Chapter 23: Eternal Rule and Reign
It is established in Scripture that humanity was made to “rule”. Genesis 1:26 declares that God created man in His own image, in His likeness, to rule over the fish, birds, livestock, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground. From the very beginning, humanity was created to rule. We were made to be kings and queens. Even now, for we who are in Christ, we are called ambassadors.{dcxix} The truth of our condition is shown in how well we currently rule and reign. But what does that mean? What does that signify? If our notion of ruling and reigning is found in someone being “over” another, and therefore having the ability to “lord”, then we have left the faith.
Christ Himself told us that they who desire to be “over” must not “lord” over like the Gentiles do.{dcxx} No, the Kingdom of God is one of submission. It is founded upon righteousness and justice. It is a kingdom of love and service. To rule and reign with Christ means that we must be servant of all. If we desire to rule, we must serve. Indeed, serving is ruling. The waiter on tables, Stephen, was somehow so caught up with heaven that the Synagogue of the Freedmen could not bear him. Just by that title, I am under the assumption that Stephen’s very presence blew the whistle. It revealed their “freedom” as a lie. They claimed to be free, but they were enslaved. This man, a waiter, had more freedom and expression of God manifest through his life than the whole of the Jews from Cyrene and Alexandria combined.
Therefore, he was not tolerated. They stoned him.{dcxxi} What was it about Stephen that caused for such an uproar? If we think that there was something lacking in the persecutors, we are correct. Yet, if we think that it had little or nothing to do with Stephen, then we would be incorrect. The man himself had a face like an angel. What manner of a man is this? There was something intrinsic in the occupation of Stephen, serving the Body of Christ, that created in him godliness that few have seen expressed, and even fewer have experienced. There was a wisdom at work – the wisdom of God. For Stephen to submit under, and to serve, he was thus given a higher place in God. He attained unto greater glory through the submission that he bore.
That is what it means to rule and reign. Those who have the authority to rule and reign with Christ are not given that authority simply because they “did a good job”. Many pastors are going to be shocked when they find out that they won’t rule at all. Many homeless and poverty stricken nobodies are going to be shocked when they rule over ten cities. This, of course, is not the rule, but only used to make a point. The least shall be the greatest. They who are least among us, hopefully they are our pastors, will be exalted to higher stature in Christ. To be clear, this doesn’t mean that some will somehow attain to a closer proximity with Christ in the sense that they will have a different salvation or Spirit, but instead that they who rule will be given greater authority.
The issue of ruling and reigning is a touchy subject, because many enjoy the idea that we will all be at the same place in Christ in heaven. They enjoy that notion that says Spurgeon will have the same place as the casual Christian. Yet, we read over and over about the rewards given according to the deeds. Once again, this isn’t about a different salvation or Spirit, but instead about different rewards. For they who labor with fervor and passion, God will richly reward them. But for they who are casual and nonchalant about their faith, God will reward them according to their works. This is why Paul speaks multiple times about running the race to achieve the gold.{dcxxii} What glory is it if we attain to eternal life, but we have the eternal shame of only escaping as one through the flames?{dcxxiii} What we attain to in this life will be our eternal essence.
Now, in the issue of ruling and reigning, we have two subjects. The first is the Millennial Kingdom,{dcxxiv} and the second is the New Heaven and New Earth.{dcxxv} Some have said these are one and the same thing; however, I can’t agree. There are too many passages about Israel performing certain functions unto the whole world that can only take place in the Millennial Kingdom. The Marriage of the Lamb is the coming together of Israel and the Church unto their Husband – Christ. Israel shall be redeemed – the New Covenant being poured out upon them, and they experiencing what we now know, but to even greater glory. The Church, which is the remnant of Israel, will be resurrected unto glorified bodies to rule and reign with Christ for 1000 years.
