Behold, I come quickly, and my reward with me, to render to every one as his work shall be.
Here the Lord announces His return once more, and adds what He brings with Him — a reward measured by each person's work. That raises two questions: what reward can a Saviour who saves by grace still give, and who is being repaid?
Three times in Revelation the Lord says He is coming, and each time the words point somewhere different. One writer sets the three side by side:
In the book of Revelation the Lord says three times over, "Behold," or "Surely, I come quickly." The first is in Revelation 3:11, and clearly concerns the Christian's walk. The second is in Revelation 22:12, and concerns work here and rewards later. The third, as is so well known, is in verse 20, and is only about the heart waiting and watching for Christ.
But how can "quickly" cover a wait of two thousand years? One writer answers by measuring time the way God measures it:
He comes "quickly." Ah! it seems long. But by God's way of reckoning the Lord has not been away quite two full days (2 Peter 3:8). "The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise."
The reward is not sent ahead, and it is not collected now. That small detail carries weight for anyone serving where nobody notices:
It is possible to make a great religious profession with the object of gaining the applause of men. Of such the Lord can say, "They have their reward" (Matt. 6:2, 5, 16); but it is not Christ's reward, and it is a reward without Christ, for, says the Lord, "My reward is with Me." To enjoy Christ's reward we must wait for Christ's return. What an encouragement to keep serving the Lord quietly! You may be hidden away, unknown to people, and perhaps little valued even by God's people. Still, all is under the eye of the Lord. He knows, and He will not forget. When He comes, every little act for Him, every little sacrifice for Him, every cup of cold water given for His Name's sake, will have its bright reward — but it will be "with Him."
The verse measures reward by work. But work is not why anyone is saved, and one writer draws the line plainly:
When it comes to righteousness and salvation, reward can have no place at all. These privileges are in Christ, and perfect. They are the reward, so to speak, of His labours and work. So if one takes reward as the motive for work, he is wholly on false ground. Love and obedience are the only true motives, as they were in Christ Himself. But rewards are held out as encouragements in the difficulties of the road that love and obedience lead us into.
Salvation is settled by grace. What is left is the Lord's notice of how a life was lived:
All are to be in glory on the ground of free grace. But Christ watches to see if we run well. He will give a reward if there has been faithfulness, and a crown of righteousness if we have loved His appearing.
One writer traces the reward back to its source:
What unspeakable grace! First, He Himself produces in the hearts of His people what is according to His mind. Then He enables them to bear witness for Him in the moral darkness of this world. At the end He credits to them, and rewards, what His own grace has worked. Blessed for ever be His name!
One writer fixes the moment: not when the Lord takes His people to Himself, but when He comes to reign:
The Lord will properly reward the least service when He comes — not into the air for us (1 Thess. 4:17), but into the kingdom with us. He first takes us into the Father's house (John 14:2-3), but the kingdom is the place where He gives out rewards according to service and faithfulness.
The promise reaches further than the Lord's servants. One writer finds two purposes in the announcement:
The announcement has a twofold object — to encourage His servants, and to warn the wicked that judgment is coming fast. We take the first to be the leading thought, since His reward is said to be with Him. Even this can be read two ways, and we must not shut out the idea of repayment to the wicked, in the judgment of the living at the appearing of the Lord.
- Coming. The Lord says three times that He is coming. The first word touches the Christian's walk, this one work and reward, the last the heart that waits for Him.
- Carried. The reward is with Him, not handed out now. Those who take their pay in human applause already have theirs — a reward without Christ.
- Credited. Grace works in His people, grace sustains their witness, and then grace credits them with what it produced.
- Not Salvation. Righteousness and salvation leave no room for reward. They are in Christ and perfect. Reward answers faithfulness in a life already safe.
- Encouragement. Reward is never the motive for serving. Love and obedience are. Reward is the encouragement that keeps a servant going.
*I* [am] the Alpha and the Omega, [the] first and [the] last, the beginning and the end.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.