“I am blessed, I am blessed. I’ve got this heartbeat in my chest. It doesn’t matter, about the rest, Lord with you I am so blessed.” Have you heard that happy song? The beatitudes begin with “Blessed...” The word actually means, “Oh how happy are...” Did you know not all the beatitudes are found in the Sermon on the Mount?
We find a new beatitude here near the end of the book. The Voice from Heaven which told John to write speaks again. Who is blessed? The dead who die in the Lord from now on. John was watching martyrdom happen all around him. He himself was exiled to Patmos and faced possible death. What happens to the people who die? The ones who die in the Lord are blessed. So all we have to figure out is if we are “in the Lord.” Paul wrote, “If anyone is Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone. The new is here” (2 Cor 5:17).
Why are Christians who die so happy? First, they get to rest. As our campus comes to life this week with 700 children, I anticipate both exhilaration and exhaustion. We have so much fun. By Friday, we are really tired. There is rest for those who die in the Lord, but no rest for the wicked. Second, their deeds follow them. When we serve the Lord together, we plant seeds that will last a lifetime. We can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the apples in a seed. Each child on our campus this week is a seed. How many other followers of Jesus will they produce? God knows. So we plant seeds. Our deeds follow us.
So do you want to hear the good news or the good news? If you die in the Lord, you are blessed. You get to rest. God can take care of the rest. Walk with the Lord today. You will never regret it. Oh, how happy... are you.
