He's saying that in the coming kingdom, you will be with Me. You'll sit with Me. There will be 12 thrones, 12 realms of authority and rulership that I will give you; that you will rule over, and govern, on My behalf - the 12 tribes of Israel.
We know that Israel had 12 tribes; and although they've been scattered, they will be gathered; and those in charge of them, who will rule them, guide them, direct them, govern them... will be the 12 apostles.
When are these rewards to come? The rewards that God has in mind are eternal rewards. That means they're not temporary.
God does give temporary rewards. We are blessed with temporary rewards. We have a house, we have cars, friends, we have blessings, and favour - these are all temporary things. In the end, they all pass away, you leave them all behind. Everything you can see; if you can see it, and touch it, then it can be left behind; but there are also eternal rewards.
Eternal rewards are given to us at the second coming of Christ, when He comes again - and that's a whole teaching of its own, what that looks like, and what that will involve. Jesus taught this directly…
Matthew 16:27 - “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father and the angels, and He will reward each, according to his works.”
He said: when the Son of Man comes, in the glory of His Father with His angels... (he's talking about the second coming of Jesus Christ, which is the great hope of the church) ...then He will reward each one. He's talking to His disciples, so every disciple, every follower of Christ, will face an encounter with the Lord; and at stake, will not be whether you go to heaven on earth, or heaven, or not. What's at stake will be: what level of reward (or not).
Revelations 22:12 - “Behold, I am coming quickly, My reward is with Me, to give every one according to his works.”
Notice there that it's our work, it's what we did; and we'll have to explore that a bit more, what's required of us, in another session. But notice the thing we're bringing out here, is that eternal rewards are connected to the coming of Jesus Christ. Both of those scriptures indicate that, and Jesus also taught the same thing in His parables.
When He taught in the parables, particularly Matthew 24 and 25, He taught about the second coming. They asked Him: when are You coming again; what are the signs of the End of the Age; what are the signs of You coming - and He gave several parables. Each one of the parables has to do with the issue of reward or loss at His coming.
The first one is the Parable of the Wise and Faithful Servant, Matthew 24:45-51. The issue there was how he handled himself in the house of God; and the issue is reward or loss. The reward is authority and responsibility in the coming kingdom.
Then from Matthew 24, it goes on to Matthew 25:1-13, the Wise and Foolish Virgins; and again, the issue of reward - some were rewarded, some lost the reward. What was the reward? Entrance to the celebration of the Marriage Supper of Jesus Christ.
The third one He mentioned is in Matthew 25:14-30, and it's about the faithful servant, or the productive servants. Again, the issue is reward or loss; and the reward offered there is authority and responsibility in the coming kingdom.
There are more like this. There's another one in Luke 19:11-27, also about the faithful servant, and the issue again is reward or loss; and the reward at stake is: authority over cities, to rule over groups of people in the coming kingdom, and establish God's order, and peace, and prosperity… in governance.
You understand then, that in being faithful over little, God responds with much. It's just like the: $2 now; or $1000 in a week. It's like, you just can hardly compare the two! All these parables are stories with a lesson, and all of them are parables about the kingdom, about the coming of the Lord, and the need to prepare. In every one of the parables there's reward. Some are rewarded; some lose their reward, and some suffer loss; but in every one of the stories, there are some actions people did, which others didn't do, that resulted in reward. All of these have in common: reward and loss; and the timing of it is to do with the coming of the Lord, the return of the Lord.