SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/24/2015
8:47 AM
My Worship Time Focus: How They Died
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
14:13
Message of the
verse: “13 And I heard a voice from
heaven, saying, "Write,
’Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’" "Yes," says the
Spirit, "so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow
with them."”
As we begin to look at this verse we see that John hears
a voice from heaven and this is the sixth time that he has heard a voice from
heaven and in the rest of the book he will a voice from heaven three more
times. He is told twelve times to write
and we remember one time when the seven peals of thunder spoke that he was
about to write that he was told not to write what they said. John is under a divine mandate to record the
visions that he saw writes John MacArthur.
What he is told to write is “Blessed are the dead who die
in the Lord.” Who is John including or
who is God including in this beatitude?
MacArthur writes “This includes martyrs such as Antipas (2:13), t hose
seen underneath the heavenly altar (6:9-11), and the ‘great multitude which no
one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues,
standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes…the ones
who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb’ (Rev. 7:9, 14). These martyrs are blessed not only because
they lived life to the fullest in obedience and trust, but also because they ‘died
in the Lord.’ They will experience in
death the fullest reward, because ‘Precious in the sight of the Lord is the
death of His godly ones’ (Ps. 116:15).
With Paul, they will be able t cry out triumphantly, ‘O death, where is
your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ (1 Cor. 15:55).”
So we learn that not only those who have already died in
the Lord, but also those future tribulation saints that will die in the Lord
will be blessed, comforting them that they have nothing to fear.
I find it interesting that the Holy Spirit is only quoted
here and also in 22:17 where we read “The Spirit and the bride say,
"Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the
one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without
cost.” Now as we look again at verse
thirteen here we see the word “Yes” and then it goes on to say “says the
Spirit,” and John MacArthur writes “His emphatic ‘Yes’ ( the Greek particle nai indicates strong affirmation) shows
that He agrees with the heavenly voice that the dead are blessed. As their sustainer and comforter, who loves
them is grieved by their pain, the Holy Spirit longs to see that suffering
end. He adds two further reasons for the
Tribulation martyrs ‘blessedness.”
The second reason is that “they may rest from their
labors.” MacArthur adds Kopos describes hard, difficult exhausting
toil. It can also refer to bother,
annoyance, or trouble. Certainly the
Tribulation saints will experience the whole gamut of the word’s meanings.” As we read the tragic things that will happen
to people during this time period we can surely understand the pain and
suffering and the mourning that these people will go through as they not only
suffer, but also their family and friends will suffer greatly. We can understand how death will be a relief
to them as even in today’s world when a person is suffering and they know that
they are a believer that they long to leave this world to go to heaven to be
with the Lord. Because these people do
not have the mark it will make life very difficult for them and many will lose
their lives.
The last reason for their blessedness that the Holy
Spirit gives here is that “their deeds follow with them.” MacArthur writes “Era (deeds) refers to their service to the Lord.” I remember many year ago when my wife and I
were heading to Chicago to attend Founders Week at the Moody Bible Institute
that I was listening to a sermon on the way there. What the man was talking about was the
rewards that people will get when they get to heaven and he made a point that
the rewards of Mr. Moody would still be accumulating as his work on earth
continued even while he was in heaven.
The Bible teaches us that we will receive rewards for what we have done
in the body while here on earth and my belief is that the Lord has certain
things for all of us to do and as we faithfully do those things that we will be
rewarded for them when we get to heaven.
The Bible also teaches that we can lose our rewards too and so we must
be faithful all the way to the end of our lives so we can finish strong so we
will not lose any rewards. Paul writes
to his son in the faith, Timothy the following which comes from his second letter
to Timothy which is the last letter he wrote and was written shortly before he
died: “7
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept
the faith; 8 in the future there is laid
up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will
award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His
appearing.” What a wonderful thing to
write at the end of his life as he did do the things that God wanted him to do,
and much of that included suffering for the Lord, but now as his time draws
near his death will be a blessing to him as he is ushered into the presence of
the Lord. I have mentioned the rewards
that we can get and there are a number of them, but according to 1 Cor. 3:12-15
which states “12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones,
wood, hay, straw, 13
each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to
be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s
work. 14 If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a
reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself
will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
We see here that men’s works will be tested and there is a chance that
they can be lost as we have already written about.
MacArthur concludes “The dead who have lived in obedience
and trust will be blessed with rest and reward after they die. Those who live now for wanton pleasures are
dead even while they live. (1 Tim. 5:6).
Being ‘dead in [their] trespasses and sins’ (Eph. 2:1), they face the
horror of eternal damnation in hell. The
sobering truth is that the choices people make in their life will irreversibly
chart the course of their eternal destinies.
A Christless eternity of unrelieved torment or the blissful rest and
reward of heaven: that is the choice
faced by every person.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: It is my desire
to finish the race strong like the ones spoken of in this passage and also the
example of the apostle Paul.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul,
mind, and strength, and to better understand the love that the Lord has for me.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Isaac” (Genesis 27:4).
Today’s Bible
question: “Where was the ship planning
to go on which Paul suffered shipwreck?”
Answer in our next SD.
7/24/2015 9:35 AM
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