Search
Scripture Reading: Rev. 5:7-10; 6:1; 7:2-3, 9-17; 8:1-6; 10:1-3, 5-7; 14:1-4, 6-7, 14-16; 17:14; 18:1; 19:7-21; 20:11-15; John 5:22; Acts 10:42; 2 Tim. 4:1; Matt. 16:27; 25:1, 14-19, 31-46; Luke 21:27, 36; 2 Cor. 5:10; Phil. 3:20-21; 1 Thes. 4:17; Rom. 11:26; Zech. 14:4-5
Genesis reveals that God created the universe and governs the universe (1:1—2:25). Ephesians shows that God created the universe and governs the universe according to His will and plan (1:9-10). God’s universal government is His universal administration. According to the Bible, God’s universal administration has been given to the charge of His appointed Christ (Acts 17:31; Rev. 1:5; 5:5-6).
God’s appointment of His Son as Christ is His appointment of Christ as His Administrator (1 Cor. 15:24-28; Rev. 11:15). Christ is God’s Administrator. Whether in the creation of all things or in the accomplishment of redemption, Christ was executing God’s will (1 Cor. 8:6; Eph. 1:11, 20-22; Col. 1:16-17; Heb. 1:2-3). Government, however, is a matter of administration; hence, creation and redemption are different in nature from government.
In the Old Testament Christ was responsible for God’s universal government after man fell and before He accomplished redemption according to God’s will (Ezek. 1:26). The purpose of God’s government at that time was to usher in Christ for the accomplishment of redemption. In the New Testament the focus of God’s government is on the application of Christ’s accomplished redemption. Christ is still responsible for the execution of this government. This chapter will focus on God’s universal government after the accomplishment of redemption.
Many pay attention only to Christ’s position in God’s creation and redemption and neglect His role in God’s government, God’s administration. The book of Revelation reveals this role to us. Revelation shows that Christ ascended to the heavens after He accomplished redemption, took the scroll of God’s universal government, and became a strong Angel to execute God’s universal government by placing His feet on the sea and on the land (10:1-2). In this chapter we will see the position that Christ occupies in God’s government.
Although millions of people have been and will be on earth from the time of Christ’s ascension to His second coming, they are represented by only three groups: the church, composed of the believers; the Jews; and the Gentiles, the nations on the earth (cf. 1 Cor 10:32). God will deal with the people on the earth based on their relationship to these three groups. The execution of God’s dealings with these three groups has been given to Christ so that He might have the first place and be the center in dealing with all people.
Among the three groups of people on the earth, those who have the deepest relationship with God are the believers, who constitute the church. On the one hand, they are God’s children, born of Him, and strangers on the earth (Heb. 11:13). On the other hand, they are obligated to serve Him and live to Him because they have been graced by God (Rom. 12:1). Their faithfulness in this regard will be judged one day, and a specific reward or punishment will be meted out to them (Matt. 16:27; 25:14-30). All the things that God intends to do in the believers have been committed to Christ, who has saved them and to whom they belong, so that He may be honored and glorified in all matters.
At the end of this age Christ will return to rapture His believers. Before the great tribulation Christ will rapture those who have been watchful and prayerful at every time in order to keep them out of the tribulation that will come on the earth (Luke 21:36). Before they are raptured, Christ is their hope (Titus 2:13); after they are raptured, Christ is their joy (Rev. 19:7). In addition, a hundred and forty-four thousand overcomers will be raptured to the heavenly Mount Zion as firstfruits to God and to Christ Himself (14:1). These are those who have loved and followed Christ. He is their goal; thus, “these are they who follow the Lamb wherever He may go” (v. 4). In His second coming Christ will be the Bridegroom to His believers, the One whom they love and for whom they have been waiting (Matt. 25:1, 13). As the Bridegroom, Christ will marry His loving and overcoming believers as His bride. What a glorious and sweet goal! Christ will bring the overcoming believers to His marriage dinner, and He Himself will be the center of that joyous feast (Rev. 19:7-9).
At the end of the great tribulation Christ will descend from heaven on a cloud to rapture the majority of the believers like the reaping of a harvest (1 Thes. 4:17; Rev. 14:14-16). Christ will transfigure their body to be conformed to the body of His glory and to be with Him in glory, according to His operation by which He is able to subject all things to Himself (Phil. 3:21). Christ will rapture them, transfigure them, and glorify them to be with Him forever. Christ will become their unique, beloved, and exalted goal (Rev. 15:3-4). In the new heaven and new earth Christ will come down to the earth in glory with His transfigured believers, and He will be manifested as the believers’ center of glory (21:2). In eternity Christ will shepherd His believers, deliver them from suffering eternally, and satisfy them so that they may serve God. In God’s dealing with the believers, Christ will be all to them eternally (7:15-17).
The Jews are God’s elect. Although God has set them aside temporarily today due to their disobedience, God will save a remnant of their entire race. In His salvation to them God has also given Christ the first place, making Him everything. Before the earth and the sea are harmed with tribulation, Christ as God’s Messenger will seal a hundred and forty-four thousand sons of Israel who belong to God (vv. 1-8). This reveals that God has made Christ the Executor in preserving the sons of Israel who belong to Him so that Christ might be expressed.
When Christ comes to the earth, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount will be split at its middle so that the remnant of Israel who are besieged by the enemy may have a way to flee (Zech. 14:4-5). Then He will come out of Zion in Jerusalem to be the Deliverer of the children of Israel so that their entire race may be saved (Rom. 11:26). This shows how God makes Christ the glorified center in His deliverance of the Jews. Without Christ the remnant of Israel has no preservation and no deliverance. Their preservation and deliverance depend on Christ. Christ is their all.
