We have a wrong definition of what it means in God’s Word when it says, “Blessed are …” This devotional reading looks at what it really means and the implications of that.
Nuggets
- Blessed means salvation, not rewarded or happy.
- Washing our robes means we know we are sinful – and we do something about it – continuously.
- We have to reach for the Plan of Salvation to accept it, take it by circumcising our hearts, and eat it by letting it change us from the inside out.
- We enter the many gates of the city through one gate. Into Heaven.
This is the fifth blessing in the Book of Revelation. It ties it all up as to what we have to do to get what we want — eternity in New Jerusalem.
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Devotions in the Eternity Begins series
Blessed
“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates” (Rev. 22: 14 ESV)
Blessed means salvation, not rewarded or happy.
We enter into Christ’s covenant. The covenant is an agreement that has responsibilities on both sides.
God makes us blessed – gives us salvation – when we trust in Jesus.
- “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord” (Jer. 17: 7 ESV).
- “Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed’” (Jn. 20: 29 ESV).
No, there are no strings attached to salvation, but we do have requirements. Submitting to God’s laws and commandments is a big one.
Make no mistake. Only God can make us clean. He said that cleansing is through salvation. Salvation only comes through Jesus.
- “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Ac. 4: 12 ESV).
- “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” (Ex. 20: 3-4 ESV).
- “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (Jn. 14: 6 ESV).
Those Who Wash Their Robes
Washing our robes means we know we are sinful – and we do something about it – continuously.
But it means more than that. It means we have to obediently perform God’s laws and commandments. That is our part of the covenant.
Obedience to God must come from genuine faith by an attitude of love for God. “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (I Jn. 5: 3 ESV).
We can’t begrudgingly obey God or do it halfway. We must voluntarily and completely want to what He has deemed is the right, good way.
God’s laws and commandments aren’t burdensome. We can choose to obey them – and we can be successful. True, we’ll slip, but that is where forgiveness comes in – again.
Too many think that we can have washed robes without being obedient. That isn’t going to happen.
- “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (Jn. 3: 36 ESV emphasis added).
- “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 7: 21 ESV emphasis added).
- “And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Heb. 5: 9 ESV emphasis added).
Salvation is tied to obedience. Calling it losing our salvation, call it never having salvation in the first place — call it whatever you want.
What we call it isn’t going to change how God treats it.
James called it works. “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone” (Jas. 2: 24 ESV). Faith is love; works is service.
If we say the words – even in love – but don’t change our lifestyle, we don’t have salvation. It is about circumcising our hearts. It’s about sanctification.
If we have salvation, we enter the gates of Heaven and get to partake in the tree of life.
If we don’t have salvation, we get thrown in the lake of fire.
I love what Bullock had to say. He wrote, “The commandments of Christ are the revelation of the will of God. … This revelation consists partly of doctrines or truths to be believed, and partly of duties to be performed.”
Resource
We hear people question — and have asked ourselves — what the Will of God is for our lives. It is easy.
- Be saved.
- Be obedient in following the laws and commandments.
We know God wants all to be saved. “… it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (I Tim. 2: 3-4 ESV).
God also puts much stock in obedience.
- “… Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams” (I Sam. 15: 22 ESV).
- “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God” (Deut. 28: 1-2
- “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (Jn. 14: 15 ESV)
- “But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men’” (Ac. 5: 29 ESV)
- “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (I Jn. 5: 3 ESV).
- “and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him” (I Jn. 3: 22 ESV).
One thing we can’t forget is that this is a perpetual washing of our robes. We may have salvation, but we also have sinful bodies.
We are still going to sin after conversion. We need to continue to ask for forgiveness for the sins we commit daily.
We aren’t going to keep our robes spotless by not sinning ever again while we are in this life. We have to keep them spotless by continuing to ask for forgiveness.
Right to the Tree of Life
We have to reach for the Plan of Salvation to accept it, take it by circumcising our hearts, and eat it by letting it change us from the inside out.
I scratched my head when Bullock said that the tree of life was probably figurative. Huh? Does he not remember the Garden of Eden?
- “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever’” (Gen. 3: 22 ESV).
- “He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life” (Gen. 3: 24 ESV).
Reach, take, eat — doesn’t a sound figurative to me. Symbolic, yes; figurative, no.
We can’t think that, because our faith begins in our minds, it is only some intellectual belief. Faith has to take over our hearts and actions.
I’ll say it again. We have to reach for the Plan of Salvation to accept it, take it by circumcising our hearts, and eat it by letting it change us from the inside out.
Eating gives us fuel to get our bodies to function. Faith has to be the fuel to everything that we do.
Bullock probably thought this as some say that Christ is the tree of life. I see that. It is through faith in Him that we gain eternal life.
I don’t know. With that concept, I am tripping over the “… so that they may have the right to the tree of life …” (Rev. 22: 14 ESV).
Let’s do some substitutions. So that they may have the right to Christ.
No, we don’t have the right to Christ. We aren’t entitled to salvation. It isn’t on our terms.
