Called to Rule Now & Forever (Faith & Work, Part 4)
Series: Faith & Work (Part 4)
Authors: Drs. John M. Frame and Steven L. Childers
Title: Called to Rule Now & Forever
During the time of Moses, kings of the Ancient Near East presented themselves as bearing the image of God, as God’s representative vice-regents on the earth. In order to assert their dominion over a particular territory, the kings would often erect statues bearing their image.
The concept of the image of God was only used in reference to a few supreme rulers of nations. For example, Pharaoh was the only ruler in Egypt who bore the title “the image of God.” So it came as quite a shock for the people of Israel to learn from Moses’ creation account that God created each one of them in his image. Never before had the image of God referred to a normal person.
According to the creation accounts of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the creation of man is an afterthought. Humans are normally presented as the slaves or “the cattle” of the gods. But being created in God’s image communicates the intrinsic worth and dignity of not only who we are but what we do.
When God says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion” (Gen 1:26), he inseparably ties our image bearing nature with our task of having dominion over creation. Like statues erected by an ancient king to represent his dominion, we now bear the image of God and signify his dominion over all the small domains of our lives in the temple of God’s world.
The concept of having dominion over creation by ruling and reigning over it is foreign to most people. At first, it seems contrary to the humble life and teachings of Jesus who said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (Matt 5:5)” It’s one thing for us to “inherit” the earth, whatever that means, but to rule over it seems arrogant, even tyrannical.
It’s confusing until we understand what the Bible teaches about God’s call for all of his image bearers to rule and reign with Jesus Christ on the earth. The meek Galilean of the first century is now the resurrected and reigning Lord of lords and King of kings at the right hand of the Father ruling over all things.
The Scriptures teach that we are not waiting for Jesus’ return for him to rule over the earth. Instead, the good news is that “God reigns” (Is 52:7, Rom 10:15) now over all things through Jesus Christ, and when he returns his rule over all things will finally be unveiled for all to see.
The Apostle John gives us an amazing glimpse into Jesus’ final battle as the Lamb returns to earth as the Lord of lords and King of Kings. “They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.” (Rev 17:14)
Who are these “called and chosen and faithful” people ruling and reigning with Jesus over the earth at his return? The Scriptures tell us they are not an elite few, but a people from every tribe, tongue, and nation redeemed by the blood of the Lamb to carry out God’s original mission for humanity and creation to rule and subdue the earth through their work (Rev 5:9-10).
The Apostle Paul teaches that just as Jesus’ rule on earth has already begun, so our rule and reign with Christ has already begun. God means for our present ruling and reigning with Christ over all our domains in the world to be a foretaste of our future ruling and reigning with Christ in the world to come.
Therefore, Paul tells Timothy, his son in the faith, “if we endure, we will also reign with him. (2 Timothy 2:12)” Paul also refers to our being “raised up with Christ and seated with him in the heavenly places” as the very heart of the gospel message that “by grace you have been saved.”
God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Eph 2:4-7)
Paul immediately follows these words with famous statement, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph 2:8-9)”
But many people fail to read Paul’s next concluding, important verse: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph 2:10)
God’s goal for saving us by his grace, raising us up, and seating us with Christ in the heavenly places is “for good works.” So Paul tells us that we are God’s “workmanship.” The Greek word Paul uses here for “workmanship” is poiēma (ποίημα).
Paul uses this word one other time, in Romans 1:20, in reference to the “works” of God in his creation of the world. But here Paul uses the word “workmanship,” not to describe an individual believer, but to describe the one body of believers God has now created from Jews and Gentiles for good works. (Eph 2:14-16)
Then Paul makes a mysterious statement about these good works: “God prepared them beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Before we were even born, God prepared our good works to be a part of his unfolding plan for the world. Thus, we have no reason to ever boast about God’s work in and through us.
So what are these “good works” that cannot save us but that we’ve been created and now re-created in Christ to do? Jesus gave us a great summary of these good works in the Great Commandment:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. (Matt 22:37-40)
These good works of loving God and others are meant to encompass every area of our lives, including not only our families and churches, but also our work where many spend most of their hours in a normal day.
And even though all these areas of our lives are corrupt and broken by sin, God has created and recreated us in Christ to rule and reign with him over all of them as his vice-regents to make his invisible kingdom more visible.
What greater privilege could there be than to use all the resources at our disposal to help make “God’s kingdom come and will be done (in all our own domains) on earth as it is in heaven?”