who will you die for?

Revelation helps us remember that everyone dies. The question is, for whom will you die?

Reading Revelation is like watching a back and forth — a war between two armies. In the first half, creatures are unleashed on nonbelievers: “They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes” (Rev. 9:5). Then four angels come to destroy a third of mankind.

On the other hand, the Beast of the Earth rises up against God’s people. It “could cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed” (Rev. 13:15). That’s not the end of the story. God strikes back by punishing worshippers of the beast in Rev. 14:9-12.

It’s a lot to unpack. Like a game of ping pong, one side dies, then another, then another. But God has the upper hand. Although the beast can kill those who refuse to worship it, those who do worship the beast are subject to far greater terrors: the winepress of God’s wrath, and the scorpions who torture.

It reminds us of Jesus’s words: “Do not fear those who can kill the body and afterward do nothing. Rather, fear him who has the power to throw body and soul into hell.”

So 1) it’s worse to reject Jesus and 2) everyone will die, unbelievers and believers both. If Jesus suffered death, why should we escape?

Echoing through Revelations is the most important refrain: “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus” (14:12).

Everyone dies. But faith in Jesus is what we want to live for–and die for. Revelation doesn’t ask, “Who dies?” but “Who do you die for?”

All for now,