Michael F. Bird
The ultimate destination of believers is not our immortal souls experiencing disembodied bliss among the angels in some kind of cloud-like cathedral where we sing “10,000 Reasons” ten thousand times. If that’s your view, then you need to read Revelation 21–22, 2 Peter 3, and finish off with a dose of N. T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope and God’s Homecoming.
In biblical perspective, the ultimate destiny of God’s people is for God to dwell with them in the new creation, the marriage of the new heavens and new earth, the day when God fills all things in every way (1 Cor 15:28). A place, I imagine, where God’s holiness radiates like the sun, joy fills the atmosphere like oxygen, and wondrous anthems of praise will forever bless and celebrate the Lamb who took away our sins and made all things new.
What will we do there? If the book of Revelation is anything to go by, then worship will be a huge part of life in the new creation. However—and I’m thinking here of children who are terrified that eternity sounds like one long church service—we will do more than worship in song. If we are attentive to the testimony of Scripture, we learn the saints will “reign” with Jesus over the new creation! The people of God in their glorified estate will participate in the exercise of God’s sovereignty over the new creation in order to deal with the unfinished business of the old order and to further the renewal, peace, love, and glory of the new creation.
If this is new to you, it shouldn’t be, since—as we’ll see—this picture of God reigning with or through humans is sown into the biblical picture. It is (almost) everywhere.
Table of contents
Humanity as kings of creation
First, consider Genesis 1, where humans are created to be custodians and curators of creation:
And God said, “Let us make humankind in our image and according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of heaven, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every moving thing that moves upon the earth.” So God created humankind in his image, in the likeness of God he created him, male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of heaven, and over every animal that moves upon the earth.” (Gen 1:26–28 LEB)
As I’ve argued elsewhere, the “image of God” is not a quality humans possess. It is rather a royal status given to humans, a calling, with brings with it tasks to fulfill the creation mandate spelled out in Genesis 1:26–28. Humans are God’s image in the way that one might be appointed manager of a Chick-fil-A restaurant. Humans are called to important responsibilities, from farming chickens to cultivating entire ecosystems, as part of our divinely authorized vocation.
As we will see, humanity was made and called to be kings and priests of God’s creation. Even with the fall of humanity into sin and the curse infesting the natural world that the fall introduced, that human vocation has not been lost. Even amidst moral and natural evils, humans are still the caretakers of creation, a role that climaxes in the exalted Jesus, and will be fully and finally perfected in humanity in the new creation.
The idea of the image of God is rehearsed so memorably in Psalm 8:
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas. (Ps 8:4–8 NIV)
You see here the same idea. Humans might be lower than the angels in terms of powers and heavenly access, yet they have received a majestic calling to be God’s regents over the world: subduing it, serving it, preserving, protecting it, like a royal family caring for their estate and all its inhabitants.
Israel as a kingdom of priests
What Adam and Eve were in Eden, Israel was meant to be in Canaan: a kingdom of priests (Exod 19:5-6), providing a paradigm of what humanity is supposed to look like before the nations of the world. God’s purposes for humanity were telescoped into and concentrated within Israel. Israel was meant to model, as best they could, what it meant to be in covenant relationship with God, worshipping the creator rather than the creature, even as they cared for the land with law, sabbath, Jubilee, and wisdom.
Israel did not always live up to this paradigm. They often imitated the worst of the nations, and they did not succeed in fulfilling the creation mandate themselves. In fact, it went so bad that much later, after the destruction of the temple and sacking of Jerusalem in AD 70, a Jewish seer would complain to God that Israel was meant to be ruling over the “beasts” (i.e., the pagan nations), and yet it was the beasts who were ruling over Israel.
All this I have spoken before you, O Lord, because you have said that it was for us that you created this world. As for the other nations that have descended from Adam, you have said that they are nothing and that they are like spittle, and you have compared their abundance to a drop from a bucket. And now, O Lord, these nations, which are reputed to be as nothing, domineer over us and devour us. But we your people, whom you have called your firstborn, only begotten, zealous for you, and most dear, have been given into their hands. If the world has indeed been created for us, why do we not possess our world as an inheritance? How long will this be so? (2 Esdras 6:55–59 NRSVue)
This is kind of like saying we are meant to be the zoologists and zookeepers, but the animals have risen up and have taken over the zoo and have stuck us in cages to be tormented!
One like a Son of Man
So what is the solution to this problem? Does God tell humanity that they bombed out on their job, so the vocation of ruling over creation should be given to angels or even ants (after all, ants are industrious rather than indolent; see Prov 6:6)?
No, the solution to this problem is not to abandon the project of Adam’s progeny and the holy nation fulfilling this human vocation to rule righteously on God’s behalf. Rather, what is needed is a new Adam, a renewed Israel, a true humanity who will fulfill this royal and priestly task. Enter Daniel’s Son of Man.
