The Dawn Of The Dead

As with the walking dead – the living dead too are identified very clearly. They also have a mark (14:1). In fact, the mark on the forehead of the followers of Jesus is mentioned more times in The Revelation than the mark of the beast on the spiritually dead. Neither is “literal” in the sense of a tattoo or brand but both are real in the sense that their lives show who they follow (1:1-4, 13). You see, as with the spiritually dead so with the living … you will know them by their fruit.

14:13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

I see three things in this chapter that the followers of the Lamb do that show who they are identified with:

1. They Worship the Lamb (v. 1-3) – not the competing idolatries of their day.

2. They live holy lives (v.4-5)

3. They proclaim Good News to the lost (v. 7-8) – the word “angel” means messenger and can certainly apply to God’s people as they introduce people to the Lamb, warn them to flee the wrath to come, and turn to a loving God.

The Bible says that the followers of Jesus have passed from death into life. That is what the Gospel offers … a new life … an eternal life.

Have you noticed how many times the New Testament uses the imagery of “life” to define the followers of Jesus?

• You must be “born again”, Jesus says (John 3)

• Our baptism is a rising to “newness of life” (Romans 6:4)

• Or, again, the responsive reading this morning from Ephesians 2. Part of it reads: “1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Sadly, Ephesians 2 teaches us that we need not do anything to be counted among the walking (spiritually) dead. It is our natural state of being (v. 3). But it takes an act of God and God alone for us to be counted among the living.

John insists that no one can remain uncommitted in the conflict between God and evil. Either one bears the mark and the name of the beast (13:16-18) or one bears the seal and name of God the Lamb (14:1).

WRAP-UP

There is a simple sentence I almost always use when I preach a believer’s funeral. I also often use it when consoling the family of one of God’s saints. It is very simple, probably often forgotten but for me … for me it is the core of my faith. I simply say, “Death is not the end for the believer; it is a gift” If, in fact, you are a follower of Jesus you will be resurrected to newness of life. You will be in the land of the living and your name will be in the “book of the living” (20:2).