Gathered to His People
There are two passages of scripture for our reflection this week, as I recount some details of a personal journey the Lord has been taking me on over the past 2 weeks:
Genesis 25:8-9
8 Abraham took his last breath and died at a ripe old age, old and contented, and he was gathered to his people. 9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite.
And Genesis 35:29
29 Isaac took his last breath and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
The Lord opened doors for us 18 years ago as a married couple with 4 young children to move to Africa from Australia, initially to Botswana, then later to Sudan and in mid-2010 to Uganda. One of the downsides of this international life is being separated from close loved ones, both family and friends. In our case, this meant we were in Khartoum on Easter Sunday morning 2010 when Lynda’s Mum in Australia suffered a massive cerebral haemorrhage, going to be with her Lord the same day. Five years later in 2015, on the day of our son Zach’s 21st birthday, my own Mum was in hospital being treated for a minor chest infection, suddenly suffered severe complications, and passed that day to be with the Lord.
In both cases there was no opportunity afforded for us to pray with them or say any final farewell words; our Mums were each literally gone from this earthly life in the blink of an eye.
Twelve days ago, I woke to a message that my 84 years old Dad who lives in Brisbane, Australia, had just experienced a mini-stroke. This was the most recent of several he has experienced over the past 17 years, and it left him with total loss of speech. For someone like Dad who is now not very mobile and requires daily living assistance from nursing staff, speaking with these staff, as well as friends and family through face-to-face visits and via the telephone, provides the highlights of each day. To lose the capacity to speak at all clearly devastated Dad, and the person I was seeing lying in the hospital bed in subsequent days via video calls on Skype/WhatsApp was someone I now barely recognised. His happy disposition was gone, and it was as if he was fading away before my very eyes.
In these current times there was literally nothing we could do to be with him right now. Even if we could fly tomorrow to Australia, the only international flights are to Sydney, then immediately on arrival into 14 days quarantine, following which there is no guarantee of being able to get to Dad in Brisbane, due to the severe restrictions still imposed on all interstate travel inside Australia.
My initial response in the following days was to say – “don’t give in just yet Dad; please just stay with us Dad till we can get to you in Australia to say one final good-bye, if you are now ready to be with the Lord.”
Then the words came to mind of these two passages from Genesis, marking earthly life’s end for Abraham and for Isaac. I recognised that my attitude towards Dad and wanting him to “stay with us” for a little longer was being selfish.
The great patriarch Abraham died at the age of 175 years old. Notice the sequence in Genesis 25:8-9 above: Abraham died, was gathered to his people, and then his body was buried in the cave of Machpelah.
We see in Genesis 35:29 that Isaac was gathered to his people before he was buried. This is significant because some scholars argue that being “gathered to his people” simply means that he was buried with his ancestors. But the text shows that like Abraham, Isaac was clearly gathered to his people before he was buried.
This phrase, "gathered to his people" is in fact found recorded at the death of many other Old Testament characters apart from Abraham and Isaac, including: Ishmael (Gen. 25:17), Jacob (Gen. 49:33), Aaron (Num. 20:24), Moses (Deut. 33:50) and Josiah (2 Kings 22:8). The destiny of Moses is further described in Deut. 31:16 when God says, "Behold, you will rest with your fathers." This could not possibly refer to his physical body, for it was buried "in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor" (Deut. 34:6).
Not only do we read of individuals being "gathered to their people”, but after the death of Joshua we find an entire "generation had been gathered to their fathers" (Judges 2:10).
But what does it mean to be gathered to our people? Bible scholar William Wilson commented, "To be gathered to his people, is a peculiar phrase deserving notice; it is distinguished from death which precedes, and from burial of the body which follows. It seems to denote being received by their own people, or among them.”
One day, every one of us will be gathered to our people. The question to be answered is, which people? We will either be gathered to our people in heaven, or to our people in hell. Each patriarch mentioned above was quite clearly gathered to his people in heaven, for his people were God’s people. I trust that, as you read this, you will be able to say with great certainty that you will one day be gathered, like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and others, to God’s people.
We need to live in such a way that when we die, those whom we leave behind will have an unshakable confidence in the Word of God. We will be gathered to our people one day, but we must live in such a way that those left behind have no doubt in their minds as to which people we have been gathered to. Simply put, we need to so live that when we die there is no question that we believed the promises of God, for that will also help those whom we leave behind to believe the promises of God.
The key to us being gathered one day to God’s people is to be gathered to Jesus Christ here and now. It is only as you are saved by the person and work of Jesus Christ that you can be sure of being gathered one day to His people. Those who will be gathered to His people at death are those who are identified with His people in life. Do not fool yourself into thinking that you will be gathered to His people at your death if you have no time for His people in life!
Today I can celebrate the fact that throughout his life, Dad has continued a generational legacy that those left behind when the Lord does call him “home” will have no doubts in our minds as to which people he has been gathered. Dad is now “old and full of days”, living to “a ripe old age” to the point where I can fully appreciate that he is now ready to “be gathered to his people”.
Questions to ponder:
It does not matter whether you can count amongst your ancestors ones who were righteous in Christ; what counts is this - are you able to state with certainty to which people you will one day be gathered?
Is your life here and now being lived each day with an unshakeable confidence in the Word of God?
The reality of our life on this earth is that it can pass in the blinking of an eye – is there anything you need to say or share now with a loved one, a parent, a sibling? If so, then do not let it pass till “next time I see them”.
