The Blessed Rest: Martyrs' Reward in Revelation

So tonight, it is how they died. So Brother Ronnie read, 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.

And having lived with perseverance, the tribulation saints will die with a promise, y'all.

This is the sixth time in Revelation that John heard a voice from heaven.

And he'll hear such a voice three more times in the book before we're finished.

And the voice, probably that of God, not an angel, it commanded John to write.

Twelve times in Revelation, John is told to write.

And the apostle was under a divine mandate to what? He was recording the visions that he saw.

And the heavenly voice ordered John to write these words. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.

And that would include martyrs such as Antipas that we looked at in,

remember, chapter 2 of Revelation?

Those seen underneath the heavenly altar in chapter 6 that we looked at.

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've washed their robes,

it says in scripture, and made them white in the blood of the lamb.

We studied that back in Revelation chapter seven.

And these martyrs are blessed not only because they lived life to the fullest

in obedience and trust to Jesus, but also because they died in the Lord, right?

They will experience in death that fullest reward because as Psalm 116 verse

Psalms 116:15

15 says, it says, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his godly one.

The death of his saints, right? And with Paul, they'll be able to cry out triumphantly.

If you remember this verse in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 55, O death, where is your victory?

1 Corinthians 15:55

O death, where is your sting? And the voice informed John here that not only

those who were already dead, but those who die from now on are blessed.

The martyr believers from that point until the end of the tribulation will have nothing to fear.

Their death too is going to be blessed, blessed.

They're going to be happy. They're going to be joyful. And the Holy Spirit is

quoted directly in Revelation only here.

And in chapter 22, we'll still live it down the road in verse 17,

but his emphatic, if you look at it here, yes, the Greek participle there,

that nigh indicates strong There's a strong affirmation there.

The Holy Spirit is agreeing, yes. And those who die from now on, yes.

And it shows that he agrees really with the heavenly voice that the dead are blessed.

And as their sustainer, as the Holy Spirit, comforter who loves them,

is grieved by their pain, the Holy Spirit longs actually to see that suffering end.

Remember all the tremendous suffering that these tribulation saints

are going through all that's happening and he

adds actually two further reasons of the

tribulation martyrs blessedness and first

he says the spirit declares them blessed because they may rest from what from

their labors right kopos it's described it's hard it means in that greek is

it's hard it's difficult it's exhausting toil their labors it you know it can also refer to.

Bother or annoyance or trouble.

And certainly the tribulation saints here, they'll experience the whole gamut

of the words, meanings, right?

Because of all they're going through, they're going to be filled with deep sorrow.

Think about it. As they watch those that they love, think about it, their children,

their parents, their spouses, their friends suffer torment and death,

and their lives to be hard, difficult, dangerous, struggling for survival during

this tribulation period,

not having the mark of the beast, they'll be excluded from society, right?

Be unable to buy or sell and live lives on the run as hunted fugitives.

I mean, death granting rest from all the difficulties and sorrows of their lives.

It'll come as a welcome relief to these tribulation saints.

And it's in stark contrast to those who are damned, who's going to,

you know, who will know not a moment's rest.

Right. As we say in scripture throughout all eternity, as it talked about in

verse 11 of chapter 14 here.

So the Holy Spirit also pronounces the tribulation martyrs blessed because what?

What follows them? Their deeds follow them.

That erga, deeds, it refers to their service to the Lord.

When these believers go to heaven, the record of their diligent labor is going to follow them there.

And the Bible teaches that God will reward believers in heaven,

Brother Ronnie, for their earthly service to him.

And Hebrews 6.10 actually reads, for God is not unjust blessed so as to forget

your work and the love which you've shown toward his name and having ministered

and still ministering to the saints and facing imminent execution.

Paul actually triumphantly declared, y'all know this verse, I have fought the

good fight. I have kept the faith.

What? In the future, there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness,

which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day.

And not only to me, he said, but to all those who have loved his appearing.

And that's in 2 Timothy 4. In 1 Corinthians 3, it talks about God's testing

of believers works, if you remember.

Remember in verse 12 there, it talks about the gold, the silver,

and the precious stones will be preserved.

But if you can remember the wood, the hay and the straw or the stubble, right?

Will be destroyed. And what's left formed the basis of believers' rewards,

it says in verses 13 and 14 of that passage in 1 Corinthians.

In fact, the dead who have lived in obedience and trust will be blessed with

rest and reward after they die.

And those who live now, though, for just crazy, wanton pleasure are dead even

while they live, 1 Timothy 5 talks about there. being dead in their trespasses

and sins. We referred to that this morning from Ephesians 2.

They face the horror church of eternal damnation in hell.

And the sobering truth is that the choices that people make in this life will

irreversibly chart the course of their eternal destinies.

It's a big deal, isn't it?

I mean, a Christless eternity of unrelieved torment, hell, or the blissful rest and reward of heaven.

That's the choice that's faced by every person.

And it is truly, I hope y'all can see tonight, it is truly a blessed or a happy

or a joyous thing to die in the Lord.