“And They Will Reign Upon the Earth” (Rev 5:10)
Re 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 10 “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”
What a promise this is! Because the slain lamb, Jesus the Christ, has purchased lost men by His blood, and He has already made them a kingdom and priests, “they will reign upon the earth.” How encouraging such a message must have been to Jesus’ first-century followers in the seven churches of Asia. It is such for us today.
However, what does the phrase mean exactly? One’s overall approach to the Apocalypse will determine one’s explanation. Here are two alternatives.
[1] The futurist view
Keep in mind that there are many differences among futurists. This fact by itself should cause us to see the uncertainty and ambiguity of this approach. We must also be cautious not to assume that every futurist necessarily agrees with everything presented here. Each futurist who reads this article is certainly free to say, “This doesn’t describe my beliefs.” Yet, some or most futurists support what we present here.
Futurists often view most of Revelation as referring to literal, physical, “on-this-present-earth” events that have not happened yet. From Rev 4:1 until the end of the book, some futurists see a straightforward, chronological description of pre-written history. Since these events have not occurred literally, the futurist thinks that they are all yet to come and that they will take place shortly before the end of all things. Based on this approach, some futurists (not all) have, of course mistakenly, predicted the time of Christ’s return based on what they see as the fulfillment of these “end-time” elements.
Futurists who see Revelation as primarily literal do not begin with the very first claim of the book. It is an apocalypse. The apocalyptic genre is not primarily literal and physical but rather graphic, poetic, and symbolic.
The futurist assumes that what was future when the Apocalypse was first written is still future to the modern reader today. Because the text says, “will” reign, the futurist insists that the promise must apply to what is future to him. Christians cannot be said to have reigned on the earth in any genuine sense before the futurist’s own lifetime.
Let’s say that again! To the futurist, Christians on earth today cannot be said in any real sense to be reigning or to be sharing in the present reign of Christ. Christians do not have any sort of dominion, or at least such dominion is not indicated at all in this verse. This is very significant. We’ll come back to this!
The futurist also assumes that this refers to a physical, political, governmental reign. Some futurists (not all) believe that Jesus’ first coming was intended to set up such a worldly empire. They say that the crucifixion interrupted and thwarted this plan, and so it failed. Jesus will “try again” at His return, and at that point He will succeed.
The futurist also assumes that “reign upon the earth” means “reign over all the other people who live upon the earth.” The text does not say that. It does mention reigning over other people at all! It does not even say “reign over,” but rather, “reign on.” In other words, the text indicates that Christians will be kings on the earth, but it does name any human subjects whom the Christian kings will rule from their imagined thrones. By the way, the word “reign” (from the Gk. for “king”) indicates, not just authority, but rather a royal, even imperial control or supremacy.
The futurist will likely connect this promise with that of Re 2:26-27 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.
And, of course, he will also likely connect Re 5:10 with Re 20:4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
That is, to the futurist, “they will reign upon the earth” refers to an on-this-earth physical kingdom in which Jesus Christ is the Emperor and Christians are the kings reigning on thrones under Him. When Jesus Christ returns, He will not take us to His Father’s house where He has gone to prepare a place for us (John 14:1-6). To the futurist, Christ will land on earth and establish a geopolitical kingdom and set His disciples on thrones to reign over lost people as their kings.
The futurist view requires, at least for most futurists, two second comings. At the first second coming, Christ sets up the kingdom on earth. At the second second coming (actually third coming) He brings His disciples into the presence of God the Father,
[2] The present-reality view
To the futurist, there is no way that Christians are now reigning with Christ on this earth. That’s because of the way the futurist has predefined the words “reign” and “upon the earth.” By his definition he has excluded any other view in advance.
However, in the context of Rev 5, the emphasis is on the first coming of Christ, not His return. All creatures in the entire universe praise Him because of His victory. Note the text.
Re 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 10 “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”
It is by Christ’s death on the cross, by His blood, that He has already purchased lost sinners from every background. He has, by that very same act, already made His saints to be a kingdom and to be priests. For us to be in His kingdom implies that we share in His kingly victory. We are royalty.
This was already stated in the first cycle of Revelation (Re 1-3). The statement in Re 1 also connects the Christian’s kingship with Christ’s first coming. Re 1:5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood— 6 and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
In other words, according to the Apocalypse, Christ made us a kingdom by giving His life at His first coming to save us from sin.
