The Disciples' Reward
Then Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?” And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.
— Matthew 19:27-30
Peter began to say to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You.” Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.”
— Mark 10:28-31
Peter said, “Behold, we have left our own homes and followed You.” And He said to them, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life.”
— Luke 18:28-30
Jesus' statement to the rich young ruler to "go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me" (Matthew 19:21) prompted Peter to ask in behalf of the apostles “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?” They have done exactly what Jesus asked of the rich young ruler. When Jesus called them He didn't mention a reward in heaven but they left everything and followed Him so they want to know what's in it for them.
Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.
— Matthew 4:18-22
After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi (another name of Matthew, see Matthew 9:9) sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.
— Luke 5:27-28
To some, Peter's question may seem selfish in expecting rewards. It might also be inappropriate in light of Jesus' teaching a short while ago: So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’” (Luke 17:10). But Jesus' teaching is also not void of the concept of rewards to motivate people to follow Him and please God because without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).
“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
— Matthew 5:11-12
But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
— Matthew 6:3-4
But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
— Matthew 6:17-18
For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.
— Mark 9:41
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.
— Luke 6:35
God would not promise rewards if it is a bad thing. Expecting rewards from God is an act of faith as we believe in God's faithfulness and lavish generosity in fulfilling His promised rewards. God would not have us obey Him just out of fear of judgment but also encourage us by rewards.
Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.
— Hebrews 10:35-36
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.
— Hebrews 11:24-26
Jesus did not rebuke Peter for his bold question. Instead, Jesus affirmed his expectation of reward and said "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
The regeneration here is not personal spiritual rebirth of a believer but the rebirth of the whole physical creation where the curse will be lifted and it will be restored to Eden-like conditions.
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. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
— Romans 8:20-22
That time of restoration coincides with the second coming of Jesus when He will sit on His earthly Davidic throne to rule the whole earth for a thousand years. But first Jesus must suffer and die to atone for the sins of the world, resurrect and ascend to heaven to sit on the throne of deity at the right hand of the Father, waiting for the appointed time of restoration.
but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet.
— Hebrews 10:12-13
But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.
— Acts 3:18-21
A Psalm of David.
The Lord says to my Lord:
“Sit at My right hand
Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”
The Lord will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying,
“Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”
— Psalm 110:1-2
When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
— Hebrews 1:3
But to which of the angels has He ever said,
“Sit at My right hand,
Until I make Your enemies
A footstool for Your feet”?
— Hebrews 1:13
“I kept looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a Son of Man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
14 “And to Him was given dominion,
Glory and a kingdom,
That all the peoples, nations and men of every language
Might serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed.
— Daniel 7:13-14
When that time comes, the twelve apostles, with Judas replaced by Matthias (Acts 1:26), will sit on twelve thrones which Jesus will again affirm later.
“You are those who have stood by Me in My trials; and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
— Luke 22:28-30
The apostles held on to this promise as we see in Acts. After Jesus' resurrection He revealed more details about the restoration of the kingdom of God on earth in which Israel will play a vital role. When He was taken up to heaven, after He had by
the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. To
these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many
convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.— Acts 1:2-3. So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”— Acts 1:6. As God's chosen capital, Israel must be restored first as it is the instrumental nation that God will use to bless all the other nations of the earth in fulfillment of the Abrahamic, Davidic, and New Covenants.
And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
— Genesis 12:2-3
“I have made a covenant with My chosen;
I have sworn to David My servant,
I will establish your seed forever
And build up your throne to all generations.” Selah.
— Psalm 89:3-4
I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel and will rebuild them as they were at first. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me.
— Jeremiah 33:7-8
‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety; and this is the name by which she will be called: the Lord is our righteousness.’
— Jeremiah 33:14-16
Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.
— Ezekiel 36:25-28
‘Thus says the Lord God, “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places will be rebuilt. The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. They will say, ‘This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I, the Lord, have spoken and will do it.”
— Ezekiel 36:33-36
In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”
— Isaiah 19:24-25
The time is not revealed unto them nor to us but while waiting believers are instructed to focus on calling more people to repent and believe in the King before He comes so that they too will be inheritors of the Kingdom when it is established.
He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
— Acts 1:7-8
It is also important to note that Christ's millennial kingdom will proceed towards the eternal state, the new heavens and new earth. But first, He and His saints must rule this old earth.
then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.
— 1 Corinthians 15:24-25
When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.
— 1 Corinthians 15:28
As the Second Adam, Jesus will fulfill the mandate to rule the earth on God's behalf because the first Adam failed. But that awaits the future when Jesus returns and not presently happening as "we do not yet see all things subjected to him" (Hebrews 2:8) and undeniably by experience and by Scripture "We know...that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one" (1 John 5:19) "according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience" (Ephesians 2:2) "the god of this world" who blinds "the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God " (2 Corinthians 4:4).
I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.
— Daniel 7:21-22
Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.’
— Daniel 7:27
Jesus promised to share His throne on earth (not His Father's throne in heaven) with His saints.
