God's Work with Planet Earth

The Bible gives very little information about what God’s people will be involved in during the 1,000 years of Revelation 20. It’s as if God is saying “worry about your connection to Me and your salvation from sin for now. Much more will be revealed later”.

But we are given two clues in Revelation 20 as to what God’s people will be doing during that time period.

Judgement given to the saints

“I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them…” Revelation 20:4

Hang on. We know that God the Father has “committed all judgement to the Son” (Jesus) (John 5:22). We also know that Jesus must decide who will be saved and who will be lost before He returns, so that He will know who to take to Heaven. So what is there for God’s people to judge when they reach Heaven?

One possibility stems from salvation and destruction being separate from reward and punishment. God’s people are not saved by good works (Romans 3:20, Ephesians 2:8), but they are rewarded for good works.

“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.” Revelation 22:12

“But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner.
For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” Hebrews 6:9-10

And so punishment is also according to works.

“For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, whether good or evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:14

“And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.” Revelation 20:12

So this millennial judgement given to God’s people might be a cooperation with Christ in determining the punishment for wicked individuals. But we have to be careful with this, because the Bible does not tell us that plainly. It’s possible, but we can’t interpret what has not been revealed, or we risk deceiving ourselves.

It’s more likely, being that God wants the trust of His created beings, that this will be a confirmation of God’s judgement. Whether you work in a law office or an accounting office, partners will submit to each other their work for a review from a second pair of eyes. This might be to ensure quality work, but with God it will be to confirm that He gave everyone, including the lost, a fair chance to be saved.

Only when the entire Universe is satisfied that He is both just and merciful, will He destroy the wicked permanently. This is why their judgement and destruction is delayed until the end of the Millennium.

The Apostle Paul wrote that “the saints will judge the world” and “we shall judge angels” (likely the fallen angels who sided with the Devil). (1 Corinthians 6:2-3) God may have already decided their fate, but we will look at the heavenly records and confirm His judgement.

Kings and Priests

Here’s the second clue as to what God’s people will be doing after Jesus takes them to Heaven.

“…they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” Revelation 20:6

“And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.” Revelation 5:10

In Revelation 21:24, we see that there will be “kings of the earth” in the New Earth. But we can be sure that these kings and priests will NOT be like an earthly priest officiating at a religious service, or an earthly king pointing his finger and shouting orders.

So what is God’s ideal for a priest and a king, as far as we can tell from the Bible? This is what I want to take a little time to explore, because I think it might give us some clues about the meaning of being a king or priest for God in Heaven and the New Earth.

God’s Ideal for a Priest

God gave many guidelines for priests, but here’s some that seem timeless and less related to Old Testament time and culture.

“And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. In controversy they shall stand as judges, and judge it according to My judgments. They shall keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed meetings, and they shall hallow My Sabbaths.” Ezekiel 44:23-24

Let’s pull the takeaways out of that paragraph.

• Teach God’s people right and wrong
• Help them discern good and evil
• Stand as judges when there’s a controversy
• Judge according to God’s standards
• Keep God’s laws
• Hallow God’s Sabbaths

“The law of truth was in his mouth, And injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and equity, And turned many away from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, And people should seek the law from his mouth; For he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.” Malachi 2:6-7

And here’s the breakdown:

• Speaks the law of truth
• Speaks no injustice
• Walks with God in peace and equity
• Speaks knowledge to others
• People should seek knowledge from the priest
• He is the messenger of God

By the way, the Hebrew word “malak” (translated as “angel” in the Bible) means a messenger or deputy of God. Is it possible that at least some of the people God saves from this earth will be given roles and abilities like angels? The Bible does not reveal this, so we will find out after Jesus comes.

God’s Ideal for a King

This is a long passage from Deuteronomy 17, from a time period long before Israel had kings.

“When you come to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’ Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites.
And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.” Deuteronomy 17:14-20

Whoa! I certainly don’t know of any earthly rulers or world leaders who follow this model. Here’s the breakdown:

• The king must be a brother, not a foreigner (Christ was born a human to become our Brother and be our King of Kings)
• Don’t multiply horses (military strength and power)
• Don’t look to Egypt for support (Egypt represents atheism and the worship of false gods in the Bible)
• Don’t multiply wives
• Don’t multiply silver and gold
• Write his own copy of the book of the law – keep it with him, read it daily
• Fear the Lord your God
• Don’t let his heart be lifted above his brothren
• Observe the commandments

The thing that strikes me about this passage is that just over 400 years later, King Solomon multiplied horses, wives, and material wealth, in direct contradiction to God’s instructions. And he worshipped the false gods of foreign nations, breaking God’s commandments.

But Solomon himself wrote guidelines for kings:

“The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.” Proverbs 21:1

So God uses the king (just like everyone else) to be a blessing to others.

“…It is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes intoxicating drink; Lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the justice of all the afflicted.” Proverbs 31:4-5

“The king establishes the land by justice, but he who receives bribes overthrows it.” Proverbs 29:4

I don’t think we’ll need to worry about political corruption or beverages that make us loose our right minds in Heaven or the New Earth, but these passages show us that God is obsessed with justice and wants to bless people through His people.

Summary: Biblical roles

That was a lot of information, so I want to refine the Biblical roles of kings and priests here:

• Biblical role of a king
  • Be a protector of God’s Law
  • Be a living example for the people
  • Make sure God’s justice is carried out
• Biblical role of a priest
  • Teachers of God’s wisdom and law
  • Point people to God
  • Be a messenger of God

Problem texts?

Old Testament priests, from the tribe of Levi, had no land or territory of their own, so they lived in the territories of the other tribes. When they weren’t carrying out duties at the Temple in Jerusalem, they were teachers in the locality where they lived. Side note: Jesus had some run-ins with leaders of local synagogues away from Jerusalem.

But who will be priests of God? An elite few, like the apostles and prophets, or the 144,000 (Revelation 7)? Here’s our answer:

“Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection… they shall be priests of God and of Christ…” Revelation 20:6

This means everyone who Jesus saves when He returns will be priests. So everyone will be teaching everyone else? The Bible contradicts this idea.

“No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Jeremiah 31:34

All God’s people will be in Heaven with Jesus. They’ll all know Him face to face, not like now when each person must seek a spiritual connection to Jesus. So if priests are teachers, but they won’t be teaching each other, who will they be teaching?

This is what I believe, but it’s difficult to prove plainly from the Bible, so I want to be honest about that. Here’s what I see:

“By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Hebrews 11:3

Some translations say “the universe” was framed by the word of God. Earth isn’t the only planet of importance in God’s universe. And there’s also this passage:

“…we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.” 1 Corinthians 4:9

The English word “world” was translated from the Greek “kosmos”, which is bigger and broader than just one world. The sin rebellion on Planet Earth, how God is dealing with it, how humans do or don’t respond, is being witnessed by angels and other worlds. This whole thing is much bigger than just Planet Earth.

So… when Jesus saves those who trust Him from this world, as it goes up in flames, each individual human has a story to tell about how God drew them, guided them, saved them. Those other worlds haven’t had this experience of God guiding them through a sinful world, and that’s what they need to know about. The priests will be like ambassadors to unfallen worlds to help them understand the grace, mercy, providence, and justice of God. And with two trillion observable galaxies in the universe, there’s a lot of places to visit and share.