Endurance

It has been said that Revelation, the final book of the Bible, is one of the most difficult books of Scripture to understand. That is a well-deserved reputation, which should make us cautious in interpreting it. Nonetheless, Revelation contains some of the clearest passages on Heavenly realities found in the Bible. For instance:

“Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!’” (Revelation 14:12-13)

Anyone who has experienced the loss of a loved one knows about endurance. Every daily action calls for deliberate endurance: getting out of bed in the morning, showing up at work, answering phone calls, making dinner. The most routine tasks seem insurmountable when we are weighed down with grief.

But endurance in the faith is even more of a battle. We are so disappointed in God’s providence, so anxious about others, so fearful that someone else will be taken from us. Our minds are too confused to study the Bible and too distracted to focus on Sunday morning worship. Our hearts break with sorrow and our bodies hurt with various pains. And prayer? When we try, we can barely eke out a “Help me, God!”

How can we endure? By focusing our attention on the second of these verses. God is telling us to persevere because we have great treasures stored up in Heaven. Those of us who keep the commandments of God and our faith, weak though it may be, will eventually have rest from all our labors. God is telling us here that we are blessed; in fact, He says that twice in this passage. We should believe that we are blessed, and that we will be blessed, if we endure until the end.

What we do here on earth is mysteriously carried over into the next life. We only have glimpses as to how this will be manifested - but everything in the Bible is true.  Our deeds will follow us. There is some level of continuity between our lives here on earth and our lives in Heaven. Our loved ones understand this now, while we can only imagine. So we read and believe what God has promised, and so we let our souls be encouraged. A voice from Heaven has spoken to us, and we look forward to the rest from our labors that awaits us.

Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow.