02.10. The Wages For Confessing Good
THE WAGES FOR CONFESSING A GOOD CONFESSION Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess before my Father which is in heaven.Matthew 10:32.
A reward is promised to those who confess the Lord’s name, a reward that is great in heaven.
Scripture speaks repeatedly of a reward that shall be given to believers when Christ returns from heaven. It is granted as compensation for what the disciples was denied, suffered, or the good works of love and mercy they performed for the sake of Christ. Scripture does not hesitate, by reflecting on these wages, to urge believers to persevere in their confession. Scripture is not concerned that hereby a false principle is brought into practical godliness, that will give occasion to serve God for happiness and heavenly salvation.
Scripture speaks repeatedly of wages, but is averse of all service for wages. Payment that awaits the faithful servant, is no obligation, is no right by nature, is not paying a debt for work that is done. Scripture knows nothing about that kind of wages, and by the relationship in which she places the creature to its Creator, she cuts it off by the roots. He who does everything that is commanded, is still an unprofitable servant. Man is, and has nothing of himself, and therefore can give nothing to God on Whom he depends. He can give nothing, because he must receive everything. He is no party over against God, who has inalienable rights, and in the form of a contract can ask wages for work that he does.
God from His side has freely promised, that all who walk in His ways He will richly crown with gifts of His favour. To that He obligated Himself in the first covenant, when He opened the way to eternal life and heaven’s salvation, to all those who obey His commandments. These are no wages as payment for work that is done, for what comparison is there between the relative easy and in itself obligated keeping of the Lord’s commandments and the free gift of eternal life in communion with God?
He also obligates Himself in the covenant of grace, to grant eternal life to all who believe in Christ. But for wages is here in the true sense of the word, even less a place. For believing is nothing but accepting the gift of grace, which appeared in Christ, and merits no more than taking hold of the rope by one who is in danger of drowning. But God is so good to grant faith, not for its own sake, but for Christ’s sake, forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation, and by glory awaiting the believer, encourages them to persevere. So both are true, on the one hand all benefits of the covenant are secured before any work, and is bound only to faith, and on the other hand we are seriously urged to do good works, as if that is the way in which these benefits are received. Believers are elect from eternity and must make their calling and election sure. By faith they are partakers of life eternal and yet at one time for denying self, shall receive wages from the Father’s hand. They are branches of the Vine and without Christ they can do nothing, yet they are admonished to abide in Him, in His Word, in His love. They are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God ordained, yet they must walk in them. They are holy, and yet, must sanctify themselves from day to day. They crucified the flesh with its lusts, and yet, are called upon to mortify their members that are here on earth. They are certain of their salvation, for God’s election cannot be changed, His calling is without repentance, His covenant immovable, His promises Yea and Amen. Yet they are continuously urged to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, to be faithful unto death and to persevere unto the end.
Holy Scripture promotes no passive, but a working, active Christianity. Scripture wants the believer to increase; that they obtain what they inherited; that more and more they make it their possession, what in Christ they own. That is how what is seen as an unmerited gift, can be introduced as wages. It can be called wages, because faith and persevering faith is the only way whereby believers may become full partakers of the benefits, which Christ, by pure grace gives them. Without sanctification no one shall see the Lord. By those wages we can understand heavenly salvation itself, but also the different degrees of glory, which shall be given to believers according to their works. As it is on earth, so shall it be in heaven. There is diversity in unity. Another is the glory of the sun, and another the glory of the moon, and another is the glory of the stars; for the one star differs in glory from another star. In the house of the Father, where all God’s children go, are many mansions. According to their faithfulness, the congregations receive their own crown from the King of the Church. For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ, and everyone shall receive according to what he has done, be it good or evil.
Then the separation between man and man will be complete. With Christ’s first coming, yes, with the very first announcement of the promise of His coming, this crisis, this judgment began in the world. Christ came to the rise and fall of many. He did not come to bring peace on the earth, but the sword, to make a man rise up against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. He compels everybody to choose for Him or against Him. His Word is judge of the thoughts of the heart. His gospel is a savour of life, or a savour of death unto death. That separation shall come to an end at the day of His coming, when everything shall be revealed before the judgment seat. For the Father gave all judgment to the Son, for He is the Son of man. The lot of every person is then determined, whether Christ will acknowledge him for His own and confess him before His Father, in heaven. Our salvation depends wholly upon His public confession.
Christ was not ashamed of us at His incarnation. He had many reasons to be ashamed of us. For He was the firstborn of the Father, the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, Who thought it not robbery to be equal with the Father. And we were loaded with sins, unclean from the head to the feet, and subject to condemnation. Yet, He was not ashamed to call us His brethren, not before God, neither before the holy angels. He took our flesh and blood, our nature, and became like one of us, sin excepted. Even God was not ashamed to be called our God in Christ. And so He shall not be ashamed of us in the day of His coming. When He comes again it wiill not be as servant, but as Lord, not to suffer, but to be glorified, not to a cross but to a crown. But He shall not be ashamed of us. For He Who ascended far above the heavens, is the same Who descended in the lower parts of the earth. He that judges, is the Son of man, Who came at one time, to seek and save that which was lost, Hallelujah! Our Judge is our Saviour, Who never forgets nor leaves His own. He who shall confess Me before men, He testifies, Him I will also confess before My Father, Who is in heaven.
Openly, in view of the whole world, in the ears of all creatures, He shall speak for them. However despised they were here on earth, Christ shall take their name upon His lips, and speak in the ears of all, that they are His and no power on earth or in hell can take them from Him. And as Christ says, so shall it be. His Word shall have power in all of creation. His confession is valid for all creatures. No one shall be able to criticize these Words. His judgment is above all criticism and shall be high above the judgment of men and devils. Heaven and earth, hell and all creatures shall never be able to change it.
More than this - the Father shall rest in this work of His Son. As God saw, after He created that what He made, see it was very good, so shall He with Divine good pleasure on the end of days, look down at the great work of redemption, that Christ accomplished. When the Church without spot or wrinkle is presented before Him and the finished Kingdom shall be given into His hands, than shall the Father take all those redeemed by the Son to be His children, they shall partake of His fellowship and rejoice in seeing His glorious face. The public confession by Christ, of the believers, before His Father Who is in heaven, shall be warrant for their eternal blessedness and glory.