Rewards and Judgment. Revelation 22:12-21
One thing that separates Christianity from all world religions is the fact that it alone emphasizes that salvation is based not on human behavior or deeds but on the work of Christ on the cross. Every other world religion—Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, any kind of new age sort of religion, or whatever it is—has a basic assumption that man can be good enough to enter in to whatever the eternal state is that that religious system is offering. What separates Christianity is the belief that man cannot do anything himself that will gain the merit or favor of God, and that the merit or favor of God is given freely to man based on God's own love. And for that reason God sent Jesus Christ to come as a human being so that He could die in our place and pay the penalty for sin and on the basis of what he has done we could be saved. It is not based on works. So Christianity is distinct from other religions and there is this emphasis in Scripture that salvation is based on grace.
Some might say that if God is going to freely give salvation then there is no motivation to live a moral life, to live a life of righteousness, to serve God: you are just given salvation and can just go live however you wish to live. This is referred to sometimes as antinomianism—no real law or absolutes—or sometimes licentiousness which means taking advantage of God's grace and not recognizing that with the free gift comes responsibility to utilize that gift. The giving and retention of the gift is not based on works, so that if one is irresponsible with it one just loses the benefit of the blessing of the gift. It is as if someone gave us a new car and instead of reading the owner's manual we just enjoyed the fact that we had this brand new car, drove it around knowing enough to put gasoline in it, but not having any idea of how to maintain it. When it came time to have the oil changed or any of the other maintenance factors we just never did it. Eventually the engine would seize up and stop and it wouldn't be any good to us, but we would still own it and it would still be ours. It would be possible to repair it so that once again it would be useful and valuable to us, but we could again neglect it and eventually have it be of no use to us. That would be analogous to somebody who receives the free gift of salvation but then they refuse to learn anything about God, the spiritual life, or about how to live the Christian life, they don't read their Bible—the Manual—and the result is that they end up coming to a screeching halt in terms of their spiritual life. They are still saved but that spiritual life has no meaning or value to them, and that is the distinction between Biblical Christianity and all other world religions.
The answer to the antinomian charge, going back to the early church, is that there are two aspects that have to be kept separate though they are related. One is salvation and the other is the spiritual life and spiritual growth. Salvation is a free gift whereas the spiritual life and spiritual growth are based on following and implementing the various mandates, commandments and prohibitions that are given in God's Word.
As we come to the close of Revelation we have to be reminded, as this section does, that these two issues are of vital importance to us. Salvation is a free gift, we are reminded, but on the other had there are rewards and rewards are earned through obedience. Rewards are distributed on the basis of the individual believer's personal spiritual growth and the way he has handled his spiritual life. Rewards are the motivation for continuing in the spiritual life. In the conclusion of Revelation we see John returning to his present time and the message of the conclusion is addressed initially to his contemporaries, and then by extension and application to Christians down through the centuries since that time. The emphasis in Revelation 22:12-17 is on reward, not on salvation.
Revelation 22:11 NASB "Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy." This is addressing believers and the emphasis is on individual responsibility and that if one is going to take a certain course of action then to continue in that course of action. "Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong…" This is the word adikeo [a)dikew]. It is found in 1 John 1:9; 5:17. 1 John 1:9 gives us the solution to any adikeo that is found in the believer's life. The solution isn't to change one's life. That is not where it starts although it may be where it ends up. Cleansing is how we get back in fellowship and then we have to decide whether we are going to continue to sin and get back out of fellowship, going in and out of fellowship like a ping-pong ball, or are we going to learn to be obedient and not continue to just practice a sin over and over again. 1 John 5:17 tells us that all unrighteousness [adike/ a)dikh] is sin.
In Revelation 22 we are reminded of the distinction that is given in verse 17—do we want a spiritual life? Do we want to be saved and have a relationship with God? It is freely given and we accept it like any gift without doing anything for it. But there is a distinction between that which is free and the rewards. Revelation 22:12 NASB "Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward {is} with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done." Salvation in the New Testament is never based on what we do, so this is not talking about salvation; it is talking about a reward. What we learn when we study rewards is that the use of this word is that rewards are always handed out or distributed on the basis of what someone does, and rewards are taken away for something that is not done or something wrong that is actually done. For example, Matthew 10:41 NASB "He who receives a prophet in {the} name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. [42] And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward." In other words, a reward is based on a particular action. Cf. Matthew 6:2.
