Blessed are the Dead

Q: What does the Bible say about the dead who die in the Lord?

The Bible declares that 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord,' signifying a special blessing from God. In Revelation 14:13, the Scripture states, 'Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.' This profound declaration reveals the blessedness reserved for those who pass away in Christ. It highlights the divine perspective on death, where earthly fears and perceptions are transformed by the assurance of eternal life and joy in Christ. According to the biblical context, those who die in the Lord are affirmed by the voice of God, the Lamb, and the Holy Spirit, emphasizing the triune God’s approval of their state. Their death is not an end but a transition into a state of rest and communion with God, which should provide comfort to believers.

Q: How do we know that those who die in the Lord are blessed?

It is established through Scripture where God affirms, 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord,' which indicates divine approval. The assurance that those who die in the Lord are blessed comes directly from Scripture. Revelation 14:13 explicitly states, 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.' This affirmation by God indicates that death for the believer is transformed into a blessing rather than a curse. In the context of sovereign grace theology, being 'in the Lord' implies that these individuals are in a divine covenant relationship, having been chosen and redeemed by Christ. Their lives are characterized by faith and a steadfast relationship with God, and their passing leads them into an eternal state of rest and glory. This divine promise serves as a foundation for hope amidst the sorrow of death.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to understand the blessing of death?

Understanding the blessing of death provides comfort and hope, affirming that death is a transition to eternal life with God. For Christians, grasping the significance of death as a blessing is crucial for several reasons. Firstly, it offers profound comfort during times of loss, reassuring believers that death is not the final chapter but rather an entry into a living union with Christ. Secondly, it shifts the perspective from fear to hope, allowing believers to view death through the lens of faith, as a transition to eternal joy rather than an end. This biblical truth encourages believers to live faithfully and prepares them for their own mortality, fostering a deeper reliance on God’s promises. As Paul writes, 'to die is gain,' reminding Christians of the immense value awaiting them in fellowship with God.

Q: What does it mean to die in the Lord?

To die in the Lord means to pass away in a covenant relationship with Christ, characterized by faith and grace. Dying in the Lord signifies that an individual has a genuine, covenantal relationship with Jesus Christ. In the context of Scripture, this entails being chosen by God, receiving grace, and living a life of faithfulness until death. As the preacher notes, not all death is blessed; only those who die 'in the Lord' are granted this assurance. This includes being in Christ through regeneration, having the Holy Spirit, and being a part of the body of Christ. It speaks to a transformative relationship where the believer's identity and hope are secure in Jesus, resulting in a blessed state at the end of life.