There are only a few Scriptures in regard to the Church being the spiritual rulers in glorified bodies, but the references are indeed in both the Old and the New Testaments. Likewise, we don’t find many references to all of Israel attaining to that resurrected state until the New Heaven and New Earth, when there are kings and nations outside of the City of God that must come up to the city to take of the Tree of Life for healing. The people that are outside of the City are ruled over by the Bride of Christ, which is the unification of Israel and the Church in resurrected form. Make no mistake: The Church is not separate from Israel, but is the remnant within Israel. As that righteous remnant, our reward is the rule and reign with Christ for 1000 years. Those who are not worthy of this will continue to sleep in the dust of the earth.{dcxxvi}
Church as Spiritual Rulers
Those that are believers in Jesus now and are found worthy of ruling and reigning with Christ during this time will be the priesthood within the priesthood. They will be the priests to Israel as Israel is the priestly nation to the nations. This is the reward for that elder brother that will submit and serve the younger. We read in Revelation 20:4-6, “I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.” Jesus told us, “Everyone who has left father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”{dcxxvii}
In Isaiah 32:1, we read about a king that will reign in righteousness – Christ – and rulers will rule with justice. Could this be an allusion to the people that will be counted worthy to rule with Christ? Combine this thought with Psalm 112:5, which says, “Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.” Some argue with the passages and verses that say these sorts of things. We can see how this doesn’t come to pass many times over with some people. Yet, the truth is that those who truly do have a heart of generosity and lend freely, and those who truly do conduct their affairs with justice will inherit the Kingdom of God. The verses don’t always look to an immediate fulfillment in this life, for even of the great men and women of the faith in Hebrews 11 it says, “These people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.”{dcxxviii}
It isn’t about attaining the promises in this life; it is about the life to come. Daniel was promised to receive an allotted inheritance.{dcxxix} He died without receiving, and thus we know that he shall rise at the end of the age to receive that inheritance. Daniel will be one of the remnant that will rule and reign with Christ. In Jeremiah 23:4, God says that He will “put shepherds over” the House of Israel. Why the plural if it is only Christ, the son of David? Indeed, it is not only Christ, but it is instead the righteous remnant that has always existed in Israel. This is the Church. We are joined with the greats of the faith. Yet, we see that there is an Israel that will still not be raised unto glorified form; otherwise there would not still be an Israel that these “shepherds” need to tend.
Isaiah 66:21 speaks of a time when He will be in the midst of Israel, and the nations shall behold His glory, and it is at this time that God will “select some of them also to be priests and Levites”. Why does God need to select some to be priests and Levites? Wouldn’t Israel already have descendants of Levi and Aaron to inherit that role? This priesthood that is being spoken of is not sacerdotal, but instead of the Melchizedek form. They who are Melchizedek priests here and now, and who have lived their lives according to that rule, will inherit the better priesthood – the one that has neither beginning of days, nor end of life. It is this that the New Covenant is all about.
Zechariah 2:11 speaks of “many nations” that will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become His people. This would be the Gentiles who have been grafted into the commonwealth of Israel by the blood of the Messiah. We see at the end of Zechariah 14:5 that the Lord will come with all the holy ones with him. That is directly quoted by Jesus to let us know that He is the one who comes.{dcxxx} Notice the usage of the LORD in all caps, and that the one who comes is Jesus. Also notice that Jesus says it is the angels who come, and we find in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 a seeming allusion to that the angels (an archangel is mentioned) as well as those who have already fallen asleep will return with Christ.
In Romans 8:18-21, Paul mentions that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. Who are these sons of God? We find that the answer is given later in verse 23, “We ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Notice the sweep of Romans. In Romans 6, Paul stresses the resurrection reality here and now. In Romans 7, Paul stresses that because we have been buried and resurrected with Christ, we are no longer alive unto sin and the law. Therefore, because the law only binds those who are not dead, and we have already died, we have been set free from the bondage of the law, which is the power of sin. Then, when we reach Romans 8, Paul starts by explaining how this is why there is no condemnation in Christ, but Paul was not content to say that the resurrection reality that we experience is the full expression of resurrection. In Romans 8:23, we find that there is a fuller expression yet to come.
