And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them (Rev. 14:13).
To the people of God, death is but a momentary sleep from which they wake to life immortal. Longfellow said, "The grave itself is but a covered bridge leading from light to light, through a brief darkness."
Notice the three things promised to the dead in Christ: first, they are blessed; second, they rest from their labors and troubles; third, their works follow them. All who die in the Lord enter into blessedness. So if we live, we have the joy of God's service; if we die, we are blessed.
Those who die in the Lord find rest from labor--the hard labor, the unpaid labor that sometimes seems to be so useless, yet is not so in the Lord's sight.
But that isn't all--"their works do follow them." Drop a pebble into a pool, and the circling ripples reach out to all sides. Say a word, even think a thought, and its reverberations continue on and on into eternity. How much more, then, the works of God's children! Their deeds of kindness, their gifts of service, reach on to the eternity that awaits God's redeemed.
Notice also the word "henceforth"; that is, from the time the great threefold message of the preceding verses goes to the world. From the time that this message starts, those who die in the Lord are especially blessed. How wonderful it is to carry a message that blesses even those who die in it, as well as those who remain alive until the return of our Savior.
Someday soon it will be moving day for all of us--out of the palace, out of the beautiful home, out of the fine apartment, out of the tiny cabin, our of the attic, into "an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (2 Cor. 5:1). Yes, it will be moving day.
MEDITATION PRAYER: "How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!" (Ps. 139:17).
To the people of God, death is but a momentary sleep from which they wake to life immortal. Longfellow said, "The grave itself is but a covered bridge leading from light to light, through a brief darkness."
Notice the three things promised to the dead in Christ: first, they are blessed; second, they rest from their labors and troubles; third, their works follow them. All who die in the Lord enter into blessedness. So if we live, we have the joy of God's service; if we die, we are blessed.
Those who die in the Lord find rest from labor--the hard labor, the unpaid labor that sometimes seems to be so useless, yet is not so in the Lord's sight.
But that isn't all--"their works do follow them." Drop a pebble into a pool, and the circling ripples reach out to all sides. Say a word, even think a thought, and its reverberations continue on and on into eternity. How much more, then, the works of God's children! Their deeds of kindness, their gifts of service, reach on to the eternity that awaits God's redeemed.
Notice also the word "henceforth"; that is, from the time the great threefold message of the preceding verses goes to the world. From the time that this message starts, those who die in the Lord are especially blessed. How wonderful it is to carry a message that blesses even those who die in it, as well as those who remain alive until the return of our Savior.
Someday soon it will be moving day for all of us--out of the palace, out of the beautiful home, out of the fine apartment, out of the tiny cabin, our of the attic, into "an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (2 Cor. 5:1). Yes, it will be moving day.
MEDITATION PRAYER: "How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!" (Ps. 139:17).
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