Bethan Lloyd-Jones: Through the Portals of Death

Lynette Clark

The following article is an excerpt from 'Far Above Rubies: The Life of Bethan Lloyd-Jones' by Lynette Clark.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy
he has given us . . . an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade
—kept in heaven for you.

- 1 Peter 1:3a, 4a

What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments,
but what is woven into the lives of others.

- Pericles

‘What is a family?’ is a question which forms the title of a book by Edith Schaeffer.

Martin Luther provided one answer when he referred to the family, on one particular occasion, as ‘the school for character’. Without doubt, however, a family is many things, and can be viewed from a number of perspectives. Where God has blessed a husband and wife with children and then with grandchildren, the family can be every bit as much ‘the place of comfort’ as it can be the school for character, especially when one of the spouses has been widowed.

Although the Doctor’s death had left a vacuum which nobody could fill, Bethan lived a contented, uncomplaining life as a widow, playing a very central part in her family’s life. If her children and grandchildren could not take her husband’s place, they certainly contributed to her closing years being fulfilled and happy ones. Her love for her own children overflowed to her grandchildren. She spent time listening to all that they wanted to share with her, and they, in turn, were enthralled listening to her: they would sit as she regaled them with tales of places she had visited and things she had done when she was younger. As a consequence of her flat being in the same house as that of her daughter Ann, Ann’s three children had the benefit of seeing their grandmother on a daily basis. This, however, did not make the slightest difference to the affection which she had for all six of her grandchildren. Bethan loved them all very much, and was thrilled to have lived long enough to see at least one great-grandchild.

Godliness and a life of service provide no immunity from the effects of age, nor do they necessarily guarantee a glorious exit out of this world. To Enoch and to Elijah alone were granted an entrance into the heavenly realms without having to pass through the portals of death. We know that the Lord took Enoch but are not informed of the mode or manner of his departure. To Elijah was granted a magnificent exit, being taken to heaven in a whirlwind, separated from Elisha by a chariot of fire and fiery horses and the horsemen of Israel. For many of God’s people their exit from this world has been much more commonplace: great King David, cold and needing a human ‘hot water bottle’; Paul, before his imminent departure, in prison, facing the cold of winter without his cloak, and the absence of those who had deserted him. The end, as far as it is viewed on earth, may appear anything but glorious. How ordinary was the event which ‘triggered’ the end of the journey for Mrs Lloyd-Jones!

God’s grace may enable us to ‘handle’ our temperament, but it does not essentially change it. Reference has been made in earlier chapters to the tendency to anxiety which Mrs Lloyd-Jones had—and overcame. But neither grace nor the passing of the years removed it entirely. One evening, one of her granddaughters had gone out, and Mrs Lloyd-Jones heard her returning later in the evening through the main door by which access was gained both to Ann’s flat and to that of Mrs Lloyd-Jones. Although the granddaughter was old enough to be responsible to lock the front door, Bethan was concerned that it had not been locked, so she made her way out of her ground-floor flat—without her Zimmer frame on which to lean—just to check. It had been locked. On her way back to her flat she stumbled, fell, and broke her hip. How often does a seemingly insignificant event lead to significant consequences! Mercifully, Ann heard her mother and was able to phone for immediate assistance, and Mrs Lloyd-Jones was rushed into hospital. Surgery was necessary, but although it was successful, there were periods after the operation when she was quite confused. However, a greater part of the time found her laughing and joking with the nurses: godliness can be expressed in very down-to-earth ways in circumstances which are far from congenial. Authentic holiness truly ‘humanises’ the child of God and brings cheer rather than gloom. Bethan expressed great appreciation of the nursing staff. How often godliness is to be seen in the ‘little’ things, the thankfulness to people for acts of thoughtfulness and kindness! And godliness has its own beauty: ‘the beauty of holiness’. Bethan’s beauty was to be seen and acknowledged up to her dying day. Just a few days before she left this world to be with her Saviour, a nurse was overheard commenting upon her beauty. Truly, beauty is fleeting; but when God’s grace touches a life, it transforms everything. Grace refines nature, and the nurse beheld the beauty of true holiness in Bethan Lloyd-Jones.

But although grateful for the kindness of the nursing staff, Bethan was anxious lest she would have to spend the remainder of her days in a nursing home, and this prompted her to ask her family on a regular basis, ‘When am I able to come home?’ In the mercy of God this was something which neither she nor her family had to face. Visited regularly by her loved ones, it was Elizabeth who was with her when the call came for her from the One to whom the death of His saints is precious. Many of the family, having contracted a virus that left them feeling very weak almost immediately after the death of Bethan, were quite unwell at the time. In addition to this, London had one of the worst snow storms ever witnessed and, therefore, a large funeral could not be contemplated. And so it was that, in the chapel where, as a young child many years earlier, she had witnessed powerful revival scenes, and where ten years earlier hundreds had gathered to pay their last respects to her husband, Vernon Higham led the small, family funeral for Bethan Lloyd-Jones.

Mr Higham had preached the funeral service for the Doctor those ten years earlier on the words which refer to God’s people experiencing an ‘abundant entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (2 Peter 1:11). The precise words are all-important: it is not an ‘abundant exit’ from this world but an ‘abundant entrance’ or rich welcome into the next to which Peter refers. Bunyan’s Christian did not cross the river with the same calmness which characterised Hopeful, but the trumpets on the other side sounded just as much for him as they did for his companion. Mrs Lloyd-Jones’ funeral may well have been a much quieter affair than that of her husband, and the commemorative service held for her the following Sunday at Westminster Chapel may not have attracted the thousands who attended for the thanksgiving service for her husband, but from the standpoint of eternity these things are of little consequence. It will not matter there how well we were known on this earth or whether we will be remembered at all when passing from this world. What will matter—and the only thing that will matter—is whether we have known and served the Saviour. And even giving a cup of cold water to one of his people is what he will mark as service.

Shortly after the funeral service at Bethel Chapel, Mrs Lloyd-Jones’ earthly remains were taken to the beautiful spot in the Teifi Valley where her husband had been buried and were laid beside him in the same grave in Gelli Cemetery to await, with him, the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God on the day of resurrection.

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends:
With the Lord a day is like a thousand years,
And a thousand years are like a day . . .

- 2 Peter 3:8

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven,
with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel
and with the trumpet call of God,
and the dead in Christ will rise first.
After that, we who are still alive and are left
will be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air.
And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Therefore encourage each other with these words.

- 1 Thessalonians 4:16–18

Lynette Clark

Lynette Clark trained as a teacher and also obtained a London University qualification in religious studies. She has been a minister's wife for over thirty-six years, supporting her husband Stephen and also speaking at ladies' meetings and conferences. They have three children and six grandchildren, all living a plane ride away! She is the author of Far Above Rubies: The Life of Bethan Lloyd-Jones, a profile of the wife of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones.