The Reward Part 1
REVELATION Number 56
The Reward Part 1
A number of rewards are promised in the letters to the seven churches. They are these.
to eat from the tree of life
the crown of life
not be hurt by the second death
hidden manna
a secret new name written on a white stone
authority over the nations
the morning star
walk with The Lord Jesus dressed in white
to be a pillar in the temple of God
to bear God’s name
to bear the name of the New Jerusalem
to bear the new name of the Lord Jesus
to sit with the Lord Jesus on His throne
I have listed 13 promised blessings, or rewards. Some may consider there to be certain additional blessings, but these 13 will give us a basis for study. The list we compile is not an important issue because as we will see, all of these promises are summed up in the Life of the Lord Jesus. Hence the title of this segment is in the singular, “The Reward.”
Revelation 2:7 tells us that the tree of life is located in “the paradise of God.” The word paradise is essentially a transliteration of the Greek word. The word refers to a transcendent place of blessedness, but its most common Biblical usage is in reference to the garden of Eden. In the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek Old Testament created around 300-200BC, the Hebrew for “Eden” is translated into Greek as “paradise” beginning in Genesis 2:8.
As a side note, the Septuagint was the first translation of the Hebrew scriptures into another language. Because Israel had been under Greek rule for several centuries, Greek became the primary language of most Hebrew people. Jesus would likely have read from the Septuagint, and it was used by the Apostles when they quoted the Old Testament. The Septuagint, or LXX, gets its name from having been produced by some 70 Jewish scholars who produced it in Alexandria Egypt.
I’ve taken some time to point this out because we often equate paradise to heaven, and we equate heaven with the place we go after death. This can be problematic because scripture does not seem to portray heaven in that way. Rather, heaven is portrayed as the abode of God. The Revelation is very clear (as are all the scriptures) that God dwells among His people.
Just as He sent Jesus Christ to live among us (John 1:14), so God has come to live among us by His Spirit (John 14:17), and He will come “out of heaven” again to live among us (Revelation 21:10, 22:3).
But before we get too deep into a topic we will explore more fully in later parts of our study, let’s return to the significance of Eden.
That Paradise and Eden are linguistically linked as tightly as they are points us to a larger truth. The recurring refrain of the Bible throughout its pages is one of creation, slavery, exodus, and re-creation. NT Wright points out in his video series “Thinking Through Salvation” that salvation involves not only people, but all of creation.
Paul concurs, saying in Romans 8:19–21 “the eagerly awaiting creation waits for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” (NASB 2020)
