What is the purpose of there being rewards in heaven?

"For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works" (Matt. 16:27). "For thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just" (Luke 14:14). "And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be" (Rev. 22:12). "And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away" (1 Pet. 5:4). "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day" (2 Tim. 4:8). "After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them" (Matt. 25:19). God's purpose in promising to reward with heavenly and eternal honors the faithful service of His saints is to win them from the pursuit of earthly riches and pleasures, to sustain them in the fires of persecution, and to encourage them in the exercise of Christian virtues. "Finally, let us heed the warning" (Rev. 3: 11). (See Dan. 12:3; Matt. 5:11-12; Matt. 10:41-42; Luke 12:35-37; Luke 14:12, 14; John 4:35-36; Col. 3:22-24; 2 Tim. 4:8; Heb. 6: 10; Heb. 11:8-10, 24-27; Heb. 12:2- 3.)

The Master of the house will shew His approval of the faithful servant. There will be degrees of glory given according to the service done. Not that I shall be saved for what I have done; but my service will be rewarded, whatever may have been produced by the Holy Ghost answering the desire of Christ in working in me; for it is service of which I could not do an atom without His power. It is likewise the answer of God according to His counsels; as we may see in the reply to the mother of Zebedee's children, "It shall be given to those for whom it is prepared of my Father." The service of love is never influenced by recompense. Reward is not set before the soul as the motive for doing anything; but when we find difficulties in treading the path of service, then the crown is set before us to encourage us to go on. So, even Christ, for the joy that was set before Him, "endured the cross, despising the shame." So also Moses, while esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, had respect unto the recompense of the reward. If the recompense and not love be the spring of our service, it would just amount to this, "Take thy penny, and go thy way." But if the world is broken with, no recompense can be looked for from that source, which is as great a deliverance as the deliverance from self.

Here comes too the scripture doctrine of rewards. As regards righteousness and salvation, reward can have no possible place. 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. "That the world may know," He says, "that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, so I do." And again, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." But rewards are presented as encouragements in the difficulties which are on the road into which love and obedience bring us. Thus it could be said of Christ, "Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." So Moses is approved by the Holy Ghost, saying, "He had respect to the recompense of the reward "; and of all, "Every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour." The Thessalonians are a crown, a glory, to Paul, as they are not to us.

318 Yet the word keeps steadily before us, that it is of grace, and that, in rewarding His labourers, God does what He will with His own: but in overabounding grace, to sit on Christ's right hand and on His left is given to them for whom it is prepared of His Father. But as to righteousness and salvation all are alike. We shall be conformed to the image of God's Son. But, though sovereign as to the place God gives us, in connection with the Holy Ghost's work in and by us (for it is in connection with this that reward is; it has nothing to do with our righteousness, which is Christ Himself), this sovereignty is exercised in giving the reward according to the labour in gift and calling; so that God's government and the saint's responsibility may be displayed; yet so as that the saint is brought more clearly to say, "Not I, but the grace of God which was in me." It is exactly he who has the deepest sense of his responsibility who will the most deeply feel his entire dependence upon grace. If these questions are mixed up with that of salvation, all is legal and false; but when clear on this, the exercise of the heart in them is most useful, as leading to the sense of dependence, confiding in Him who is able to bless, and delights to do it - the sense that there is a living God, that we can do nothing of ourselves, nothing without Christ. It humbles and leads to daily confiding dependence upon God.

The reward which God has promised comes in here as an avowed object in the sphere of faith. It is not the motive power; but it sustains and encourages the heart that is acting by faith, in view of the object which God presents to our affections. It thus takes the heart away from the present, from the influence of the things that surround us (whether they are things that attract or that tend to intimidate us), and elevates the heart and character of him who walks by faith, and confirms him in a path of devotedness which will lead him to the end at which he aims.

Thus the Lord Jesus adds to His beatitude: "Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven." What a privilege to possess and confess Christ as Saviour and Lord! He is worthy that we should openly confess Him. For a fearful soul and for the flesh the supposedly disadvantageous consequences of a faithful confession of our Saviour carry a lot of weight. Here the Lord says something else. The disciples of the Lord should rejoice not in spite of, but because of the sufferings connected with their confession (see Romans 5: 3; James 1: 2). Even if the confession of the Name of the Lord does result in disadvantages here on earth-which is not always the case-the reward in the heavens which He has promised is incomparably greater! To know that we walk in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus already gives us joy, and this joy is increased by the promised reward which is not connected with earth but with heaven (Compare Matthew 6: 19).

