Revelation 14:13

Verse Revelation 14:13. I heard a voice from heaven] As the information now to be given was of the utmost importance, it is solemnly communicated by a voice from heaven; and the apostle is commanded to write or record what is said.

Blessed are the dead] Happy are they. They are happy in two respects: 1. They do not see the evil that shall come upon the world, and are exempted from any farther sufferings. 2. They actually and conscientiously enjoy happiness in a state of blessedness.

In the first sense, Happy are the dead! is a proverb frequently to be met in the Greek and Roman poets. Ex. gr.

Τρις μακαρες Δαναοι και τετρακις, οἱ τοτ' ολοντο

Τροιῃ εν ευρειη, χαριν Ατρειδῃσι φεροντες.

Ὡς δη εγωγ' οφελον θανεειν και ποτμον επισπειν

Ηματι τῳ, ὁτε μοι πλειστοι χαλκηρεα δουρα

Τρωες επερῥιψαν περι Πηλειωνι θανοντι.

ODYSS., lib. v. ver. 306.

Happy, thrice happy; who, in battle slain,

Press'd, in Atrides' cause, the Trojan plain:

O, had I died before that well fought wall;

Had some distinguished day renown'd my fall,

Such as was that when showers of javelins fled,

From conquering Troy, around Achilles dead.

POPE.

Thus imitated by the prince of the Roman poets:-

Extemplo AEneae solvuntur frigore membra.

Ingemit, et, duplices tendens ad sidera palmas,

Talia voce refert: O terque quaterque beati,

Queis ante ora patrum Trojae sub moenibus altis

Contigit oppetere! O Danaum fortissime gentis

Tydide, mene Iliacis occumbere campis

Non potuisse? tuaque animam hanc effundere dextra?

Saevus ubi AEacidae telo jacet Hector, ubi ingens

Sarpedon: ubi tot Simois correpta sub undis

Scuta virum, galeasque, et fortis corpora volvit.

VIRG., AEN. i., ver. 93.

"In horror fix'd the Trojan hero stands,

He groans, and spreads to heaven his lifted hands.

Thrice happy those whose fate it was to fall,

Exclaims the chief, before the Trojan wall!

O, 'twas a glorious fate to die in fight!

To die so bravely in their parents' sight!

O, had I there, beneath Tydides' hand,

That bravest hero of the Grecian band,

Pour'd out this soul, with martial glory fired,

And in the plain triumphantly expired,

Where Hector fell, by fierce Achilles' spear,

And great Sarpedon, the renown'd in war;

Where Simois' stream, encumber'd with the slain,

Rolls shields and helms and heroes to the main."

PITT.

Which die in the Lord] These are the only glorious dead. They die, not in the field of battle, in either what are called lawful or unlawful wars against their fellow men; but they die in the cause of God, they die under the smile and approbation of God, and they die to live and reign with God for ever and ever.

From henceforth] απαρτι From this time; now; immediately. This word is joined to the following by many MSS. and some versions. It was a maxim among the Jews, that as soon as the souls of the just departed from this life they ascended immediately to heaven.

Yea, saith the Spirit] The Holy Spirit confirms the declaration from heaven, and assigns the reasons of it.

That they may rest from their labours] Have no more tribulation and distress.

And their works do follow there.] εργααυτωνακολουθειμετ αυτων And their works follow WITH them. They are in company. Here is an elegant prosopopoeia or personification; their good works, sufferings, c., are represented as so many companions escorting them on their way to the kingdom of God.

There are some good and pertinent things in the Jewish writers on this subject. "Rabbi Jonathan taught, If a man perform one righteous action in this life, it goes before him into the world to come. But if a man commit one crime, it cleaves to him, and drags him to the day of judgment." Sota, fol. 3, 2. Avoda Sara, fol. 5, 1.

"Come and see, If any man observe a precept, that work ascends to God, and says, Such a one performed me. But if a man transgress the law, that sin ascends to the holy blessed God, and says, I came from such a one, who has performed me." Sohar Levit., fol. 34, col. 136. Here the same personification is observed as that in the text.

"In that hour in which a man passes from this life into eternity, all his works precede him and there they say unto him, 'This and that thou hast done in such a place on such a day.' This he shall acknowledge. They shall require that he shall subscribe this with his own hand, as it is written, Job 37:7; each man shall subscribe with his own hand; and not only this, but he shall acknowledge that the sentence brought against him is most just." Taanith, fol. 11, 1.

The following elegant similitude Schoettgen gives from Sepher Hachayim, Part II., fol. 47, 1, 2. "A certain man had three friends, two of whom he loved; but the third he did not highly esteem. On a time the king commanded him to be called before him; and being alarmed, he sought to find an advocate. He went to that friend whom he loved most, but he utterly refused to go with him. The second offered to go with him as far as the door of the king's palace, but refused to speak a word in his behalf. The third, whom he loved least, not only went with him, but pleaded his cause so well before the king that he was cleared from all blame. In like manner, every man has three friends, when he is cited by death to appear before God. The first friend, whom he loved most, viz., his money, cannot accompany him at all. His second, viz., his relations and neighbours, accompanied him only to the grave, and then returned; but could not deliver him from the Judge. The third friend, whom he held but in little esteem, viz., the law and his good works, went with him to the king, and delivered him from judgment." The meaning of this most plainly is, that nothing except the deeds of good and evil men shall accompany them to the judgment-seat of God, and that a man's lot will be in the other world as his conduct has been in this; Their works follow with them.