Marvels Amidst the Tombs
J. W. Hardman, LL. D. Psalm 88:10-12 Will you show wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise you? Selah.… What a sad day in the history of a great country was that when over the gateway of the chief cemetery of Paris was inscribed the sentence, "Death is an eternal sleep"! This hopeless statement was the product of a highly civilized age, that chose to live without God; but the primitive races of men had not sunk so low in religious matters. When the chieftain of prehistoric days was placed in his tomb, before they raised his tumulus they placed with his bones his weapons of stone, or bronze, that he might in "the spirit world" pursue his avocations which he had followed on earth. But when men became philosophers, and studied the grounds of evidence, a cold withering frost of doubt seemed to freeze up their cheering convictions. Even the great , with his last breath, speaks with a kind of faltering utterance to his judges, "And now we part, and whether it will be best for you, or for me, is known to God only." Then came the dawn of a nobler day. Christ Jesus walked on earth. In the death-chamber of the little Jewish maiden He recalled the vanished spirit. Thus the Christian answers to the despairing, wailing cry of Scepticism — "Does God show signs amongst the dead?" by pointing to the empty sepulchre; to the white-robed angels, that announce — "He is not dead, He is risen"; to the testimony of the pious women, who found the spices might be reserved for incense to burn in the worship of their Ascended Lord; and to the multitude of sober and sufficient witnesses, who both on the first Easter Day, and afterwards in Galilee, by many infallible proofs, perceived that He was alive, and alive for evermore! And now He holds the keys of death and of Hades — that is, the unseen world — and adoring Christendom bows before His name, who has "shown wonders amongst the dead." In this faith our dear ones close their eyes, in His peace they rest; "in sure and certain hope "of His resurrection power we lay their earthly tabernacles beneath the green sod. (J. W. Hardman, LL. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. WEB: Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the dead rise up and praise you? Selah.