To disregard God’s commandments is to despise God who says: A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: If then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. (Malachi 1:6)
God’s commandments are perfect and only through obeying them do we have: Christ's likeness, God's presence, security and a reward in heaven.
The law to love your neighbour as yourself (Leviticus 19:18) was only given because God cares for man and therefore wants men to care for each other. If God permitted others to steal my goods, I would complain that God did not care for me. But to the contrary God says: Thou shalt not steal. (Exodus 20:15) Because God wants man to live without fear He says: Thou shalt not kill. (Exodus 20:13) All such laws regarding interpersonal relationships are designed to make mankind happier, and breaking them always hurts someone.
The law to love God with all our heart (Deuteronomy 6:5) was given because God desires man’s friendship. This is why He is a jealous God. (Exodus 20:5) God does not think of mankind merely as a lot of grasshoppers, but is grieved when man sins. (Genesis 6:6) That God commands: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain (Exodus 20:7) teaches us that God can be hurt by our hardness of heart.
So the law of God now, just as ever, is a reflection of God’s goodness, in terms of His love and care for man. How then can it be said that sin no longer matters?
Man was created in the image of God, and our earthly pilgrimage is our preparation for our heavenly future, when that image will be more perfect. But the perfection must begin on earth as: we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:18) However, for this to occur: He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. (1 John 2:6) Christ kept the law, and so must we to learn God’s ways.
To habitually do evil is to walk with the devil as it is written: He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. (1 John 3:8) This was our past life when we: walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air (the devil,) the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience . . . fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. (Ephesians 2:2,3)
Only those who do good can walk with God. Speaking to an evil king, God said: Did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgement and justice, and then it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy . . . was not this to know me? saith the Lord. But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence. (Jeremiah 22:15-17)
The Spirit of God only works through those who are obedient. It is written: he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. (1 John 3:24) Only these obedient can claim that they love God. Jesus said: He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. (John 14:21) Christ manifests Himself to the obedient by His Spirit.
Moses was obedient being: faithful in all God’s house (Hebrews 3:5) and God worked in his heart such that he was prepared to have his own name blotted out rather than God’s people. (Exodus 32:32) And God manifested Himself to Moses, as regularly: the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. (Exodus 33:11) And on one occasion he even saw somewhat of the reality of the glory of the Father. (Exodus 33:18-23)
Paul was obedient, saying: I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection. (1 Corinthians 9:27) And God similarly worked in his heart such that he: could wish himself were accursed from Christ for his brethren (the Jews). (Romans 9:3) Paul was also rewarded with wonderful revelations, even being caught up to heaven. (1 Corinthians 12:1-6)
Whilst in this life we will probably never attain the level of obedience, the perfection of heart, or the degree of revelation of either Moses or Paul, we should be on the same path. Paul writes: Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1) The promise: your young men shall see visions (Acts 2:17) was not restricted to apostles. Today God gives revelation through the reading of His word, the bible.
And if, like Moses, we are obedient, the promise to Moses becomes a promise to us when God said: My presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest. (Exodus 33:14)
In the Sermon on the Mount, and in the context, not only of the commendation of such virtues as meekness, peacemaking and prayer (Matthew 5:5,9; 6:6), but also of the reproof of such vices as adultery, unjustified anger, covetousness and hypocrisy (Matthew 5:27-32,21-22; 6:24-34,16-18), Jesus warned saying: every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand. (Matthew 7:26) Such a house will collapse in the storm.
There are storms in this life, which disobedience cannot withstand. And if, in the context of somewhat similar sayings in Luke’s gospel, Jesus said that the blind, who do not know the way, will fall into the ditch (Luke 6:39), how much more will the disobedient, who ignore the way. Ultimately our lives depend upon God’s favour, and Solomon warns those who are disobedient, in this case by breaking their vows: Wherefore should God be angry at thy voice and destroy the work of thine hands? (Ecclesiastes 5:6)
It should be noted that some vows are not God’s will and are best broken. We must do God’s will and serve God and our fellow man in the station God has appointed, with only those freedoms which God gives us. Slackness in achieving this can be countered by vows. This should be the goal of vows. Going beyond this and refusing to accept God’s consolations grieves our heavenly Father and is counter productive. Solomon says: Be not righteous over much, (by restrictions not in bible) neither make thyself over wise: (by exalting the mind over the heart leading to legalism) why shouldest thou destroy thyself? (Eccl 7:16) There is no need to give God more help than He asks, as though He cannot cope.
But even more importantly, the parable of the wise and foolish builders is, in Matthew’s gospel, spoken of in the context of eternal judgement. Building upon the rock means basing our lives upon good deeds. Of those who do this, in this case speaking of generosity, Paul writes of the rich: that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. (1 Timothy 6:18,19) Only then do we have Christ’s promise of eternal life.
And more generally, where Christ’s definition of goodness exceeds our own, we must take diligent heed to the word of God. Only then do we not lose most of our reward in heaven.
Before we can consider rewards in heaven we must at least ensure that our goodness and obedience is sufficient to enter heaven. Jesus said, again in the same context of practical obedience just discussed: Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 7:21) But no one always does the will of God perfectly. Solomon said: there is no man that sinneth not. (1 Kings 8:46) So how perfectly must we do the will of God to gain entrance to heaven?