Paul states in Romans 4:4 NASB "Now to the one who works [does something to merit God's favor], his wage is not credited as a favor [grace], but as what is due." He makes it clear that there is a contrast between what is earned and what is given. What is given is grace; what is earned is works. These are two distinct concepts that must be emphasized.
2 Corinthians 5:10 NASB "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." This emphasizes the fact that as Christians we look forward to a judgment that is referred to as the judgment seat of Christ. It takes place after the Rapture of the church and is the evaluation of believers at the end of the church age for future rewards, privileges, position, responsibilities in the coming kingdom.
This is spelled out in more detail in 1 Corinthians 3:10 NASB "According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. [11] For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. [12] Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, [13] each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is {to be} revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. [14] If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. [15] If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire."
None of us can look at out lives and discern that which has eternal value and that which has only temporal value. We don't have the omniscience that God has to be able to evaluate all of the variables and all of the circumstances and situations that any of us run into.
Revelation 22:13 NASB "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." In the KJV and NKJV the phrase "the beginning and the end" is in the middle. In the majority of MSS as well as the Critical text it is at the end, there were just a few which had it in the middle and that is what Erasmus used to put together the first critical text in the time period of the Reformation in the early 1500s. Later on more and better MSS were discovered and the majority of them had a slightly different reading. But nothing is lost, it still says the same thing and has the same significance. Jesus is making a statement of His deity. The phrase "Alpha and Omega" is used one other time in Revelation in 1:8 where it is applied to the Father, but here it is applied to Jesus Christ, emphasizing His eternity. Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet; omega is the last letter in the Greek alphabet. It is a more figurative way of saying the same thing that is said in the next two phrases, "the first and the last, the beginning and the end." He is everything; God is the ultimate orientation of every human being, everything begins and ends with Him. He states this because it affirms His own authority to bring judgment.
The next two verses express this. This is the same contrast that we found in Revelation 21:7, 8 where there was a positive statement made in verse 7 and a negative in verse 8: "He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. {8] But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part {will be} in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." It is not talking about salvation there; it is talking about the granting of rewards to one group and the destruction of non-distributed awards to the other group. Revelation 22:14 NASB "Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city." Then there is the contrast: on the other hand there are those who are outside the gate of the city. We know that not everybody is going to be in the city when we study the New Jerusalem. In Revelation 21:5 we saw that the nations, the Gentiles who were those who survived during the Millennial period and were given resurrection bodies at the end of that period, live outside of the New Jerusalem and walk in the light of it. And in 21:24 we are told: "The nations [of those who are saved] will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it." So not all those in the new earth are going to live in the New Jerusalem, there are going to be many who live outside of the New Jerusalem. But some of those who live outside of the New Jerusalem are going to be those believers who did not have any rewards at the judgment seat of Christ, they are not going to have the privilege of living in the New Jerusalem and having access to many of the blessings and privileges there. That is what we saw in the seven letters to the seven churches and the various overcomer statements at the end of each one.
So we have this contrast between those who are obedient and those who are not. And because the obedient are overcomers they have the right to the tree of life. That is found in Revelation 2:7 in the letter to Ephesus. For those who didn't it doesn't mean that they weren't saved, it just means that they won't have that access and privilege to the inner areas of the New Jerusalem.
Revelation 22:15 NASB "Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying." "Dogs" is just a pejorative term in the ancient world. They did not have dogs as pets like we do. "Sorcerers" is the Greek term pharmekeia [farmekeia], indicating those who were using various hallucinogenic drugs in order to have a relationship with God. These were the mystics in the ancient world. Those who practice a lie—in other words, self-delusion, self-deception.
When we look at what is taught here we see some interesting things that we have already studied many times. In verse 14 those who are obedient, the overcomers, have access to the tree of life. Revelation 2:7, in the letter to the church at Ephesus NASB "…To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God." So the overcomers are going to have access to this privileged inner area of the New Jerusalem which is near the throne of God, and this is where the tree of life is located. It is described in Revelation 22:2, 12 in the description of the New Jerusalem. NASB "in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve {kinds of} fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing [health] of the nations…. Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward {is} with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done." The Gentiles will be outside of the city, they will come in and this has value to them. Those who are the failures in the spiritual life of the church age don't have access, they don't come into the city. Revelation 21:12 NASB "It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names {were} written on them, which are {the names} of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel." The angels are standing guard because of those who are not to have access inside the city.
looking at verse 15 and seeing the list of five or six different sins there—sorcery, sexual immorality, murderers, idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie—it is a list that is similar to many other passages that we find in the New Testament. None of these lists are exclusive and give us all of the sins, they just give a sample, a representation. When we put them all together none of us escape in terms of committing these sins. We all do and will, and will continue to commit many of these sins until the day we die. Does that mean we are not going to have access, that there is no hope? No, that is why we have to have the grace privilege of 1 John 1:9. It is not a license to sin but it is a grace recovery method so that we recover from any sin that we commit.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 gives us a similar list NASB "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor {the} covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God."