I have a passage of scripture
that I'm going to be using for a text today. It's found in Revelation
chapter 14, verse 13. Now listen carefully to the reading
of the Word of God. Revelation 14, verse 13. And
I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, write. Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they
may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. Now
this is the title of the message. Blessed are the dead. Blessed
are the dead. Now there are two remarkable
things to notice in the beginning as these words come to John the
Apostle on the Isle of Patmos. Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord. First, John heard A voice from
heaven. John had his eye, if you'll go
back to verse 1, you'll see that John had his eye on the throne
of God. He was looking at the throne
of God. And he said there was a lamb in the midst of the throne. So that voice from the throne
is the voice of God. This is the voice of God saying
to John, write, write, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.
This is the voice of God. This is the voice of the Son
of God, the Lamb in the midst of the throne. We have the voice
of the Father and the Son, declaring in unison, blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord. Now secondly, watch this, and
then it says, Yea, yes, saith the Spirit. Yes, saith the Spirit,
blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Yes, the Spirit
said, it's true. Blessed are the dead who die
in the Lord. The Father, the Lamb, and the
Holy Spirit declare in unison, blessed are the dead. Blessed
are the dead who die in the Lord. Are any of us afraid to die?
Well, yes. Quite frankly, yes. Do we tremble
at the thought of dying? Do you? Do I? Quite frankly,
yes. Does death appear to us to be
an enemy? Well, now that you mention it,
preacher, yes it does. Well, where shall we go for encouragement? To whom shall we look for help?
Not to one another. You can't help me. You've never
died. You don't know anything about it. I know nothing of death. I read a column in a newspaper
just recently about a man who was written by a man who had
been very, very, very ill. He said, almost dead. And the doctor had said, not
much hope for him. And he began to talk about what
he experienced. He said, it was difficult on
my loved ones, but he said, I experienced nothing, nothing, absolutely
nothing for days. I knew nothing. He said, I didn't
see any lights. People talk about, I didn't hear
any voices. I didn't see any angels. He said, I didn't smell
any smoke. and made all these different
comments, you know. He was near death, but he hadn't
died. So that's no help to me, because he didn't die. He didn't
die. He was just unconscious or in
a coma. I've never experienced death.
So to whom shall we look for encouragement and for help, for
an answer to our many questions? Only one place, and that's to
the Lord, who did die and arose from the grave. And He said,
blessed are the dead. who died in the Lord. The Father
said, and the Lamb who died for sinners. And yea, the Spirit
said, yes, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. I'll tell
you something else encouraging about this. The Lord said unto
me, write. Write this. Write it down. I heard a voice from heaven saying
to me, write this down. Now, what is written by God's
commandments is true. What God instructed the prophets
to write is called the Word of God. Holy men of God spake or
wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. So God said, write
it. This is true. Write it down. Write it down
for all ages and all people. Write this. Blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord. And I tell you this, what God
writes is not subject to change. Because He said, I'm the Lord,
I change not. It's not subject to correction.
If anybody adds to anything written in this book, He said, I'll add
to them the plagues that are written in the book. If anybody
alters it, it's not subject to change, nor correction, nor alteration. If anybody changes anything,
takes away from anything in this book, I'll take his name out
of the book of life. Write it. It's always true. And
then he said, write it. Don't just hear it. Don't just
say it. Don't just repeat it. Don't just
pass it on. Write it. Write it. Write it in the book. As Job
said, write it in the rock forever. Write it. Blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord. That came from the throne. And
the orders from the throne are, write it. Write it. This is a
golden truth. This is the Word of God. Blessed
are the dead who die in the Lord. This is the promise of God. No
one else can promise that. No one else has control over
death. God said, I kill, I make alive, I wound, I heal. It's sweeter than honey. It's
more precious than gold. Blessed are the dead who die
in the Lord. Write it in a book, God said. Write it on your heart.
Write it for all people to read, of all races, of all generations,
of all nations. Write it for all to read. For
it'll calm your fears. It'll gladden your heart. It'll
soothe your troubled minds. It'll help you in time of sorrow. It'll comfort you in trouble. It'll give you peace in sickness.
It'll rob death of its sting. and rob the grave of its victory. Write it. Believe it. Preach
it. Rest in it. Blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord. Now, I would have you consider
these words if you're interested. If you're interested in having
me go off, you don't just turn it off. But if you're interested
in finding out some more about this, blessed are the dead who
die in the Lord. These are the words of God These
are unchangeable words. Don't alter them or correct them
or change them. Believe them just like they are.
Write them. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Now, if
you're interested in going on from there, we'll look at them
carefully. First, blessed are the dead.
This is not the philosophy of the world, is it? The world says
blessed are the living. God said blessed are the dead.
The world said, better is a living dog than a dead lion. Isn't that
what they say? Better is a living dog than a
dead lion. In other words, if you can stay alive at any cost,
compromise, be a coward, better is a living
dog than a dead lion. A lion who roars and seeks victory,
better to be a dog, a coward, and go on living. God says, to
die is gain. To live is Christ, to die is
gain. The world, you see, judges everything by outward appearance.
The world judges everything by how it appears to be. But God
Almighty sees things as they really are, and as they shall
be forever. And therefore God says, blessed
are the dead who die in the Lord. The world says, blessed are the
rich, for theirs are the good things of the earth. God says,
