[Originally preached 31 August, 2003]
Revelation 11.15-19
Once again John takes us right up to the age to come. The time of trumpets blaring their warnings is over. History as we know it is done. And how does John picture the inauguration of this new age? He pictures is as doxology. The twenty-four elders fall prostrate before God and worship Him, declaring their praises. The focus of their doxology is that God Almighty now reigns. The rebellious kingdom of the world is no longer. Now, all of creation submits to the Lord and to His Christ.
For a time, the nations raged, just as Psalm 2 describes it. God allowed that to continue – for a time. But finally the time has come for His own rage against those who rebelled and refused to repent. The time for judging has come. God dons His robes of justice and decides the fate of all. And what is the fate of the unrepentant rebels? Destruction. They will be brought to ruin. And that judgment is fitting. What was their goal but to bring God’s creation to ruin by their rebellion? Those who rebel receive justice. Not only have they rebelled against the ruler of all creation but they also refused His gracious offers of forgiveness. They heard and rejected the message of the trumpets. And so, their fate is at hand, and it is a fearful thing. They will endure the destruction of their persons forever. People you know, friends and relatives, are now included in this category. Their fate is horrible – unless they repent and entrust themselves to Christ. They need the Gospel.
But eternity not only a matter of destruction. The hope of the redeemed is to be realized. And how is that described here?
… the time for the dead to be judged [has come] and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great … Revelation 11:18
Let’s take a closer look at this. The notion of being rewarded may sound strange but it is actually found in the Scriptures quite a bit. Listen to another place where this shows up.
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:11-12
We find the same word in another passage.
And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.' Matthew 20:8
Here, our word is translated as ‘wages’. It refers to payment that is due. In some sense, Christians will receive a reward at the beginning of the age to come. And this reward will be some sort of payment given in light of what we have done here.
Now, it is very important that I be clear here. Our entrance into heaven is not a matter of what we do. Salvation is not a matter of reward and payment. On the Last Day when God confronts you and asks why He should receive you instead of condemn you, all you can do is look to Christ. You have entrusted yourself to Him. If you are to be found as acceptable by the Father, it is only because Jesus will at that time say, ‘Father, this one is mine.’ Nothing that we do or say or think will have any bearing with the Father. It is all a matter of what Jesus will say. And God forbid that at that time Jesus should say of any of us, ‘Depart from Me. I never knew you.’ Our only hope is Jesus confessing our name to the Father. Our entrance into an eternity of bliss is only by the grace of Jesus received by the empty hands of faith. Heaven is not a reward.
But having said that, there are still rewards to be handed out. Let’s ask a few questions of this. Will all the rewards be the same? Will all Christians be rewarded equally? There is a passage that illustrates what is going on here. It is a passage that applies first to pastors, but the implications apply to all the saints.
Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15
Paul is talking about pastors building up the Church. Some labor faithfully at this. Some don’t. Those who are faithfully laboring for Christ in His Church ‘will receive a reward’ while the others ‘will suffer loss’. This is one application of what our text is saying. On the Last Day there will be distinctions made among the Christians. Some will be rewarded greatly for what they have done. Others won’t be.
Now, our text has more to offer to help us understand how God will make these distinctions. And the key here is the titles that are used in the doxology. The twenty-four elders use four titles to describe Christians: servants, prophets, saints, those who fear God’s name. Each one points to some aspect of the calling of a Christian. Let’s consider each. The first is servant. I really think that the illustration of the blank check that I used a couple of weeks ago captures well the notion of a servant. ‘Here’s my life, Lord. It’s a blank check for You to fill in any way that You want. Use me as You wish. I’m ready to serve You any way You want.’ A great example of this servant attitude is Mary, Jesus’ mother. Gabriel told Mary, ‘God wants to radically change your life. He knows the plans that you had for a nice, quiet life with Joseph. All that is now going to be changed. God is calling you to something very different.’ And what was Mary’s response? ‘Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word.’ That’s a servant. Then there’s the title of prophet. You’ll remember that this concept was used earlier in chapter 11. The Church was called to prophesy, to live and declare the Gospel to a hostile world. And as we saw, that mission was filled with trouble and opposition. But the faithful prophet perseveres in the task nonetheless. Then there’s the title of being a saint. This is the language of being God’s holy ones, the ones whom He has set apart from the rest, to be different from the rest. Here, the biggest problem is our own hearts and the sin that remains in those hearts. Life here is a wrestling match to fight sin and pursue holy living. So, you see how Christians are described here: servants, prophets, saints. But we are not these things in a vacuum. We are such in the context of a hostile, fallen world. Being faithful to these aspects of our calling is hard. We’re in a battle against the world, the flesh and the devil. There are temptations associated with each title: to give Jesus a very large check, instead of a blank check, to downplay the prophetic message of the Gospel in the face of the opposition, to allow yourself to act a bit like the common sinners around you instead of God’s special people. Faithful living as Christians is hard. There are many opportunities for short cuts and compromises. Remember the seven churches. But our text is telling us that as we do live faithfully, there is a reward. The message of our text is that there is a payoff for your pain as you strive to live for Christ according to His calling. There will be those Christians who will reap great rewards because they have been very faithful. These, in their particular calling, have striven to honor Christ. And that will make a difference on the Last Day. All Christians get to enter heaven. We are saved by grace alone. But there will be rewards handed out when we get there, each according to what he has done.
