“THE GOD OF PEACE”

R. Swan

Hebrews 13: 20, 21; 1 Thessalonians 5: 23

I should just like to add a few words, dear brethren. First of all I should like to say a word about the Shepherd. I suppose it is fitting that, as Paul no doubt wrote this epistle, he could speak of the Shepherd as being “great”. The Spirit of God delights to magnify Christ. His greatness shines in this epistle. Our sister, whom we have valued and loved and have had links with, links that will go into eternity, proved the value of the “great salvation” as Paul speaks of it in this epistle (Hebrews 2: 3), “so great salvation, which, having had its commencement in being spoken of by the Lord, has been confirmed to us by those who have heard”. What a continuity, dear brethren, of the testimony in how things have been handed down as to the greatness and glory of Christ. This “so great salvation” is great because it has been procured at so great a cost, that of the blood of Christ. Our sister knew the value of that blood and she knew the Shepherd in her lifetime and, dear brethren, not only has He given His life but in His present position, in His shepherd care and in His skill, He is bringing about what is going to meet the thought of the blessed God in taking each one of us up.

Our brother has referred to the winnowing. One’s mind went to the beginning of Luke because Luke has in mind an order of things which is perfect, which is complete, fully developed. One loves to think of the winnowing; it is in the hand of Christ, “whose winnowing-fan is in his hand”, Luke 3: 17. How skilful, dear brethren, how

touching that is, and then it says, “He will thoroughly purge his threshing-floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner”. Ah, dear brethren, think of the gathering in! But the winnowing-fan is in His hand, as if divine Persons are looking at the great end, the idea of perfection. In many ways the Lord uses the threshing-floor, often testing and drastic, but the winnowing-fan is in His hand, and I am sure our sister had a sense of that. In her closing moments, who can tell how much she must have known of the Shepherd where He is now,

“the great shepherd of the sheep”, giving her the conscious inward sense of His care and compassion? Think of how the Lord in Luke’s gospel as the great Shepherd-Priest drew near to two who were despondent. It says, “Jesus himself” (not ‘the Lord’ but “Jesus”) “drawing nigh, went with them” (Luke 24: 15); it was the great Shepherd in His priestly skill in order that there might be a bringing in and that there might be nothing lost. Dear brethren, the Lord has resources and we ought to value them, that none of us should fall out of the testimony but be carried through.

So I read from this epistle just to refer to “the God of peace”. Our sister knew the God of peace. He is spoken of as the God of peace, the God of mercy, the God of love, the God of all grace. How wonderful, dear brethren, the many ways God is spoken of, the many ways He takes, but all to the end, as our brother has been saying, to bring about a perfect end, “who brought again from among the dead our Lord Jesus”. Ah, there is One, dear brethren, who has come out from among the dead; we love to think of Him in His present position, and He is still carrying on His gracious shepherd work, but ever reminding us of “the power of the blood of the eternal covenant”. Everything, dear brethren, is established incontestable and

unalterable, the testimony in the covenant of the precious blood of Christ. How great it is! Oh how that gives stability as we think of it, “the blood of the eternal covenant”.

Then he says, “perfect you in every good work to the doing of his will, doing in you what is pleasing before him through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for the ages of ages. Amen”.

What patience, dear brethren, divine Persons have. Not only do we value the precious blood of Christ, but are sustained. Our sister put her faith in that blood and was sustained in her spirit and in her soul and in her body. These are component parts of our being; how great they are, the spirit, I suppose, being first, the greatest, the highest part of our being. This comes into Luke’s gospel too where Mary, that outstanding vessel, speaks about her spirit and her soul—“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour”, Luke 1: 47. How, great, these component parts! As to our beloved sister, her spirit is with the Lord, is with God, as Ecclesiastes tells us, “and the spirit return unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12: 7); her soul she had committed many years ago; she had committed her soul “in well-doing to a faithful Creator” (1 Peter 4: 19)—and we are about to commit her body, not just to the grave, although that is true, but to the Lord, everything intact. How peaceful everything is, the God of peace, as it were, giving us a touch of peace in the midst of it all. As our brother has said, she is in His presence, she has entered into rest, but think of a day when there will be the public manifestation of all that has been wrought out and of how our sister in quietude and in restfulness of spirit has served the Lord.

I wanted to say a word from Thessalonians because this epistle contemplates our being here when the Lord comes. The apostle speaks about those who have gone, but he says, “we, the living who remain, shall be caught up together with them” (1 Thessalonians 4: 17). That is a great thing, dear brethren. Paul must have had in his day the thought that the Lord would come at any time, but “Now the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly—and your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

Oh, dear brethren, everything for the believer is intact; how restful it makes us—“the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly ...” and then “your whole spirit”. How valuable our spirits are! I think the Lord Jesus in Luke’s gospel in committing His spirit to the Father intended to help us to value our spirits, and then the Spirit helps us because in Romans it says, “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God”, (Romans 8: 16). What restful enjoyment the Spirit would give us of this holy relationship, which our sister enjoyed.

Then how valuable our bodies are as devoted to the will of God. We can be assured and restful in the midst of all the confusion around. How restful it is to think of our beloved sister, who has been with us for over thirty years in this city, and who has served the Lord and His people, as being now with Christ. The day will come when there will be a full compensation.

May we be helped, all of us, for the time we are left, for His name’s sake.

Words at the burial of Mrs. D. L. Stewart, Edinburgh
23 January 1980