“They will reign upon the earth” states a promise that was future at the time of Christ’s death but is not necessarily future to Christians living today. In fact, the New Testament clearly describes Christians as conquerors, even more than conquerors or super-conquerors, at the present time, here upon this earth, as a result of what Christ accomplished by His death and His resurrection. Even though we face all kinds of possible dangers, we still, in the midst of our circumstances, and in spite of our circumstances are super-conquerors.
Ro 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Scripture declares that God not only raised us up with Him (in our baptism), but also “seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” This is our position in Christ at the present time, as the result of His first coming and His resurrection. This is our present reality.
Eph 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Note also:
Col 3:1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
1 Jn 4:4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
Jn 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
1 Jn 2:14 I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
1 Jn 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Jack Cottrell, in his book, The Faith Once for All, writes the following:
Jesus Christ is already reigning over the whole earth, and especially over the church, from his heavenly throne. When he ascended into heaven, he was enthroned as King at God’s right hand (Ps 110:1; Dan 7:13-14; Acts 2:32-36; Eph 1:20-22; Heb 10:12-13). His kingdom is a spiritual reality; it is not of this world (John 18:36). He reigns now over those whose hearts are surrendered to him.
But the point here is that not only does Christ now reign over us, but also, when we are in Christ, we reign with him over all our common enemies such as Satan, sin, and death. In our conversion, says Paul, when God raised us up from spiritual death, he also “seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6; see Col 3:1-4); i.e., even now we are seated on the spiritual thrones of which Rev 20:4 speaks. Concerning the redeemed it is said, “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth” (Rev 5:10).
Thus “reigning with Christ” refers not just to some future heavenly glory but also to our Christian experience upon this earth. We already share Christ’s victorious power over sin and death. We have spiritual victory, through Christ, over Satan. Satan’s power over us as Christians is limited (1 John 4:4; Eph 6:10-17; 1 Cor 10:13; 2 Pet 2:9). The Christian no longer fears Satan’s dreaded weapon, death (Heb 2:14-15); death has lost its terror (1 Cor 15:55-57), since we know that there is no longer any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1).
Conclusion:
The futurist view, by definition, places its emphasis on what Christ did not accomplish at the time of His death and resurrection. Thousands of years (already 2,000-plus years) would pass between His victory and Christians’ reign promised in Re 5:10. The present-reality view, by definition, emphasizes the Christian’s right-now victory over sin and death, reigning upon this earth over sin and condemnation.
Addendum:
I noted above under the “present-reality” view that, since Christ has already made His followers to be a kingdom, there is a very real sense in which Christians reign on this earth right now. What was future when Christ went to the cross as the slain Lamb is no longer future to us after his death and resurrection. We have by his triumph been granted victory already, which we experience right now. The passage in Rom 8:35-37 bears this out. We are – right at this present time – more than conquerors, even in the midst of the difficult circumstances described there that we may face (peril, nakedness, sword, etc.).
When I first wrote this post, I did not include an important addendum. It has to do with the Greek text of Rev 5:10. Some of the most reliable Greek manuscripts actually have the present tense, “They (now) reign upon the earth,” rather than the future tense, “They will reign upon the earth.” The difference between the two readings is just in the presence or absence of one letter, a sigma, which marks the future tense. So the present tense word is basileuousin, “they reign,” and the future (with the extra sigma) is basileusousin, “they will reign.” The manuscript evidence is rather equally weighted between the two. God’s word is inspired, God-breathed, and without error. The same cannot be said of human copyists!
basileuousin – present tense.
basileusousin – future tense. The underlined “s” represents the Greek sigma that indicates the future tense.
In other words, it is just as likely that the autograph, the original text of Rev 5:10, read, “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they reign upon the earth.” Perhaps a copyist mistakenly added the extra sigma and changed the word to future tense. Of course, it could have worked the opposite way instead; the original future tense term may have been altered to the present if that sigma was dropped. Most English translations assume that to be the case, but the evidence does not require it at all. It’s well worth considering that the present-tense verb rather than the future-tense verb was that which God originally inspired. Obviously, that possibility adds further support for the “present-reality” view.
