TIME OF REWARD by G. V. Kilgore

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 14, 1876

TIME OF REWARD.

By G. V. Kilgore

BY G. V. KILGORE.

TEXT: “And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.” Rev. 11:18.

This language must be applied to the time to which it refers. It refers to the time the kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christ. Rev. 11:15–18. Daniel shows that Christ will receive these kingdoms after the investigative Judgment and immediately prior to the burning flames of the last great day. Dan. 7:8–14. Then it follows that the prophets and saints and all that have feared the name of God, will receive their reward at that time, and not before, for certainly they will not get it before Christ gives it to them. But popular theology teaches that men have been getting their reward for the last six thousand years. The righteous have all gone to the happy mansions above, and are there enjoying the full pleasures of their eternal home. The wicked have all passed into the hot chambers of hell; and there, amid the shrieks and yells of demons, they are writhing in torment.

According to this idea, Christ will be thousands of years behind time when he says, “Behold I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” The popular idea is, that Christ has been separating the righteous and wicked ever since Cain died; that the wicked, as fast as they have died, have been cast into the everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels; and that the righteous have been, taking their upward flight, at the same time, to inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. But Jesus says these things shall take place “when the Son of man shall come.” “Oh! well,” says a clergyman, “the Son of man comes at death.” Think of it: “The Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him,” when a persons dies! “No,” says another, “that cannot be: but men certainly do go to their reward at death, for most all the learned men teach so, and nearly all the world believe them.” Well, who knows best how things are managed after this life? Learned men, whose wisdom shall perish (Isa. 29:14), or God, who knows the end from the beginning? Men whose thoughts shall perish when they die (Ps. 146:4), who, when they are dead, “know not anything” (Eccl. 9:3–6), or Christ, who was dead and is alive forevermore, and who has the keys of hell and of death?

The word of God declares, that the wicked are reserved to the day of destruction; that they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath; that God knows how to “reserve the unjust unto the day of Judgment to be punished.” Job. 21:30; 2 Pet. 2:9. Learned men, with all their ingenuity, will never get their reward before Christ gives it to them.

All the Bible writers looked forward to the coming of Christ as the time of their reward. Enoch, prophesied saying, “Behold the Lord cometh, . . . to execute judgment upon all.” Job declared, “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” Not, that his immortal soul, at the day of his death, would go out of his flesh and see God—no, no; but at the latter day, when his Redeemer shall stand upon the earth—at the end of the thousand years, when, as Zechariah says, “the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.” “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives,” &c. Zech. 14:4, 5. Paul, of the New Testament, expected his crown of righteousness at that day when all who love Christ’s appearing will get theirs. 2 Tim. 4:6–8. He taught that the gathering together of the saints unto Christ, would take place at the coming of Christ. 2 Thess. 2:1. Peter says, “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” These all agree with the last writer, John, whose language I quoted at the beginning: That the time of the reward of all people is at the last great day.

“Well then,” says one, “where are they before that day—between death and the resurrection?” Let Daniel and John answer: “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Dan. 12:2. Speaking of the wicked, John says, “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell [the grave, margin] delivered up the dead which were in them.” Rev. 20:13. Wherever they come from at the last day is where they have been. Daniel says they arise from the dust of the earth. John says they will come from the sea and the grave. This also shows that they have not been receiving their rewards before the resurrection; for they awake to them just then.

This is a harmonious doctrine, yet some say it is gloomy. Time to the unconscious dead is nothing. It is but a moment to a man from the time he dies till the resurrection, though thousands of years may pass. By this plan, God brings all to their reward at the same time, and not a minute is lost to any of them. But the prevalent theory of the present day has some men receiving thousands of years’ punishment more than others for the same deed. And it has the saints where the resurrection could never give them more pleasure than they already enjoy. But Paul argues that, if there be no resurrection, “then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished”—no reward if there be no resurrection. That is the doctrine of Christ. Luke 14:14. Glorious resurrection for the saints! Glad morn of eternity! Come, Lord, and come quickly.