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The Reward of the Righteous

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 4, 1915

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 92, No. 54.

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The Reward of the Righteous

By C. P. BOLLMAN

C. P. BOLLMAN
PRIMARILY the reward of the righteous is eternal life. “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. 6: 23.
Life was lost in Adam; it is restored in Christ. “To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life” is awarded. Rom. 2: 7.
Christ’s mission is to give life: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10: 10. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” 1 Cor. 15: 22. The life that was lost in Adam is restored in Christ. It was lost through Adam’s sin; it is restored through Christ’s righteousness. And if it is again lost, it is forfeited, not for Adam’s sin, but for the sin of the individual—sin unforgiven, because unrepented of and unforsaken.
“The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father.” “When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die. Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.” Eze. 18: 20, 26, 27.
But this is not all; eternal life means more than eternal, conscious, animated existence. “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” John 17: 3.
To know God means more than to know about God; it means having a living connection with him; partaking of his divine nature, being filled with his life-giving Spirit. This is primarily the reward of the righteous, and this is the meaning of our Saviour’s word, “He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” John 6: 47. The apostle Paul expresses the same thought in these words: “Your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” Col. 3: 3, 4.
But while life is fundamental, eternal living, yea, even eternal righteous living, is not all there is of eternal life. We have seen that eternal life means eternal union with God, eternal, living connection with him. And this means eternal felicity. Says the psalmist, “Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.” Ps. 16: 11.
When God created man, he gave him a beautiful home with beautiful surroundings, and dominion over all the earth, a dominion that might have been eternal. That home man lost, that dominion he forfeited by sin. But that which was lost in Adam is restored in Christ. “For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else.” Isa. 45: 18. Again we read: “And thou, O tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, yea the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.” Micah 4: 8, A. R. V.
The restoration of the lost dominion was bound up in the promise recorded in Gen. 3: 15. The bruising of the serpent’s head involves his destruction, and the recovering from him of the usurped dominion, the stolen territory. This is the meaning of the promise to “Abraham and to his seed:” “The land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever.” Gen. 13: 15. “He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ.”“And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Gal. 3: 16, 29.
In Rom. 4: 13 the prophet tells us plainly that the promise to Abraham was that he should be heir of the world. Evidently the psalmist so understood it also, for we find it plainly stated five times in the thirty-seventh psalm alone, as, for example, in verse 11: “The meek shall inherit the earth.” These words appear in Matt. 5: 5 as one of the beatitudes. In 2 Peter 3: 13, the apostle, after telling of the destruction by fire of the world that now is, says, “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness,” or as some render it, “wherein the righteous dwell.” Neither the thought nor the form of expression was original with Peter, for he refers to “his promise;” and in Isa. 66: 22 we find it in almost the exact words used by the apostle: “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.”
And finally, the prophet John, when bowed with age, and banished to lonely Patmos “for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ,” was given a vision of this new or renewed earth, the eternal home of the redeemed:—
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” Rev. 21: 1-7.
“We have heard from the bright, the holy land, We have heard and our hearts are glad; For we were a lonely pilgrim band, And weary, and worn, and sad. They tell us the saints have a dwelling there; No longer are homeless ones; And we know that the goodly land is fair, Where life’s pure river runs.
“They say green fields are waving there, That never a blight shall know; And the deserts wild are blooming fair, And the roses of Sharon grow. There are lovely birds in the bowers green, Their songs are blithe and sweet; And their warblings, gushing ever new, The angels’ harpings greet.
“We have heard of the palms, the robes, the crowns, And the silvery band in white; Of the city fair, with pearly gates, All radiant with light. We have heard of the angels there, and saints, With their harps of gold, how they sing; Of the mount, with the fruitful tree of life, Of the leaves that healing bring.
“The King of that country, he is fair, He’s the joy and light of the place; In his beauty we shall behold him there, And bask in his smiling face. We’ll be there, we’ll be there in a little while, We’ll join the pure and the blest; We’ll have the palm, the robe, the crown, And forever be at rest.” — H. W. Hyde.