Have you ever noticed that we tend to have an utterly gloomy attitude about death? Even among those of us who worship a resurrected Savior and cling to the promise of everlasting life, death has almost become synonymous with sadness. I mean, think about how we tend to act at a funeral. We reserve the dirgiest of our hymns and the melancholiest of our music for funerals because they tend to match the mood of the mourners. At funerals we dress in black and speak in solemn hushed tones as we slowly slink around the room expressing our condolences and sympathies. We say things like “passed away”, “gone” “departed”. We speak of life as something that has been “taken”, “cut short”, or “lost”.
For us, death has almost become synonymous with sadness because, in our minds, death prevents a person from experiencing the joys of life. A dead person doesn’t get to behold the beauty of a sunset. A dead person doesn’t get to laugh at a joke. A dead person doesn’t get to feel the embrace of a loved one. Death robs a person of joys like these and so we tend to feel sorry for and pity the dead.
There is a proclivity for us to think of the dead as those poor departed souls. Today, however, from Revelation 20:4-6 Jesus, our resurrected redeemer reminds us that those poor departed souls are neither poor nor departed.
The book of Revelation is, as you have heard me say numerous times, a revelation; it is vision of “what must soon take place”[1]. Jesus shared this vision with saint John while he was in exile on the island of Patmos. Revelation is filled with poetic expressions and symbolic sights that represent the events that will occur in the last days. In the book of Revelation there are frightening images such as the adulterous woman sitting on a scarlet beast covered with blasphemous names and we are told she was “drunk with the blood of the saints”[2]. But there are also reassuring images in the book of Revelation such as the rider on the white horse Who leads the armies of heaven into battle against the adulterous woman and her blasphemous beast. On the Rider’s robe and on His thigh, He has this name written: “King of kings and LORD of lords.”[3]
Revelation chapter 20 makes use of similar symbolism as it takes us back to the beginning of the New Testament age; a time that John symbolically refers to as a thousand years. In the first three verses of this chapter John see Jesus coming down from heaven to defeat the devil. Then, in verses 4-6 John describes all those poor departed souls who have died and will continue to die to the end of the age.
Actually, in verses 4-6, John does not describe ALL the souls that have departed. Rather, He focuses his attention on the souls that have taken part in what John calls “5… the first resurrection”. This is not the resurrection that will take place on the last day when bodies will be raised from the grave and reunited with souls. (Nowhere in these verses does John tell us he saw resurrected bodies. Rather, he tells us he saw “souls”.) The first resurrection takes place in a person who was dead in sin but because of the work of the Holy Spirit through the means of grace (the preaching of the Word and the administration of the sacraments) has become alive in Christ. In these verses John restricts his description of the poor departed souls to only those who have been converted by the Holy Spirit and believe in Jesus as their Savior. John tells us, “4… I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God.” The poor departed souls John describes are those who died believing in the work of Jesus and the Word of God. They died believing that they were lost and condemned creatures for whom God sent His one and only Son as a sacrifice of atonement. They died believing that God made Him who had no sin to be sin for them so that in Him they might become the righteousness of God. They died believing in the great love and rich mercy of God who made them alive with Christ even when they were dead in transgression. In these verses John does not describe all the souls that have departed, rather, he restricts himself to those he calls the “6 blessed and holy” souls “who have part in the first resurrection”.
As John looks at the souls of those who died believing in Jesus as their Savior, he tells us at the end of verse 4 that “They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” Technically John does not say that they “came to life” but that “they live”. The soul of the believer does not come to life. It just keeps on living. You see the body of a believer dies, but their soul never does. Jesus once told a woman who was mourning the death of her brother, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”[4] When John looked at the souls of those who died believing in Jesus as their Savior, he saw proof of this promise. He did not see souls that were gone, or passed away, or departed. He saw souls that were living. The bodies of believers may, for a time, have to wait in a grave, but the souls of all believers are at this very moment living.
The same cannot be said of the unbeliever. As a side note in verse 5 John tells us, “(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.)”. The rest of the dead, or those unbelievers who died in their sins and transgression do not live, at least not in the same way the believer lives. That is not to say that they are annihilated. Rather, theirs is an existence separated from the enjoyment of and participation in the physical, spiritual, and eternal blessings of God. They truly are the departed souls. To them Jesus says, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”[5] The soul of the dead unbeliever will exist to feel the pain and torment of their damnation, but they will never be truly alive.
In contrast to the soul of the unbeliever, the soul of the believer lives, and I mean it really lives. In heaven, the soul of the dead believer is given power. John tells us he saw the souls of the dead believers seated on “4… thrones” and “6… reigning” with Christ. Through the waters of baptism God claims you to be His own dear child. He has adopted you to be His sons and daughters. Well, the King of kings and Lord of lords will not have His sons and daughters seated in disgrace. Every son of the heavenly King is a prince and every daughter a princess. Therefore, even though in this world they may have been mocked and ridiculed, despised and rejected, in heaven they will be seated on thrones where they will reign with Jesus.
In heaven, the soul of the dead believer is also given purpose. The soul of the dead believer does not spend eternity sitting on white a cloud, playing a golden harp, and eating cream cheese. They are entrusted with far more important matters than that. John tells us they are given “4… authority to judge”. In 1 Corinthians 6:2-3 Paul tells us “that the saints will judge the world” and “angels”. Here we see that description of the Judgement Day courtroom that I gave you last week needs to be slightly altered. John tells us that the Most Supreme Court will have junior justices that will echo the verdict of Jesus, the Judgement Day Judge. Further, John tells us when court is not in session the soul of the dead believer serves as “6… priests of God and of Christ”. This comes as no surprise to those who are familiar with the words of 1 Peter 2:9 where believers are told they are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” All throughout the book of Revelation we are given short clips of the songs of praise the saints sing to the one who called them out of darkness into His wonderful light. It seems we will always have purpose.
Finally, the soul of the dead believer is given protection. John tells us “6… The second death has no power over them”. In his letter to the Romans, Paul asked, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”[6] I am sure the question was asked in this way because many believers in Rome had lost their lives to things like the sword. Indeed, John describes the souls of the dead believers as “4… those who had been beheaded”. The sword has the power to separate a believer’s head from their shoulders, but it does not have the power to separate the believer from the love of Christ. Saint Paul answered his own question saying, “38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” As John looked at the souls of the dead believers, he saw what Paul confessed; he saw the souls of believers enjoying the eternal protection that Christ’s robe of righteousness provides.
In Revelation 20:4-6 Jesus, our resurrected redeemer reminds us that those poor departed souls who die believing in Jesus as their savior are neither poor nor departed. When a believer dies, they do not pass away, they are not gone, they have not departed. Their bodies may, for a time. wait in a grave, but their souls continue to live with Jesus. And there is no reason for us to pity them because they are missing out on the joys of life. In heaven their souls are anything but poor. There they are given power, purpose, and protection.
When you think about it, there is no reason for us to have a gloomy attitude about death. I understand that it is natural for us to miss a loved one when they die. But let us make sure that we sing our dirges, wear our black clothes, and speak our solemn condolences because we are morning our loss not theirs. Let us never forget that those poor departed souls who die believing in Jesus as their savior are neither poor nor departed. Amen
[1] Revelation 1:1
[2] Revelation 17:6
[3] Revelation 19:16
[4] John 11:25-26
[5] Matthew 25:41
[6] Romans 8:35