It is that fuller expression that happens when Christ returns, and we’re given our resurrected and glorified bodies, that the creation itself is then liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. This is a verse connected with Genesis 1:26. How is that the creation is liberated? It is by the greater than Adam – Christ Jesus our Lord – returning with all the holy ones, and our subsequent resurrection from the dead as well (in the twinkling of an eye at that!), that fulfills the mandate given from the foundations of the world: Humanity was to rule over the creation. That rule is a sacrificial rule. To give oneself sacrificially even to the creation – not to mention the very presence of God being made manifest through the glorification of Christ Jesus and His brethren – is the very thing that restores and redeems the creation.
We find in Romans 11:25 that “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in, and so, all Israel shall be saved.” This phrase, the fullness of the Gentiles, is one that eludes many. Paul is quoting Genesis 48:19. Only one time in the whole of the Bible do we find the phrase “melo-hagoyim”. The verse is translated in most English versions as “a multitude of nations”, but the actual Hebrew words would mean, “a fullness of the Gentiles”. That fullness being expressed through Ephraim, the symbol of Northern Israel, is found in the resurrection of the Gentiles. Only Abraham was told that he shall be a father of many nations, and now that same blessing is being spoken over Ephraim.
The many nations are they who are grafted in. That is not to say that the tribes of Northern Israel are “lost” and the Gentile believers have replaced them. In these prophecies, we’re being shown types and patterns. Zechariah calls Joshua the High Priest and all of his associates “men symbolic of things to come”. Here, too, we have Abraham and Ephraim being men symbolic of things to come. The fullness of the Gentiles is the full number of they who attain to this resurrection glory. When the full number of Gentiles overcome, and therefore receive a place to rule and reign with Christ, then all Israel shall be saved. This is the end of the age.
Daniel 7:18, being spoken by the interpreting angel, says, “But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever – yes, forever and ever.” Of these who will possess the kingdom, we read in Daniel 12:3 that they shall shine like stars. This should remind you of two New Testament passages where the same phrase is used. In Matthew 13:43, we have Jesus speak, “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Paul also quotes this to the Philippians when he writes, “Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.” Here Paul is expressing that they who overcome inherit this resurrection. Ruling with Christ is about overcoming, and overcoming is about enduring temptation and tribulation.
First Resurrection
“I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authorit to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.”{dcxxxi}
In the end, there will be a resurrection. One of the often referenced “rebuttals” of a first resurrection and millennial reign is an illusion to these verses. The question is asked, “How can there be resurrected saints along with people who are not resurrected?” While at first this seems like a problem, because it seems like God would raise everyone from the dead or no one, it isn’t really an issue at all. Jesus walked with His disciples and taught them for 40 days after His resurrection. The universe didn’t collapse because of that glory. Why should we assume that the resurrection of the saints would be any different? My contention in those who believe amillennialism is this: it says in Revelation 20:4-6 about thrones set up, and about reigning with Christ for 1000 years. What exactly is there to rule, or reign as the NIV puts it, over if everyone has been either been brought into the New Heaven and New Earth or cast into the lake of fire?
Even in Revelation 22:5 we see this language of ruling with Christ. So even in the New Heaven and New Earth there is something to rule over. While it might be true that humanity’s mandate in Genesis 1:26 was to “rule over” the creation, that in no way seems satisfactory in these instances. All things have been brought under subjection to Christ in the New Heaven and New Earth. The creation doesn’t need any longer to be worked. There is no darkness in Revelation 21-22, while in Genesis 1-2 there was darkness to overcome. There is no more sea in Revelation 21-22. Pretty well everything about the New Heaven and New Earth is different than in Genesis 1-2. I’m not convinced that the creation will need to be “ruled over” as in the Garden of Eden.
So what is the need for these thrones? We learn from Matthew 19:28 that the twelve apostles will sit upon twelve thrones judging the House of Israel. Yet, these thrones don’t seem to be limited to the apostles, seeing as the Hebrew parallelism is given to connect the thrones with those who have been beheaded by the beast. Those who have authority to judge are more than just the apostles. Upon thrones would be any who are found worthy. The prophets of old are included. The saints before the flood are included. Those who have come to stature in God, whether in the Old Testament, New Testament, or even in this age after the close of the canon, that they can truly be called priests of God have the authority to sit upon those thrones.
