- Many people ask about
rewards and punishment in Scripture.
Are there degrees or different kinds of rewards
that are found in the new heavens and new earth,
our final state as we live in a new creation
and are in the presence of the triune God?
Others then will then think of judgment
and, of course, that's a more sober reality.
Are there degrees of punishment and levels of punishment?
And so the reason why this question comes up is
on the one hand, in terms of punishment,
you'll have, say in Matthew 11 where Jesus is addressing
the religious leaders and, indeed,
those who in the nation of Israel
are standing before the Messiah.
The Old Testament people
should have been looking for Messiah,
there he is standing in front of them
and many, many, not all, but many, many, rejected him.
He then says, "woe to you,
you cities who I've preached in
and you've seen miracles in.
It would be better for Sodom and Gomorrah
on the day of judgment,"
and you get passages like that
that speak of, there seems to be a greater responsibility
or a greater judgment, or a great punishment.
And then reward, you have, you know, a passage such as
1 Corinthians 3, often referred to,
that some people will receive a reward for their service,
that some who are unfaithful
will still receive salvation
but almost by trial of fire,
almost as if they don't receive the full reward.
Or you have a, you know,
the apostles will sit at God's right hand,
or the hand of Christ,
and you have the sense that they're closer to the throne
versus others who may not be.
And how does that work out in heaven,
the new heavens and new earth
where some will be closer versus not?
How do we think about this issue, right?
Well if we first take the reward side of the equation
most of the passages that are referred to,
1 Corinthians 3 is really dealing with
leadership in the church.
When you read Hebrews 11 the reward that's mentioned
really is Christ, the salvation that we receive,
the inheritance that are ours,
all of those rewards for the most part
are dealing with receiving the great grace of God
and salvation in Christ Jesus.
It's not so much saying there's a higher or lesser reward,
it's, salvation is the reward,
eternal life is the reward,
Eternal relationship, covenant relationship with the triune God
is the reward,
yet there is still this sense of some sitting near Christ
versus others.
How are we to think of that?
Scripture doesn't really say much
other than our great reward is Christ himself,
salvation is our great reward.
All believers
receive their salvation in Christ,
are justified,
there's not some that are more justified than others.
We have to be very, very careful of this
when we think of reward.
There is the reward of ultimately
the new heavens and new earth,
Christ himself, the glory of salvation.
Yet we do have in Scripture where
some have different roles to play,
some have had different points of service
throughout redemptive history
and in the church.
Whatever that turns out to be in terms of
closer to the throne or not
nothing will take away from all Christians
rejoicing in the grace of God,
rejoicing in the reward of salvation,
rejoicing in Christ himself.
There's no sort-of jealousy that's going to be there,
there's no going to be saying,
well I wish I had that reward versus somehow,
that's just unthinkable.
So I think first reward needs to be seen in terms of
all of us receive the reward of Christ and salvation.
We are not to be people who are living our lives
thinking that oh, I'm doing this
or living the Christian life
in order to gain closer position to the Lord
or on the streets of gold or something, a greater mansion
or greater privilege.
All of that is quite wrong thinking
in terms of Scripture, right?
And so in Christ our focus always,
in this life and the future,
is on our relationship with the true and living God,
growing in grace, being conformed to Christ,
and the great reward is knowing him now
and experiencing the fullness of his great salvation
in the new heavens and new earth.
When we think of punishments
there is this sense of,
greater and lesser.
How that works out in terms of Hell and judgment,
Hell is Hell, isn't it?
Yet Scripture seems to say that
even though Hell is Hell,
there is somehow a greater accountability,
maybe a great experience that I knew much more,
yet Scripture's very clear.
We have to be very careful on this point as well,
that anybody that is receiving final judgment
is because they are accountable for their actions,
there's no one innocent,
that they have turned from the truth.
Those who've turned from more truth,
it could very well be that there is
a greater sense of punishment or judgment.
We're not told, we have hints of that.
How that all works out is not easy to understand yet.
That seems to be the parameters we have to work through
as we think of, on the one side, judgment,
on the other side, eternal blessedness
of having the great reward of salvation in Christ.
- [Narrator] Thanks for watching Honest Answers.
You can submit your questions by email,
Twitter, or in the comments section below.
And don't forget to subscribe
to find out the answer to next Wednesday's question.