DAMNED OR BLESSED

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then I heard a voice from Heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

Revelation 14:13

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The sum of the messages from the three angels in Revelation 14 was clear. The people of the world had a choice to make.

Either they could follow Satan and the two beasts who served as his evil accomplices bent on misleading all the world’s people by false teaching with the goal of securing them a place in Hell forever.

Or they could choose to follow the Lord, the Maker and Master over all creation and the only One who could lead them to salvation and eternal life in Heaven.

Each of these options required sacrifice.

Unbelievers sacrifice a relationship with their only Savior in order to enjoy the ways of the world that they see as more appealing. These people actually fear death because it means the end of indulging in their own desires and the world’s pleasures.

Conversely, Christians choose to give up the world in order gain everything a person could ever hope for or need. They realize that the best life ever isn’t to be found here on earth but is rather deferred until the day they die, the day they spend their last day in this world. They fully understand that anything good they experience in this worldly life will never compare to the glorious majesty and blessedness of the everlasting life of light and love found in Heaven.

With these truths as a backdrop, let’s now turn to our single verse from our continuing study of Revelation, chapter 14, one that reinforces the blessedness that is in store for every resurrected soul through an eternity in the Kingdom of God with Him and His Son, the Savior of the world. Look again at these words here:

Then I heard a voice from Heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” v.13

Have you ever heard of the Beatitudes?

Most people who have spent any time reading the Gospels, especially the Gospel of Matthew, would be familiar with the term.

The Beatitudes, a series of proclamations from Jesus found in Matthew, chapter 5, form the opening of what is known as the Sermon on the Mount, the first extensive formal teaching session delivered by our Savior to a crowd who had gathered to hear what He had to say. Beginning in verse 3, Jesus speaks these promises, all leading with the word “blessed”:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Vv. 3-12

Why go into this?

Because when we come to the study of Revelation, we also discover a series of beatitudes but unlike Matthew 5, we don’t see them collected in one tidy list. Rather, they are scattered throughout the book and the second of them is found in the verse that serves as the foundation for today’s message, declared by the Spirit from Heaven (the first is found in Revelation 1:3):

“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on...they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

Here, we find the Spirit reminding us of some of the incredible gifts God has in store for those who chose to place their belief and faith in His Son. For although their bodies might die, they will be very much alive and “rest from their labor” as their “deeds will follow them”

This is in contrast to what would happen to those who didn’t “die in the Lord”, those whose names were not found written in the Lamb’s book of life. For them, there will be life after death but it won’t be a time of rest. Rather, it will be a time consumed by torment and torture, suffering and agony.

In today’s verse, we find the voice of the Spirit following up on the message from three angels with an announcement intended to comfort those on the earth who were in Christ and draw the unsaved away from Satan and his beasts toward the Savior of the world.

In the end translation, no one will be able to say they weren’t informed about the two options for everlasting living: Hell and Heaven. The scriptures make it clear that there will be no secrets and every people of every nation will have all the information they need to make an informed decision. Therefore, they will end up where they choose to go and either be damned or blessed.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.