These thrones are eluded to in Psalm 122:5. “There the thrones for judgment stand, the thrones of the house of David.” David is a type, both of Christ and also of Melchizedek the priestly king. These thrones in the psalm are steeped in mystery, revealed ultimately in the millennial reign of Christ. They are also referenced in Daniel 7:9, where Daniel sees the Ancient of Days (compare the description of the Ancient of Days with that of Jesus in Revelation 1:14) and thrones along with Him.
David knew of his own resurrection in Psalm 17:15 when he claims, “I – in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.” Job had a similar revelation: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will se God; I myself will see him with my own eyes – I and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”{dcxxxii} Daniel was promised his place at this resurrection in the last verse of his book: “As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.”
It seems as though the whole of 1 Corinthians 15 is dedicated to this very theme. We read of Christ’s resurrection as a first fruit (verses 20 and 23), and the verses leading up to this explain the importance of that statement. We read of our resurrection: “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (42-44). Yet, Paul’s most vehement point is stated in verses 50-53: “I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.” This last point goes back to one of his first statements when he said: “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” The point is that Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, and because of this, we can truly hope for our own resurrections.
Yet, we know that there are two resurrections mentioned in Scripture: the first in the Millennial Kingdom, and the second for those entering the New Heaven and New Earth. These are not two different resurrections in the sense that what those who attain to the first resurrection receive will be greater, but rather that those who achieve the first resurrection will have the honor of ruling with Christ before the rest of the dead stand at the Judgment Seat. The magnificence of the resurrection is not different; the timing of the resurrection is what is different.
We find this resurrection to be made manifest to us in Philippians as well. The apostle Paul writes, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Again, he writes, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body”.{dcxxxiii} It is obvious that all of the apostles knew and believed in a resurrection from the dead, but what is often questioned is the timing of that resurrection. For this we turn again to Paul who wrote, “According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are let will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”{dcxxxiv}
Notice the wording. We have again a mention of the trumpet. From 1 Corinthians 15:52, we ascertained that the resurrection is at the last trumpet. When is the last trumpet? We find this being elaborated quite extensively in the book of Revelation. It is in Revelation 11:15 that we find the last trumpet blow. Yet, once again, we have the question of timing. Many scholars have done severe damage – and many laymen as well – in their interpretations of the book of Revelation. When we compare Revelation 8:5, 11:19, and 16:18, we find all of these verses speaking of an earthquake, a severe lightning storm, and hail. We see earlier in Revelation 11:13 a severe earthquake that causes a tenth of the city Jerusalem to collapse. It is possible that Revelation 11:13 and 11:19 speak of the same event, thus putting the two witnesses at the very end of the world. All of these verses are speaking of the same event, which means that the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls of wrath all mark the same moment in time. What moment in time is that?
It was from 1 Corinthians 15:52 that we so boldly assume that the moment in time is the resurrection of the dead. The resurrection of the dead is the return of Christ. How do I know that? 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 says that it is when Christ returns that the dead shall raise first, and then we too shall be caught up to be with Him. Yet, this verse needs to be dissected a bit more, because it is one of the main passages used to support the pre-trib rapture. Until then, we’ll simply leave it as a proof text to say that this puts the timing of the resurrection at the return of Christ. So, how do we know that there will be the resurrection at the return, and another resurrection after the Judgment? This should be obvious from simple logic. If not everyone is raised during the Millennial Kingdom, then there still remains a resurrection before entering into the New Heaven and New Earth.
Now, we saw in Revelation 20:4-6 that the qualification is priestliness. Why is it priestliness that matters? Priestliness is the quality of eternality. They who are priests are they who are able to separate the precious from the vile. They know the eternal realm because they live from the eternal realm. To be a priest is to be a minister of the New Covenant, and to be a minister of the New Covenant is to be arrested by the Spirit – to walk according to the Spirit and never according to the flesh. Violence is done against the ways of the world, because to be at rest with the world is to be at enmity with God. They who are bent upon the call of Heaven are they who understand the eternal purposes. To know the eternal purposes of God is to know the very heart of God, and if we know the very heart of God, then we know how to rule and reign. Ruling in the Kingdom of God is about servanthood. The true servant is the one who has true authority, because it is in that serving obedience to Christ that His will is manifest to our hearts.
