Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.

 

Saturday, December 16, 2023


Psalm 7

Isaiah 48:1-13

Revelation 14:13-20


Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.


When writing about the human conscience, a certain Puritan divine described it as either the most wicked burden or the greatest foundation.


Our standing before God is something personal that we all must deal with. We have each been given a conscience as a tool to use in this endeavour. Everyone has a conscience, and there are many ways that people respond to theirs. Most of these responses fall on a scale between useless at best, to antagonistic at worst.


But our conscience is a gift from God to be used for our good and His glory. To ignore it is to waste it. Attempting to re-fashion it is futile. Worst of all is to try and harden and kill it. This is because the Lord Jesus Christ will, one day, hear the word from His Father that the time of judgement has come.


Jesus will be on the clouds of glory (the same clouds that lifted Him during His ascension). He will wield His scythe of righteousness and reap the harvest of humanity. All those who listened to their conscience and used it as a tool to keep them on the path towards holiness will enter His kingdom and His joy. Everyone else will be trodden in the winepress of God’s justice.


Cleansing our conscience is so simple it is a wonder everyone doesn’t do it. When our conscience pricks, we pay attention to the reason why. We take that reason to the Lord Jesus and ask Him to forgive us. Jesus forgives everyone who asks – and we receive grace through the Holy Spirit to help us get better at avoiding that sin next time.


If you love Jesus, and listen to our heavenly Father’s gentle instruction, you will enter into the joy of the kingdom. Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.

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