Principle
God is the reward of the faithful.
Explanation
In GOD’s third recorded interaction with Abraham, GOD told Abraham that He Himself would be Abraham’s reward:
1 After these things the Word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield and will be your exceedingly great reward.”
Genesis 15:1 OSB
What greater reward is there than to “get” GOD? There is none!
Think about it:
- GOD is love. Humans crave being loved.
- GOD is all powerful.
- GOD is all knowing.
- GOD is capable of all things.
- GOD is the designer of all creation.
- GOD is the source of beauty. Nothing and no one is more beautiful than GOD.
- GOD is the source of every good and perfect gift.
- GOD is the inventor of the most wonderful feelings and experiences humans have.
- Could GOD not grant even greater blessings than we have experienced?
- What better companion is there than GOD? What better friend?
- GOD knows, cares, and has complete ability to fill every emptiness, every longing, and every desire of your heart.
- GOD is life. When with GOD, there is no such thing as death.
- With GOD, there is no fear, no darkness, no danger, no evil.
I could keep going, but you get the idea.
GOD extends the offer of Himself to all who choose Him.
Jesus said:
23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 4:23-24 NKJV
GOD is seeking those who would pursue Him in spirit and truth.
The same promise of Abraham to “get GOD” is extended to all, Jew and Gentile alike, under the new covenant, through Jesus:
31 “Behold, days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I shall make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the day I took hold of their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not abide in My covenant, and I disregarded them,” says the Lord. 33 “For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will surely put My laws into their mind and write them on their hearts. I will be as God to them, and they shall be as My people. 34 Each shall not teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their wrongdoings, and I will no longer remember their sins.
Jeremiah 38 [31]:31-34 OSB
This passage from Jeremiah was quoted by the Hebrews writer in application to Christians:
6 But now [Jesus] has obtained a more excellent ministry, to the extent that He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.
7 For if that first covenant had been free of fault, no circumstances would have been sought for a second. 8 For in finding fault with the people, He says,
“Behold, days are coming, says the Lord,
When I will bring about a new covenant
With the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
9 Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers
On the day I took them by the hand
To bring them out of the land of Egypt;
For they did not continue in My covenant,
And I did not care about them, says the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel
After those days, declares the Lord:
I will put My laws into their minds,
And write them on their hearts.
And I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.
11 And they will not teach, each one his fellow citizen,
And each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
For they will all know Me,
From the least to the greatest of them.
12 For I will be merciful toward their wrongdoings,
And their sins I will no longer remember.”13 When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is about to disappear.
Hebrews 8:8-13 NASB
It is impossible for humans to express what it is like to be this close to GOD.
Moses asked for GOD to reveal Himself to Moses:
12 Then Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you above all, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ 13 Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, reveal Yourself to me, that I may see You clearly and find grace in Your sight, and know this great nation is Your people.”
14 So He said, “I Myself will go before you and give you rest.” 15 Then he said to Him, “If You Yourself do not go up with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So both I and Your people shall be glorified beyond all the nations on the earth.” 17 The Lord then said to Moses, “I will also do this thing you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you above all.” 18 Moses replied, “Reveal Yourself to me.”
19 Then God said, “I will pass before you in My glory, and I will proclaim My name, the Lord, before you. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man can see My face and live.” 21 Moreover, the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me: you shall stand on the rock. 22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. 23 Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”
Exodus 33:12-23 OSB
So GOD had Moses return atop Mount Sinai to receive the second set of stone tablets of the ten commandments. After GOD fulfilled His promise to allow Moses to see His glory, the aftereffects were that Moses’ face shone (simply from being in GOD’s presence and seeing a veiled form of GOD’s glory):
29 Now when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), he did not know the skin of his face was glorified while God talked with Him. 30 So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses and the glorified appearance of the skin of his face, they were afraid to come near him. 31 Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses talked with them. 32 Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that the Lord commanded him on Mount Sinai. 33 When Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. 34 But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever the Lord commanded him. 35 So the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that it was glorified; and Moses put the veil on his face again until he went in to speak with Him.
Exodus 34:29-35 OSB
There are many other recorded examples of humans encountering GOD’s presence in a supernaturally close manner. Each time, they are awestruck and afraid, not because GOD is some kind of scary monster, but because of His beauty and greatness. GOD is entirely “other”—different from any other being or experience.
So, now, with these thoughts in mind, consider afresh how amazing it is that GOD would promise to be our great reward, as He did with Abraham! Wow!
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