TEXT: Revelation 14:13

SUBJECT: The Happy Dead

At 11:30 Friday night, my mother departed this life for the life to come. My family and I thank you for your concern, and need your prayers so badly. "Brethren, pray for us".

I will not eulogize her this day. She would want me to "preach the Word". And I pay her a final tribute by doing so, if God will support me in my weakness and make His power manifest therein.

"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord..." The word, "blessed" needs to be rescued from religious people. Even the way they pronounce it, "bless-ed" rings with sanctimony. The word is "blessed"; it means "happy".

The happiness of the blessed isn't the kind the world knows--shallow, momentary, and often degrading. No, it's the happiness of God's fellowship.

God made us to know Him, to love Him, and to enjoy His company. When we do, we become happy. This is true--not only when things are going well--but when they couldn't be worse. Few men have suffered as much as Paul did; fewer still have known his joy.

What is the source of this happiness? If you read the verse without much care, you might say, "Death". Worldly men often speak of its "relief". Yet, this is not how God thinks of it! When He walked among us, He wept at the tomb and was grieved by the monstrosity of death! His Apostle felt the same way, calling it "The Last Enemy" and being mindful of its "sting".

No, the source of happiness is not death--not even the believer's death! Listen more carefully: "Blessed are the dead...who die in the Lord". Happiness--you see--comes from fellowship with Jesus Christ. No one is happy who cannot say with Solomon,

"I am my Beloved's

And my Beloved is mine".

If you don't care much for poetry, how about some clean and direct prose. I John 1:3-4 has it: "That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you may also have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full".

"Fullness of joy" comes from fellowship with God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

How do we enter that fellowship? By repentance and faith. In repentance, we turn from those things God finds unworthy and odious. What things? Sinful things, of course. But don't limit your thinking here to things scandalous. No, the ultimate sin is putting yourself before Him. Hence, the most upright man in the world has no less to repent of than the scum of the earth. For both are self-oriented and not Christ-centered. Until you repent--sincerely turn from yourself to God--you'll never know happiness. And your death won't be "blessed".

In faith, we look to Christ as Savior. As the only Savior. Not as One who helps us save ourselves, but as the One who alone--"Saves to the uttermost those who come to God through Him".

We look to Him "Delivered for our offenses". Delivered to what? To the cross--the most painful death man ever devised--and the symbol of God's wrath. "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree!" Why did He die? The men of His generation knew; they thought they did, at least. He is "Stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted". In other words, He "died the death" because He deserved it!

But they were wrong. After hearing their take on the matter, God gave His: "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we were healed".

What does this mean? It means the Holy Son of God took the punishment we deserved--all of it--upon Himself. And died, "the just for the unjust".

Barabbas was not the only sinner to escape God's curse by the crucifixion of an Innocent Man.

We look to Him "Raised for our justification". Raised from the dead because He was innocent; raised because God accepted His death for us; raised to offer salvation to everyone who believes.

Faith in a crucified and risen Savior brings you into fellowship with God. And makes you happy in life and in death, happier still. "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord".

Two results follow from "dying in the Lord" and add much to its blessedness. One is "They rest from their labors".

Man was made to work; not to toil. But the Fall made us all drones--laboring hard with many frustrations and few satisfactions. This is true of all labor--"with the sweat of our faces we eat our bread". It's especially true of our labors for Christ. We struggle against self, sin, the world, and Satan. We try to "mortify" our old ways, but often find them more vigorous than we are!

We struggle with each other--"endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace". Disharmony is like a weed patch--it will grow without care. But peace? It is a Japanese Garden--demanding the most thorough and painstaking care.

We struggle with bad people. Some of them "revile" us, "persecute" us, and "say all manner of evil against us" for Christ's sake. They do it--not as an honest mistake--but out of pure spite! And they never let up; "Evil men wax worse and worse".

What a struggle this life is! But in death, the believer "rests from his labors". His sin is eradicated; the brotherly differences are resolved; bad people are excluded. What a rest it is! "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord...they rest from their labors..."

The second blessing of death is "their works follow them". What does this mean? Not that they keep working, of course, but that God keeps blessing their works. In life, they've seen precious little fruit. But so what? Life is not harvest time; it's planting time! And the little things we do in this life will bear fruit in time.

Our prayers so often seem unheard. "Why doesn't God answer me?" we complain. He will. In His own good time. George Mueller prayed for two friends for more than sixty years. Every morning and every night he called their names at the Throne of Grace. Yet he died with them more hardened against God than ever. But his "works followed him". Shortly after Mueller's death, these men came to faith in Christ.

Parents often feel so stymied by their children. We agonize to bring them to Christ. In prayer, teaching, discipline, a good example, and more. Yet they grow up strangers to God, and wanting no part of our religion. We're tempted to yield to the disappointments. But we mustn't. "Every work for Jesus will be blessed". Including these works. Who knows? Maybe it will be your death that will bring them to faith.

The little things we do are often overlooked. Yet they're not useless. Like yeast, they have a slow, gradual, and sure effect on all around us. We may not see God's Kingdom "rise" much in this life. But "rise" it will through the little things we do. Our "works follow us".

And so, this is why the believing dead are "blessed". Because, even in death, they remain "in the Lord" Romans 8:39-39.

And because--in death--their "labors" are over and now, at last, they set to receive the "reward" of which every good "laborer is worthy".

In closing:

Don't despair over the death of my mother. She was "in the Lord"--no doubt about that. And she still is. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints". Precious to Him; precious to us.

Seek a happy death for yourself. Balaam wanted one--"Let me die the death of the righteous and left my end by like his". But he didn't want it badly enough to repent of his sins and to trust Jesus Christ for eternal salvation. God give you a happy death. For Christ's sake. Amen.