Now, for an important question. What are the rewards? What kind of payment are we talking about? Is it going to be a mansion that is a little bit bigger than the others, with a better view maybe? Is it going it be a larger crown that others will be able to notice? Obviously, these aren’t the rewards. But what will the reward be? The titles are helpful again. What is it that a true servant wants more than anything? What moves a prophet to speak to a hostile world? What encourages a Christian to push a little harder for holy living? The only true motive is a love for Christ.
Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. Psalm 73:25
For many, the hope of heaven is seeing loved ones who have gone before or enjoying a life free from frustration or the equivalent of lolling in the sun on the beach. We will do things as enjoyable as these, but none of these is at the top of the list. The greatest hope of heaven is to be with Jesus. The faithful servants, prophets and saints will enjoy there, in the age to come, what they longed for here, in this fallen world: more of Jesus, a deeper experience of Him, a more intimate relationship with their Lord. Having more of Him will make all of the struggles and suffering here worth it. In fact, for these, there will be no comparison between the two. Yes, we will see loved ones, and sin will be no more and all of the tears will be wiped away. But more than this, Jesus will be there. And those who have suffered for His name here will be closer to Him there.
Now, I’m going to guess that some of you had the thought, ‘But didn’t he leave out one of the titles? What about ‘those who fear God’s name’? Well, I haven’t forgotten it. It fits right here. Do you remember the time when, in the middle of His ministry, Jesus was about to send out the Twelve? He was sending them out into a hostile world and wanted to say something that would encourage them when they faced opposition. Listen to what He said.
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28
The faithful Christian who is striving against the world, the flesh and the devil knows something very clearly. The battle is real. This Christian tells himself. ‘I can falter in this. I can be fooled, overcome big time, even to the point of turning away from Christ. I remember Judas. If that happens I’ll have to face an angry God, not as a child but as a rebel who has rejected Him.’ What else could Jesus’ words mean? So how does the faithful Christian do in response? Fearing Him ‘who can destroy both soul and body in hell’, the faithful Christian prays – a lot. He prays out of an awareness of Satan’s great strength and ability to deceive. He prays out of an awareness of the power of the flesh. He prays out of an awareness of the lurking allurements of the world. He prays out of an awareness of his own profound weakness. And he prays out of a great desire to please Christ. ‘Lord, if You don’t give me the grace that I need there is no hope for me. I want to serve You without limitations. I want to live and speak the Gospel to this rebellious world. I want to be that different kind of person that You have redeemed me to be. But without Your grace it isn’t going to happen. Give me Your grace so that I might fulfill your calling and honor You while I’m here.’ Those who want to fulfill those titles and who understand the fear of God, pray. And they pray a lot. There will be no rewards for those who do not pray. And that is because there is no way to be faithful as a Christian if you do not pray. And it is entirely possible that for these there will be no heaven either.
I hope that you can see the impossibility of becoming one of those who are greatly rewarded on the Last Day. I hope that seeing this drives you to prayer, out of fear but also out of love. And as you pray, watch. See how the Spirit does His amazing work in your life. See how faithfulness grows in you as you fight battles and overcome enemies. As you pray watch the good things that will happen through you until the Day of rewards comes.