We are given salvation when we accept Christ as our Savior and Redeemer. We are also accepting God as Sovereign Lord.
What Bullock did get right was our eternal happiness is based on our obedience to God’s laws and commandments. But I think that is limiting.
I like what Maclaren said. Life, to him, meant perfection.
We look at life as having the mansion that is being prepared for us. We see it as a peaceful existence.
Do we really see it as us having God’s character and no sin? Do we really see it as loving Him and everyone else? Do we see it as having full knowledge of God and Jesus?
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But let’s look at what Melvill said. He wrote, “The terms on which they partake of the tree of life are those of absolute right: “that they may have right to the tree of life.” Right presupposes debt, and a debt can never coexist with gift.”
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Maybe this isn’t talking entitlement. Maybe it is talking about the spiritual.
“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” (Phil. 4: 8 NLT emphasis added).
Sometimes, right in this verse is translated as just. Just has to do with the way God wants us to live — following His laws and commandments.
Doing the commandments should produce right — or just. “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us” (I Jn. 3: 23 ESV).
We can complete the Matthew 25: 35-36 to-do list.
- Feed the hungry
- Provide water for the thirsty
- Be a friend to all
- Clothe those who need it
- Visit the sick and prisoners
Do they get into Heaven if that is all we do? No — unless someone else has shared the Gospel with them.
We have to share the love of Jesus with them. Not doing brings the Matthew 25 to-do lists down to a worldview list.
Melvill agreed. He wrote,
“We are required, then, to search for a doing of the commandments which shall be productive of right; for if none such be discovered the pronounced blessing will have none on whom to descend. The moral law exists no longer as a covenant. It can hardly, therefore, be to obedience to the commandments of this law that the blessings are annexed. But there is a commandment peculiar to the gospel which we may obey, and obedience to which shall procure for us right” (emphasis added).
Resource
Salvation isn’t a works-based religion except in one way. “Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent’” (Jn. 6: 29 ESV).
Why is our desire to keep our robes spotless important? Vaughan believed that, if we become careless in washing our robes (asking for forgiveness), we are showing our belief that we don’t need purity (salvation).
Resource
How many times has Satan convinced us, “Oh, you haven’t sinned today. You have nothing for which to ask forgiveness.” More times than we like to admit!
Doing that wrecks our relationships with God.
Enter the City by the Gates
We enter the many gates of the city through one gate. Into Heaven.
That’s it. Believe on the Savior. Have a great enough faith that we are obedient.
When we do — and only those that do — can enter New Jerusalem, that city that provides safety and permanence.
Those who have persevered and endured enter through the gates.
There is only one way to enter — through the gates. Yeah, there are 12 gates.
How does that mesh with Matthew 7: 14? “For the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Mt. 7: 14 ESV).
Remember, we said there are 12 gates to New Jerusalem to indicate everyone, everywhere, is invited for salvation.
There is just one gate to Heaven. There is just one salvation.
Making the Connections #1
Heaven is all about the tree of life, and the tree of life is all about redemption. If we aren’t redeemed, we won’t get into Heaven.
In fact, the whole kingdom of God is based on redemption. This kingdom is built on the sacrifice of the Lamb.
Thomas explained it better than I can. He wrote,
“So their robes are made white, not only by the forgiving love of God which is made possible by the great Sacrifice, but also by the spiritual power that comes through the crucified Christ. So in very deed their sins are washed away, and at length they are able to ‘stand in the eternal Light through the eternal Love.’”
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- We can’t approach God while we are lost in our sin, so the God of love cannot shower His love upon us.
- Those sins must be washed away through salvation through the Sacrifice of the Lamb Who was slain.
- The Lamb — the Light of the world — gave Himself as a sacrifice because of love so that we could be reunited with the God of love.
Making the Connections #2
In Elaine-speak, obedience is how we work through our salvation. We aren’t obedient — we aren’t working through salvation.
We can’t just ask for fire insurance. We have to ask for change on our hearts and lives.
Making the Connections #3
Vaughan reminded us that we won’t be kicked back eating bon bons all day. He wrote, “Heaven is a society, a community, and a polity. Its life is two-sided — it is a life Godward, and it is a life manward; it is a life of direct access, and it is a life of boundless love.”
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We will be called to praise God and serve our brothers and sisters.
Making the Connections #4
What should our attitudes be when we enter the gate of Heaven? It should be one of praise.
- “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” (Ps. 100: 4 ESV).
- “Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it” (Ps. 118: 19-20 ESV).
Making the Connections #5
No, our works cannot save us. They are to be the evidence that we have surrendered our lives to God.
How Do We Apply This?
- Be habitual in keeping God’s laws and commandments.
- Habitually wash our robes.
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Father God. Lord, we admit that we are sinners. We believe that Jesus is Your Son and our Savior. We confess You as Sovereign Lord and commit to obeying Your laws and commandments. We look forward to eating of the tree of life. Amen.
What do you think?
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