REWARDS

Will heaven be the same for everyone? Will hell be the same for everyone? If so, people like Mao Zedong, founder of the Chinese Communist Party (responsible for 40 to 80 million deaths or more); Hitler, leader of Germany, (blamed for12 million concentration camp deaths and 30 million other deaths); Stalin, dictator of the Soviet Union (believed responsible for between 30 to 40 million “unnatural deaths”; all quotes from The Washington Post); Pol Pot, leader of Cambodia (estimated 1.2 to 2.8 million – between 13-30 percent of the country’s population at the time; UCLA Newsroom), deserve no greater punishment than anyone else in hell. It naturally follows then that people like the Apostle Paul, Billy Graham, and many others who were the means of millions coming to a saving faith in the Lord, and martyrs who died because of their faith in Jesus and their refusal to deny him, will have the same experience in heaven as the thief who died upon the cross next to Jesus. Viewed in that light, does that seem right?

One of the attributes of God is He is a God of justice. It is part of His character, which means He is always just. Also, He is Omniscient (He knows everything). Because He knows everything, no one will ever be able to say He made a mistake. How just would it be of God to give the same reward or punishment to everyone, regardless of their works?

Proverbs 11:31 says, "If the righteous receive their due on earth, how much more the ungodly and sinner!” The big word here is the little word “if." We have all heard stories of people or groups of people (most can easily fill-in the blanks when it comes to politics – doesn’t matter which side you are on) who seem too, or actually do, get away with anything, including murder, and they suffer no consequences. And yet there are others who obey the law, are unjustly accused of wrongdoing, and end up in prison. In Psalm 73, the writer Asaph was, in his own words, was grieved and embittered, totally frustrated with the seeming injustice of evil doers, “till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.”

There is coming a day when a just God will hand out just rewards, to the righteous and the unrighteous. To the righteous He said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth… But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19,20,21). For the believer, 2 Corinthians 5:10, (GNT) says, “For all of us must appear before Christ, to be judged by him. We will each receive what we deserve, according to everything we have done, good or bad, in our bodily life.” This is called the Judgement Seat of Christ, also referred to as the Bema Judgement. This judgement does not determine where we spend eternity, we will be with God forever, but how we spend eternity. As believers we have already been justified (as if we had never sinned), because the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to us. What Christ will be judging is the works we did while serving Him here on earth. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3:13, speaks of this Day of judgement, and our works done in this present body will be revealed for what they were, either good or bad. If our motives were wrong or impure, to gain the praise of men and not for the glory of God, they will be considered as wood, hay, and stubble, and they will be destroyed. Only those works done out of love and for the glory of God will remain, and are described as gold, silver, and costly stones.

Just as there is a judgement of the righteous, there will be a judgement of sinners, and you can rest assured that they will get their just desserts. “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done…And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:11-12,15, ESV). At this judgement, the God of all the earth will make everything right. All the injustices in the history of mankind will be recompensed.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES FOR FURTHER STUDY

Believers: Ecclesiastes 12:14, 1 Peter 1:17; Matthew 16:27; Revelation 22:12; 1 John 2:28; Romans 14:10; 1 Corinthians 3:14; Matthew 6:1-4; James 3:1; Psalm 1:5.

Unbelievers: Romans 1:18; Romans 2:5; 2 Peter 2:13 (whole chapter); Isaiah 3:11; Isaiah 13:11; Psalm 28:4; Luke 12:47-48.

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