Matthew 19:28-29 “So Jesus said to them, "Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (29) And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.”
In this section we want to discuss how the saints will govern the earth during the Lord’s millennial reign. Although most believers have been taught that the saints will reign over the unbelievers during our Lord’s millennial reign, nevertheless not all believers have been taught that they themselves will also be governed by fellow believers during that time. And yet clearly our Lord Jesus has taught us this very concept, for in the above quoted passage of scripture Jesus taught us that the twelve apostles of the Lamb will judge (the same word also means to govern) the twelve tribes of Israel. Clearly the twelve tribes of Israel in this passage are referring to believers and not unbelievers. Although in this passage the Lord only mentions the twelve apostles of the Lamb ruling over fellow saints, clearly there will also be others that will be given differing levels of authority over fellow believers. For example, our Lord made mention of the two who would sit at His right and at His left in His kingdom; obviously those two saints will also be entrusted with a great level of authority over their fellow saints (Mark 10:40). The concept of individuals in the kingdom of God ruling over other individuals is not something new, for even among the angels of God we find that certain angels rule over others. For example, the scripture refers to the Archangel Michael and his angels fighting against the devil and his angels (Revelation 12:7). Clearly when the scripture refers to Michael’s angels, it is implying that those angels fall under Michael’s authority. And so we see that there will be a hierarchy of differing levels of authority in the church, beginning with the Lord Jesus at its pinnacle and the various levels of authority cascading down from there.
Luke 19:15-27 “And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. (16) Then came the first, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned ten minas.' (17) And he said to him, 'Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.' (18) And the second came, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned five minas.' (19) Likewise, he said to him, 'You also be over five cities.' (20) "Then another came, saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief. (21) For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.’ (22) and he said to him, 'Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. (23) Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?' (24) "And he said to those who stood by, 'Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.' (25) (But they said to him, 'Master, he has ten minas.') (26) 'For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. (27) But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.' "
Most Christians recognize the above quoted passage of scripture where our Lord taught the parable in which He describes rewarding His servants for their faithfulness in serving Him. In this account we see that when the Lord returns He will reward some of His saints by giving them authority over ten cities and others He will reward by giving them authority over five cities. As an aside, the word translated city can also mean town or village. So how will the concept taught in this parable impact the church in the millennium? We have already mentioned that the earth will revert to an agricultural society during the Lord’s millennial reign, which means that the population centres during that time will be no larger than villages of approximately 150 inhabitants[1]. We have also stated that the earth’s population during the millennium will be approximately 5.4 billion people. That means that there will be approximately 36 million villages on the earth at that time. We have also estimated that there will be approximately 250 million saints that will return with the Lord Jesus to reign on the earth. That means that there will be seven saints for every village in the earth. Clearly there will not be enough villages for each saint to govern even one village, leave alone five or ten. So how do we reconcile these numbers with the concept of reward taught to us by the Lord Jesus? There are two factors that we need to take into account in order to reconcile the number of population centres with the number of saints. The first factor is the hierarchy of authority that we discussed in the previous passage, i.e. some saints ruling over other saints. There is a biblical precedent for such a hierarchal structure of authority, which Moses put in place to assist him in the governance of the nation of Israel. At that time Moses appointed rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens (Exodus 18:21). If we were to use that hierarchal structure of authority as a template for the church, it would account for approximately 30 million saints being placed in positions of authority over their fellow saints. And so if we were to remove the 30 million saints from having direct authority over the population centers of the earth, that would still leave us with approximately 220 million saints ruling over 36 million population centers. That means that even if we were to allocate one saint to govern each village, it would still leave the vast majority i.e. approximately 184 million saints without any villages to govern. And so this brings us to the second factor which we need to take into account, which is the third servant mentioned in the above parable. That servant was given no cities to govern, and in fact he had his mina taken from him and given to the one who had the most. Clearly in this parable the unprofitable servant remained in the kingdom but he received no reward. The apostle Paul spoke about these saints as well, when he spoke about the one who’s works were burned up on his day of judgement and thus received no reward, although the saint was still saved (1 Corinthians 3:15). Many saints on their day of judgement will fall into the category of the third servant in the above parable, i.e. they will receive no reward. They will still be saved but they will not be deemed worthy to rule over any villages during the millennium. As an aside, in this parable the enemies of the Lord who did not want Him to reign over them refers to the unbelievers.
Isaiah 60:10-16 “The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you; For in My wrath I struck you, But in My favour, I have had mercy on you. (11) Therefore, your gates shall be open continually; They shall not be shut day or night, that men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles, And their kings in procession. (12) For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined. (13) "The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; And I will make the place of My feet glorious. (14) Also, the sons of those who afflicted you Shall come bowing to you, and all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet; And they shall call you The City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel. (15) "Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no one went through you, I will make you an eternal excellence, a joy of many generations. (16) You shall drink the milk of the Gentiles and milk the breast of kings; you shall know that I, the Lord, am your Saviour And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Although the saints will rule over the unbelieving nations during our Lord’s millennial reign, those same nations will also still have their own heads of state and governments, for the above quoted passage of scripture speaks of the kings of those nations. So how do we reconcile the concept of the saints ruling over the unbelieving nations, but at the same time those nations having their own heads of state and governments? We can reconcile that concept by recognising that the rulers of the unbelieving nations will be responsible for the day to day governing of their nations. The saints on the other hand will visit those nations and cities from time to time, to oversee the governing of those nations and cities by enforcing the adherence to God’s laws in the earth, for we have already seen that the saints will be dwelling in the Middle East and not in the cities or nations over which they will rule. A biblical example of this type of governance would be the reign of King David. During David’s reign there were many nations surrounding Israel that had been conquered by Israel. The inhabitants of those nations remained in their lands and still had their own leaders, nevertheless they were required to pay tribute and were subject to the laws that Israel imposed on them (1 Samuel 8:6-14). And so we see that a very similar scenario will take place during our Lord’s reign on the earth. As an aside, because the saints will have resurrected bodies in the millennium, they will be able to travel in the spirit between their residences and the population centres over which they govern. And so even if their areas of responsibility are located on the other side of the world, they will be able to travel there and back again in the blink of an eye.
Michael E.B. Maher
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