He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father;
— Revelation 2:26-27
He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
— Revelation 3:21
“You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”
— Revelation 5:10
Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
— Revelation 20:4
Jesus said further "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions and will inherit eternal life."
William Macdonald explains:
"In this life, they enjoy a world-wide fellowship of believers that more than compensates for severed earthly ties. For the one house they leave, they receive a hundred Christian homes where they are warmly welcomed. For lands or other forms of wealth forsaken, they receive spiritual riches beyond reckoning. The future reward for all believers is eternal life. This does not mean that we earn eternal life by forsaking all and sacrificing. Eternal life is a gift and cannot be earned or merited. Here the thought is that those who forsake all are rewarded with a greater capacity for enjoying eternal life in heaven. All believers will have that life but not all will enjoy it to the same extent."
To clarify, Michael Vlach aptly summarizes:
"Matthew 19:28 also reveals the kingdom involves a restored nation of Israel. On several occasions the OT prophets predicted a restored Israel with a unification of the twelve tribes (see ezek 36–37). In the eschaton this restoration will occur and the twelve apostles will be a part of it with significant ruling positions. So there is a nationalistic element to Christ’s kingdom. Israel as a nation is part of the kingdom.
Some have tried to bypass the natural meaning of this verse claiming that Israel is really the church. David Hill states, “The twelve tribes are the new Israel, probably the Church.”1 Also, Robert H. Mounce declares, “The symbolism of the twelve tribes is carried over into new Testament to represent the Christian church.”2 But such a conclusion is not justified. Other than just asserting it, what evidence is there that the church is the Israel of Matthew 19:28? At what point in Matthew has Israel not had a Jewish element to it? Harrington is correct that, “There is no reason to interpret the twelve tribes of Israel as a symbol for the Church. Matthew meant Israel.”3 Blaising also summarizes the text well by affirming that Jesus’ view of a coming kingdom for Israel was consistent with the OT tradition:
In summary, we see that Jesus affirmed the tradition of Old Testament prophecy and apocalypticism and proclaimed a coming worldwide political kingdom in which He as Messiah of the house of David would rule Israel and all the nations. We see Him making preparations for the administration of that coming kingdom by promising His disciples ruling positions along with Him.4
In addition to positions of authority in the coming kingdom, another promise of Jesus in Matthew 19:27–30 concerns rewards in the future for those who follow Jesus now: “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life” (19:29).
This answer is stunning. Jesus declares that great material rewards await those who sacrifice for Jesus now. And not just material rewards, but exponential material rewards. This includes both personal relationships (“brothers,” “sisters,” etc.), and possessions (“houses,” “farms”). In this current age Jesus’ followers must often give up material possessions for the cause of the gospel. Some forsake lives of luxury and comfort, or proximity to family and friends for little means, danger, and poverty. Doing so does not go unnoticed by our Lord. People who give up comforts will be greatly rewarded. If they give up relationships they will receive them. If they give up houses and farms, those things we will be theirs in abundance. note how tangible these rewards are. Jesus does not say, “If you give up relationships and material possessions now you will get a cloud in the sky.” Instead, the rewards are real and tangible.
This shows Jesus’ kingdom will also have physical/material elements to it. The kingdom is not just about spiritual blessings; it also involves material blessings. There is no Platonic dualism in which material blessings are inferior to the spiritual. This is a “both/and” not an “either/or” scenario.
The Rich Young Ruler was not willing to follow Jesus and do this, and in the end he lost everything. But for those who give up everything now, they gain it all back and more."
Salvation cannot be earned because it is a free gift of God (Romans 6:23). And yet although we are not saved by our works we have bonus rewards for our good works because we serve a gracious God who delights in giving recompense to faithful servants. May we not dare belittle and defile the purity of His grace by scoffing at the concept of rewards as carnal or think we are more spiritual in rejecting any reward. There is nothing wrong in taking God at His word and believing His promises. The idea of rewards are only corrupted in our malicious thinking. To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled (Titus 1:15). We are not to demand rewards for any good work we do, but in faith we can look forward in anticipation for it because God says so. But we must remember not to count our works or compare with others and try to project in our minds who will get more or less rewards because Jesus said many who are first will be last; and the last, first. God's ways are higher than ours and our perspectives are incomplete and imperfect. We judge according to appearance but God sees the heart. We are biased to self while God judges righteously. What in our perspective is first may be last in God's eyes. Let us leave the judging of rewards to God.
But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. -Romans 14:10
Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. -Revelation 22:12
Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. -2 Corinthians 5:9-10
1 David Hill, The Gospel of Matthew, The new Century Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids: eerdmans, 1972), 284.
2 Robert H. Mounce, Matthew, new International Bible Commentary on the new Testament (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1991), 185.
3 Harrington, The Gospel of Matthew, 279.
4 Craig A. Blaising and Darrell L. Bock, Progressive Dispensationalism (Grand Rapids: Bridgepoint Books, 1993), 238.
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