Paul partially answers this by writing: Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9,10 NIV) This does not mean, for example, that if a Christian gets drunk once they will fail to enter heaven. But if a Christian, or so-called Christian gets drunk most days, they will. Some sins are worse than other sins, and the number of failures that can be permitted will vary from person to person and depend upon mitigating circumstances and whether a person learns from their mistakes.
I have heard it taught that all that really matters is a person’s final state, but I do not entirely agree. While this is true for temporal judgement (Ezekiel 33), I believe that for eternal judgement it is only true in so far as it indicates the inclination of the person to learn from God, both from chastening and doctrine.
But a person may scrape into heaven and still lose most of their reward (1 Corinthians 3:15). Before continuing I should say that many, perhaps most, who plan to do this will miss out on heaven completely, because they under-estimate God’s standards. Nevertheless, it should be understood that many Christians will lose much of their reward. What is this reward and how does it vary?
Rewards are many and varied and range from such concepts as eating from the tree of life (Revelation 2:7) and eating of the hidden manna (Revelation 2:17), to having power over the nations (Revelation 2:26), with many other rewards also promised. Much of the meaning of these rewards still eludes me. God is now starting to open my eyes. Pray that God will give more understanding to me and other prophets and prophetesses, that the church may fully understand its reward. Here I only have space to note a few details with respect to proximity to Christ, but which, no doubt, would also correlate with the degree of authority, amount of joy, and the glory of other rewards.
The greatest reward is to sit at the right and left hand of the Lord Jesus, as requested by James and John. Although this was a valid and good request Jesus replied: to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. (Matthew 20:23) Those who share this privilege sit in the front row around the throne of God. It is written: round about the throne were four and twenty seats, and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. (Revelation 4:4) A somewhat lower, but still marvelous, station is to be with the Lord Jesus among the: hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads . . . These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. (Revelation 14:1,4)
There are, I believe, at least ten million other rulers, which is to say, one in a hundred Christians will be a ruler. (The other Christians will inherit the earth, but not rule it.) So we can understand the imperative by which Paul said: know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain. (1 Corinthians 9:24) Not that we should compare ourselves with others, but rather with the criterion of the word of God.
Paul explains the first general criterion for reward by saying: every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. (1 Corinthians 9:25) This requires diligence, to strive for the virtues, and to avoid the vices, typified in the Sermon on the Mount, but not there comprehensively outlined. Although perfection is a gradual process and although a new convert cannot be expected to be fully obedient to all scripture, especially the commands he does not even know or understand, no command of scripture can be wilfully neglected without loss of reward.
Jesus taught the continuing importance of our obedience to all Scripture by comparing this with His own obedience to fulfil the prophecies of the Old Testament, when He said: Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-19)
Some may obey the commandments they consider to be of greatest importance, but neglect those commandments they consider to be of lesser importance. (Not that our evaluation of the relative importance of commandments is necessarily correct.) But even if we do evaluate correctly and neglect only those commandments of lesser importance, when we enter into the kingdom of heaven, we will find ourselves: last of all, and servant of all. (Mark 9:35)
Jesus spoke these words to warn of the foolishness of trying to be great on earth, which is pride, not of the merit of trying to be great in heaven, which is hope. But perhaps being excessively concerned with our current standing, rather than devoting ourselves to humbly serving others in the most effective way possible, is the type of failure that may result in diminished reward rather than exclusion from heaven.
It is the purpose of my papers, not only to define the worst sins, but also to strengthen you with knowledge unto increasing victory over the lesser sins, by which we grieve the heart of God. Such perfection will result in great virtue and great reward. Perhaps giving insufficient time to pray is a lesser sin. Of this Samuel said: as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way. (1 Samuel 12:23)
My articles teach much on how to pray. Without such a general understanding of how to pray and what to pray for and with what priority, it is more difficult to obtain the help of the Holy Spirit, which is necessary to guide us more specifically as to what to pray. This help is also necessary to sustain us in prayer. Without this help our prayers become boring and repetitive and we find it difficult to give adequate time to prayer, and so miss out on some of the heavenly reward promised by Jesus when He said: when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. (Matthew 6:6)
When we have a good understanding of all God’s commandments combined with diligence to obey, not only will our reward in heaven be great, but also, while on earth God promises us: the joy of the Lord is your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10) But a certain degree of perseverance and practice may be required before we attain unto this promise. Good understanding is only to those who, not only seek the truth, believing that: wisdom is better than rubies (Proverbs 8:11), but who also: by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:14)
There is also another factor relevant to the magnitude of our reward, and this is our willingness to endure suffering. Although all Christians: must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22), to obtain the reward of the twenty-four elders, like Paul, James, and John, requires suffering beyond natural endurance. Paul said that for a time he despaired even of life (1 Corinthians 2:8). This is why, when James and John requested to sit next to Christ, He answered them saying: You know not what you ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup (of sufferings) that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? (Matthew 20:22) God grant us, that like James and John, we will do our best to tell the Lord in silent prayer that we are able to endure whatever he chooses for us to endure, and be merciful to us where we fail, as when Peter denied the Lord Jesus through fear (Matthew 26:69-75).