Jewels In The Crown

And, behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward with Me, to render to each as his work is. Revelation 22:12

Render – If you really think about this verse, doesn’t it seem just a bit odd?  After all, are we really expecting a reward for our faithfulness?  And aren’t we rescued by grace?  Do we really think that the return of the King is only about payday?  And even if it is about reward, what kind of reward could we possibly want or need once we are in the presence of the Messiah?  The whole idea just doesn’t seem to fit the themes of Scripture.  Who cares about “jewels in my crown” if I am living in the undiminished glory of the Lord?  What greater reward would I ever want?

It doesn’t help much to know that the Greek word for “reward” is misthos (wages, hire, reward).  Although it has both negative (“a reward not reckoned of grace”) and positive (“a worker worthy of his hire”) senses, it clearly indicates payment of some kind.  The verb apodidomi (render) has the same connotation (to give or do something necessary in fulfillment of an obligation or expectation).  The verse gives every indication that something will be done for the righteous in fulfillment of a promise.  Since it can’t be about deliverance, what is left to give?  After all, eternal life began the moment Yeshua became Lord and Master.  What else must He bring to the table?

Perhaps 2 John 1:8 points us in the right direction.  John exhorts his readers to pay close attention to their walk so that they will not lose what they have already achieved but receive their “full reward.”  Perhaps the reward to be rendered isn’t something qualitatively different than the taste we have already been given.  Perhaps it is the fulfillment of the promise, the filling up of the cup we have been carrying.  What the Messiah brings is not some new reward but rather the final installment of the promised peace with God.

But if this is true, then what do we do about the Greek word apodidomi?  In what sense is this reward earned according to each person’s work?  We live in an era where grace dominates the thought about God’s character.  We have a hard time imagining that effort and reward are also part of God’s plan.  But if we step away from the “seeker” mentality, we discover that work and reward have been Scriptural themes since God told Adam to “serve” the earth.  In this sense, the Kingdom is the product of both divine and human endeavor.  “O the bliss of those destitute and humble of spirit.  Because of them, the kingdom has arrived” (Matthew 5:2 as it should be translated).  There is work to do.  That work is both internal and external.  The internal assignment is the purification of the heart, the sacrifice of the ego and the domestication of the yetzer ha’ra.  The external assignment is the stewardship of the earth, the conformity to Torah and the open-arms welcoming of all who would come.  Both efforts bring about the Kingdom.  What is the reward?  That the Kingdom comes in full!  That all we have desired and all we have longed to see becomes the reality of this world.  That Jeremiah 31:31 is completed.

Topical Index: reward, render, misthos, apodidomi, Kingdom, Revelation 22:12