Revelation 11.15-19
Once again John takes us right up to the age to come. The time of trumpets blaring their warnings is over. History as we know it is done. And how does John picture the inauguration of this new age? He pictures is as doxology. The twenty-four elders fall prostrate before God and worship Him, declaring their praises. The focus of their doxology is that God Almighty now reigns. The rebellious kingdom of the world is no longer. Now, all of creation submits to the Lord and to His Christ.
For a time, the nations raged, just as Psalm 2 describes it. God allowed that to continue – for a time. But finally the time has come for His own rage against those who rebelled and refused to repent. The time for judging has come. God dons His robes of justice and decides the fate of all. And what is the fate of the unrepentant rebels? Destruction. They will be brought to ruin. And that judgment is fitting. What was their goal but to bring God’s creation to ruin by their rebellion? Those who rebel receive justice. Not only have they rebelled against the ruler of all creation but they also refused His gracious offers of forgiveness. They heard and rejected the message of the trumpets. And so, their fate is at hand, and it is a fearful thing. They will endure the destruction of their persons forever. People you know, friends and relatives, are now included in this category. Their fate is horrible – unless they repent and entrust themselves to Christ. They need the Gospel.
But eternity not only a matter of destruction. The hope of the redeemed is to be realized. And how is that described here?
… the time for the dead to be judged [has come] and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great … Revelation 11:18
Let’s take a closer look at this. The notion of being rewarded may sound strange but it is actually found in the Scriptures quite a bit. Listen to another place where this shows up.
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:11-12
We find the same word in another passage.
And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.' Matthew 20:8
Here, our word is translated as ‘wages’. It refers to payment that is due. In some sense, Christians will receive a reward at the beginning of the age to come. And this reward will be some sort of payment given in light of what we have done here.
Now, it is very important that I be clear here. Our entrance into heaven is not a matter of what we do. Salvation is not a matter of reward and payment. On the Last Day when God confronts you and asks why He should receive you instead of condemn you, all you can do is look to Christ. You have entrusted yourself to Him. If you are to be found as acceptable by the Father, it is only because Jesus will at that time say, ‘Father, this one is mine.’ Nothing that we do or say or think will have any bearing with the Father. It is all a matter of what Jesus will say. And God forbid that at that time Jesus should say of any of us, ‘Depart from Me. I never knew you.’ Our only hope is Jesus confessing our name to the Father. Our entrance into an eternity of bliss is only by the grace of Jesus received by the empty hands of faith. Heaven is not a reward.
But having said that, there are still rewards to be handed out. Let’s ask a few questions of this. Will all the rewards be the same? Will all Christians be rewarded equally? There is a passage that illustrates what is going on here. It is a passage that applies first to pastors, but the implications apply to all the saints.
Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15
Paul is talking about pastors building up the Church. Some labor faithfully at this. Some don’t. Those who are faithfully laboring for Christ in His Church ‘will receive a reward’ while the others ‘will suffer loss’. This is one application of what our text is saying. On the Last Day there will be distinctions made among the Christians. Some will be rewarded greatly for what they have done. Others won’t be.
Now, our text has more to offer to help us understand how God will make these distinctions. And the key here is the titles that are used in the doxology. The twenty-four elders use four titles to describe Christians: servants, prophets, saints, those who fear God’s name. Each one points to some aspect of the calling of a Christian. Let’s consider each. The first is servant. I really think that the illustration of the blank check that I used a couple of weeks ago captures well the notion of a servant. ‘Here’s my life, Lord. It’s a blank check for You to fill in any way that You want. Use me as You wish. I’m ready to serve You any way You want.’ A great example of this servant attitude is Mary, Jesus’ mother. Gabriel told Mary, ‘God wants to radically change your life. He knows the plans that you had for a nice, quiet life with Joseph. All that is now going to be changed. God is calling you to something very different.’ And what was Mary’s response? ‘Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word.’ That’s a servant. Then there’s the title of prophet. You’ll remember that this concept was used earlier in chapter 11. The Church was called to prophesy, to live and declare the Gospel to a hostile world. And as we saw, that mission was filled with trouble and opposition. But the faithful prophet perseveres in the task nonetheless. Then there’s the title of being a saint. This is the language of being God’s holy ones, the ones whom He has set apart from the rest, to be different from the rest. Here, the biggest problem is our own hearts and the sin that remains in those hearts. Life here is a wrestling match to fight sin and pursue holy living. So, you see how Christians are described here: servants, prophets, saints. But we are not these things in a vacuum. We are such in the context of a hostile, fallen world. Being faithful to these aspects of our calling is hard. We’re in a battle against the world, the flesh and the devil. There are temptations associated with each title: to give Jesus a very large check, instead of a blank check, to downplay the prophetic message of the Gospel in the face of the opposition, to allow yourself to act a bit like the common sinners around you instead of God’s special people. Faithful living as Christians is hard. There are many opportunities for short cuts and compromises. Remember the seven churches. But our text is telling us that as we do live faithfully, there is a reward. The message of our text is that there is a payoff for your pain as you strive to live for Christ according to His calling. There will be those Christians who will reap great rewards because they have been very faithful. These, in their particular calling, have striven to honor Christ. And that will make a difference on the Last Day. All Christians get to enter heaven. We are saved by grace alone. But there will be rewards handed out when we get there, each according to what he has done.
