Mark 10:30

Note that only Mark mentions "and the gospel's." It is service that is so prominent here. Others may say, "for His sake." But here we read, "for my sake, and the gospel's." So the value of Christ Himself is, as it were, attached to the service of Christ in this world.

To leave for the reward would be worthless, and, what is more, it never lasts. Christ is the only attraction that works, the motive that governs a renewed heart. There is pasture for the sheep, there is the flock also; but the sheep follow Christ, for they know His voice. Rewards will follow by and by, but saints follow the Lord, not the rewards.

If we leave the circle of our unconverted and natural relations, we shall find we are in the far larger circle of the family of God. This may result in some persecution from the world circle we have left, but it is the pathway into life.

Notice the separating word "or" in verse 29, and the joining word "and" in verse 30. A person might be called to surrender "houses, or brothers, or sisters," and so on. Such a person will receive a hundredfold, and the list then widens to "houses, and brothers, and sisters," and so on. These two little words, "or" and "and," add weight to the gracious declaration.

The hundredfold comes even in kind: in all the comforts, kindness, peace and enjoyments that belong to Christians here, with persecutions from the world, and in the age to come eternal life. The Lord here leaves out "wife." There is no promise to give him back this — that stands on its own separate ground… The word "mothers" shows that this is not meant in a natural sense only. Yet the counterpart is a real present enjoyment: in the Church you find what fills the gap these breaks have made, a hundredfold. In love to Christ and the Church, sacrificing a wife may bring infinitely more than a hundredfold. But it is never made up in kind.

They would enjoy much more than the wretched things of this life, but with persecutions. So they have the promise of the life that now is, as well as of the life to come. It is not a promise of riches, perhaps, but of the true enjoyment of all that is in the world according to God's will, and as gifts from God. Yet they will have to deal with the opposition of a world that does not know God.

The word translated "world" in the following passages is aiōn: it may therefore be rendered "the age to come."… He also made a promise to those who gave up property or earthly ties for the sake of the kingdom of God. Besides present blessing, they would have eternal life in the age to come.

Receiving a hundredfold does not only speak of reward in heaven; even in this life the spiritual reward will be great… This is of course spiritual repayment. Certainly the believer has eternal life now, and eternal life goes beyond the world to come. But he will enjoy that life more fully then than he can in present circumstances.