Revelation 14:13; Rest From Their Labours

Revelation 14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed arethe dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. 

Lockyer said well, “What a welcome relief this benediction is! It comes as a break between so much judgment and doom. We pause and draw a fresh breath after a revelation of unspeakable torment. But, once we leave this beautiful description of the saint’s everlasting rest, we find ourselves again in the terrible atmosphere of wrath and vengeance.

John’s meditation was broken by the command to write The blessedness of the faithful had to be place on record forever. What the apostle set down must be stored up in the heart. The command to write is repeated twelve times in Revelation, to indicate that all the things it refers to are matters of importance.

While the message John heard has an application to all saints, it has a special relation to those who are to be martyred for their faith. In many funeral manuals, this comforting verse is given as one of the Scriptures applicable for recitation at the burial of the Christian dead. But a particular class of martyred saints at a particular juncture in human history is intended in this benediction. “From henceforth” intimates the imminent end and indicates that the blessing is just about to be entered into. Martyrdom under the beast is the subject. All who die in the Lord were willing to die for the Lord.

But after these terrible tortures that only the beast is capable of inflicting upon those who fail to worship him, there comes a rest. Rest will come through dying. For the beast-worshippers, there will be no rest, day and night, but for the faithful unto death, there is eternal life, eternal rest. The rest from toils, weariness, and satanic antagonism will not include rest from activities for those who follow the martyred into heaven. The place of rest is not to be a place of idleness. It will offer the highest form of spiritual service. All believers who are cut short and unwanted in their Christian service here on earth will be amply utilized by the Lord in heaven.”

Amen.

[Herbert Lockyer, Revelation – Drama of the Ages, Whitaker House, 2012, 225-226]