CONFORMITY TO CHRIST
W. Dickson
Genesis 5: 27; Romans 8: 28–30
This verse that we have read in Genesis is one of the most arresting verses in Holy Scripture, a record by the Holy Spirit of a man with the longest life on this earth. There is no other mention of him in the Scriptures, apart from the genealogies, as far as I know, and no record of him in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews in the line of faith. The man with the longest life-span, the Spirit just gives a short verse to him with the comment, “and he died”. You wonder, beloved brethren, what that life held for God. You wonder if it held anything for God, but Scripture is silent. We will not judge, but there is no record that there was anything for God. One has said his life was ‘featureless’1.
But as we bury our sister today we think of the scripture, “Precious in the sight of Jehovah is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116: 15). Her life was comparatively short-lived, far short of the span of years of the man of whom we have read, but we can say this of her, “Precious in the sight of Jehovah is the death of his saints”. Every one, whether young or old, purchased by the precious blood of Jesus, is owned by heaven. How precious our gathering is today in the sight of heaven because we bury a saint. How far better to die precious in the sight of heaven, in the sight of God, than to live to such a span as Methuselah and perhaps nothing in it for God, nothing in it for Christ.
Now to refer to this passage in Romans, “But we do know that all things work together for good to those who love God …” We think of the comfort and the strength that our beloved brother needs, and our dear sister her mother too, the grace to be able to say, “But we do know that all things work together for good to those who love God”. Is there any greater demonstration of the power of the love of Christ and the living power of the Spirit than, in the presence of the breaking of the most cherished natural tie, to be able to say, “But we do know that all things work together for good to those who love God”? Could we all say it, beloved brethren, in this room at this time? Is that the way our hearts feel? Is there any trace of resentment at the divine actings? Consider that blessed Man, the Lord Jesus. In Gethsemane He prayed, “My Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me; but not as I will, but as thou wilt”, Matthew 26: 39.
It says, “Because whom he has foreknown, he has also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be the firstborn among many brethren”. Beloved brethren, I think we saw the conformity to the image of His Son taking place with our sister. She acquired a place in the affections of the brethren in this city in the short time she was here, and that place did not stand in relation to anything that she was naturally. There was what was naturally attractive with her which appealed in a natural sense in a right way to our hearts, but the place she had in the affections of the brethren in this city stood in relation to the features of Christ, what the Spirit of God was working out as bringing about a conformity to the image of God’s Son.
We have often said in this city in recent weeks and months, ‘What is the Lord saying to us in all this?’ Could I put it another way? What is God working out for His own pleasure, for His own delight for all eternity? He is going to have those that are conformed to the image of His Son. Our sister was predestinated, she was foreknown—long before time was. God in the workings of His grace had in mind there would be something for His own heart. There will be something for the heart of Christ and for God throughout all eternity as a result of these workings producing conformity to the image of God’s Son.
So all should be subject to the work of God as it goes on. Oh, you young people, may the Spirit of God work with you! What did the poet say?
‘Life at best is very brief,
Like the falling of the leaf,
Like the binding of a sheaf,
But be in time’.
Make sure that your life is held under the control of the blessed Spirit of God, so that it is a life that yields something for God’s pleasure and is a comfort to the heart of Christ at the present time, for His name’s sake.
Word at the burial of Mrs Elizabeth Gray, Edinburgh
24 February 1984
Published by F. C. Mutton, 22 Christchurch Road, Ilford, Essex, IG1 4QY, England Printed by Crystal Stationery, 22 Rushdene Road, Billericay, Essex, CM12 9NJ