A Biblical Overview of Eternal Rewards – Mike Bickle
Session 6 Heavenly Crowns: Victory, Honor, and AuthorityPage 1
Session 6Heavenly Crowns: Victory, Honor, and Authority
I.review
A.In the age to come, Jesus will give eternal rewards to His people, expressing how He feels about how we love Him in this age. Theseexpressions of gracewill bless His people far beyond what they deserve.Eternalrewardsaremoregloriousthananythingthathasenteredourminds(1Cor.2:9).Wemust not reduce them to something we can easily imagine. Theyare befitting of royalty (1 Pet. 2:9), impart God’s beautyto the redeemed (Isa. 61:3), and are commensurate with the glory of Jesus and theNewJerusalem.Jesus’creativityisfargreaterthanours,soweexpectgreaterdiversityandbeauty.
9Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. (1 Cor. 2:9)
Let’s jump right in. This is session six. We are in an eight-part series on eternal rewards, ABiblical Overview of Eternal Rewards. It is one of the most emphasized topics in Jesus’ teaching. He talked on this, not the most of all of His teachings, but it was it was one of His primary subjects that He pointed out and emphasized. As I have said many times, many people in the Body of Christ never thing about this subject. They do not study it. They do not know much about it. So I want to encourage people to really focus in on this topic. (Mike prays.)
We have lookedjust in the last couple sessions at heavenly garments,and we looked at thrones, at ruling on the earth with the Lord. We looked at some of that. Now we are looking at heavenly crowns. The first of all, I want to give a snapshot review—this is really brief—of some of the other sessions that are important when you are approaching the subject of eternal rewards.
Number one, eternal rewards are expression of the grace of God.They are not something we earn. God gives us so much more for what we do. There is no possible way that we could earn them, so it is the grace of God.
Number two, eternal rewards are Jesus expressing how He feels about the way we loved Him in this age. It is not about us strutting around because we have more rewards than somebody else. Jesus would say, “I want you to know how I feel about the way you loved Me.” That is what rewards are about.
Eternal rewards are far more glorious than what anybody could imagine. Whatever you imagine, it is far greater because Paul said that it has never even entered the mind of any man or woman the glory that God has prepared. So, though the Bible only gives us a phrase here and there, you can be sure when we walk it out in the age to come that phrase is like the title of a book.Each one of these rewards is a glorious, dynamic, vast subject.
Eternal rewards are befitting of royalty. Meaning, they are the type of things that a royal family would want. Meaning, they are valuable, they are beautiful, they are honoring, and they are glorious. They are not simple little artifacts; they are befitting of a royal family. They impart God’s beauty.
B.Believers differ from one another in the measure of glory expressed in the rewards they receive.
41…for one star differs from another star in glory. 42So also is the resurrection of the dead.
(1 Cor. 15:41-42)
Another point I want to mention is that we will differ from one another in rewards as we have said every session. I quote this verse in 1 Corinthians 15, “As one star differs from another star in glory,” so every individual believer will differ in rewards. I imagine when it is all said and done, there will be several billion believers in eternity. Every single one of them will have a different measure of the glory of God in their experience. There are many types of rewards. Jesus highlighted eighteen different types in Revelation 2-3. Everybody will have a different expression, a different measure of these rewards. Some will not have this reward, but another will have a great measure of that reward.
C.The lifestyle of some in the kingdom will be called least, while some will be called great (Mt. 5:19).
19“Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments…shall be called least in the kingdom …but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom” (Mt. 5:19)
Jesus is the one who said that some will be called least and some will be called great. He was talking about their lifestyle. He will call their lifestyle in this age “great.” He is talking about born-again believers in resurrected bodies in heaven. To some the Lord will say, “Your lifestyle was least. You are in My family. I love you.” To others, “Your lifestyle was greatest.”It does not matter how much gifting you have or who your friends are; if you are faithful to the Lord, your life can be great in God’s sight.
II.heavenly crowns
A.The eternal rewards that Jesus will give will include crowns that believersmay obtain.
(1 Cor. 9:25; Phil. 4:1; 1 Thess. 2:19; 2 Tim. 4:8; Jas. 1:12; 1 Pet. 5:4; Rev. 2:10; 3:11).
11Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. (Rev. 3:11)
There are eighteen different kinds of heavenly rewards that Jesus highlighted in Revelation 2-3. They include crowns, which are very significant, very valuable. I am guessing that in the royal families through history their crowns were among their most valued, protected items in their possession–the crown of a king or a queen.I am assuming that is probably true throughout history.
B.The promise of crownsindicates victory, accomplishment, honor, authority, function, office, and responsibility. Crowns are associated with one’s role in the nations in the age to come. In Scripture, they were used for coronations, consecration, and recognition of victory in war or athletic games.
