Patmos – from this remote island John was given the vision of victory over death.

‘Blessed Are the Dead’…

By Neil Earle

We live in a skeptical age, an agnostic era.

People ask how – or even whether – first century men and women could remember all the words Jesus said. One Australian preacher answered forcefully, “People remembered what Jesus said because what he said was so memorable. His words stopped people in their tracks!”

You might remember, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Or, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. “ Or, “Except your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees you cannot be saved.”

Revelation – Seven Beatitudes

Christians usually think of the Beatitudes or “beautiful attitudes” confined to Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount. But here are seven exquisite blessings from the Apocalypse:

1. Revelation 1:3 “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear it,” etc. What an incentive to study the Bible and especially the last book.

2. Revelation 14:13 “Blessed the dead who die in the Lord” – see above.

3. Revelation 16:15 “Blessed is he who stays awake” This is often repeated in Scripture as a call to spiritual alertness.

4. Revelation 19:9 “Blessed those invited to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb” – one of Revelation’s symbols for a happy ending.

5. Revelation 20:6 “Blessed and holy are those who have their part in the first resurrection.” Amen, because this is one of the Christian’s main goals.

6. Revelation 22:7 “Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” Again – a great incentive to stay focused on the Word.

7. Revelation 22:14 “Blessed are they who wash their robes that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.” We defile ourselves so easily in this world but here is the antidote. What riches await us when we study God’s word with a fresh perspective.

Jesus while on earth gave many strong and even hard sayings. Some turned away because of it. Now think of this. One of the seven Beatitudes in the Book of Revelation (see box) is in that category. It definitely demands attention. It is cited in Revelation 14:13, and it states:

“Then I heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labors for their deeds will follow them.”

Revelation's action is largely outlined around seven seals being broken.

This verse has become a favorite of our funeral services in Glendora. It has one of the most startling thoughts in a truly startling book, the Book of Revelation or the Apocalypse. Revelation – the capstone book of the Bible. A writing where everything is blown up into larger-than-life proportions – beasts and horns, whores and martyrs, plagues and fiery lakes, lurid red and white colors and bottomless pits.

“A Hard Word”

This is why Revelation’s propensity for larger-than-life dramatic portrayals sometimes has the potential to speak to people when a loved one has died. What other book could dare make such a statement – “Blessed are the dead!” That seems to be on the very opposite emotional pole from our human reactions when death strikes closely. Even the Bible says Death is an enemy (1 Corinthians 15: 26) but… it is an enemy that has been nullified through Christ’s resurrection and ascension. Through Jesus’ work for us, he has brought life and immortality to life through the Gospel (2 Timothy 1: 10). That is for the righteous dead – for those who die “in the Lord.”

Our Thursday night church found it helpful to work backwards from Revelation 14 – a refreshing exercise in “reverse engineering” showing how John the Revelator got to this conclusion.

Revelation 6:9-11 is the Fifth Seal of Seven Seals that more or less outline the action in Revelation. It is pretty intense. It shows recently martyred Christians just arriving in heaven. They are confused and maybe a little angry, at least in this visionary depiction. They cry out in a kind of protest to God for vengeance on their persecutors – “How long, O Lord?” – sort of like the people in the Psalms. The whole book shows God inflicting punishment on the destroyers of God’s people – which some interpret as God being mad at everyone on earth (not true!). But these martyred saints are told “wait a little longer” and given white robes which symbolizes righteousness – righteousness given to them not acquired by their own work on earth. They are to wait until God’s purposes in the church are finished.

Thus, even the harsh situation of martyrdom thus fits into God’s plan for the world, though it certainly seems mysterious to us.

The great Bible teacher John Calvin taught that this scene in Revelation 6 depicted not the final reward of the saved but the beginning of their reward, of their rest. Heaven is not the ultimate destination but a transition to a different sphere of existence. More light is shed on this aspect of the Fifth Seal when we turn to Hebrews 12:18-14. Here is confirming insight into what is going on in heaven.