Now, for an important question. What are the rewards? What kind of payment are we talking about? Is it going to be a mansion that is a little bit bigger than the others, with a better view maybe? Is it going it be a larger crown that others will be able to notice? Obviously, these aren’t the rewards. But what will the reward be? The titles are helpful again. What is it that a true servant wants more than anything? What moves a prophet to speak to a hostile world? What encourages a Christian to push a little harder for holy living? The only true motive is a love for Christ.
Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. Psalm 73:25
For many, the hope of heaven is seeing loved ones who have gone before or enjoying a life free from frustration or the equivalent of lolling in the sun on the beach. We will do things as enjoyable as these, but none of these is at the top of the list. The greatest hope of heaven is to be with Jesus. The faithful servants, prophets and saints will enjoy there, in the age to come, what they longed for here, in this fallen world: more of Jesus, a deeper experience of Him, a more intimate relationship with their Lord. Having more of Him will make all of the struggles and suffering here worth it. In fact, for these, there will be no comparison between the two. Yes, we will see loved ones, and sin will be no more and all of the tears will be wiped away. But more than this, Jesus will be there. And those who have suffered for His name here will be closer to Him there.
Now, I’m going to guess that some of you had the thought, ‘But didn’t he leave out one of the titles? What about ‘those who fear God’s name’? Well, I haven’t forgotten it. It fits right here. Do you remember the time when, in the middle of His ministry, Jesus was about to send out the Twelve? He was sending them out into a hostile world and wanted to say something that would encourage them when they faced opposition. Listen to what He said.
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28
The faithful Christian who is striving against the world, the flesh and the devil knows something very clearly. The battle is real. This Christian tells himself. ‘I can falter in this. I can be fooled, overcome big time, even to the point of turning away from Christ. I remember Judas. If that happens I’ll have to face an angry God, not as a child but as a rebel who has rejected Him.’ What else could Jesus’ words mean? So how does the faithful Christian do in response? Fearing Him ‘who can destroy both soul and body in hell’, the faithful Christian prays – a lot. He prays out of an awareness of Satan’s great strength and ability to deceive. He prays out of an awareness of the power of the flesh. He prays out of an awareness of the lurking allurements of the world. He prays out of an awareness of his own profound weakness. And he prays out of a great desire to please Christ. ‘Lord, if You don’t give me the grace that I need there is no hope for me. I want to serve You without limitations. I want to live and speak the Gospel to this rebellious world. I want to be that different kind of person that You have redeemed me to be. But without Your grace it isn’t going to happen. Give me Your grace so that I might fulfill your calling and honor You while I’m here.’ Those who want to fulfill those titles and who understand the fear of God, pray. And they pray a lot. There will be no rewards for those who do not pray. And that is because there is no way to be faithful as a Christian if you do not pray. And it is entirely possible that for these there will be no heaven either.
I hope that you can see the impossibility of becoming one of those who are greatly rewarded on the Last Day. I hope that seeing this drives you to prayer, out of fear but also out of love. And as you pray, watch. See how the Spirit does His amazing work in your life. See how faithfulness grows in you as you fight battles and overcome enemies. As you pray watch the good things that will happen through you until the Day of rewards comes.
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