Heaven (27 page)

The ongoing succession of Earth's unrighteous rulers should make us hun­ger for the day when our righteous God will rule,
not just in Heaven but on Earth. At stake is whether God's will shall be done on Earth. The answer is that it
willbe
done on Earth, for all eternity, under the reign of Christ and redeemed mankind, his servant kings.

God has never abandoned his original plan that righteous human beings will inhabit and rule the earth. That's not merely an
argument from silence. Daniel 7:18 explicitly reveals that "the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will
possess it forever." What is "the kingdom"? Earth.

Earth is unique. It's the one planet—perhaps among billions—where God chose to act out the unfolding drama of redemption and
reveal the wonders of his grace. It's on the New Earth, the capital planet of the new universe, that he will establish an
eternal Kingdom.

Daniel 7:21-22 says that an earthly ruler "was waging war against the saints and defeating them,
until the
Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed
the kingdom" (emphasis added).

The same earthly kingdoms ruled by ungodly human beings will ultimately be ruled by godly human beings. Christ's promise wasn't
figurative—the meek really zwY/inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). And they will rule what they inherit.

THE KINGDOM TRANSFER

Daniel 7:25 tells us that the saints will be handed over to the earth's kingdoms, which will persecute them for a season.
But then a stunning reversal will occur. "Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven
will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers
will worship and obey him" (v. 27).

The Kingdom will be God's, yet he will appoint his saints as rulers under him, and they "will worship and obey him."

What is the "greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven" that will be "handed over to the saints"? I believe it includes
all that makes the nations great. That would include, among other things, their cultural, artistic, athletic, scien­tific,
and intellectual achievements. All of these will not be lost or destroyed but "handed over to the saints" as they rule God's
eternal Kingdom on the New Earth. We will become the stewards, the managers of the world's wealth and ac­complishments.

Consider the marvels of this revelation. God's children who suffered under ungodly earthly kings
will forever take their place as earthly kings.
The great cul­tural accomplishments of ungodly nations will be handed over to God's people to manage and (I assume) develop
and expand.

The very Earth to which Satan once laid claim will be stripped from his grasp and given over to those whom he hates and seeks
to destroy—God's saints. Notice it doesn't say that the earth's kingdoms will be destroyed, but that they will be "handed
over" to the saints, placed under their just rule. All the wrongs done on Earth by tyrants will be a thing of the past. No
more persecu­tion and injustice. The Earth that was first put under mankind's dominion and was twisted by the Fall will be
redeemed, restored, and put under the righteous rule of a redeemed and restored mankind.

If the Bible made no other reference to believers ruling over an earthly king­dom, the emphatic message of Daniel 7 would
suffice:
The saints of God will rule the earth forever.

Many people believe that if God rules the universe, there's no room for other rulers. But this can't be true, because we're
told that "all rulers will worship and obey him" (v. 27). As we've seen from Isaiah 60 and Revelation 21, there will still
be nations on the New Earth, and they will still have rulers. But they will be
righteous
rulers, subordinate to Christ. People of every national and ethnic group ("tribe and language and people and nation") will
worship the Lamb (Revelation 5:9). Some will rule over cities; others will rule over nations.

AN EVER-EXPANDING GOVERNMENT

God says of the reigning Messiah,"Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end" (Isaiah 9:7). What does
this mean? If it was simply that the Messiah's reign will never cease, it would more likely say, "His government shall never
end." That's true, of course, but it's not the point of the text. If it means only that his government shall be all-encompassing,
it might say, "Of his gov­ernmental authority there will be no limit." That's also true, but again it's not the point. The
key word in Isaiah 9:7 is
increase.
Nearly every major English translation of the Bible renders the Hebrew word
marbiyth
as "increase" or "ex­pansion." In other words, Christ's government of the New Earth and the new universe will be
ever-expanding.

How could that be? Even if the New Earth were many times the size of the present one, wouldn't every inch of it immediately
or eventually be under his control and under ours as his representatives? If so, it wouldn't be ever-expanding. So what can
it mean? There are two ways in which a government can increase: (1) by expanding into previously ungoverned territories; or
(2) by creating new territories (an option not available to us as humans).

It may be that Christ's government will always increase because he will con­tinually create new worlds to govern (and, perhaps,
new creatures to inhabit those new worlds). Or perhaps it will always increase because the new universe, though still finite,
may be so vast that what Christ creates in a moment will never be exhaustively known by finite beings. From what we know of
our cur­rent universe, with billions of galaxies containing millions of billions of stars and untold planets, this is certainly
possible. The restoration of the current uni­verse alone will provide unimaginable territories for us to explore and establish
dominion over to God's glory.

Mankind's fall may have initiated a divine moratorium on creation. By anal­ogy, imagine a skilled artist who encounters difficulties
with one great painting, his magnum opus. For the time being, he sets aside everything else to focus on this one work to bring
it to completion. He's still a creator, still an artist. A hun­dred other dream projects await him. Once his consuming central
creation is fi­nally done, he will return to his practiced habit of creating newworks of art. (Of course, the analogy breaks
down because God isn't limited to one "painting," one act of creation, at a time.)

