Find Freedom In God's Favorنموونە

The Rewards of Divine Favor

Revelation shows us the angels in heaven recognizing what Jesus did through his sinless life. “Worthy are you!” they cry to Jesus (Revelation 5:9, ESV). He did what was required, and therefore he won God’s favor. And yet there’s something more as well.

The angels also say that because he won God’s favor, Jesus is also worthy of all the rewards of heaven and eternity. Look at what they say: “Worthy is the Lamb…to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (verse 12). In winning God’s favor, Jesus also won all the blessings that come with it. He is the only person in history who could say, by right, “I have earned God’s blessing, and his favor is all over me!” 

Stop and notice one crucial thing: even though Jesus earned God’s pleasure, even though he had God’s favor and all the blessings that attend it, that reality did not translate into material blessings. Jesus was not rich. Nor were his earthly relationships smooth and free of trouble; his own family thought he was crazy, and one of his twelve best friends betrayed him. He didn’t enjoy a strange new respect from those around him either; the leaders of the people hated him and mocked him even when he was dying. And he certainly didn’t live the good life or the easy life. 

What an astonishing thing to realize! For the one man in history who actually managed to earn God’s favor, life was a cauldron of hardship, betrayal, rejection, torture, and death.

If nothing else, those facts alone should disabuse us of any idea that God’s favor is about material blessings in this age. What Jesus received from God were blessings to be sure, but blessings of infinitely more value and importance than the ones we spend so much time hoping and wishing for. Our own blessings, through being in Christ and having Christ in us, are likewise so much greater than mere comfort and pleasure in this life.

What are the ways you see God blessing you apart from material or circumstantial well-being?