The Sound of Wailing

“The sound of wailing is heard from Zion: How ruined we are!  How great is our shame!” (Jer. 9:19)

           Throughout scripture, wailing is common when the Lord comes in judgment and leaves no hope of escape or recovery.  There was wailing when all the first-born were slain in Egypt, and in John’s vision of the fall of Babylon (Ex. 12:30; Rev. 18:19). Wailing is the blindness of the unspiritual mind expressed—full of protest, agony, and searching.  For when our treasure is stored up on earth, and our heart is there also, we cannot see past suffering or loss (Matt. 6:19-21).  It is incomprehensible.  For sinners and Christians whose minds are set on the flesh, death is the final truth.

            When Jesus came to visit a man whose daughter had just died, he asked, “Why all this commotion and wailing?  The child is not dead but asleep” (Mark 5:39).  Jesus knew that He, and not death, was the final truth.  Nevertheless, scripture says the people laughed at Him.  Those grieving blindly always have a moment to pause and call Jesus a fool.  But Jesus put out the mourners and wailers (Mark 5:40).  Only three disciples and the girl’s parents—those who believed—saw resurrection in the midst of tragedy.  “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them…There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Rev. 21:3, 4).  Through the resurrection of Christ, God made man His dwelling; what was mortal has been swallowed up by life (2 Cor. 5:4).  Those who believe, whom He draws to be eye-witnesses of Himself, see beyond death.  In Jesus they find One who is worth the loss of all things (Phil. 3:7, 8).