Their Deeds Follow Them

Rev. 14:12-13 (ESV)
Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
[13] And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!"

Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. There are two reasons we are blessed when we die in the Lord, that is die in the faith. In death we finally find rest from our labors. In this world we labor. It isn’t always easy. Finally after a long painful struggle with life we die. Not to say that there aren’t joys in this life too. But let’s just face it, this is not our best life now. The second reason is our deeds follow us. In Christ we do good works, and we are rewarded for them in heaven, they follow us.
We are not justified by them, and we can’t do them for the sake of reward. Good works pose the ultimate conundrum for the Christian. They are impossible for us to do as sinners. Even our motives for doing them have to be pure. Yet as Christians they are impossible for us not to do, because even our motives are forgiven. I’m curious though myself to see what God considers to be my good works.
As for the deathbed conversions and the possibility of good works for those who have only repented and been baptized moments before death? Do they have good works that follow them? I’m sure they do. Even as they are forgiven all past transgressions of the law, I’m sure their good works have been forgiven too, and made truly good. That is the thing, even our “good” works need to be forgiven if they are to be truly good. But more than that, Christ bore fruit even as he died on the cross, and as Dr. Rosenbladt points out when we are clothed in him in faith, and die in him, we are blessed, his works are imputed to us.