THE BLESSED GOD
W. Dickson
Revelation 14: 13; Romans 4: 6–8; Matthew 5: 4
It is a great source of strength at a time like this to know that we have to do with a blessed God, a God who is the source of all blessing. To look at this present circumstance in the words of the hymn we often sing, ‘His every act pure blessing is’ (Hymn 55), would help us by the Spirit to come to the peace that the Lord would impart at this time. To the human mind the circumstances are of unrelieved tragedy. Our sister was a gifted woman, she was a devoted sister, wife, and mother, with everything to live for, humanly speaking, and yet here we are. How all need the help of the Spirit to come to it that God is a blessed God and His every act pure blessing is. It would be an uplift to all our hearts if we left this occasion today with a greater assurance in our souls as to the blessing that God has in mind even in this matter.
So it says in Revelation 14, “I heard a voice out of the heaven saying, Write, Blessed the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth”. In the Lord; how blessed our portion! What is our sister
engaged with at this present time as in the presence of Jesus? I think from the Scriptures there are three blessed occupations that are hers—she is eating of the old corn of the land, she is eating of the fruit of the tree of life, and she is drinking of the water of life freely. She has often drunk of these waters, but now she is drinking of them freely, without hindrance, without let; that is her occupation. The divine voice is, “Blessed the dead who die in the Lord”; they have had their part in the testimony currently; then says the Spirit, “That they may rest from their labours; for their works follow with them”. The blessed Spirit who is down here has taken account of our sister in her devoted life amongst God’s people, and the Spirit who knows it, the Spirit who has been with her in these days of suffering, the Spirit says, “That they may rest from their labours; for their works follow with them”. I just want to leave that touch of our sister’s blessedness at the present time as having died in the Lord. The Spirit as saying “Yea” enters in deep feeling, as having indwelt her, into the fact that she is at rest from her labours.
In Romans 4: 6–8 we find the basis of our sister’s faith, why she was so assured, why her faith was so strong, why her link with her blessed Saviour yielded her so much joy and power. She was blessed as one whose lawlessnesses had been forgiven, whose sins had been covered. How did she come to know that blessing? By her implicit trust in the efficacy of the precious blood of Jesus. Oh, can I speak to any here at this time to whom this verse does not apply? You could be amongst those who are blessed as your sins are covered by the precious blood of Jesus, the Saviour who has gone into death, who has been buried and has risen again, in order to give you, without works, without any standard of your own righteousness, heaven’s richest blessing. “Blessed are they whose lawlessnesses have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered”—that was our sister’s portion; it is the portion of many in this room. Our hearts rejoice at this time in the blessing that the precious blood has secured, a place of favour in the presence of God that exceeds every human blessing.
May someone as a result of the Lord speaking at this time know that blessedness.
Then in Matthew 5: 4 Jesus says, “Blessed they that mourn, for they shall be comforted”. Our hearts go out to the family, but it says, “Blessed they that mourn”, as if God, in His love and in His infinite wisdom, and the Lord Jesus in His wonderful service, and the Spirit too, would give them to come out of this deep testing experience with a blessing in their souls. “Blessed they that mourn, for they shall be comforted”, suggestive of the Holy Spirit, and the service of the blessed Spirit. How they will prove it from now on as they move through this scene, the blessedness of being comforted by the Spirit and by the Lord. And we all mourn, beloved brethren, we are all sympathetically mourning at this time, and yet we separate with a sense of blessing. We will not separate without a sense of victory, a sense of joy, but we will separate with infinite confidence and trust in the blessed God, who has given His only Son in order that assurance and peace may be our portion. That word ‘blessed’, if I may digress for a moment, in its original meaning refers to perfect serenity, and peace and joy which shall never be disturbed. May we prove it, for His name’s sake.
Words at the burial of Mrs. Margaret Gray, Edinburgh
5 November 1980