blessed are the poor. but theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. A lot of difference, isn't it? Blessed are the dead. People of the world don't understand
what I'm talking about, because the philosophy of this world
is not the philosophy of God. You see, the world... Here, you
want me to tell you how the world judges blessings? The world will
take you to a person who's youthful, who is healthy, who is wealthy,
who is beautiful, who is popular, who is successful, who has riches,
and the world says, now, that's a blessed person. That is a blessed
person. That person has youth and health
and strength and beauty, riches, houses, cars, automobiles, popularity. That person has everything. That's
a blessed person. That's a blessed person. That's
not what God says. The Lord God takes you by the
hand and leads you into a quiet bedroom. There the family is
standing all around a bed. And upon that bed is the body
of a believer. A believer in Christ Jesus. A
believer who's been made an object of the grace and mercy of God
in Christ Jesus. And that believer has just Departed
from this life been called home by God called away to glory and
the face is pale and the eyes are closed and the hands are
cold and folded across the chest and the friends stand around
the room and they weep and The Lord who takes us by the hand
and leads us into that room to witness that scene whispers in
our ear Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Paul said,
to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. He said one time, he said, I'm
in a straight betwixt the two. I really can't make up my mind
which I want. I desire to depart and be with
Christ, which is far better. But he said, for me to abide
with you is more expedient for you. Blessed are the dead. Now
the world says blessed are the rich, blessed are the young,
blessed are the strong, blessed are the wise, blessed are the
popular, blessed are these, this one, that one. God said blessed
are the dead. Now who knows best? I'll leave
that with you, the world or the Lord. Blessed are the dead. Now, I know this. I know this.
I know that how much we enjoy certain parts of life here on
this earth. I enjoy living. I enjoy my friends. I enjoy our
fellowship. I enjoy my family. I enjoy my
grandchildren. I enjoy my wife and my children. I enjoy playing golf. I enjoy lots of things. Lots
of things. But these things are all temporary.
These things are all the fashion of this world that fade away.
They're just slipping away, slipping away. His presence and grace
are forever. And when I leave here, when this
old body grows so weary and so tired and so old and so feeble
and so frail that God says it's time to leave here, it's time
to move out of this house and come home, I lay aside this tabernacle
of flesh and clay. And there's a building reserved
for us, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
And we'll lay aside this corruption and put on incorruption. We'll
lay aside this mortal and put on immortality. We'll lay aside
our weakness and put on strength. We'll lay aside our sins, put
on perfect holiness. We'll be like Christ. The psalmist
said, in His presence is fullness of joy. At His right hand are
pleasures forevermore. You talk about pleasure, you
talk about joy, you talk about happiness. What we enjoy here,
just a little taste of heaven, a little foretaste of glory with
our fellowship and friends and family and the good things God's
given us, these things are nothing compared to His presence. If
His smile here is wonderful, think how great is His presence.
For in His presence is fullness of joy. And at His right hand
are pleasures for evermore. Blessed are the dead. Blessed are the dead. That's the reason our Lord, when
He's going to the cross, going to die and go back to the Father,
He said to those who lamented and wept, He said, don't weep
for me. Weep for yourselves, for your children. But now note
the second thing about this passage. It says, blessed are the dead.
But that's not the end. He said, blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord. Now stay with me. Listen carefully.
Don't leave me. Blessed are the dead who die
in the Lord. It's not a blessing just to die.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no. It's not a blessing just to die.
All of the dead are not blessed. Blessed are the dead who die
in the Lord. That's very distinct, isn't it? When Balaam prayed
to die the death of the righteous, Let me die the death of the righteous. Let my end be like His. I don't want to die the death
of the unrighteous and the wicked. Only those are blessed who die
in the Lord. Now, multitudes of people die
every day. Hundreds of people die every
minute. Did you know that? Hundreds every minute. Somebody
said, well, the Scripture says, Thou carriest them away as with
a flood. Someone said earthly life is
like a river, a deep, wide, swift-moving river, a river made up of human
beings rushing into eternity, hundreds of them every minute,
thousands of them every day, dying, dying all over the world. Are they all blessed? Can we
stand by that river choked with human beings plunging along rapidly
towards the precipice of eternity? Can we say they're all blessed?
No. The Bible doesn't say that. God
doesn't say that. He says, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.
In the Lord, preacher. What do you mean, in the Lord?
You know what I mean. They're in the Lord by covenant mercies,
chosen of God and precious. They're His sheep. They're His
brethren. They were given Him by the Father. Covenant mercies. Everlasting
grace. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with lovingkindness have I drawn you. This is what
David rejoiced in as he lay dying. King David said, his last words
were these. These are the last words of David.
He said, although it be not so with my house, has made with
me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. This
is all my salvation and all my desire. God made a covenant. You know, the Lord Jesus said,
my sheep hear my voice. I know them. They follow me.
I give them eternal life. They'll never perish. They're
my sheep. My Father gave them me, and my Father is greater
than all, and no man can pluck them out of my Father's hands.
They're in Christ by covenant mercies. And then they're in
Christ by divine regeneration. They're born of God. They're
born of the Spirit of God. It says, He came unto His own,
and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him,
to them gave He the right, the privilege to become sons of God,
even to them that believe on His name, which were born, born,
not of blood, not of natural generation, not of the will of
man, not of the will of the flesh, they were born of God. So, blessed
are the dead who die in the Lord. They're in the Lord by grace.
They're in the Lord by His sovereign will. They're in the Lord by
