He lives, to strengthen his own faith.

He lives, all glory to His name!

He lives, my Jesus, still the same.

O the sweet joy this sentence gives,

                           "I know that my Redeemer lives!"