Glimpses of God
The Reward of Obedience
In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Genesis 22:18
Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye
shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is
mine: Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his
commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and
that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy
days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers,
to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the
people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because
they obeyed not the voice of the Lord: unto whom the Lord sware that he would
not shew them the land, which the Lord sware unto their fathers that he would
give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey. If ye will fear the Lord, and
serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the
Lord, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue
following the Lord your God: But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord, but
rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be
against you, as it was against your fathers.
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But this thing
commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be
my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be
well unto you.
Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord
our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the
voice of the Lord our God. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of
the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints
of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions
shall serve and obey him. And they that are far off shall come and build in the
temple of the Lord, and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto
you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the
Lord your God.
But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds
and the sea obey him! And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned
among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for
with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.
And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And the Lord said, If ye had faith
as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou
plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather
than men. And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy
Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.
And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in
Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the
faith. By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the
faith among all nations, for his name.
For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of
one shall many be made righteous. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal
body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath
believed our report?
But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to
the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the
obedience of faith: Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that
exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every
thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all
disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in
your ignorance: Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through
the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another
with a pure heart fervently: For the time is come that judgment must begin at
the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them
that obey not the gospel of God?