John was told to write everything he saw for future generations.

“The Heavenly Jerusalem”

In Hebrews 12 the writer is trying to encourage Christians to look beyond the ups and downs of the every day. Moses and the Israelites were given the vision of Mount Sinai on fire, says the writer (verses 18-21) and it was truly motivating. But Christians have something better to keep in mind – the heavenly Jerusalem. Here’s how Hebrews describes it:

“But you have come to Mount Zion (not Mount Sinai), to the heavenly Jerusalem (not Jerusalem in Palestine), the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angles in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.”

There’s a lot in this verse. The book of Hebrews is designed to encourage Christians who were drifting from their allegiance to God and Christ. Now they are given an encouraging vision to think about – the heavenly Jerusalem wherein dwells the church of the firstborn, God’s elect, fellow-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). There is more:

“[You have come] to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant…” (verses 23-24).

Much of this is like Revelation, isn't it, where angels are worshipping joyfully in heaven and their number is uncountable – “ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands” (Revelation 5:11).

The commentator John Owen wrote about the spirits mentioned here: “Spirits are that essential part of our nature that subsists in a separate state from the body…These spirits are the souls of people who have departed…Being made perfect means they have finished their race, are totally delivered from all sin, and enjoy the reward of God’s presence” (Hebrews, page 254-255).

Neither is the Judge reference here a cause of anxiety to these just men (and women too, of course). As Owen argues, “it is one thing to be brought before a judge to be tried and sentenced as a criminal and another thing to have favorable access to him wherever you wish…This access to God through Jesus Christ is often mentioned in Scripture as a great privilege…This is the access that is intended here” (page 254).

“To die is gain”

So, brethren, having seen all this in reverse motion as it were to freshen our senses, notice how St. Paul is saying essentially the same thing in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, chapter 1:12-23. When Paul writes this letter he is under Roman house arrest and the emperor is Nero. Death is very close to his mind. But with the hope of immortality before him and with new life from God already at work in his mortal body – the new creation – Paul does not really fear death. He depends on God to rescue him from Roman power one way or the other. He makes the famous declaration that he doesn’t know what to prefer – to stay on and help the church or to be executed and be with Christ. Notice:

“I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body” (Philippians 1:23-24). Just before this he had made the stunning declaration: “For to me to live is Christ…” – that was for sure. Few men have suffered more in Christ’s service as he details in other place. But he finishes the thought with”to die is GAIN.’

That is quite a statement isn’t it?

We don’t usually think of dying as a great gain anymore than we can easily wrap our mind around the fact that the dead in Christ are blessed, the verse we began with.

“Absent from the Body”

There is another phrase of Paul’s which speaks to this same issue. Indeed it completes the thought of Philippians 1. It is in 2 Corinthians 5: 9-10: “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.”

The teaching is consistent. The devout Christian does not fear death because after that her spirit enters the heavenly realm, enjoying full communion with God which she had experienced in limited measure in her church life here on earth – fellowship, church attendance and good works, being a friend of sinners as was Jesus. Another passage from Paul summarizes this teaching as an overall philosophy of life. This rugged apostle faced death perhaps more often than most missionaries in the first century. Here are these summary thoughts integrated into his philosophy of life:

“For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason Christ died and retuned to life, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living” (Romans 14:7-9).

There it is – the dead are blessed because they are in a privileged state compared to us. A beautiful hymn expresses it "we feebly struggle/they in glory shine." They are in the very presence of God and Christ. Jesus will bring those spirits of just saints back with him when he returns. Then body, soul and spirit will be rejoined at the resurrection of the just (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17). The ultimate fate of the human being who is in Christ is to be reunited with loved ones who have gone before and to be “ever with the Lord.”

That is part of the plan God is working towards here below. Let us strive to keep before us the vision of that heavenly Jerusalem – to keep our minds on things above not on the earth (Colossians 3:1) – and make our calling and election sure.