The Christadelphians
This website was made possible by the tireless emotional and financial support of Robert William Alexander McFarland, the father of the webmaster.
Since early 1997 Robert had suffered from angina. As the illness developed it became apparent that he needed heart bypass surgery. He was admitted to hospital on Sunday the 6th June 1999 and had his operation the following day. It was a success, and he returned home one week later. On Saturday the 26th June he collapsed and died due to a blood clot in his lung. He was at home, and the two oldest of his four sons, Matthew and Martin, and his daughter Sarah were with him. His third son, Andrew, was in Cambridge, England, at the time, having graduated a matter of hours before. His wife, Betty, and his sister in law, Isa, were on their way back to Belfast from Cambridge.
His funeral was on Wednesday 30th June 1999, at 12:30, in James Brown & Sons, 300 Newtownards Road. Andrew wrote the following tribute to his father, which was used as a basis for the funeral service.
As many of you will know, Robert was a deeply religious man. He often said that, should he die before Christ returned, his funeral was to be used to explain his beliefs to friends, colleagues and family. In accordance with his wishes we will now look at what the Bible he loved so well teaches about death and resurrection.
Robert firmly believed that death is a state of unconsciousness, like sleep. The Biblical basis for this is quite clear. For example, in Ecclesasties chapter 9 we read: "The living know that they shall die, but the dead know nothing … in the grave … there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom."
One of the greatest kings who reigned in Jerusalem was Hezekaih. At one point in his life he became very ill and God sent the prophet Isaiah to tell him that he would not recover. Hezekiah then prayed to be healed, and God immediately sent Isaiah back with the message that he was granted a further 15 years of life. In response to his deliverance, Hezekaih wrote "The grave cannot praise you … the living, the living -they praise you," clearly showing that there is no conscious existence in death, much like in sleep. You can read about this in Isaiah 38.
The ‘death as sleep’ metaphor was used by Jesus Christ himself. Jesus had a friend, Lazarus, who became ill and subsequently died. This story can be found in the Gospel of John chapter 11. Jesus told his disciples that "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep." His disciples misunderstood him, thinking Christ desire to wake Lazarus was a desire to wake him from normal sleep. So Jesus told them plainly: "Lazarus is dead." As many of you know Christ resurrected Lazarus, in one of the greatest miracles of his ministry.
In the first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 15, Paul refers to those who have "fallen asleep in Christ," meaning those who have died as followers of Christ, just as Robert has. The 15th Chapter of the 1st letter to the Corinthians is very important, and we will return to it later. There is one other point that we must consider first.
Perhaps this seems like a very gloomy, pessimistic religion, devoid of hope. Nothing could be further from the truth. For the past 32 years, since his baptism in 1967, Robert believed that Jesus Christ would one day return to the earth to set up a glorious world-wide kingdom, centred on Jerusalem and Israel. In the first chapter of the book of Acts we read that, forty days after his resurrection, Christ was with his disciples on the Mount of Olives. They asked him "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" For hundreds of years the Jewish nation had been controlled by massive empires and was currently dominated by the Romans. The Jews were looking forward to the day when they would become a great nation again, as God had promised them. Christ replied that "It is not for you to know the times or the dates that the Father has set by his own authority," confirming that the Kingdom would be restored, one day. Shortly afterwards, Christ was taken up into heaven. Two angels then gave the disciples a very clear message: "This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."
And so we return to 1st Corinthians 15, which describes the resurrection of Christ’s followers as certain as the resurrection of Christ himself. "Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a human being. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ will we all be made alive. But in this order: Christ, the firstfruits; then when he comes, those who belong to him." When Lazarus was resurrected he remained a mortal being: at the resurrection following Christ’s return Paul tells us that "the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality." Robert died knowing that those who followed Christ would be resurrected and made immortal.
I hope everyone here today can take some comfort and encouragement from Robert’s beliefs. Even if you do not share them you can know that Robert did not fear death.
Countless books have been written about how we can know that the Bible is the word of God. Only Robert could tell you exactly why he believed in what the Bible said; I imagine there are some of you that he has told. The detail and accuracy of Bible prophecy was certainly a strong influence on him. We will consider one example.
About 600 years before Christ the Israelites were deported from their land by the Babylonian Empire. Their temple was destroyed and Jerusalem laid waste. The prophet Ezekiel received some remarkable visions, which are recorded in chapters 36 and 37 of the book he wrote. God said "I will take [the Israelites] out of the nations; I will gather [the Israelites] from all the countries and bring [the Israelites] back into [their] own land…. [the Israelites] will live in the land I gave to [their] ancestors." Ezekiel received a vision of a valley full of dry bones which he saw rise up and form into live human beings. God told Ezekiel that "these bones are the whole house of Israel" and that even thought they felt that the end of their nation was near God would "bring [them] back to the Land of Israel."
Robert was born in 1930 and lived through the momentous events of the Second World War. He saw the nation of Israel, scattered throughout the earth and persecuted by the Nazis. He saw the newsreels that showed the concentration camps. He saw the Jews return to Israel, where they had not been since the Romans finally expelled them in AD 70. The prophecies in Ezekiel are still being fulfilled, and Robert knew that no human could have predicted the events of the 20th Century with such accuracy from before the time of Christ. Chapters 38 and 39 of Ezekiel are continuous with chapters 36 and 37, and they describe the return of Christ: that great day may not be far away.
Robert was a husband to Betty, a father to Matthew, Martin, Andrew, Gareth, and Sarah, a brother, and a friend to many of you.
Robert was a very private person. He was also infinitely kind. He helped everybody in every way he could, regardless of whether he knew them. In particular he made massive sacrifices for his children. One of the most visible signs of this is the sheer number of books in the McFarland house. Although he was extremely reluctant to spend more than £20 on a pair of trousers, money was never the limiting factor in his children’s education, formal or informal.
When asked to describe Robert, his colleagues made the following comments:
"On his retirement from the Civil Service, Robert joined the firm of Messrs. C&H Jefferson as a legal executive. During his 10 years with the firm his wealth of previous experience of the law proved invaluable in the everyday running of the office.
"He was always helpful and obliging to his colleagues, a friend to many and an enemy to none. He will be greatly missed by all the staff, who held him in the highest esteem."
Robert died knowing that he will be resurrected when Christ returns, and hoped that his funeral might help, in some small way, to show others why his beliefs were so firm. When we remember him we should remember a husband, father, brother and friend. We should also remember his beliefs. In conclusion I would like to read from the penultimate chapter of the final book of the Bible, the book of Revelation. It is describing the close of the thousand years of Christ’s rule on earth, when he will hand the Kingdom over to God.
"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with human beings, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’"