It Is Still Well with My Soul

We just sang, “It is well with my soul.”

It is not easy with my soul. But it is well. It is not painless with my soul. But it is well.

How can Christians talk like that? What do these Christians know that makes them talk like that?

• “My soul is troubled. But it is well with my soul.”
• “My soul is being ripped apart. But it is well with my soul.”
• “My soul is in the agony of Gethsemane. But it is well with my soul.”
• “My soul is under the greatest siege of my life. But it is well with my soul.”

Are these Christians out of touch with reality? Perpetua has died, and you are singing (singing!), “It is well with my soul.” How can you do that?

That’s what this message is about.

Six Great Realities

The reason a service like this does not make sense to the world — singing, “It is well with my soul,” in the shadow of the death of a precious twelve-year-old daughter (or sister) — is because this service and this church and the soul of the Broten family are built on six great realities that the world does not embrace.

1. God is more important than man.
2. Eternity is more important than time.
3. King Jesus is more important than all other authorities.
4. The Bible is more important than all other books.
5. To be a child of God is more important than all fame and power and pleasure this world can offer.
6. God’s mission to reach all peoples with salvation is more important than all political or international events.

Not only do these six realities make sense out of this service, but they also provide the unshakable foundation where the Broten family — and all of us — will stand in the coming days.

So, let’s linger for a few minutes over these things and put our feet on solid ground.

1. God

God is more important than man.

To whom will you liken me and make me equal,
     and compare me, that we may be alike? . . .
For I am God, and there is no other;
     I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
     and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, “My counsel shall stand,
     and I will accomplish all my purpose.” (Isaiah 46:5, 9–10)

Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
     and are accounted as the dust on the scales. (Isaiah 40:15)

God is the great reality before all other reality. He was simply there. He never came into being. He spoke, and the universe stood forth — billions of galaxies (Hebrews 11:3). He holds it in being “by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3). It has no independent existence. He governs and guides it to his appointed purposes.

“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
     or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him
     that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:34–36)

The world will never understand the meaning of mankind until they realize that God is infinitely more important than man. They will never understand their own dignity. They will never understand their own sinfulness. They will never understand their own destiny.

Only when we realize that God is infinitely more important than man are we in a position to say, “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:4–5). The glory of man is his unique capacity to know and enjoy the superior greatness of God.

Does it diminish God’s love for us that, compared to him, we are counted as dust on the scales? No. It doesn’t diminish God’s love; it makes it breathtaking. That’s what grace is.

2. Eternity

Eternity is more important than time.

What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. (James 4:14)

As for man, his days are like grass;
     he flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
     and its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him. (Psalm 103:15–17)

Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! (Psalm 39:5)

All flesh is like grass
     and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
     and the flower falls,
but the word of the Lord remains forever. (1 Peter 1:24–25)

Eternity is more important than time. Just do the math.

“To be a child of God is more important than all fame and power and pleasure this world can offer.”

One of the most glorious and terrifying facts is that we do not get to choose whether we exist forever. We will all die. And then Jesus says, “All who are in the tombs will . . . come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28–29). Everyone lives forever, either in the presence of God, where “there is fullness of joy [and] pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11), or separated from him in “torment” (Luke 16:28).

It is insane to live your life oblivious of eternity.

3. Christ

King Jesus is more important than all other authorities.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory [Jesus Christ], glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1, 14)

Though he was in the form of God, [he] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6–8)

And in that death, Jesus Christ bore the just and holy condemnation of God in the place of millions of people, who will receive the free gift of eternal life simply by believing in him (John 3:15).

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9–11)

On his robe . . . he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. (Revelation 19:16)

King Jesus is more important than all other authorities.

4. Bible

The Bible is more important than all other books.

If you call out for insight
     and raise your voice for understanding,
     if you seek it like silver
     and search for it as for hidden treasures,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
     and find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom;
     from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (Proverbs 2:3–6)

Every word of God proves true;
     he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. (Proverbs 30:5)

So, we say with Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). To which Jesus says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35). “All Scripture is breathed out by God” (2 Timothy 3:16). And “Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35).

The law of the Lord is perfect,
     reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
     making wise the simple . . .
the rules of the Lord are true,
     and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
     even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
     and drippings of the honeycomb. (Psalm 19:7, 9–10).

There is no other book like the Bible. This service and these songs and the Broten family are incomprehensible without it.

5. Adoption

To be a child of God is more important than all fame and power and pleasure this world can offer. If you trust Christ, here’s what is true of you:

You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:15–17)

So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. (1 Corinthians 3:21–23)

Let this sink in: Through faith in Christ, the Creator of the universe and owner of all things — having all power and all wisdom and all grace — adopts you into his family and makes you an heir of everything he has. Not slaves, not servants, not alienated; at home, in the family, in the big house, calling God our Father.

To be a child of God is more important than all fame and power and pleasure this world can offer.

6. Mission

God’s mission to reach all peoples is more important than all political or international events in the world. This is the great work of the Son of God.

Worthy are you to take the scroll
     and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
     from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
     and they shall reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:9–10)

He launched the mission by his blood. He is carrying it out by his Spirit. It cannot fail.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)

Therefore, the apostle Paul and thousands in his train said,

I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. (Acts 20:24)

In other words, if God calls you to be a missionary, don’t stoop to being a king.

Perpetua’s Prize

Jacob and Sonja, when you sing, “It is well with my soul,” you are not out of touch with reality. Nor is Perpetua.

1. She has been known and loved by the most important person in the universe: God.
2. She has been forgiven by the King of kings on the basis of his blood and righteousness.
3. She has been adopted as a child of God and made an heir of all things.
4. She was and is embedded in the greatest mission in the world.
5. Her short life in time was a prelude to eternity.
6. Every dimension of her life draws its meaning not from the word of man but from the word of God.

Therefore, you will grieve for years to come, but not as those who have no hope. And when you and your children say, “It is well with my soul,” you will not be out of touch with reality. Oh no. These are the great realities: God, eternity, Christ, Bible, adoption, mission. I thank God that in all your sorrows you have modeled this for us.