Who makes them grow? How do they get those delicate roots, those
graceful green leaves, those sweet-smelling lovely flowers?
Every spring we see the daisies and the buttercups, the wild geraniums,
the primroses and bluebells, and hundreds of other flowers, which come
up in the fields and hedges, without our knowing that they were there!
Who kept them all the winter? Who made them bloom out in the spring?
Do you guess the answer? You know the answer; it is God who makes them
grow, and come up for our joy.
And this wonderful thought helps us to understand the Resurrection; for
by God's power the bodies of those who love Him, and who are lying in
their graves, will rise to meet Jesus when He comes, and will bloom for
ever in the lovely Paradise of God's Home.
But some people do not believe in the Resurrection: they put away the
thought, and say they cannot see how it can be! And I am going to tell
you a true story of a very curious thing that happened some few years
ago.
A man who lived on the Continent—I do not remember the name of the
town—was a great infidel; one who did not believe in God's power, or
that there would be a resurrection of the dead by and by.
This man knew he must die some day, so he bought a grave in a certain
spot, and he gave orders that when he died he was to be buried in that
grave, and that a great stone was to be put over it. This stone was to
be "clamped" at the corners with strong iron bands and bars, so that
it could not be moved or taken away; and he ordered that certain words
were to be cut on the stone deep and legible.
He left instructions, and money, to carry out all these plans; so that
when he died there should be no mistake.
At length he did die, and was buried in that grave. All his
instructions were carried out. The great stone was laid over him, bound
with iron, and the stonemason cut words in the stone, just as he had
said.
And these were the words—so sad, because they were spoken to defy God.
"THIS GRAVE IS NOT TO BE OPENED FOR EVER."
And now comes the sequel to that story.
One day a gentleman came into my husband's office and laid a photograph
down on his desk.
He said he had just returned from the Continent, and had bought this
photograph there. And then he told my husband the story that I have
told you about the iron-bound grave.
Ah! There was the photograph, but it showed the grave all broken to
pieces!
The iron bars were there, but they were bent and twisted in every
direction; and the great stone was all broken to pieces, and lifted
quite out of its place!
Do you ask how? Was it a miracle?
Yes, just the miracle of one of God's little living seeds, which He had
allowed to be thrown into that grave!
For a seed-pod of a silver-birch tree had been shovelled in with the
earth which was used to fill up the infidel's grave when he was buried.
The seed had taken root in the earth, and had grown and grown in the
grave, till at last it became a strong silver-birch tree; and gradually
the branches had burst the iron bars, and raised up the stones, and
there was the infidel's grave laid open for everyone to see.
A photographer had heard of it and came among the sight-seers, and had
taken the wonderful photograph, which my husband saw, and held in his
own hand!
Let this Resurrection Story remind us of one great truth.
If we have Jesus for our Saviour, He is the Living Seed in our hearts;
and when the time of the Resurrection comes for us, we shall rise,
because His Life will be in us: and we shall go to be with Him, in joy,
for ever.