His covenant mercies. They're in the Lord by regeneration.
They're in the Lord by a new birth. They're in the Lord by
an experience of grace. They're in the Lord by faith,
in whom you trusted after you heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation. And you were sealed by that Holy
Spirit of promise, sealed in the Lord, safe in the arms of
Jesus. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life. The wrath of God abided on him.
God has given us eternal life. This is the record. And this
life's in His Son. In His Son. And if we're in Christ
by divine grace, and in Christ by covenant mercies, and in Christ
by regeneration, and in Christ by faith, he that hath the Son
hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. We're baptized into the body
of Christ by the Holy Spirit. Christ is the head. We're the
body. We're in Him. And where the head is, the body's
not too far behind, is it? And then we're in Christ to continue. These people in Christ continue
in Christ. Blessed are the dead who die
in the Lord. They didn't just walk down the
aisle and claim to be in Christ. They died in Christ. They didn't
just get baptized and join the church and walk with the people
of God a little while and then quit. They died in Christ. They
came to Christ by faith and they stayed right where they were
until they died. They continued until they died.
They ran the race until they died. They remained faithful
until they died. Like the Old Testament saints,
these all died in faith. They believed by faith, they
came by faith, they continued in faith, and they died in faith.
This is not a fad. Somebody said one time, just
try Jesus. That's not the way. It's not a fad. It's not a religious
profession. It's a living union with a living
God. And the reason blessed are the dead who die in the Lord
is because they're blessed in the Lord. What He has, they have. What He is, they are. Where He
is, they are. They're heirs of God and they're
joint heirs with Christ. He's the heir and they're married
to Him. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Now notice
these words. that they may rest from their
labors. That they may rest from their labors. You know, rest
is not idleness. That's not rest. Rest is not
ceasing from all work and all activity. Work is a joy. Labor
is a joy. Activity is pleasure. We're going
to serve our Lord God in the new heaven and the new earth.
You know, when God created Adam, Adam was perfect, perfectly holy. walk with God, talk with God. He was holy without sin. And
God gave him something to do. He had a beautiful garden, beautiful
earth. He was at dominion over the fowl
of the air and the fish of the sea and the beast of the forest
and over every living thing. And he took care of the garden.
You get something to do. Work, you see, is pleasure. Labor
is a joy. Activity is pleasure. What makes
work and labor at all, what makes it difficult, is sin. That's
what makes it a labor. They shall rest from their labors.
They shall rest from their labors. This is laboring and heavy laden
in sin. That's what we're going to rest
from. See, the old nature of sin makes work and activity to
be toil and trouble and labor. This body of death, the pain
and corruption makes life on earth a life of weariness and
toil and labor. Because when we wake up in the
morning, that old nature is with us to drag us down and depress
us. When we would do good, evil is present with us. When we would
praise God, he fills our thoughts with self. And when we would
pray, that's a joy, isn't it? That's not labor, that's a joy,
but he distracts us and makes praying a labor, makes reading
a chore. When we would love, he interferes.
That's the reason Paul said, O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? Who shall deliver
me? We will be delivered. That's the rest he's talking
about here. Blessed are the days. who die in the Lord, for they
rest. Oh, they serve God. And they've
entered into a work that's a joy and an activity that's a pleasure.
And what has taken the labor out of it is that God's taken
the sin out of it. That's the reason David said
in Psalm 17, I'll be satisfied when I wake with His likeness.
I tell you, this new heaven and new earth, I'm looking forward
to it. I enjoy my garden, but this body
gets tired. I enjoy my yard, but this body
gets tired. I enjoy studying, preaching.
I enjoy praying and worshiping, fellowshipping, but oh, the weariness
of the flesh and the weariness of sin, and it becomes laborious.
It becomes, the Bible says, it declares it, much study is a
weariness of the flesh. And it is. And I'll tell you
why. It's because sin drags us down,
takes the joy out of us. We're going to be rid of sin.
We're going to be rid of death. We're going to be rid of pain.
We're going to be rid of all that. And our rest from our labors,
it'll be an eternal rest that's just full of activity. All right,
last thing. Their works do follow them. Their
works follow them. Now, their works don't go before
them and prepare a place. Christ does that. I hear people
talking about sending your offerings up to heaven to prepare your
mansions, sending your good deeds up He didn't say their works
go before Him, He says their works follow Him. And their works
don't accompany them to plead their case. That's like what
those people did in Matthew 7. We preached in your name. They
took their works with them, and God rejected them. It's apart
from that. It says their works follow them. In other words,
their works follow them to the praise of the Lord, who Himself
brought them to glory, interceded for them, opened heaven's doors
for them, went in before them and brought them in. And their
works followed them and enabled men to praise Him, the Lord,
who gave them the gifts and ability and talent to do those works.
You know, when a man brags on a painting, he's not honoring
the painting, he's honoring the artist. When a man brags on a
beautiful building, he's not honoring the building, he's honoring
the builder. And your good works follow you.
They follow you to the praise and the glory and grace of Him
who made you and me a trophy of His grace.

Blessed are the Dead

What does the Bible say about the dead who die in the Lord?

How do we know that those who die in the Lord are blessed?

Why is it important for Christians to understand the blessing of death?

What does it mean to die in the Lord?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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Blessed are the Dead

What does the Bible say about the dead who die in the Lord?

How do we know that those who die in the Lord are blessed?

Why is it important for Christians to understand the blessing of death?

What does it mean to die in the Lord?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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