The 2nd Beatitude in Revelation
The 2nd Beatitude in Revelation.
“The revelation of Jesus Christ…” (Rev. 1:1). John the Divine left no doubt about the purpose of his Book of Revelation. His very first words in his prologue were that his vision was an unveiling of Jesus. His baffling and otherworldly writings in this book were not primarily about future events, or the destiny of human life on planet earth, or all those mysterious activities in the heavenly sphere. John was writing first and foremost about the Person of Christ, and he intended everything in the book to point back to Him. Revelation was a lifting of the veil on the full identity and activity of Christ. It is a revelation of Jesus, from God, concerning Christ Himself. The Godhead is both the primary source of John’s vision and its main subject. Everything in this extended vision that came to John straight from heaven is to be understood through the prism of Christ. Regardless of how dramatic, puzzling or profound its contents, everything in John’s vision is intended to help us discover more of Christ and deepen our knowledge of and love for Him. All these events in Revelation that seem to pique the reader’s curiosity are nonetheless streams that are meant to lead us back to the River of Life. Perhaps it would do us all well if we continue to remind ourselves of Paul’s declaration as we read John’s vision… “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2). So then, we can’t let ourselves get too sidetracked, too stuck in the weeds, with these fancy special effects in John’s vision… the beasts and the dragons and the angels, the numbers and colors and gemstones, the symbols and metaphors and poetic imagery… After all is said and done in Revelation, St. John has composed an essentially Christ-centered book.
Gold Mine: Another way of looking at the book of Revelation is to strap on your miner’s helmet and search for Biblical gold. In John’s vision are many gold mines that have Jesus Christ as the source… Mines like His appearance in His glorified presence, the Logos of God, the seven titles of Christ, the words to the seven churches, the seven Beatitudes, and the many songs of worship that come straight to us from heaven! And there is more! Mining all the gold in Revelation will make us wealthy with His treasure for all of eternal life. But all those fancy special effects in John’s vision are only fool’s gold if they distract us from Jesus.
And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this down: Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit ‘they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from their hard work; for their good deeds follow them.’” (Revelation 14:13, NLT).
“Blessed” = makarioi; a rich Greek word with many nuances, all in the context of enjoying God’s favor: fully satisfied; deeply joyful; delightfully content; profoundly happy; blissfully fulfilled. When Jesus declares that you are blessed, He is congratulating you, confidently affirming that God is active in your life. You are blessed when you put yourself in the position to be transformed by God. You are blessed, you are most fortunate, you are to be envied, because you now have the unexpected privilege of participating in the Kingdom of God. When you are blessed, you are aware that your blessedness does not depend on your outer circumstances. You are thus filled with hopeful joy. So when Jesus says that you are blessed, it is time to celebrate, for He is looking upon you with favor. In these Beatitudes, Jesus is saying that God wants us to be blessed, He is for us, He wants good to happen to us.
The Second Beatitude. Many would consider this an unexpected blessing… How fortunate you are when you are dead. Happy are those who have died. But when we consider the full meaning of the word blessed, it starts making sense. We will be spiritually fulfilled when we die a believer in Jesus. We will enjoy God’s favor when we die in the Lord. We will be worthy of congratulations when we die a Christian. For we will receive rest from the hard work of being a faithful follower of Christ. Believers can finally be at ease from their labors of faith. And here’s another way a blessing is in order for the dearly departed… Our good deeds will go with us when we die! Our faithful works will accompany us to the New Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit says to us in this blessing that we will somehow enjoy the fruits of our labors all through eternity. Maybe this is what Jesus meant in John 15:16, when He said that He chose us to bear fruit that will last, that will remain. Maybe he meant our fruit to last for all time. We know we can’t take money or possessions or fame with us when we die. But, guess what? We can take our good deeds! As Eugene Peterson says in his paraphrase of Rev. 14:13… None of what we’ve done is wasted. We’re sending up timbers as we engage in good works. We are building our home with Jesus in Heaven. Our good deeds will follow along with us into eternity.