Revelation 14:13

And I heard a voice from heaven saying: Write. How beautiful is the concord of the preachers. Behold, one declares the kingdom of the Lord is coming, another says the city of the devil has fallen; one preaches the flames of the impious, another the …

Who die in the Lord - In the faith of the Lord Jesus. For they rest - No pain, no purgatory follows; but pure, unmixed happiness. From their labours - And the more labourious their life was, the sweeter is their rest.

Here observe, (1.) The description of those that are and shall be blessed--such as die in the Lord, either die in the cause of Christ, or rather die in a state of vital union with Christ, such as are found in Christ when death comes.

And I heard a voice from heaven,....

22:17; and in the saints, 2Co 5:5; All "God's promises in Christ are yea" (2Co 1:20). unto me--omitted in A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic. that they may--The Greek includes also the idea, They are blessed, in that they SHALL rest from their toils (so the Greek). and--So B and ANDREAS read.

THE text speaks of a Voice from Heaven which said, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." The witness of that voice is not needed upon every occasion, for even the most common observer is compelled to feel, concerning many of the righteous, that their deaths are blessed. Balaam, with all his moral shortsightedness, could say, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." That is the case when death comes in peaceful fashion. The man has lived a calm, godly, consistent life.

THE text speaks of a Voice from Heaven which said, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." The witness of that voice is not needed upon every occasion, for even the most common observer is compelled to feel, concerning many of the righteous, that their deaths are blessed. Balaam, with all his moral shortsightedness, could say, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." That is the case when death comes in peaceful fashion. The man has lived a calm, godly, consistent life. He has lived as long as he could well have wished to live and, in dying, he sees his children and his children's children gathered around his bed. What a fine picture the old man makes, as he sits up with that snowy head supported by snowy pillows. Hear him as he tells his children that goodness and mercy have followed him all the days of his life and now he is going to dwell in the house of the Lord forever! See the seraphic smile which lights up his face as he bids them farewell and assures them that he already hears the harpers harping with their harps—bids them stop those tears and weep not for him but for themselves—charges them to follow him so far as he has followed Christ and to meet him at the right hand of the Judge in the day of His appearing. Then the old man, almost without a sigh, leans back and is present with the Lord!— "Heaven waits not the last moment; Owns her friends on this side death, And points them out to men; A lecture silent but of sovereign power! To vice, confusion—and to virtue peace." Even the blind bat's-eyed worldling can see that, "blessed are the dead which die in the Lord" in such a fashion as that! Nor is it difficult to perceive that this is the case in many other instances. We have, ourselves, known several good men and women who were afraid of death and were, much of their lifetime, subject to bondage.

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. […]