Luke 14:14 says, “You will be blessed, because they do not have anything with which to repay you; for it will be repaid to you in the resurrection of the righteous.” This resurrection is the resurrection of life (John 5:29; Rev. 20:4-6), when God will reward the saints (Rev. 11:18) at the Lord’s return (1 Cor. 4:5).

In order to receive the reward in the coming age, we need to enjoy Christ faithfully in this age. Many saved ones are not faithful to enjoy Christ today. For this reason, God has set up a reward as an incentive so that we may enjoy Christ faithfully in this present age. If we do not enjoy Christ faithfully today, we shall lose the enjoyment of Christ in the coming age. Here we see that in His wisdom God has made the enjoyment of Christ in the coming age a reward for the faithful ones, the ones who enjoy Christ faithfully in this age. There are no terms, no conditions, for enjoying Christ in this age. As long as we believe in Him, accepting God’s invitation, we may enjoy Christ today. Nevertheless, we need to enjoy Him faithfully in order to receive the reward in the coming age of the kingdom. Otherwise, we shall lose the enjoyment of Christ in the coming age.

Revelation 11:18b tells us, “The time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to give the reward to Your slaves the prophets, and to the saints.” The reward will be given by the Lord to His faithful ones at His coming back (Rev. 22:12; Matt. 16:27). The purpose of the judgment of the prophets and the saints will be to determine who among the saved persons will be worthy of a reward and who will need further discipline. The giving of the reward to the prophets and to the saints will occur after the resurrection and rapture of the saints.

In Revelation 22:12 the Lord Jesus says, “Behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me to render to each one according to his work.” “I come quickly” is the Lord’s repeated warning (vv. 7, 20) that we may consider His reward at His coming back. The Greek word translated “reward” in 22:12 means wages. At the Lord’s coming, this reward will be rendered to each one of the believers, after their rapture, at the judgment seat of Christ.

Second Corinthians 5:10 says, “We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for the things done through the body, according to what he has practiced, whether good or bad.” The judgment seat of Christ is where Christ will judge His believers at His coming back, not concerning their eternal salvation but concerning their dispensational reward (1 Cor. 4:4-5; 3:13-15). Alford points out that “recompense” is a technical word for receiving wages. While we are still at home in the body, we should do things through it to please the Lord, that we may be rewarded for them by the Lord at His coming.

Hebrews 10:35 says, “Do not cast away therefore your boldness, which has great reward.” The reward spoken of here is the kingdom reward because it will be given to us for our enjoyment in the coming kingdom, not in this age. Today in the church life the kingdom is an exercise. If we are faithful in the kingdom exercise today, we shall be rewarded with the kingdom as an enjoyment in the coming age. Then it will be the kingdom reward.

The kingdom reward is in addition to eternal salvation (Heb. 5:9). Based on Christ’s eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12), eternal salvation has been given to us freely and eternally according to God’s eternal selection of us. This is eternally secure. However, after receiving this salvation, how we would behave ourselves is a problem. Hence, according to God’s wisdom, in addition to this eternal salvation, a reward is promised as an incentive to us that we may be faithful in our living by the Lord and in our working for Him.
Home | First | Prev | Next