Blessed Are  the Dead

(Revelation 14:12–13)

Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

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.” (14:12–13)

The Bible has much to say about happiness. The familiar New Testament word makarios (“blessed”) refers to spiritual joy, bliss, fulfillment, and satisfaction. It describes an inner joy that is the fulfillment of every longing, a serene, untouchable, unassailable contentment and peace. The Old and New Testaments reveal much about such blessedness:

But the most startling pronouncement of blessing in all of Scripture is found in verse 13. Amazingly, this second of seven beatitudes in Revelation (cf. 1:3; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14) pronounces blessing on the dead. Such a thought is incomprehensible to most people, who view death as something to be avoided. “Blessed are the living” would seem a more appropriate motto for most people.

The obvious question that the text provokes is “Why are these dead blessed?” The answer it presents is twofold: The dead in view here are blessed because of how they lived and because of how they died.

HOW THEY LIVED

Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. (14:12)

The phrase the perseverance of the saints introduces one of the most important and most comforting doctrines in Scripture. It expresses the truth that all those whom God has elected, called, and justified will never lose their faith, but will persevere in it until death. That reality provides assurance, hope, and joy to every true believer in Jesus Christ and brings an end to fear and doubt. It also reveals that believers’ deaths are blessed because death ushers them into the glories of heaven.

Some refer to this as the doctrine of eternal security; others dub it the “once saved, always saved” teaching. While those definitions are accurate, they do not express this truth as clearly as the biblical phrase the perseverance of the saints. That statement emphasizes the reality that God keeps His own saints by sustaining their faith to the very end, no matter what occurs. True saving faith in its very nature is eternal and cannot be lost or destroyed.

The persevering character of saving faith is never more clearly and powerfully seen than in this passage. No group of believers ever has faced or ever will face stronger assaults on their faith than the Tribulation saints. This large group of believers (7:9, 13–14) will include both Gentiles (7:9) and Jews (12:17). They will be saved through the ministries of the two witnesses (11:3–13) and the 144,000 (7:1–8; 14:1–5). The Tribulation believers will endure the most intense persecution in human history. In Matthew 24:21 Jesus described this period as a time of “great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.” So terrible will the conditions be that “unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short” (Matt. 24:22). God will set a limit on the Tribulation so that the elect will not suffer more than they can bear (cf. 1 Cor. 10:13). There is no stronger evidence that saving faith perseveres than the reality that the most tested believers in history will maintain their saving faith until the end.

The encouraging message of verses 12 and 13 forms a brief respite in the revelation of God’s judgment against unbelievers. Verses 9–11 painted a terrifying picture of the damnation of the unrepentant worshipers of Antichrist. The narrative of God’s judgment resumes in verse 14 and continues through the rest of the chapter. In the midst of all that carnage, with unprecedented disasters taking place all around them, the Tribulation saints will remain faithful and loyal to Christ. Even the prospect of martyrdom will not persuade them to abandon their faith. Their persevering loyalty to Jesus Christ forms the bright spot in the darkness of the Tribulation. It also answers the question of the unbelieving world, “The great day of [God the Father’s and Christ’s] wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (6:17). The Tribulation believers will stand firm until the end.

The biblical doctrine of the perseverance of the saints rests on five solid, unshakable pillars. The first proof of the truthfulness of that doctrine is that God’s promise established it. In Psalm 37:23–34, David expressed the truth that God holds on to His own:

Isaiah also celebrated this great truth:

God also promises in the New Testament that salvation is eternal:

A second truth upon which the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints rests is that God’s purpose assures it. Jesus declared:

God’s promise rests upon His sovereign purpose or plan; here it is plainly stated that His will is that none of those whom He gives to His Son should be lost. In John 6:44 Jesus reinforced that truth, noting that “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” All who come to saving faith in Jesus will be part of the “resurrection of life” (John 5:29); none will be lost. Romans 8:28–30 also teaches that there are no breaks in the process of salvation:

All those whom God foreknew are predestined, called, justified, and glorified. From its beginning in eternity past to its conclusion in eternity future, the salvation process is an uninterrupted continuity; there is no possibility of anyone dropping out along the way. “For I am confident of this very thing,” wrote Paul, “that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6; cf. 1 Cor. 1:7–9). In Romans 11:29 he added, “The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” What God purposes, He will carry out.

A third proof of the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is that God’s power guarantees it. God’s power that transforms believers into new creations (2 Cor. 5:17) will sustain them, so that they can never be lost. In John 10:27–29 Jesus stated emphatically that God’s power keeps believers secure: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” Neither Satan, nor all the forces of hell can take a believer away from God, “because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). To the Thessalonians Paul wrote, “But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one” (2 Thess. 3:3). The author of Hebrews wrote, “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25). Jude’s epistle closes with the benediction, “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy” (Jude 24). Along with His promise and His purpose, God has the power to keep believers secure.

The saints will also persevere because salvation is wholly by God’s grace (Eph. 2:8–9). Since we did nothing to earn it, so we can do nothing to keep it. As he concluded his first epistle to the Thessalonians, Paul pronounced the following benediction on them: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23). Then the apostle explained how the Thessalonians’ safekeeping would be accomplished: “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass” (v. 24).

To argue that saving faith can die, or be lost, contradicts God’s promise, purpose, power, and grace. Believers have been “born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for [them], who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet. 1:3–5). God guarantees that believers will persevere.