In the ancient world, they gave crowns when they won at the Olympics. If they won an event in the Olympics, they gave them a wreath of flowers that they called a crown. They did not give them gold medals. They gave them a crown. So today we think of a gold medal, but what they were thinking back in the ancient world when you said the word, “crowns,” they were thinking of the athletic games as well, not just the royal family.
When I think of athletes, one of their prized possessions are their gold medals, which would be like their crowns. Royal families would be the same. Crowns were given not just to signify authority; they were given to signify accomplishments and honor and status and office. Crowns have many, many different types of functions. We will highlight some of them as we go.
One of the most sober warnings—it is encouraging, but sober—is here in Revelation 3:11. Jesus said to hold fast what you have—He was talking about to your obedience—so that nobody takes your crown. Well, the exciting thing is that crowns are given by God. That is fantastic. The sober thing is that crowns can be lost. Jesus said, “Hold fast what you have.” He meant to keep your dedication fresh because a person can lose their crown when they lose their dedication. A crown was coming their way, but they decided not to finish strong in the Lord, and they actually lost their crown. It is possible. He is not talking about losing their salvation here.
C.Receiving a heavenly crown is not synonymous with receiving the gift of eternal life that is freely given to all believers by faith, based on what Jesus did for us. Crowns are given in addition to receiving the gift of salvation and are based on how we respond to Jesus’ leadership in this age.
Crowns are not synonymous with receiving eternal life. You know when you go to a funeral, and the guy says at the funeral, “Well, Brother Bill here is receiving his crown today,” and everybody thinks, “Yeah, Brother Bill is.” Well, do not get your theology from funerals, because if you go to enough funerals, you find they think everybody has a crown. That is not what the Bible says. There is no evidence in the Scripture that every believer has a crown. But a lot of people have just kind of dumbed it down and made crowns synonymous with forgiveness.
When you read it carefully and slowly, you see crowns are given in addition to forgiveness. They are not synonymous with it. They are related to one’s function and to one’s honor in the age to come. It is a statement about the way they lived and what they accomplished in their spiritual life, though not how many people they touch. It is not awarded by the numbers, if you touch 100 or 1,000. Like, 1,000, you get a big crown. No, it is the size of your faithfulness, the size of your heart’s response, not the size of the crowd of the people that you influenced.
Eternal life is given freely based on what Jesus did for us. Crowns are based on how we respond to His leadership. Still, it is the grace of God because we take one step of obedience and He gives us a mile of blessing. The gifts He gives us, the rewards, are so much greater than our obedience. It is still the grace of God.
D.Each “crown passage” is set in the context of spiritual maturity, not justification by faith. There is no evidence in Scripture that crowns are given to every believer. Paul compared heavenly crowns to obtainingtemporal crowns in athletic games (1 Cor. 9:24-27). For example, in the 2016 Summer Olympics, just over 10,000 athletes competed, butjust less than 1,000 received medals (10%).
Each of the crown passages—we are going to look at a few of them, and for a handful we will not have time, but I have them right here in the notes—each of the crown passages is in context to spiritual maturity. They are not talking about justification by faith, being forgiven of your sins. Every one of them is in context to spiritual maturity. Now the New Testament apostles’ view of salvation was that we would rule on the earth in the age to come with Jesus. When they thought of salvation and the kingdom, they thought of ruling on the earth with crowns and thrones, under Jesus’ leadership, bringing His dominion across the earth.
E.The apostles saw salvation as more than going to heaven to enjoy eternal bliss; their view included reigning over an earthly kingdom with Jesus. The view that salvation is enjoying eternal bliss in heaven is an incomplete perspective, leading some to see crowns as synonymous with forgiveness.
Today many people think of salvation as just going to heaven. There is no thought of reigning on the earth with a resurrected body with Jesus. So there is a very incomplete picture and perspective of salvation. Salvation to many is about being forgiven and going to heaven. I love being forgiven—that is critical—but being forgiven is the entrance into salvation. Salvation is much more than that.
We go to heaven just as a holding pattern until the second coming, then heaven comes down to the earth. Jesus brings heaven to the earth. He brings the New Jerusalem with Him. Then we are on the earth in a heavenly experience. The New Jerusalem comes down. Heaven and earth come together down here. So I do not think of the next millions of years as going away to heaven, floating on a cloud, playing a harp. I think of reigning and ruling on the earth with crowns and thrones and garments and really good food.
