Question: I'm wondering if you could help me out with some thoughts on regenerate Israel's condition and function in the Millennium?
I've just started to have a look at this a bit again and at an initial look, I think there's quite a hands on role for the resurrected saints on the earth in the process of leading and reigning (Dan 7:22, 27; Mt. 19:28; 20:21-23; 25:21, 23; Mk 10:40; Lk. 19:17-19; 22:25-30; 1 Cor. 6:2-3; 2 Tim. 2:12; Rom 8:17, 21; Rev 1:6; 2:26-27; 3:21; 20:4-6; 22:5). I'm aware that Israel has a significant calling during this time, but as human government with its natural process (whatever it will look like then Is 2:1-4; Ps 72:11; 102:15; 138:4; Ps 148:11; Is 62:2; Zech 14:9) will still have to occur to enforce Jesus legislation globally, and because the current saints "will reign on the earth" (Ps 2:9; Rev 3:26-27; "as I also have received from my Father"; Rev 5:10), how would you say this will happen if during the Millennium the resurrected saints don't have much time in relating to the saved kings of the earth (Ps 72:11)?
Answer: There are a few magnificent difficulties that attach to certain views of the millennium that have been greatly exploited to oppose our literal interpretation of the millennium, and of the earthly conditions that prophecy depicts as peculiar to that time. This is one such problem. How are we to conceive of the relationship between the glorified resurrected redeemed and the unglorified saints of Israel and the nations that are manifestly dwelling in the millennial earth in natural bodies in an unresurrected state? Shall the resurrected immortals co-mingle and co-habit the earth on the same plane of existence with the myriads of both regenerate and unregenerate from among the nations throughout all past ages?
Mark that the inhabitants of the millennial earth are not all saved (Isa 26:10; Zech 14:18; Rev 20:7-9). Only in the Land of Israel among the natural descendants of Isaac and Jacob is the spectacle of uniform salvation a visible miracle of divine witness to be seen by all (Isa 54:13; 59:21; 60:21; Jer 31:34 etc). If understood in their plain literal sense, a number of scriptures show that God is quite committed to enforce universal acknowledgement of His special election of the literal Jew (Isa 61:9 et al) and literal Jerusalem as the geographical center of His theocratic rule over the nations. This too has given great pause to many that (on presumably New Testament grounds) are not so inclined to see 'literal Jews' inheriting such a privileged position in the millennial economy of God. So how does such a peculiar and mysterious convergence of circumstances work themselves out?
Though Israel will indeed have a unique stewardship of the Land and ministerial responsibilities that go out to the benefit of the nations, the rule of God over the earth is still from heaven, not in the sense of spatial location, but it is the spiritual rule that comes from heaven. There is no military enforcement of the King's rule, but there is reason that the Lord's rule is depicted as a 'rod of iron'. Divine authority is strictly enforced over nations that are not all regenerate. Non compliance with the rule that goes out of Zion is followed quickly by the curse (see Isa 65:20; Zech 14:17-18). Evidently, the law of the blessing and the curse is in force during the millennium. That's the picture you get from a literal reading. So where is the glorified saints that were translated at the last trump? Well, according to Rev 5:10 (the one passage that you rightly put in bold) they are reigning "on the earth."
We must all agree that the saints are appointed to "reign on the earth." But in what form? And what is the character of their rule? Certainly the saints of all time, as also the saints of the last tribulation "possess" the kingdom at Christ's return, and that kingdom is said to be "under the whole heaven" (Dn 2:35; 7:27). Certainly the earth is the place of Christ's future rule. Even most a-millennialists would agree; only they don't see it as the millennial earth, but the new earth of the eternal state. So the rule of saints over a restored earth released from the bondage of decay is not the question for either view, but pre-millennialists see the millennium as a necessary first stage of the endless rule of the saints 'on the earth'.
For the most part, the scriptures you cite only support what we all affirm, namely, that the saints will rule and reign with Christ, judging not only the world, but also angels. Only two or three might reasonably give pause to an invisible rule of the saints (not invisible, of course, to one another, but only to the mortal inhabitants of the millennial earth). One such passage would be Mt 19:28, where there is mention of the twelve apostles on twelve thrones. Another is Lk 19:17-19 where post-resurrection reward is reckoned in terms of rule over cities.
So there can be no dispute that the rule of the saints is 'on' the earth. They rule over cities, but they also judge angels. The judgement of angels suggests a new kind of existence. So we have to ask what form the rule of the saints will take? They rule 'on the earth', but what plane of existence is intended? One thing is clear, Jesus said that those that attain to the resurrection of the dead are 'as' the angels. Paul shows that after our 'change', we actually "know as we are known." I could go on, but clearly this implies a transcendent new kind of existence. The saints will rule because they share the very nature of Christ. His thought is their thought; His will their will. It is a rule that emanates out of our mystical union with Him.
I believe the saints rule over cities will be decided on the basis of their capacity for righteous rule as measured and quickened through the tribulations of this life, whereby reward is reckoned to the greater faithfulness that accompanies the greater conformity to Christ, some 30, some 60, some an hundredfold, and rule over cities, some five some ten, as given in the Lord's teaching on stewardship. The measure of rule is according to the in-wrought measure of Christ, which varies between individuals. As Christ was made unto us a quickening spirit, and as the angels are ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them that shall be heirs of eternal life, so shall redeemed men and women participate in Christ's rule much as the angelic mediaries minister His rule now, albeit the saints will have glorified bodies visible to one another but suited to the new glorified existence.
What will it mean to rule over cities? Will this require visible physical presence or visible means of transport? Not if we are 'as' the angels. Their conscious knowledge of the proceedings within the myriads of cities throughout the millennial earth will not be limited to bodily locality. We might ask what the the government of nations might have been if the fallen principalities and powers of the air had not fallen? The millennium will be a demonstration of this kind of rule, only the agents will not be primarily angels, but the perfected and glorified righteous of all ages who will be 'like' the angels in their resurrected existence.
The godly Adolph Saphir, and many other choice servants of God have intelligently suggested that the millennial rule of the saints will be 'out of Zion' from the vantage point of the places of rule once occupied by the fallen principalities and powers, but now ''re-occupied" by the glorified redeemed of all ages. In view of the mid-tribulational eviction of Satan from heaven in preparation for his thousand year incarceration, this seems more than a compelling theory. In any event, this much is certain: The millennial rule of the glorified saints of all ages is a necessary further stage in Christ's ongoing work of the subjugation of all things to the Father, a process that manifestly continues to the end of the millennium when all rebellion is finally put down (see 1Cor 15:24-28).
Therefore, the rule of the saints is no less 'on the earth', even as Christ's mediatorial rule over all the earth must transcend His more localized bodily presence. The resurrected saints have real glorified bodies wonderfully visible and identifiable to one another, but their rule over the earth is spiritual and mystical like Christ's. They are not angels, but they are 'as' the angels. Their rule will affect all things physical, but, like the risen Jesus, their rule is not spatially limited or confined. That is how the problem resolves itself for me. But I must confess that if I am seeing anything aright, it is at best very much 'in part'. I therefore sincerely welcome further light or correction. We desperately need each other in every way, even in our earnest desire to "rightly divide" the Word.
Yours in the Beloved,
Reggie
April 2009