God is Your Great Reward

by Pastor Paul Wolff

“The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.’” Genesis 15:1

---

Abram Believed God and He credited it to him as Righteousness

It is natural for people to think that we have to do something to make God think favorably toward us. This is yet another way that our sinful nature has corrupted our thinking and our attitude toward God. This is the pagan way of thinking about God. The pagan must manipulate his god in order to get something good, but in doing so, the pagan thinks he is greater than his god because if he gets what he wants, then the pagan is telling the god what to do. Then he views his god as his servant and he is the master.

The True God is much different than the pagan view of god. God tells Abram (later renamed “Abraham”), “I am your shield.” That is to say that God is the one who protects His people, of whom Abram is one. God needs no protection because God is almighty, but in His mercy and love He protects His people who are weak and vulnerable to the evil plans of sinners in the world.

God also tells Abram, “I am your great reward.” In the context of Genesis 15 Abram had just rescued his nephew Lot after he was kidnapped by evil armies. Abram assembled a small army of his household workers and defeated the armies of the four kings that overthrew the five kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and the nearby kingdoms. Abram did not accept a reward for this valuable service, but gave honor and praise to God who gave him the victory. In return, God tells Abram, “I am your great reward.”

Abram recognizes that God is saying that He will give Abram some great blessing, but Abram knows he is old, and whatever good thing that God gives him will pass to his heir, of which he has none, and because of his advanced age, and the age of his elderly wife, he is not likely to produce an heir. Yet God promises Abram that his wife, Sarah, will give birth to a son and Abram’s descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Then the Scriptures say that “Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.”

Jesus said, “Be faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life.” Jesus is our very great reward.“”“”

The blessing that God promised Abram was not only worldly wealth, though Abram was a somewhat wealthy person in worldly terms. The great blessing God gave to Abram was God, Himself. God said, “I am your great reward.” One of Abram’s descendants would be God in the flesh who would be the savior of the world – the salvation of all who trust in God to save them from their sins. This promise was first made to Adam and Eve on the day that they rebelled against God and fell into sin, and here it was repeated to Abram.

Scriptures say “Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” This is why Christians look to Abraham as our Spiritual ancestor, even though he may not be our physical ancestor. We believe in the same God that Abraham knew and trusted. We recognize Jesus as the Christ, the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to all faithful people since Adam and Eve fell into sin.

God, Himself is our great reward. He is our savior from sin and death. He became incarnate as a man to take the punishment that we deserved because of our sin. Jesus endured God the Father’s wrath over our sin, and suffered the death that we deserved. He did this to rescue you from that same fate. We receive this salvation through faith, just as Abram was considered righteous by believing God’s promises. Do not be afraid. God is your shield and your very great reward.