Basic HTML Version
people to be a light to the rest o f the
wo rld. They were chosen- no t as fa–
vorites- but with a job to perform
which they have utterly failed to ac–
complish. During the coming thou–
sand-year reign of Christ, however.
a ll of Israel wi ll be reunited with the
house of J udah and together they
wi ll be the chief na tions of the earth,
under Christ, to help set the ex–
ample a nd carry His governme nt to
a ll the earth.
In Ezekie l 37: 15-28, God shows
His purpose is to reunite Israel and
Judah. Speaking o f these two sepa–
rate nations, who separated nearl y a
thousand years before the bi rth of
Christ, He says: " And
1
wi ll make
them one nation in th e la nd upon
the mountains o f Israe l; and one
king sha ll be a king to them a ll : and
they shall be no more two nations.
neithe r shall they be divided into
two kingdoms a ny more at a ll"
(verse 22).
Under Christ as King of kings,
the resurrected David will again be
the direct king over the reunited
house of Israel. "And David my ser–
vant shall be king over them; and
they all shall have one shepherd :
they shall a lso walk in my judg–
ments. and observe my statutes, a nd
do them" (verse 24).
Rulers Under David
Under David , each of the twe lve
tribes o f Israel will have its own in–
dividual gove rn o r- o ne of the
twelve a pos t les. J esus Himself desig–
nated them for thi s office before He
died : "Ye a re they which have con–
tinued with me in my tempta tions.
And
1
appoint unto you a kingdom,
as my Fa th er ha th a ppointed unto
me: tha t you may eat a nd drink a t
my ta ble in my kingdom, and si t on
thrones judging the twelve tribes of
Israel" (Luke 22:28-30).
The apost le John foresaw this in
vision and recorded it in Revelation
20:3-4. in a prophecy of Christ's
comi ng thousand-year reign- the
millennium:
"1
saw thrones, and
they sat upon them, and judgment
was given unto them."
Perhaps Pa ul- the apost le to the
Gentiles (Gal. 2:8)- wi ll be given a
position o f rul e over the Genlile na–
tions in thi s millennial kingdom. In
20
fact, he may be given a very high
pos ition since, compared to the
o ther a postles, he " laboured more
abundantly than they a ll" (1 Cor.
15: 10).
Those Christia ns who grow in
grace a nd in knowledge now in th is
life will also be given positions of
rul e unde r Christ during the millen–
nium: "And he that overcometh,
and keepeth my works unto the end,
to him will I give power over the
nations: And he sha ll rule them
with a rod of iron" (Rev. 2:26-27).
Again, in Revelation 5: 10, we find
that Chri st has "made us unto our
God kings a nd priests: and we sha ll
reign on the earth."
Jesus gave the pa ra ble of the
pounds to show Christians tha t in
this life we must overcome oú r
human nature, make good use o f
our time a nd talents accord ing to
G od 's laws, a nd prepare fo r a posi–
tion of rule and responsibility in the
soon-coming government of God on
this earth. Not ice Jesus' statement to
the man who overcame most a nd
gained ten pounds: "Well . thou
good servant : because thou hast
been faithful in a very little. have
thou authority over ten cities" (Luke
19: 17). To the man who was zealous
enough to gain five pounds. Jesus
sa id: "Be thou also over five ci ties"
(verse 19).
True C hris ti a ns are ca ll ed to
serve, under Christ. in ruling tha t
new world! Why isn' t tha t message
being preached in a ll the churches
today? It used to be.
The Real Purpose of the
Christian Life
As the well-known secula r historian
Edward Gibbon stated in the fif–
teentb chapter o f his famous book,
The Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire,
the early Christians be–
lieved in God's coming world gov–
emment: "The a ncient and popular
doctrine of the millennium was in–
timately connected with the second
coming of Christ. As the works o f
crea tion had been finished in six
days. thei r duration in their present
state, according to a tradition at–
tributed to the prophet Elijah, was
fixed as six thousand years. By the
same a nalogy it was inferred that
this long period of labor and con–
tention which was no w a lmos t
elapsed would be s ucceeded by a
joyful Sabbath o f a thousand years;
a nd tha t Christ, with a triumphant
band of the saints and the elect that
escaped dea th, or who had been
miraculously revived, would reign
upon earth until the time appointed
for the last a nd general resurrec–
tion."
Yes, the carly Christians under–
stood the purpose of God and the
reason tha t He calls sorne out of
each age into His Church: to pre–
pare for the world tomorrow.
True C hristians should learn to
obey a nd Iive by God's laws and
ways now so that they will be able
to teach and train others to live the
way of peace during the soon-com–
ing millennium when th e govern–
mcnt of God will ho ld sway over
this earth!
The saints will serve under the
apost les, prophets, and kings. such
as David . Fo r example, in each
tribe. headed by one o f the apostles.
will be sorne of the saints who have
overcome and Iearned to submit to
God's governmen t here and now.
As the parable of the pounds illus–
trates, sorne will be governo rs over
territories including severa! ci ties.
Sorne may occupy a n office s imila r
to that o f mayor under these gover–
no rs.
Othe r Spirit-born saints wi ll have
o ther jobs to do. No matter what the
particular office to be inherited, the
a ttitude o f the begotten ch ildren of
God should be tha t o f David :
"1
had rather be a doorkeeper in the
house of my G od . than to dwell in
the te nts of wickedness" (Ps. 84: 10).
Jn the Kingdom of God, under
Christ and the Spirit-born saints.
will be those human leaders who
will help guide the physical peoples.
They shall all be taught a nd in–
s tructed in God's laws which alone
bring peace: "And many peoplc
shall go and say, Come ye, and Jet
us go up to the mountain of the
Lord, to the house o f the God of
J acob; and he will teach us of his
ways, a nd we will walk in his paths:
for out of Zion shall go fo rth the
Iaw, and the word of the Lord from
J erusa lem" (Isa. 2:3).
The
PLAIN TRUTH January 1979