Although, relatively speaking, the Gentiles have the least to do with God, His dealings with them are still executed by Christ so that Christ may have the first place and be expressed in all things.
Revelation mentions another Angel four times. The term another, which precedes Angel, indicates that this angel is different from the other angels. In these instances, Angel can also be rendered as “Messenger.” According to the description in Revelation 7:2, another Angel refers to Christ. Since 7:2 refers to Christ, 8:3; 10:1; 18:1 also refer to Christ; this is according to a principle of Bible exposition.
The eternal gospel is different from the gospel of grace (Acts 20:24). The gospel of grace is preached in the age of grace today so that people may repent and believe in the Lord Jesus (v. 21). The eternal gospel is preached during the coming great tribulation so that people may fear God and worship the God who created heaven and earth and all things (Rev. 14:6-7). During the great tribulation, Antichrist will particularly oppose God by persecuting the saints who remain on the earth, and he will set up his image for everyone to worship. Thus, a gospel will be preached to the unbelieving Gentiles to tell them to fear God, to not persecute the saints, and to worship the God who created heaven and earth, not Antichrist or his image. When Christ returns to the earth, He will judge the Gentiles who were on the earth during the great tribulation according to this eternal gospel, and He will decide whether they are righteous or unrighteous. The eternal gospel will be preached to them, and Christ will judge them according to the eternal gospel (Matt. 25:31-46). Therefore, Christ’s preeminence will be expressed in God’s dealing with the Gentiles.
God has given all judgment to Christ for its execution (John 5:22) and has given all salvation to Christ for its accomplishment so that Christ may have the first place, not only in His salvation to man but also in His judgment on man. We will now consider Christ in God’s various judgments.
The world is becoming more corrupt each day. Corruption brings in God’s judgment; this is God’s law. Revelation shows that this world will end with God’s judgment. God will end this corrupt world with many judgments. All judgments will be carried out by Christ; thus, Christ will have the preeminence in God’s judgments on the world.
The seven seals in Christ’s hand in Revelation 6 and 7 are God’s initial judgment on the world, and they are carried out by Christ. The seven trumpets in chapter 8, which are God’s further judgment on the world, come from the seventh seal (vv. 1-2). These judgments are cast on the earth in response to Christ’s offering up the prayers of the saints; they are God’s answer to these prayers. Christ carries out judgment on the earth as God’s answer to the prayers of the saints offered up through Him and with Him (vv. 3-5). The plagues of the seven bowls of the seventh trumpet in chapters 15 and 16 are God’s final judgment on the world; this judgment is also cast on the earth because of the prayer of the saints.
In chapter 18 Christ announces God’s judgment on the wicked totality of sin and evil, Babylon the Great. When Christ announces God’s judgment, He is manifested as a Messenger coming down out of heaven, having great authority. His glory is splendid, and the earth is illumined with His glory (vv. 1-2).
Finally, in chapter 19 Christ executes God’s judgment on Antichrist and his kings with their armies. This is the last group of rebellious kings of the world, and Christ smites them. Christ is particularly prominent in this judgment because He makes war to subdue and clear away all the powers rebelling against God on the earth (vv. 11-21). From beginning to end, God’s judgment on the world is carried out by Christ. Christ is the main figure, the central character, in God’s judgment on the world.
Because of God’s salvation, the believers have been saved from judgment related to perdition; however, their life and work after salvation will still be judged for the sake of reward or punishment at Christ’s coming back. This judgment will be carried out by Christ Himself at “the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Cor. 5:10). Believers should not only know that Christ has the first place in God’s salvation and in the manifestation of God’s grace today, but they should also see the prominence of Christ in God’s judgment according to righteousness in the future. In both God’s salvation and judgment and in both God’s giving of grace and carrying out of righteousness, He wants Christ to be expressed and glorified.
The people of the world were created by God; thus, they are accountable to God and will ultimately face God’s righteous judgment. Most of the people throughout the generations will be dead, but some will still be alive. The living and the dead people of the world will be judged by Christ, because God has already designated Christ as “the Judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42; 2 Tim. 4:1) so that Christ will be expressed and exalted in His last and greatest judgment on the world’s people, which will also be His final judgment in the universe.
Christ will judge the living when He descends to the earth at His second coming. He will gather those who are still alive before the throne of His glory on the earth and judge them according to the eternal gospel that was preached to them during the great tribulation (Matt. 25:31-32). If they responded to the eternal gospel by fearing God and by not persecuting the saints, who are His brothers, He will judge them as righteous to enter into eternal life (v. 46) and to inherit the kingdom prepared for them “from the foundation of the world” (v. 34), which is the earthly part of the millennial kingdom. If they rejected the eternal gospel, He will judge them as evil to go away into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, whom they followed, to be punished by eternal fire and perish eternally (v. 46). Christ will judge the dead people of the world after the millennial kingdom ends. He will sit on a great white throne and bring all the unbelieving dead throughout the ages before His throne to receive His righteous judgment, and then He will cast them into the lake of fire to perish eternally (Rev. 20:11-15).
In the judgments on the living and the dead, God causes Christ’s glory and righteousness to be expressed before all the people of the world throughout the ages. In every aspect and detail of God’s universal governmental administration, Christ is the center and has the first place. He is God’s appointed Christ, responsible for executing God’s universal administration according to God’s eternal plan. In all His administration Christ has the first place, the glory, and the might, and only He is worthy of our praise and worship. To Him be the honor and glory and might forever and ever. Amen.