Ephesians 5:5 NASB "For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God."
Galatians 5:19-21 NASB "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
In conclusion what we see is that a) the judgment of all unsaved takes place at the great white throne judgment in Revelation 20:12-14. They have already been consigned to the lake of fire. The focus here, therefore, isn't about unbelievers, it is on believers; b) This section vv. 6 to the end isn't addressing unbelievers but it is written to challenge and motivate believers in terms of obedience; c) We see that the issue here is rewards, something that is earned rather than salvation which is a free gift; d) this passage is parallel to many other passages in the New Testament which promise a loss of rewards and some form of punishment to those Christians who fail to live the Christian life—where there is no production whatsoever. It is not promising judgment to those who commit those sins, those sins were paid for at the cross. What it is promising is that because there is no spiritual growth there is no reward.
When we put all of this and put it into context in the Scriptures we realize, first of all, that all sin was paid for by Christ on the cross. Colossians 2:13, 14 NASB "When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." It is completely eradicated at the cross. So sin isn't the issue; spiritual growth is the issue. No spiritual growth; no rewards. Those who are not walking by the Spirit are walking by the sin nature and all that they can produce are these sins that are listed in these various passages. Because they are living on the basis of the sin nature there is no production.
All sin was paid for by Christ on the cross, but once saved the believer can live in spiritual uncleanness for the rest of his life. When he is living in a state of being out of fellowship he is going to produce various sins, there is no other option.
In the Old Testament the focus was on ritual cleanliness through physical washing. But that was simply to be a picture of an internal reality of being spiritually cleansed. That is why David confessed his sin to God. He is ritually cleansed through the rituals at the temple but he is spiritually cleansed only when he confesses his sin to God—Psalm 51. There has always been this emphasis on cleansing from sin after salvation.
The overcomer is the believer who is confessing sin, growing spiritually, claiming promises and trusting God, and he is learning and applying the Word. Whenever he fails he confesses sin and is moving forward. We all go through stages and times when we are out of fellowship, in fellowship and out of fellowship, but over the course of our lives there is production and that is the basis for rewards. Overcomers receive various rewards and privileges in the eternal state which are denied those who have no production. 1 Corinthians 3:15.
That brings us to the closing of Revelation. In verse 16 we have Jesus' statement of His identity and His authority. Revelation 22:16 NASB "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you [John] these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star." This is the first mention of the word "church" since the end of Revelation chapter three. Why? The church is raptured at the end of chapter three and isn't present during the Tribulation. Then Jesus identifies Himself in Old Testament terminology. Isaiah 11:1 introduces this terminology for the Messiah. NASB "Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit." The lineage of Jesse the father of David is a tree. It has been cut off but then out of the stump comes a branch. [10] "Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious."
Isaiah 9:7 NASB "There will be no end to the increase of {His} government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this." So this is the focal point of the phrase "the offspring and root of Jesse." He is identifying Himself with the Old Testament prophesies of the Messiah. The phrase "the bright and morning star" is related to Jesus as the one who is the true light and has come into the world. John 1:9 NASB "There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man." Cf. Malachi 4:2.
As we come to the end there is a reiteration again of the freeness of salvation and the importance of obedience for rewards. Emphasizing the freeness of salvation: Revelation 22:17 NASB "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come.' And let the one who hears say, 'Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost." In Christianity salvation is free, you don't do anything for it except accept it as a free gift. However, if you reject that gift there are consequences. That is what follows in vv. 18, 19.
Revelation 22:18 NASB "I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book…" There is clear truth and revelation in this book and if we add to it then there is judgment. The plagues written in this book relate to eternal condemnation. [19] "and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book." This is talking about the unbeliever who rejects this prophecy as true and that as a result of this they will also have rejected the gospel and do not have their name in the book of life.
Revelation 22:20 NASB "He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am coming quickly.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." This is the attitude of the believer. We should be looking forward to His coming at any moment.
Revelation 22:21 NASB "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen." This final statement in the book reiterates the theme that goes from Genesis to Revelation, the grace of God. We are saved only by grace, not by works.
Illustrations