A Christian, returning from visiting one of the mighty cities of the world, was asked what impressed him most. He replied, “The great things they have been able to accomplish without God.” Cities are not only hubs of commerce and enterprise but places of governmental administration, and in Genesis 4 we find the origin of such tragic independence from God. Cain went out east “from the presence of the Lord,” building a city called “Enoch” after his son. The name, meaning “initiated,” exposed Satan’s wicked scheme to introduce world empires in opposition to God’s great kingdom. Cities are drawcards for tourists, displaying incredible feats of engineering genius. The next time you take your Christian visitors on a tiki-tour through the city, pause to contemplate the future – your future. While beholding the magnificent structures, some standing for centuries, consider that God will bring the entire works of rebellious man to a cataclysmic end, reversing Satan’s plans and establishing His own Capital City, where Christ with His Church will rule supreme. As we search this soul-thrilling topic regarding the Christian’s future kingdom occupation, we’ll divide our remarks into three sections: our secular, spiritual and sovereign administration with Christ.
Practical Administration
In our previous article, we noted our return to earth with Christ at the inauguration of His glorious kingdom. We must understand, however, that it’s a return to a world decimated by the consequences of sin. Scripture speaks of the Lord’s coming “out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity” and to “shake terribly the earth” (Isa 26:21; 2:19), and “not the earth only, but also heaven” (Heb 12:26; Hag 2:6-7).1 Stars shall fall as figs from a tree in a mighty wind (Rev 6:13). Entire islands will be swallowed up and cities levelled in the great judgment of God (16:18-21). The clean-up and re-build will be mammoth, requiring meticulous administration.
Previously, we observed Israel’s responsibility to cleanse their land. Overcomers in Thyatira were promised by the Lord that in millennial days they would be given authority (“power”) over nations as they tend (“rule”) them as a shepherd would his sheep (Rev 2:26-27). I suggest our Lord’s parable concerning the kingdom in Luke 19 previews such a time. “Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities” (v17). This was exactly the message Paul desired to rivet into the hearts of the Corinthians as they squabbled over petty matters. “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?” (1Co 6:2). This life is the training ground for rule in the kingdom, and how we sort issues between ourselves now will have great bearing then. The word “judge” is the same word for “law” used in verse 1, communicating a civil law court, indicating that in the kingdom we will be responsible for such matters in the world. It’s used in Acts 17:31 of the Lord Jesus, who will “judge” the (millennial) world in righteousness.
Priestly Administration
If the Church is viewed as a “city” in connection with our secular administration (Rev 21), it’s also pictured as a tabernacle, revealing our spiritual activity. Revelation 1:6 and 5:10 both reveal the incomprehensible prospect of being presented as “kings and priests.” Although 5:10 states that “we shall reign on the earth” in connection to mankind, the Holy Spirit informs us in 1:6 that Christ has made us kings and priests “unto God and his Father” in order that He may receive “glory and dominion forever and ever.” Peter informs us that as priests we are responsible to offer up “spiritual sacrifices” acceptable to God, so if we take this life as preparation for the next, we note the imperative nature of our genuine participation in local assembly worship. Worship precedes service, and maybe we should have started the article with this, but we understand that in millennial days God will receive His due portion from a redeemed Church.
As priests we are also responsible to “shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1Pe 2:9); likewise, in the kingdom we shall bear testimony to the grace of our God. Christ, who will be a priest upon His throne in the temple at Jerusalem (Zec 6:13), promised the overcomers in Philadelphia that in millennial days He would make them “a pillar in the temple of my God” (Rev 3:12). As James, Peter and John were “pillars” in the church at Jerusalem, faithful Christians shall be likewise identified in the millennium.
Another aspect of our priestly rule is in relation to angels. Christ, who became a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, returned to heaven, taking a place “far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come,” “angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him” (Eph 1:21; 1Pe 3:22). As “joint heirs” we are the only people group in Scripture spoken of as judging angels (1Co 6:3). Linked with the gates (our administration) in Revelation 21:12 are angels, and in connection with this our Lord spoke of a ladder set up on the earth reaching to heaven on which angelic beings shall ascend and descend upon the Son of Man (Joh 1:51). We shall have the lofty privilege of administrating affairs of angelic beings!
Princely Administration
Finally, Revelation 20:4 notes our reign shall be upon thrones. The 12 apostles will sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel (Mat 19:28), and the Church will be seated upon thrones to govern the world with the rod of iron in perfect justice. The sceptre of that kingdom is a sceptre of righteousness, and in Jerusalem shall sit the King of Kings upon His throne. His invitation to the church in Laodicea is astonishing: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Rev 3:21). When the mother of Zebedee’s children requested that “my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom,” the Lord answered, “It shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father” (Mat 20:21,23). Each of the Synoptic writers speaks of that glorious day when our Lord Himself shall eat and drink anew in the kingdom (Mat 26:29; Mar 14:25; Luk 22:16,30), with Luke recording our Lord’s promise that those who persevere in this time of “putting to proof” (temptations) shall “eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.” Closeness to Christ in the millennial kingdom will be real, and how we live the Christian life now will determine our place then.
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV.