There is no evidence in Scripture that crowns are given to everybody. This is not authoritative, but you can look at the natural realm. I mean we can see hints of what it might be like when we look at the natural, but it is not authoritative. We look at the Olympic games. In the 2016 summer Olympic games,there were just over 10,000 athletes. Only about 1,000 got medals. About ten percent got medals. Ninety percent did not get medals. Now those are approximate numbers.I think there is a corresponding reality in rewards, not that God is following the games. I think that some human nature and human expression, because we are made in the image of God, is actually expressing some of the things that are in us by God’s design. So when you think of crowns, think of something that is valuable, again like the gold medals to the athlete which would have been like the ancient crown in the days of old. Probably the athlete’s most prized possession.
For royal families, their crown is one of their most prized possessions, as honor and authority and beauty and dignity are all associated with crowns. God created crowns to give to us. I mean, I want a crown. This is serious. I assume all the crowns are very different. I do not think there is one standard model and everybody has the same crown. I doubt that any royal family on the earth has a crown that looks like somebody else’s. I am imagining they are as diverse and different as imaginable. Just go on the internet and look up crowns. There is so many types!There are thousands of types of crowns from crowns made of garments to crowns made of metal to crowns made of diamonds. There is so many types.
I look at that, and it is fascinating.I just imagine, and I say, “Lord, what You have planned is far more glorious. I am imagining far more diverse than anything we have come up with. Your creativity, just the power of Your creativity!”
There is not like a one standard model, white gown, T-shirt that everybody gets, as in, “Okay, you got your clothing now.” You will have a wardrobe that will be vast and glorious and diverse forever. Crowns and thrones I imagine will be very diverse in appearance and in design and the message that is communicated with it and everything.
III.Two Greek words for crowns
A.Two Greek words are translated as“crown” in the New Testament.
There are two Greek words for crowns. Now the reason I say Greek is because, as most of you know, the New Testament 2,000 years ago was written in Greek. It was not written in English. I know that you know that we translated it in English though originally it was in Greek. So when you go back to the original words of Jesus and the apostles, you see there are two different Greek words that are translated,“crown.”
B.The crown of aruler(Gk. diadema) indicatespolitical authority over a region. Our word diademcomes from diademaand speaks of the power to rule. Diademais the word used for the crown worn by the dragon (Satan; Rev. 12:3), the beast (the Antichrist; Rev. 13:1), and by Christ (Rev. 19:12).
The first word speaks of the crown of a ruler. It indicated political authority over a region, like a king, like a prime minister. They would have a “diadema.” It would be a crown of a ruler, a diadem. You know we all know the name diadem. Diadem speaks of the crown of the ruler.
C.The crown of a victor (Gk. stephanos)was given asa prize in athletic games to honor victorious athletes;it is parallel to receiving a gold, silver, or bronze medal in the Olympic Games today.
This crown denotes victory(Mt. 27:29; Mk. 15:17; Jn. 19:2, 5; 1 Cor. 9:25; Phil. 4:1; 2 Tim. 2:5; 4:8; 1 Thes. 2:19; Heb. 2:7, 9; Jas. 1:12; 1 Pet. 5:4; Rev. 2:10; 3:11; 4:4, 10; 12:1; 14:14).
Then there is the crown of the victor, of the athlete, who won the prize or the beauty pageant. They get a crown. That is“stephanos.”We get the name Stephen from that. It is the word, crown. It is not the crown of the royal family. It is the crown of one that was victorious in the issue that they were challenged with, athletic or military. It was in war as well that they gave crowns. In the modern world they give crowns in beauty contests, and in various other things they give crowns.
So one is the crown of a victor, and the other is the crown of a ruler. They are quite different and have different messages related to them. The crown of the victor is like the gold medal today, the silver, the bronze medal, etc. I have a list of verses where you see the word, crowns, when you read the Bible. I have a list here in the notes which ones are the ruler crown and which are the victor who overcame the obstacles and pressed through and finished the race and won. Again, very two different lines of thought, but both of them are connected to the word, crowns.
IV.Scripture gives us insight into God’s thoughts about CRowns
A.The Lord commanded Moses to make hats (crowns or headdresses)for the high priests (Ex. 28:40). These hats were to communicate the glory and honor of the high priest’s role and to express beauty. Some crowns in the Old Testament were made of gold (Ps. 21:3) and set with jewels (Zech. 9:16).
4“For Aaron’s sons you…shall make hats for them, for glory and beauty.” (Ex. 28:40)
We look at the Scripture. Just as when we looked at thrones and garments—and we are going to look at other issues next week as well—we want to see what the Scripture says about crowns. Because the Scripture lays out some of these things, it is an indication that it is meant to be understood as part of His design. Many things in the Scripture give us hints about His leadership in the future and how things will be.