Wisdom in bereavement.
We learn from these verses—
I. THAT THE CULMINATION OF HOPE IN ONE MAY PROVE THE DEPTH OF PRIVATION TO ANOTHER. For the joy that was set before him Jesus "endured the cross, despising the shame" (Hebrews 12:2). Into that joy he now entered. As the "cloud received him out of their sight" (Acts 1:9), and he returned unto the Father, he took possession of the glorious inheritance for which he had paid so costly a price. But the time of his exaltation was the hour of his disciples sorrow. By his departure they lost sight of their dearest Friend, their wise Counselor, their great Teacher, their honored Lord. So must it be with us. The upright Christian statesman passes to a still larger sphere of usefulness and honor, and the nation mourns; the gifted and devoted pastor is called to a celestial ministry, and the Church is bereaved; the Beloved parent is translated to the skies, and the family hearth is desolate.
II. THAT THE ATTITUDE OF HELPLESSNESS IS ONE FROM WHICH WE MUST SOON BE AROUSED. (Acts 1:10, Acts 1:11.) It was natural and right enough that, when the Savior was taken up and disappeared from sight, the disciples should continue to "look steadfastly toward heaven; their eyes may well have been riveted to the spot in inexpressible awe and wonder. Doubtless all thought was swallowed up in simple surprise and consternation; they stood in helpless, bewildering astonishment. This might last for some minutes, but it could not continue longer. The angels broke in upon it, not with the language of reproach, but with the voice of arousing. A kindly voice is this. When disposed to give way to helpless awe, or fruitless grief, or inanimate prostration of soul, we may thank the minister of God, in whatever form he may come, who says to us, "Why stand ye gazing'? Amuse ye! All is not lost. The past is past, but the future is in front of you."
III. THAT TIME, WITH PATIENCE, WILL BRING HEAVENLY COMPENSATIONS. (Acts 1:11, latter part.) Though the Master was taken, he would come again; and when he returned, it would, indeed, be "in like manner, etc., but in more glorious form and with more splendid surroundings (1 Thessalonians 4:16; 2 Thessalonians 1:7; Jude 1:14; Revelation 1:7). Moreover, he would come again in unlike manner, but in a way as gracious and, perhaps, even more needful, viz. in the enlightening influences of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5). Heaven was taking away their Strength and their Joy; but let them wait in holy trustfulness, and Heaven would soon give them ample and blessed compensation. God takes from us-from the community and from the individual heart—those that are very dear, things that are very precious to us; then we faint and are grievously distressed; we may be almost paralyzed with our sense of loss and desolation. But there is blessing on its way—Divine comfort, solace, strength. The hand that takes our treasures has large compensations in reserve.
IV. THAT BEREAVEMENT FINDS A PURE AND WISE RELIEF IN COMMUNION WITH GOD AND IN FELLOWSHIP WITH MAN. (Acts 1:12-14.) The apostles, roused by the angels' speech, returned unto Jerusalem and went into the upper room, where they would meet their best friends—those who had the deepest sympathy with them—that they might commune with them and that they might "continue in prayer and supplication." In the time of bereavement and woe we may be tempted to shut ourselves in to our own chamber and nurse our grief. Nothing can be more unwise. Let sorrow, indeed, have its own chosen loneliness in its first dark hours; leave it alone with God, with the pitiful, patient Savior. Then let it come forth; let it go into the "upper room," where it can hold fellowship with human friends; let it go into the sanctuary, where, with the people of God, it can pour out its heart in prayer and supplication: it will not be long before it finds itself joining with them in the accents of praise.—C.