VI. The Joy of Revelation: The Beatitudes of Revelation - 2 of 7

1.     14:13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: ‘Blessed are the dead, those who die in the Lord from this moment on!’”

Generally, especially when we look at one verse of a biblical passage, we do well to consider its context so as to see better what it is attempting to tell us. Now, as I might have already stated, Revelation is not always written in such a way that this is as important here as in other scriptures that present, for example, a story. Revelation is not a book written in a linear fashion. As we have begun to see, Revelation is somewhat of a compilation of pictures, visions, as much as stories. Indeed, some present the same picture/vision or ‘story’ again in a different way, from a different perspective or vantage point, sometimes even seemingly from a different time.  

Here is one saying, described as coming from heaven. It is actually preceded by the appearance of three angels, each with a different message (14:6-11). These and a following comment directed to ‘the saints’ along the lines of other messages to God’s people, are dealt with in part III of this blog on Revelation, Messages to the Churches.

At first reading some might wonder, how can one be blessed when dead. Most of us want to live as long as possible, or at least as long as we are well enough and finding some joy in life. Indeed, many fear death. By this time though, if we have read the whole of Revelation especially, we can understand that death might have been seen as a welcome reprieve from the suffering and persecution Christians were experiencing at the time Revelation was written. We have also begun to see positive images of what is in heaven. So, to be taken from this earth with all of the problems they were going through, to die, for the believers could indeed be seen as a blessing. The blessing aspect of dying for and in your faith is emphasized by the positive attention, the recognition, given to martyrs in some of the visions in Revelation. To be a martyr was indeed coming to be considered a blessing.

This might be true for some of us in today’s world too. We might be suffering from cancer or some other debilitating illness and long to be freed of our affliction, knowing too that only in death would that occur. Christians, more in other parts of the world than here in North America where I write from, who are being beaten, burned, put in prison and even killed, would surely long even more strongly for escape. 

Then there is the second part of the beatitude. The preceding passages suggest Christ has already come to redeem his saints but that God’s actions are still bringing some to repentance. Needless to say, in a world deprived of the salt and light of Christianity, their lives could be unimaginably difficult. There is in this blessing also a call to them to endure, as the preceding verse had said, to be faithful. Only then, if they maintained their faith in the face of the tremendous odds of the time, the tribulation, would they die in the lord and receive this blessing. May that be true of all of us, that we keep the faith till we have passed from this life. 

The Joy of Revelation VI. The Beatitudes of Revelation - 1 of 7

After the initial 3 posts on Revelation, the last of which was put up three weeks ago, I thought it was time to add to them – before you lose interest. I am working on the whole book but that takes time. I am not, as you will notice, posting these chapters in the order in which the material appears in the text. It is more of a topical division of the book, posting a topic, or even a part of a topic when there is a lot of text covering one area, at a time. Some of those subjects, by reason of both the quantity of material and its complexity, take longer to work through. So, I am posting here part one of one topic or theme that is easier to deal with: The Beatitudes of Revelation. 

Many of us will be familiar with the Beatitudes Jesus delivered as recorded in Matthew 5:3-11, a brief summary of which also appears in Luke 6:20-22. When the word beginning each of those, “blessed,” is taken as a cue, commentators have singled out seven passages in Revelation as being Beatitudes. Seven, of course, is a commonly used number in the book and we know it stands for completeness and perfection. The passages are:

Ch. 1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14.

Let us look at them in order.

1:3 reads “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy aloud, and blessed are those who hear and obey the things written in it, because the time is near!”

Just a couple of comments about the actual words of the text first.  It is stated that the person who reads this book aloud is blessed. In our day, when we all have our own Bibles – if we want – this does not seem remarkable. Some might have read that there is something different, perhaps superior, in terms of how our brain processes things read aloud as opposed to silently. However, that is not the concern here. 

In the days when this was written few had copies of these writings. It is stressed several times in the book that the messages contained herein are important for the target audience, the Early Churches. The time is supposedly short, so it is important that the message get out to as many as possible as soon as possible. Reading this text aloud was the best way to do this, likely to a house church congregation or in a synagogue, as part of worship or teaching. That is why the person who reads this aloud gets a special blessing; he is spreading The Word to as many as possible with the best available means at the time.

The message is that “The time is near,” referring in the short term to a time of persecution, in the longer term to Christ’s return. To best arm believers to endure the suffering to come, they will do well to hear the encouraging message of Revelation. It is incumbent on the reader to share this message. To begin with, book contains reassuring examples of where the saints are especially singled out for protection (see Protection of God’s People, another section to come in these postings). The other significant positive message is that the Jesus they serve as Lord has in some measure already defeated Satan through his sacrificial death and resurrection. More to the point, he will in the end be victorious over all those evil powers that are making life difficult for them and even taking some of their lives in martyr deaths. The Caesars of the day might demand allegiance, but the Christian’s allegiance is to Christ. He and his kingdom, of which they are a part, are more powerful than any earthly ruler or kingdom.

The same time-urgency of getting this message out underlines the blessing given to those who not only hear the word, but obey it. The obeying part is that the listeners are not to be cowed into denying their Lord by doing such things as yielding to receiving “the mark of the beast.” Nor are they to be lured away by the charms of the age as personified in the whore, named Babylon (both of these pressures to be dealt with further in the coming sections on Judgments and The Wars of Satan). They are to read the signs of the times with wisdom, and, secure in the hope the message of this book should bring, endure. Those who do so to the end will receive the rewards frequently pictured in this book (some of this is dealt with in the previous post Messages to the Churches). They will ultimately arrive safely at their eternal and blessed prize for their faithfulness and devotion, even their deeds.