Now Daniel 7 and the Son of Man is a huge hornet’s nest of interpretive debate that I do not want to kick over right now. Suffice to say, Daniel has a vision about four pagan kingdoms who each oppress, afflict, and tear pieces off God’s people (i.e., the saints of the Most High). God’s ultimate answer to them is the “one like a Son of Man,” a heavenly figure with both angelic and human qualities who represents God’s reign, God’s anointed king, and God’s holy people.
The human-like figure approaches the Ancient of Days, then we read:
In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (Dan 7:13–14 NIV)
In the interpretation of the vision, we are told:
The four great beasts are four kings that will rise from the earth. But the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever. (Dan 7:17–18 NIV)
After the fourth beast and the arrogant little horn has been defeated, then:
But the court will sit, and his power [the arrogant horn’s] will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him. (Dan 7:26–27 NIV)
The vision promises that despite these pagan kingdoms eating their fill of Israel’s flesh, one day they will be defeated and the heavenly enthronement of the one like a Son of Man will be mirrored in the nations of the world, paying obeisance and obedience to the renewed people of God.
Jesus as the messianic solution
Daniel 7 was given a messianic interpretation in the Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran, in the parables of 1 Enoch, and of course in the early church. Many times in his career, Jesus emphasized his “authority” as the “Son of Man” (Matt 9:6; John 5:27) as well as the Son of Man’s enthronement and prerogative to exercise judgment (Matt 16:28; 19:28–30; 24:30; 26:64). Accordingly, in their messianic interpretation of Israel’s Scriptures, the early church identified Jesus as the ultimate king in the manner of Psalm 2 and the ultimate human being in the manner of Psalm 8 (see Heb 1:5; 2:5–9).
Jesus was raised with a glorified physical human body. Not an angelic body, but a human body fit for eternity. Thus, when Jesus is exalted to the right hand of the Father, he does not lay aside his humanity like a person disrobing themselves of a monkey-suit from a Halloween costume party. No, he retains his glorified humanity. Forever.
What this means is big, huge, absolutely astounding. It means that God’s purpose for humanity—to have a human at the helm of the universe, for there to be a faithful human prime minister for cosmic affairs, for there to be a human mediator and regent for the world—is now at last true. Jesus fulfills the human vocation of Genesis 1:26–28 and Psalm 8:6. He is the Son of Man who receives dominion, power, and glory. He is the Davidic king and Melchizedekian high priest who brings order to the world and holiness to creation.
Whereas the first Adam sinned, and consequently sin reigned in death (Rom 5:12), now, because of the obedience of the new Adam, “grace might reign to the life of the age to come, through Jesus the Messiah, our Lord” (Rom 5:21 NTFE).
The church as God’s renewed people
It is in that reign of grace that the church exercises its vocation to reign beside the risen and exalted Lord Jesus.
This is why Jesus implied that his disciples would participate in his messianic reign over a renewed Israel:
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matt 19:28 NIV)
This “judging” could either be the exercise of judicial authority over Israel or, somewhat like Israel’s famous judges, the leading of the nation in the times ahead. In either case, the disciples will have prominent positions over a restored Israel in the age to come.
It is for such reasons that Paul admonished the Corinthians for squabbling over petty disputes in pagan courts when they are supposed to be readying themselves to preside over a tribunal that will hold fallen angels to account! “Don’t you realize that we will judge angels? So you should surely be able to resolve ordinary disputes in this life” (1 Cor 6:3 NLT).
In Paul’s list of trustworthy sayings for Timothy to remember, he said, “If we endure hardship, we will reign with him” (2 Tim 2:12 NLT).
Turning to the book of Revelation, we see all the above Scriptures, promises, and themes come together. The whole prophecy looks forward to a day when “The world has now become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever” (Rev 11:15 NLT). In that reign of Jesus, there is room made for many deputies. In John’s vision of the heavenly worship of the Lamb, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders sing a song praising how Jesus has “made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will rule on earth” (Rev 5:10 CEB). In the “millennium,” the martyrs “came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years” and “they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years” (Rev 20:4, 6 CSB). Then, in one of the final scenes of the book, as we find descriptions of the new creation, we are told, “Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever” (Rev 22:5 CSB).
We will reign with him forever!
Consider what this means.
Eternity will be far more than a hymn-fest. Oh, there will be hymns and songs of praise to our God and his Messiah, but we will do far more than that.
- We will preside in judgment over fallen angels.
- We will be leaders over a renewed people of God.
- We will be kings (and queens) over a new creation and priests over a reconciled universe.
We will be custodians and curators of the new heavens and the new earth, just as God had intended for Adam. This finds its fulfillment in the new Adam who is himself the firstborn of many brothers and sisters. We will participate in the dominion which the exalted Jesus established and perfected, and the church triumphant will reign with her Lord forever. The government of the universe will be upon the shoulders of the Lord Jesus (Isa 9:6), and the burden of such government will be shared with and even delegated to the kingdom of priests who accompany him in his sovereign glory (Exod 19:5; Rev 5:10).
We will be singing in heaven, but we will be singing as we put our shoulder to the wheel of our new creation labors, singing in the reign we share with the Lord Jesus!
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Resources for further study
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