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“The Kingdoms of This World Are Become The Kingdoms of Our Lord, and of His Christ”

Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Introduction

In the Old Testament, just before God would give one of the kingdoms of the Canaanites to Israel He would speak of having done so as if it were an already accomplished fact:

Num 21:34 And the LORD said unto Moses, Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.

Jos 10:8 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.

“Have delivered” is in the Hebrew ‘qual’ tense, which the same as the ‘aorist’ in the Greek, and it is a simple statement of fact with no regard for the tense of the verb. It was a simple statement of fact that God had given the Amorites into the hands of the Israelites. So it is with the kingdoms of this world. They are given to Christ and “His Christ”. It is as certain as the rising of the sun, and all the present powers on this earth are not even a factor to be contended with from the perspective of the heavens:

Isa 40:17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.

So God is not struggling to make Himself known to His creatures. The fact is that He is hiding Himself from His creatures at this time, and He has hardened the hearts of the leaders of this world whom He has spiritually likened to Sodom and Egypt.

Rev 11:7 And when they [“the Lord’s Christ, His… two witnesses”] shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Rev 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
Rev 11:9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

Both Sodom and Egypt were predestined by God to be His adversaries until the fullness of their sins were accomplished, just as the sins of the Amorites were before the time God had predestined He would give their kingdoms over to His Israel.

Gen 15:16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

When the sins of the “people and kindreds and tongues and nations [are] full” then “the kingdoms of this world [will] become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ”, and nothing will be able to stop what God has already determined.

How will that transfer of power take place?

I have been asked over the years “How will God go about giving the powers of rulership to His elect?” At this moment it seems incredible that God could possibly take the powers of the nations of this world and give that power over to His Christ who seem more like a ‘slain lamb’ than people who are capable of ruling the nations.

Rev 5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

A brother once made the statement that “anyone expecting a literal millennium with a literal kingdom of God ruled by God’s elect for a literal thousand years is in for a great disappointment.” That is a false doctrine that had to be dealt with on the spot.

But there is no denying that any natural man is incapable of comprehending how the powers of the nations of this entire earth could possibly be given over to such a small number of people who have never led a single physical military or political campaign. What the natural man cannot see is the wars and campaigns being fought in the spiritual realm within the lives of every member of the body of our Lord’s Christ, which is even now preparing us to be fit rulers of “the kingdoms of this world”, which is exactly what we are being primed to do:

1Co 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

It is all who believe that doctrine of no literal millennium and kingdom who are in for a great disappointment. When they come up in the second resurrection, like Joseph’s brothers, they will see there in the masses of resurrected spiritual bodies, sitting there on the thrones of the kingdoms of this world, the very people they had withstood and had rejected as their leaders and rulers, feeding the multitudes the true bread of life.

Let’s take the time to review that story and see what it reveals to us about how “the kingdoms of this world are [becoming] the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ”:

Gen 42:6 And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.
Gen 42:7 And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.
Gen 42:8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.
Gen 42:9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.
Gen 42:10 And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come.

Gen 42:19 If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses:
Gen 42:20 But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.
Gen 42:21 And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.
Gen 42:22 And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.
Gen 42:23 And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.
Gen 42:24 And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.

These ten brothers of Joseph are the symbol of the religions and nations of this world who have rejected Christ their Messiah who has been anointed the Savior of all men of all time. Joseph is the Biblical symbol of our Lord and His Christ, who will be ruling over Egypt as the symbol of this world, during the thousand years which separate the first and second resurrections. The Lord and His Christ will also be ruling during the lake of fire. The first resurrection is symbolized by Joseph’s deliverance from prison and Him being placed upon the throne of all Egypt.

Luk 19:12 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
Luk 19:13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
Luk 19:14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.

Like Joseph, we too, will “make [ourselves] strange unto” those who are in this world who have persecuted us, and we will give them the time that is needed for their own iniquities to correct them in that “lake of fire” which, along with the thousand years, is the time of our dominion as kings and priests of God, who has chosen us to show mercy to those who are yet in unbelief at that time:

Jer 2:19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

There is one experience for all men of all time (Ecc 9:2). Those who comprise the ‘lake of fire’ are just the first to be corrected by their own wickedness. This is what they have already heard from their Creator, and it is this first correction which qualifies them to be kings and priests unto God:

Jer 30:11 For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.

