PT-5 “The Future: The Crown, with Which He Will Be Rewarded” (2 Tim. 4:8)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/4/2025 10:27 AM

My Worship Time    Focus: PT-5 “The Future: The Crown, with Which He Will Be Rewarded” 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  2 Timothy 4:8

Message of the verse: “In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. (4:8)

            This morning I continue to look at this very important verse that Paul wrote to Timothy shortly before he would be killed for the cause of Christ by having his head cut off, and the reason that he would not be crucified was because he was a Roman citizen.  Paul knew that this was about to happen, and I believe that because he had visited heaven earlier in his life that he was looking forward to return and to live there until the Rapture of the church when all believers from the church age will receive their new bodies they will have forever.  Those who have died before the Rapture and are in heaven do not have their new bodies yet, but they do have a temporary body which will be exchanged for the new body at the end of the church age which as said will happen at the rapture of the church.

            Now I want to pick up where I left of in my last SD on this subject found in 2 Timothy 4:8 where in John MacArthur’s commentary he was writing about rewards, and no he continues to write that Paul is here speaking of the crown of righteousness with which every believer will be crowned.  Now James speaks of it as a “crown of life” in James 1:12 “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” Peter writes about this when he writes “the unfading crown of glory” (1 Peter 5:4).  Now in the parable of the landowner who hired men at different throughout the day and paid them all the same wage (Matt. 20:1-16), Jesus explains that every believer will share equally in eternal life and eternal righteousness.

            Jesus also assures us that “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matt. 5:6).  Now our satisfaction will come from the very thing for which we seek, righteousness itself being the reward of those who seek it.  It is “the hope of righteousness’ for which believers eagerly wait “through the Spirit, by faith” (Gal. 5:5), as we look “for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).  “The kingdom of God righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17).  Righteousness is that which, by the Lord’s gracious provision, will one day be our harvest; “Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness (2 Cor. 9:10).  “It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saint” Rev. 19:8, and this shows righteousness is our clothing.  Now it could not be otherwise, because “we know that, when [Christ] appears, we shall be like Him (1 John 3:2).

            John MacArthur writes “When we believed in Christ as Savior and Lord, He imputed His righteousness to us (Rom. 4:6,11); and as we live out our lives in Christ, His Holy Spirit works practical righteousness in us and through us (Rom. 6:13, 19; 8:4; Eph. 5:9; 1 Peter 2:24).  Yet because of sin, which clings to us like an old dirty garment, we must battle against unrighteousness.  It is only at the completion of that battle that His righteousness will be perfected in us, when we receive the very crown of righteousness from the Lord’s own hands.  It is the victor’s wreath, Paul says, which the Lord Himself, the righteous Judge, will award…on that day.”

            I will quote one more paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary and then, Lord willing will finish this section in tomorrow’s SD.  I am amazed that John MacArthur gets so much to write about from this one verse, although it is surely a very important verse as we are seeing as we go through it.

            “Paul has referred to that day two other times in this letter.  He said, ‘For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day’ (1:12).  A few verses later he prayed that his beloved Onesiphorus would ‘find mercy from the Lord on that day’ (v. 18).”

            Spiritual Meaning for My Life today:  Last evening after our church service I was talking to a friend of mine about what is going on with my life, about her cancer operation and how she is going about treating it.  He is a nurse practitioner and works for the VA, which has to do with veteran soldiers and their health care.  Because of this he believes that all cancer should be treated with chemo and radiation in order to cure it.  We believe there are other less harmful ways to the body to treat cancer, which is what Sandy is doing.  My friend said to me that it was his hope that the Rapture would come that very day to which I agreed with him wholeheartedly.  The world is being set up for what will happen in the tribulation period, that last seven days of history on planet earth as we have known it for at the end of the tribulation period the Lord Jesus Christ and all of His raptured saints will return to planet earth to end the greatest war that will ever be fought on planet earth.  Looking at the world situation today I do believe that the rapture can happen very soon.

            My Steps of Faith for Today:  I am trusting the Lord with the kind of care my wife is doing to rid her body of any leftover cancer, if there is any left over, and to keep her body strong in order to fight any cancer that may come later.

8/4/2025 11:08 AM