The reward of suffering. "Great is your reward in heaven" (Matt. 5:12). A Christian may lose his life, but not his reward; he may lose his head, but not his crown. Not that we can merit this reward by our sufferings. "I will give thee a crown of life." The reward is the legacy which free-grace bequeaths. Alas! what proportion is there between a drop of blood, and a weight of glory? But though we have no reward by merit, we shall have it by grace; so it is in the text, "Great is your reward in heaven." Look upon the crown and faint if you can; the reward is as far above your thoughts, as it is beyond your deserts; a man that is to wade through a deep water, fixeth his eyes upon the firm land that is before him. While Christians are wading through the deep waters of persecution, they should fix the eyes of their faith on the land of promise; "Great is your reward in heaven." They that bear the cross patiently shall wear the crown triumphantly.

Another expression in this passage calls for remark — "to receive the things done in the body." The expression, "judgment," is carefully avoided, even when in a certain sense there is such. Man would soon turn it into a question of the acceptance of the person. As regards the wicked, I need not dwell on it. They will receive the things done in the body, it will be their condemnation; but as regards the saints, they will also. As regards acceptance, we are in Christ, all accepted alike — all to be conformed to the image of the Son — all having Christ for our righteousness. Paul cannot have one more perfect or a higher glory. But, besides this, saints have the privilege of service, of being the vessels of God's love to others. In the work of the Holy Ghost by us there is a difference. And while all is pre-ordered of God, and to sit on Christ's right hand and on His left is for those for whom it is prepared of the Father, yet we do receive through grace the reward of labour, and every man his own reward according to his own labour. Scripture speaks of receiving a full reward. The Thessalonians will be Paul's joy and crown of rejoicing, not ours, as the fruit of our labours. If we have built with wood, hay, and stubble, all will be lost, though we are saved. In a word righteousness is in Christ, the same for all; service is rewarded.

The Lord Himself interposes, and speaks again in His own person in the next two verses — "And* behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." (vv. 12, 13.) As the warning in verse 11, so this second proclamation of the Lord's speedy coming, is in view of the end. And it is made with a twofold object — to encourage His servants, and to warn the wicked of the rapid approach of judgment. The former, however, we apprehend, is the predominant thought in the announcement, from the mention of His reward being with Him. Even this is, however, capable of a twofold construction, and the idea of recompense to the wicked, in the judgment of the living at the appearing of the Lord, must not be excluded. In the first annunciation of His coming quickly (v. 7), the Lord points out wherein the blessedness of His people would be found while waiting; here He encourages them with the prospect of recompense, reminding them that the day was swiftly coming when every work done for Him, every act done, and every testimony borne, should be abundantly rewarded. 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 amid the moral darkness of this world; and finally He imputes to them, and recompenses, what His own grace has wrought. Blessed for ever be His name!

The words of the Lord Jesus again press on us that He is coming quickly (v. 12). The first time this was mentioned (v. 7) this was in connection with the blessing of those obedient to His Word. Now He adds that He has reward to give to all in accordance with the works of each. Not only is there present blessing in obedience, but there is future reward for every work that has been truly done for Christ's sake (1 Cor. 3:14, Matt. 25:21, Luke 19:16-19). He gives us every incentive to live in truth for Himself.

Rev. 22:12-13. — “Behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every one as his work shall be. I (am) the Alpha and the Omega, (the) first and (the) last, the beginning and the end.” Once again does the divine Speaker proclaim the certainty and nearness of His Return, not simply as a cheer to His waiting and expectant saints (v. 7), but with rewards, many and varied, to be bestowed according to the quality and character of service rendered. The least service shall be fittingly rewarded by the Lord when He comes, not into the air for us (1 Thess. 4:17), but into the kingdom with us. Not the Father’s house into which we are first removed (John 14:2-3), but the kingdom is the sphere and scene where rewards are bestowed according to service and faithfulness.