If Christ expands his rule by creating new worlds, whom will he send to gov­ern them on his behalf? His redeemed people. Some
may rule over towns, some cities, some planets, some solar systems or galaxies. Sound far-fetched? Not if we understand both
Scripture and science. Consider how our current universe is constantly expanding. Each moment, the celestial geography dramatically
in­creases. As old stars burn out, new stars are being born. Is God their creator? Yes. Suppose the new heavens also expand,
creating new geography in space and ever increasing the size of God's Kingdom. Will he fill that empty space with new cre­ation?
Will he dispatch exploratory and governing expeditions to these worlds, where his glory will be seen in new and magnificent
creations?

The proper question is not, Why would God create new worlds? That's ob­vious. God is by nature a creator and ruler. He is
glorified by what he creates and rules. He delights to delegate authority and dominion to his children to rule his creation
on his behalf. "Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end."

Is there anything in Scripture—anything we know about God—that would preclude him from expanding his creation and delegating
authority to his chil­dren to rule over it? I can't think of anything. Can you?

THE SAINTS WILL RULE

God's throne is referred to forty times in the book of Revelation, appearing in sixteen of the twenty-two chapters. In
The Biblical Doctrine of'Heaven,
Wilbur Smith writes, "The basic undertone of all that is revealed in the Apocalypse concerning the activities of heaven may
be summed up in this one word
throne.'"
¹⁷¹
Revelation isn't primarily a book about the Antichrist or the Tribula­tion; it's a book about God reigning. He reigns over
the fallen universe now, and he will reign uncontested over the new universe, with mankind reigning by his side. Concerning
the repeated references to our reigning over God's universe, Dr. Henry Grattan Guinness writes, "We must not regard this as
a figure of speech, but as the description of an actual reality"
¹⁷²

Humans are made to be kingdom builders, but history demonstrates that when we try to build without God as King, our "utopias"
become hell on Earth. "Tragically," writes Bruce Milne, "humanity failed to fulfill its calling as God's vice-regents. Instead
we have tumbled down to the dust from which we were taken and groveled on the earth instead of reaching to the skies."
¹⁷³
Pascal writes that man endures "the miseries of a dethroned monarch." He asks, "What can this incessant craving, and this
impotence of attainment mean, unless there was once a happiness belonging to man, of which only the faintest traces remain,
in that void which he attempts to fill with everything within his reach?"
¹⁷⁴

By rebelling against the King of kings, mankind abdicated dominion over the earth. But Christ will restore us to the throne
occupied so briefly by Adam and Eve. He will hand over to us the Kingdom. He said to his disciples, "Do not be afraid, little
flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the king­dom" (Luke 12:32).

SERVICE AS A REWARD

Those coming out of the GreatTribulation will be specially rewarded by being given a place "before the throne of God," where
they will "serve him day and night" (Revelation 7:14-15). Notice that the Master rewards his faithful ser­vants not by taking
away responsibilities but by giving them greater ones.

Service is a reward, not a punishment. This idea is foreign to people who dislike their work and only put up with it until
retirement. We think that faith­ful work should be rewarded by a vacation for the rest of our lives. But God of­fers us something
very different: more work, more responsibilities, increased opportunities, along with greater abilities, resources, wisdom,
and empower­ment. We will have sharp minds, strong bodies, clear purpose, and unabated joy. The more we serve Christ now,
the greater our capacity will be to serve him in Heaven.

Reigning over cities will certainly not be "having nothing to do." I believe that those who rule cities on the New Earth will
have leisure (rest) and will fully enjoy it, but they will have plenty to do. Dallas Willard suggests, "Perhaps it would be
a good exercise for each of us to ask ourselves: Really, how many cities could I now govern under God? If, for example, Baltimore
or Liverpool were turned over to me, with power to do what I want with it, how would things turn out? An honest answer to
this question might do much to prepare us for our eternal future in this universe."
¹⁷⁵

Will everyone be given the opportunity to rule in the new universe? The apostle Paul said that eternal rewards are available
"not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing" (2 Timothy 4:8). The word
all is
encourag­ing. "The Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free" (Ephesians 6:8). The
word
everyone
is again encouraging. It won't be just a select few rewarded with positions of leadership.

Should we be excited that God will reward us by making us rulers in his Kingdom? Absolutely. Jesus said, "Rejoice and be glad,
because great is your re­ward in heaven" (Matthew 5:12).

God will choose who reigns as kings, and I think some great surprises are in store for us. Christ gives us clues in Scripture
as to the type of person he will choose: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. . . . Blessed
are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. . . . Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3, 5,10); "'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' Humble yourselves,
therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time" (1 Peter 5:5-6).

Look around you to see the meek and the humble. They may include street sweepers, locksmith's assistants, bus drivers, or
stay-at-home moms who spend their days changing diapers, doing laundry, packing lunches, drying tears, and driving carpools
for God.

I once gave one of my books to a delightful hotel bellman. I discovered he was a committed Christian. He said he'd been praying
for our group, which was holding a conference at the hotel. Later, I gave him a little gift, a rough wooden cross. He seemed
stunned, overwhelmed. With tears in his eyes he said, "You didn't need to do that. I'm only a bellman." The moment he said
it, I realized that this brother had spent his life serving. It will likely be someone like him that I'll have the privilege
of serving under in God's Kingdom. He was "only a bellman" who spoke with warmth and love, who served, who quietly prayed
in the background for the success of a conference in his hotel. I saw Jesus in that bellman, and there was no "only" about
him.

Who will be the kings of the New Earth? I think that bellman will be one of them. And I'll be honored to carry his bags.