Rewards and judgement

The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth." – Revelation 11v18

God is just, always and forever. Here we find the elders in heaven praising God and giving thanks that God will always reward His servants and that He will destroy those who destroy the earth.

First of all we see the justice that will prevail on those who have ‘destroyed the earth.’ I realise of course that sin is the ultimate destroyer. It is man’s sin that has lead to the spiritual and physical destruction of the earth. Those who have sinned thusly are going to face God’s own destruction in time.

As I read this I had to pause in wonder at those Christians who mock and scorn attempts to be wise in how they use God’s creation. There are some who intentionally will do nothing to care for the earth because they consider that something that the ‘liberals’ do. Maybe that viewpoint should be reconsidered.

The encouraging thing for us however is the promise that in the midst of all the wrath and judgement we can be assured that God will reward His servants. In the short term our rewards may be few if any. In fact, it may seem like instead of rewards we have to settle for discouragements and despair, and trials and tribulations.

But our rewards are coming. At the end of the race the trophy will be ours. Lets just keep our eyes on the goal and keep the day of reward in view.