Our reigning with God and with the Lord Jesus will be in heaven during the Tribulation, then during the Millennial Kingdom, and then on and on for eternity. There are four Scriptures that we will highlight.

From our first passage in Matthew 19:27-28, it happened that Jesus was traveling with His disciples to Jerusalem. And after Jesus had confronted a young man, telling him that he must sell his possessions and give that money to the poor in order to obtain eternal life, he went away grieving; for he was a rich man. Peter then came to Jesus and said to Him,

“Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?” 28 And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Here in verse 28, the words “in the regeneration” refer to the regeneration of the earth in the Millennial Kingdom. Clearly, he was saying to Peter and all the disciples that they would sit next to Jesus, each on his own throne, reigning with Him. And their reigning seems to be specifically toward governing the twelve tribes of Israel. Hence, we have to conclude by this that the Jews will be the primary group of people during the Millennial Kingdom.

Luke 22:29-30

And just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you  30 that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

In this setting, the disciples were partaking of the Lord’s Supper (the last one); and they began arguing among themselves as to which one of them would be the greatest in the coming kingdom. And it was during this clash that Jesus granted them to eat with Him in His kingdom, and also to rule with Him. How gracious Jesus was to forgive them of their selfishness and to speak to them of how they would reign with Him. Jesus must have thought it was pretty important to tell them what they would do. I think He was excited about it, and He wanted them to be excited and ready for it—instead of arguing among themselves.

Revelation 3:21 

He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

This is the third time Jesus brought up the subject of reigning. But here it is not just His twelve disciple who will reign. It is he who overcomes,” which refers to all true believers. And it seems clear that at any time we are in heaven we will sit down with Him on His throne to reign. What a privilege that will be.

In the first two passages Jesus was addressing only His disciples which would rules over the twelve tribes of Israel during the Millennial Kingdom. But in this passage (Rev. 3:21) Jesus is addressing all resurrected believers—you and me. Hence, the disciples will have a special mission to rule over all Israel. But all others (who are resurrected believers) will have other duties. We don’t know what they will be; whatever Jesus assigns to us to do we will gladly do it. In general terms (as Revelation 3:21 indicates), we will reign from His throne—with Him. But more specifically, I think we will probably be assigned some region to rule over, or to do something else.

Revelation 22:5

And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.

This passage (vv. 1-5) is clearly describing the eternal state of every believer. We are His bond-servants (v 4); there will no longer be any night, because the Lord God will illumine us; and we will reign forever and ever [with Christ]. So, we are more than servants, we are rulers over the earth and the universe. We are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.

Now before we leave this topic, I want to include a few other verses. This subject is too important to leave anything out.

Genesis 1:26-28

 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Just before God created man, He commissioned him to rule over all the earth.” At this point man’s rule did not include other people, but in the end—in heaven—it would, as we will see. But clearly, from the beginning, God made us with the capacity, and a purpose to rule.

Matthew 5:5

 “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

The gentle can also be translated as humble or meek. They are true believers, followers of God. And I would say that the closer a person is to God, the more he will inherit from God.

Matthew 25:22-23

 “Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’  23 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

These verses are from Jesus’ parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-30). We must be careful not to read too much into this teaching; but here we may definitely see that our faithfulness now will determine how much God will entrust us with regarding our leadership in heaven.

Luke 19:17 

 “And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.’

This is a similar parable as Matthew 25, but it is a little different. In Matthew 25 the faithful servant was put in charge of “many things.” Here the faithful one is given authority over cities. Hence, we don’t really know what we will be given to do. But I’m sure we will be glad to do it.

Roman 8:16-17

The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

I love these verses. We suffer now on this earth as He did. But soon we will be glorified with Him. And we will share all things with Him as fellow heirs with Christ. I like what Randy Alcorn said. “Ruling the universe is a family business.”5  Indeed, we are part of His family and we share all things with Him.

1 Corinthians 6:2-3 

 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?

Here the application is to not sue our brethren, but rather to seek the Lord for wisdom in resolving a case ourselves—since we someday will be judges over many and even over the angels.

2 Timothy 2:12 

If we endure, we will also reign with Him;

If we deny Him, He also will deny us;

“If we endure” means that we prove that we are true Christians by our life. Then we will also reign with Him. But if we deny Him in this life, He will deny us when we see Him; and we will miss out on the great opportunity to reign with Him.

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5 Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.: Wheaton, Illinois, 2004). p. 211.