August 28.
Suffering Stamped Out

Revelation 14:13

And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

Philippians 1:21 says For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. How is it a blessing or a gain when I die? It’s a gain socially because I will no longer have to associate with liars, backbiters, peace breakers, and whoremongers; they won’t be coming there. I’ll be associating with other saints – saved people – so it’s a gain socially. Intellectually, it is a gain because now we know in part, but then we will know as we are known. It is also a gain emotionally. Death will be a defeated foe. I shall rest from labor. Psalms 116:15 says, Precious in the sight of God is the death of His saints. When a saint dies, the Lord shouts and skips. He says, “Now I have one who is coming to live forever in my presence. They can rest from their labors.” Their works do follow. You might try to forget them, but the Lord said, “I have fixed this thing. If they have done something, it will be remembered.” That’s why he tacked on the back of Psalm 23:6, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me. What is the purpose of goodness and mercy behind me? “God said, “First of all, you have done some good things and folk will try to forget it when you are dead and gone, so I have goodness coming along picking up the good stuff that you have done. When you are dead and gone, I’ll highlight it. I’ll spotlight it around your enemies in places folk don’t want to know about it.” Then God said, “I hate to tell you, but you have also made some mistakes and some blunders in your life. If I leave your mistakes scattered around, somebody will come along and stumble. So that’s why I enlisted mercy. Mercy is back there picking up your blunders and putting them in the sea of forgetfulness where it won’t rise against you anymore.”