The New Covenant, servanthood, priestliness, and walking according to the Spirit are all summed up in one term: the new heart. They who live according to the new heart that they have received by the Spirit, the circumcision of the heart that Jeremiah speaks of, are they that know the heavenly protocol. They know the ways of the Kingdom of God, because their very hearts are pounding to the beat of the Heavenly Jerusalem. They are not found worthy because of their efforts, but rather because they have entered that “Sabbath rest” that “remains for the people of God”.{dcxxxv} For, anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His. This is the resurrection lived out in daily life – to enter that rest by living from our new hearts.
All that now remains is the expansion of why resurrection matters. It is not enough to simply say that we shall receive “glorified bodies.” The truth is that all of creation will be resurrected; a concept implied in the term “New Heaven and New Earth”. There is a question that had bothered me for quite some time regarding the issue of darkness. In Genesis 1 we find that where there is chaos, God brings order. Where there is shapelessness, God forms. Where there is emptiness, God fills. Yet, what God does not do is eliminate the darkness. God creates light, and He sets up “rulers” over the darkness (the sun and moon), but God does not eliminate the darkness. Why is the darkness not eliminated like the other negative factors of that primordial creation?{dcxxxvi}
The answer to that question is the same as another question I had been bothered by. We find in the book of Genesis a pattern. This pattern extends past Genesis and to the whole of Scripture. It is a pattern of the younger being chosen over the elder. Abel’s sacrifice was accepted while Cain’s was not. It was through Seth that the redeemer Noah came. Out of Noah’s three sons, the youngest – Shem – was the one who gains the greatest blessing. It is not clear as to whether Abraham was the eldest or not, but concerning his children it was Isaac that was accepted and not Ishmael. Of Isaac’s children the prophecy came: “The elder shall serve the younger”. Of Jacob, also known as Israel, the adoration fell upon Rachel, the younger sister. Of their children, it was Rachel’s children that were most loved, both of them being the youngest of the twelve brothers. Of Joseph, we find Ephraim, the younger, receiving the greater blessing from Israel rather than Manasseh – something that Joseph himself tried to correct. Moses was the youngest in his family, and yet was chosen as deliverer of Israel. David was the youngest, and yet was chosen to be king of Israel.
The two questions are the same. Why did God not eliminate the darkness? Why does God consistently choose the younger over and above the elder? The answer to both of these questions is the resurrection. It would have taken Adam to be resurrected by eating of the fruit of the tree of life to overcome the darkness, and for humanity to then lead the onslaught against Darkness so that all of creation could overcome into resurrection reality to be at perfect fellowship with God. God kept the darkness because it was used as a cloak. He could hide behind the darkness, and therefore not kill Adam, for no one can see God’s glory and live. Yet, through the resurrection, and with our resurrected and imperishable bodies we shall see God face to face – even as Job put it: “In my flesh I shall see God.”{dcxxxvii} The issue of overcoming is the issue of resurrection. It is resurrection that would have allowed for the darkness to be vanquished and for the true light to shine fully upon the creation. This is why there is no darkness in Revelation 21.
The reason that God chooses the elder to serve the younger is because the old man, the carnal man, is to be subject to the spiritual man. It is a metaphor of resurrection displayed through genealogy and patriarchy. It all points to the resurrection – the only means by which we might be in unadulterated fellowship with God and live. It is the first resurrection that is the mechanism of teaching the whole world – even the nations – what it means to live by the Spirit, and what it means to walk according to the resurrection life. After the first resurrection, the dead are judged. It is that judgment that determines those who are able to endure the New Heaven and New Earth. Ability is according to resurrection. They who receive the Spirit of God and live from it shall inherit eternal life, but they who continue in darkness shall receive darkness.