All Our Yesterdays
"To the last
syllable of recorded time, and all our yesterdays. . ." (Macbeth V.v.)
A series of brief articles
dealing with Human Pre-existence
by Arthur & Rosalind Eedle.
14. Memory
In part 3
of this series we tackled the subject of "The Feast of Trumpets",
so-called, and found that it was to remember the creation of the world.
Strictly speaking, it should have been translated "A Remembrance
of Shouting (for joy)" The Lord wanted His people to enter into
the joy they had once known, but had its memory pushed into the deep
sub-conscious.
In this
number, we shall follow up this theme - the MEMORY. It was clear that the Lord
wanted the joy of creation to be returned to His people, hence the annual
festival of "shouting for joy". Did He ask that other items of
importance be remembered as well?
Exodus
20:8 "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy."
One might have expected the Lord to say "Observe the Sabbath Day to
keep it holy", but instead He said "Remember."
Just as the annual remembrance of creation, so now the remembrance of that
first Sabbath, when God "rested on the seventh day from all His
work which He had made" was being restored to His people. Both of
these were items locked in our sub-conscious, which require a triggering
mechanism to bring to the surface once again.
Here is
another example, in Exodus 28:12. "You shall put the two stones on
the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, stones of remembrance for the sons of
We are
entering into areas that seemingly do not occupy much time or thought to
people, even believers. But I have the distinct impression that our Lord
desires us to know and to remember certain important things
in our life pilgrimage. In fact it could be suggested that the initial act of
coming to know the Lord is that of remembrance. This may seem
strange when first presented, but is borne out by Scripture. Let's take a look
at Psalm 22:27-31, that great Psalm prophesying the sufferings and glory of our
great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. "All the ends of the
earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the
nations shall worship before Him. For dominion belongs to the Lord, and He
rules over the nations. . . . . men shall tell of the Lord to the coming
generation, and proclaim His deliverance to a people yet unborn, that He has
wrought it." What a magnificent proclamation! Here is a
passage that speaks of God's ultimate victory, based on the death and
resurrection of His Son, and in the same context we read about people who have
not yet been born. Yes, coming to know the Lord is equivalent to
"remembering". No wonder Solomon encouraged his readers to "Remember
now your Creator from the days of your youth . . ." (Eccl.12:1)
Psalm
77:11-13, a psalm of Asaph. "I will remember the works
of the Lord; yes, I will remember the wonders of old. I will meditate on
all Your work, and muse on Your mighty deeds." Here is a
man who has perceived the message of remembrance. He says that he will allow
his mind to become attuned the more readily to the recalling of
past knowledge.
There are
other avenues of discovery in the realm of "memory." Whereas the
Lord wants to bring back to mind all the good things He has done, He also wants
us to forget what is bad, even of our own making. The other side of the coin of
"remembrance" is "forgetfulness." David cried out to
the Lord, saying, "Remember not the sins of my youth, or my
transgressions; according to Your steadfast love remember me, for Your
goodness' sake, O Lord!" (Psalm 25:7) The Lord of all
graciousness replies through the mouth of Isaiah, "I am He who
blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your
sins." (Isa.43:25) An even stronger version of this same promise
is given by the Lord to Jeremiah, "No longer shall each man teach
his neighbour and each his brother, saying 'Know the Lord', for they shall all
know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will
forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (Jer.31:34)
We may
bewail our past sins and misdemeanours. We find we dream about them, and
sometimes we can come out in "goose pimples" as the mind recalls
events we wish never happened. It's the same for us all, particularly as we
remember "the sins of our youth", like David. But the Lord tells us
that He remembers them no more. They are lost in the sea of His forgetfulness.
This is a great relief, and we look forward to the day when our own
memories will be completely purged of all that the memory finds offensive.
This is a
subject of great import. All knowledge of good, holy, righteous, lovely,
wonderful things is part of the process of remembering. In this sense we should
be "laying up treasure in heaven." But it is God's
promise that everything bad, unclean, violent, abusive, and lawless will
eventually be purged, never to be remembered again. Even the most wretched of
sinners may be comforted to know this truth. In resurrection our minds will be
wiped clean of all that remains of the past sinful nature, whilst all that has
been stored up of a positive nature will become part of our own inheritance. No
wonder Paul encourages his readers, "Whatsoever things are true,
honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, if there be any virtue and if there
be any praise, think on these things." (Phil.4:8)