The repeated biblical exhortations to perseverance make it clear, however, that believers have a responsibility to persevere. “You will be hated by all because of My name,” warned Jesus, “but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved” (Matt.10:22). In Matthew 24:13 He added, “The one who endures to the end, he will be saved.” Arriving in Antioch, Barnabas “began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord” (Acts 11:23). Later, Paul and Barnabas spent time at Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch “strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, ‘Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God’” (Acts 14:22). To the Romans Paul wrote, “[God] will render to each person according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation” (Rom. 2:6–8). Colossians 1:21–23 clearly reveals God’s part in salvation and man’s responsibility to persevere. Christians are redeemed, “although [they] were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds” because God “has now reconciled [them] in [Christ’s] fleshly body through death, in order to present [them] before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.” But that does not obviate believers’ responsibility to “continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that [they] have heard.” In a similar vein the author of Hebrews wrote, “For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end” (Heb. 3:14). The apostle John described Christians as overcomers (2:7, 11, 17, 26–28; 3:5, 12, 21; 1 John 5:4–5).

Believers persevere by faith (1 Pet. 1:5; 1 John 5:4–5), fear (Jer. 32:40), love (Eph. 6:24), obedience (John 8:31), and by turning away from sin (2 Cor. 7:1; cf. Rom. 6:12–14). All those means are granted by God—who then exhorts believers to manifest them in their lives. The doctrine of perseverance must not be misconstrued as teaching that believers will be eternally saved regardless of their belief or behavior. What it does teach is that, as noted above, true believers will continue in the faith. Justification will be followed by sanctification that leads to glorification.

That raises the question about those who once professed faith in Christ, but then fell away. The Bible teaches that such people were never saved in the first place. Explaining the parable of the soils to His disciples, Jesus said of the rocky soil, “These are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away” (Mark 4:16–17). Jesus warned in John 15:6: “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.” The author of Hebrews noted that “in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame” (Heb. 6:4–6). In Hebrews 10:29 he asked rhetorically, “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” “They went out from us,” declared the apostle John, “but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:19).

A scene from John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress illustrates the fact that true Christians persevere under trials, while false believers fall away from the faith:

The perseverance of the Tribulation saints will be evident because they will keep the commandments of God. That genuine saving faith will result in such obedience is the clear teaching of Scripture. In John 8:31 Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine.” In John 14:21 Jesus defined those who truly love Him as those who obey Him: “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” In John 15:14 He added, “You are My friends if you do what I command you.” In Luke 6:46 Jesus asked, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” The apostle John wrote, “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments” (1 John 5:3).

A second way the Tribulation saints will manifest perseverance will be through their faith in Jesus. They will remain loyal, even under the tyrannical reign of Antichrist. Even the threat of execution (13:15) will not cause them to abandon their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Like the heroes of faith listed in Hebrews 11, they will maintain their testimony until the end—even if that end is a horrifying martyrdom.

Why are these faithful dead believers blessed? Because they lived pure, noble, purposeful, obedient, rich, joyous, exemplary lives. They lived life to the fullest in faith and obedience to God. Even if there were no heaven, that would still be the best way to live. But there is heaven to follow this life for God’s people; therefore the deaths of the Tribulation saints will also be eternally blessed.

HOW THEY DIED

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.” (14:13)

Having lived with perseverance, the Tribulation saints will die with promise. This is the sixth time in Revelation that John heard a voice from heaven (cf. 10:4, 8; 11:12; 12:10; 14:2); he will hear such a voice three more times (18:4; 19:5; 21:3). The voice (probably that of God, not an angel) commanded John to write. Twelve times in Revelation John is told to write (cf. 1:11, 19; 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14; 19:9; 21:5); the apostle was under a divine mandate to record the visions he saw.

The heavenly voice ordered John to write, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.” That includes martyrs such as Antipas (2:13), those 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 to cry out triumphantly, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:55).

The voice informed John that not only those already dead, but also those who die from now on are blessed. The martyred believers from that point until the end of the Tribulation will have nothing to fear. Their deaths, too, will be blessed.

The Holy Spirit is quoted directly in Revelation only here and in 22:17. 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 and is grieved by their pain, the Holy Spirit longs to see that suffering end. He adds two further reasons for the Tribulation martyrs’ blessedness.

First, the Spirit declares them blessed because they may rest from their labors. 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. They will be filled with deep sorrow as they watch those they love—children, parents, spouses, and friends—suffer torment and death. Their lives will be a hard, difficult, dangerous struggle for survival. Not having the mark of the beast, they will be excluded from society, be unable to buy or sell, and live lives on the run as hunted fugitives. Death, granting rest from all the difficulties and sorrows of their lives, will come as a welcome relief. In stark contrast are the damned, who will know not a moment’s rest throughout all eternity (14:11).

The Holy Spirit also pronounces the Tribulation martyrs blessed because their deeds follow with them. Erga (deeds) refers to their service to the Lord. When these believers go to heaven, the record of their diligent labor will follow along with them. The Bible teaches that God will reward believers in heaven for their earthly service to Him. Hebrews 6:10 reads, “For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.” Facing imminent execution, Paul triumphantly declared, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; 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” (2 Tim. 4:7–8). First Corinthians 3:12–14 describes God’s testing of believers’ works. The “gold, silver, [and] precious stones” (v. 12) will be preserved, while the “wood, hay, [and] straw” (v. 12) will be destroyed. What is left will form the basis for believers’ rewards (vv. 13–14).

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 pleasure 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 this 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.