Revelation Now :
Daily Devotional Bible Studies in Revelation
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Patient Endurance of the Saints : Day 53 
This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus. Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labour, for their deeds will follow them." I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one "like a son of man" with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. (Revelation 14:12-14)
When You Die
You can't take it with you when you die. A very valuable and extremely rare American stamp called "The Flying Jenny", of a plane printed upside down, went missing when its owner died. The family searched everywhere but to no avail until one of them thought to look in the waistcoat pocket of their dead relative in the casket! There was the valued object! His hope to take it with him when he died was foiled!
Blessed are the Dead in the Lord
The only thing we take with us from this world is our value as a human being and our relationship to God. We come into this world with nothing and leave the same way. The voice from heaven said, "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." While it is true that money, fame, and belongings can't be taken with us from this life, God's people can produce some fruit which survives even death.
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, the idea of dying in the Lord occurs more than once in the New Testament. Paul speaks of the dead in Christ (1) and of those who have fallen asleep in Christ (2). The meaning of all these phrases is those who come to the end and are still one with Christ. Everything was trying to separate people from Christ; but the supreme happiness was for those who came to the end still inseparable from the Master whom they loved.
The promise is of rest. They will rest from their labors. Rest is never so sweet as after the most strenuous toil.
A Sharp Scythe
Christ separates the faithful from the unfaithful like a farmer harvesting his crops "with a sharp scythe." Christians on the other hand will receive their due reward and should not fear the Last Judgment. In addition to faith in Jesus, John insists upon the necessity and value of work.
Actions Follow Them
According to Jewish thought, people's "actions followed them as witnesses" before the court of God. The secret to enduring, therefore, is trust and obedience. Trust God to give you patience to endure even the small trials you face daily; obey him even when obedience is unattractive or dangerous. Remember that the seeds you sow in this life will bear fruit in the next. Be sure that your values are in line with God's values, and decide today to produce fruit that lasts forever.
"Their works follow with them" At first, this sounds as if the Revelation is preaching salvation by works. But we have to be careful what John means by works. He speaks of the works of the Ephesians, their labor and their patience (3); he speaks of the works of the Thyatirans, their charity and their service and their faith (4). By works he means character. He is in effect saying: "When you leave this earth, all that you can take with you is yourself. If you come to the end of this life still one with Christ, you will take with you a character tried and tested like gold, which has something of his reflection in it; and, if you take with you to the world beyond a character like that, blessed are you."(5)
God will remember our love, kindness, and faithfulness, and those who accept Christ through "our witness will join us in Heaven." These are the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.
The Son of Man
The final vision of this chapter is of judgment depicted in pictures which were very familiar to Jewish thought. It begins with the picture of the victorious figure of one like a son of man. "And I saw in the night visions, and, behold with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man and he came to the ancient of days, and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him." (6)
Words to meditate on
What is the best thing you will take across the Great Divide?
Words to pray
"Sleep after toil, port after stormy seas,
Ease after war, death after life does greatly please." (7)
Notes
(1) 1 Thessalonians 4:16 (2) 1 Corinthians 15:18 (3) 2:2 (4) 2:19 (5) William Barclay (6) Daniel 7:13, 14 (7) Spenser
"The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place."