Reign of the Saints

Satan was cast out of Heaven because of the exaltation of the “Son” destined to “shepherd the nations.” Jesus is the “Ruler of the Kings of the Earth” and his victorious saints reign with him. Their royal status is based on his Death and Resurrection. He is the “faithful witness” and the “firstborn of the dead.” By his blood, he “freed us from our sins and made a kingdom, priests for his God” – (Revelation 1:4-6).

This priestly kingdom is presented in the Book of Revelation as a present reality. As “priests,” the saints mediate the “Testimony of Jesus” to the nations. Priesthood defines their reign on the Earth. They overcome the Dragon “through the word of our Testimony.” The Book summons the Church to persevere in her witness before humanity - (Revelation 1:5-6, 5:9-10, 12:11, 12:17).

[Photo by Sandra Ahn Mode on Unsplash]

The rule of the “saints” is paradoxical. They “reign” victoriously while persevering through persecution and even martyrdom. By their “Testimony,” they participate with the “Son of Man” as he “shepherds” the nations to “New Jerusalem” - (Revelation 1:4-6, 2:27, 3:20-21, 5:5-7, 12:5-11).

We qualify to reign with Jesus, the “faithful witness,” as he did. “He that overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father in his throne” – (Revelation 3:21).

In Chapter 5, the four Living Creatures and the twenty-four Elders praised the freshly slain “Lamb” because “you were sacrificed and purchased for God with your blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and made them for our God a kingdom and priests, and they are reigning upon the earth.” The redeemed saints reign with Jesus on the Earth, not from Heaven, and in the present.

This raises the question about the saints reigning during the “thousand years” in Chapter 20. Does the passage describe another and separate reign of the saints?

In the Book of Daniel, the prophet saw “thrones” surrounding the “Ancient of Days.” The identity of those on these thrones becomes clear in Revelation, namely, the victorious saints. This very thing was promised to the church at Laodicea by Jesus - (Revelation 3:21 - “To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne”).

• (Revelation 20:4-6) – “And I saw thrones and they sat upon them, and judgment was given for them, and I saw the souls of them who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and such as had not done homage to the beast or to his image, nor had received the mark upon their forehead or upon their hand, and they lived and reigned with the Christ for a thousand years.  The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Happy and holy is he that has a part in the first resurrection: upon these, the second death has no authority; but they shall be priests of God and of the Christ, and they will reign with him for the thousand years.”

After Satan was banished to the Abyss, “judgment was given.” The Greek clause means that “judgment was given for the saints.” This alludes to the judgment scene in Daniel when the “Son of Man” appeared before the “Ancient of Days” and received the kingdom on behalf of his “saints” - (Daniel 7:9-14).

Judgment “for the saints” means a judicial sentence in their favor or the bestowal of judicial authority. Considering the emphasis on “reigning,” the latter is the correct sense. So, also, in the passage from Daniel, judgment was made “for the saints,” and it meant their “possession of the Kingdom.”

The verbal links mean that the reign of the saints as “priests” for the “thousand years” describes the same reality as the earlier statements about this “Kingdom of Priests” that rules on Earth because of Christ’s Death and Resurrection.

MARTYRDOM

During the “thousand years,” the saints were “beheaded because of the Testimony of Jesus.” This identifies them as the saints who were persecuted for their “Testimony” by the “Beast from the Sea,” and as those persecuted by the “Dragon” because they had the “Testimony of Jesus” - (Revelation 1:9, 6:9, 11:7, 12:11, 12:17).

The passage in Chapter 20 does not mean that only those killed for their “Testimony” reigned with Jesus. This company included “such as did not render homage to the Beast.” Refusal to give allegiance to the “Beast” meant economic deprivation and other forms of suffering.

Jesus is the “first and the last, who was dead and lived” - (kai ezésen). Likewise, the overcoming saints “lived” for the “thousand years” (ezésan). The passage in Chapter 20 includes verbal links to the letter given to Smyrna in Chapter 2 warning that the congregation would experience “tribulation for ten days.” The “ten days” is the source for the number, the “thousand” years. Numbers in Revelation are figurative, not literal - (Revelation 2:8-10).

The “first resurrection” meant victorious saints would not participate in the “Second Death.” There is no mention of a “second resurrection” or a “first death.” The passage juxtaposes the “first resurrection” with the “Second Death.” The “saints” who persevere in the “Testimony of Jesus” avoid the “Second Death,” but not necessarily physical death.

The members of the Assembly in Smyrna who remained faithful “unto death” would not “be hurt by the Second Death.” As for the “rest of the dead,” they would not be cast into the “Lake of Fire” until the Great White Throne of Judgment. Thus, they “lived not until the thousand years ended” - (Daniel 1:14, Revelation 2:7-11, 11:15-19, 20:11-15, 21:8).

The “thousand years” is a picture of the time between the coronation of the “Lamb” following his resurrection and the release of the “Dragon” for the “short time” when he will attempt to destroy the saints. In the meantime, the Devil persecutes the followers of the “Lamb” when and where he can, but he is not authorized to deceive the nations and lead them to exterminate the Church worldwide until the end of the “thousand years” – (Revelation 12:12, 20:7-9).

Overcoming believers “reign with Christ” by persevering in their “Testimony of Jesus” even when doing so means persecution and death. In this way, they advance the “Kingdom of God” on the Earth and illuminate the way to the “holy city, New Jerusalem” for the nations and the “Kings of the Earth.”

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RELATED POSTS:

• The Age of Salvation - (The Gospel of the Kingdom announced by Jesus offers salvation and life to all men and women of every nation and people)

• His Witnesses - (The men purchased from every nation by the Lamb become his priestly witnesses who persevere in the Testimony of Jesus)

• Priestly Kingdom - (Disciples reign with Jesus as priests who render service in his Tabernacle and mediate his light and Word in the World)