Jer 46:28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.

Joseph himself had already endured 13 years of slavery to Egypt, just as Christ had to spend 33 1/2 years in a body of sinful flesh, being “in all points tempted like as we are…”

Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

God has ordained that all who would be His servants must first endure the trials which will make them compassionate towards those who are still the slaves of the sins that God is making them to commit as ‘vessels [which are first] fitted to destruction”.

Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Even our sinless Savior was “perfected through sufferings” and had to be “made like unto His brothers” to be qualified to “be a merciful… high priest…”

Heb 2:10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Heb 2:17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

So too, those who are in Christ must first live lives of unbelief and rebellion against God before they can become “saviors… kings and priests”. This honor is given us at the expense of those who are not given to be in that blessed and holy first resurrection:

Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

The chances of Joseph becoming the ruler of Egypt were the same odds we as God’s elect have of becoming the rulers of this present evil world. From the perspective of the natural man it was an absolute impossibility, but to God it is an absolute certainty:

1Co 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

This all tells us that the rulership of this world by God’s elect will be preceded by the same sufferings we have already endured, culminating in an event which God will cause to bring “great fear” upon the rulers of the kingdoms of this world. The Pharaoh of Joseph’s day is the Biblical symbol of the rulers of this world. In that capacity Pharaoh was caused by circumstances beyond his control to fear for the welfare of himself and his fellow country men. Then God used that fear to cause Pharaoh to seek out Joseph, who just happened to have recently been put through thirteen years of preparation to be the solution to the problems God was about to bring upon the world of that time.

God always prepares our hearts and gives us the trials which are necessary and are needed to strengthen us for the fiery work we will do in His service. Here are the four tools He has revealed to be His means of dealing with the rebellious beast within each of us through which he will humble us all at our own appointed time:

Eze 14:21 For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

These “four judgments” are not multiple choice forms of judgments, rather they are ‘four’ because they comprise the whole of God’s judgments upon every man individually, and they also comprise the whole of the judgments of God upon all of mankind and all nations of mankind. It will be through these “four sore judgments” that God will bring all the “kingdoms of the world” to humble themselves and to relinquish their powers to “the Lord and His Christ”.

Rev 6:15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

The God who created all things will have no problem bringing this to pass from without just as He has already done, and is doing, within His elect. When His four judgments have done their work, then this verse will be true, both within and without:

Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

What we will be doing in our next several studies is seeing how the things God has wrought within us reveal what He will do to bring about His millennial rule, which must precede and must give Him the occasion which He is seeking to bring about the consummation of the ages and the destruction of death, the second resurrection and the purifying work of the lake of fire. The lake of fire is God’s vehicle for putting all powers under Christ so that we, through Christ, can fill God who fills all in all.

Eph 1:15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
Eph 1:16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
Eph 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
Eph 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Eph 1:19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Eph 1:22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

“The exceeding greatness of His power” and “the working of His mighty power” are “working all things after the counsel of His own will” according to verse 11 of this same first chapter of Ephesians one.

Eph 1:9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Christ has a reason for making known unto us the mystery of His will, and this is that purpose:

Eph 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

“The work[ing of] all things after the counsel of His own will” is not just inward things. “All things” includes all outward things. It will be through “the working of His mighty power”, and though the implementation of His “four sore judgments” that, at God’s preordained time, all the outward ‘kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, will hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And will say to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: Because the great day of his wrath is come;’ and no one, not even the president of the United States of America, will be able to stand up against the power of the Lord and His Christ.’

Notice how closely the first four seals, better known as “the four horsemen” of the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, parallel the “four sore judgments” of Ezekiel 14:21:

Rev 6:1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
Rev 6:2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
Rev 6:3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
Rev 6:4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
Rev 6:5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
Rev 6:6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. [This is what happens during a famine]
Rev 6:7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
Rev 6:8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

The fourth seal is “with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.” The fourth seal is simply the combination of the second and third seals, adding ‘death’ and ‘beasts of the earth’. In doing that, this fourth horse, this pale horse, parallels God’s “four sore judgments” identically:

Eze 14:21 For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

The sword parallels the sword, the famine is a perfect parallel of the famine, the beasts are a perfect parallel, and the pestilence is the only slight variation, being replaced by ‘death’. When we are made aware of how closely associated death is with famine and pestilence, then there is no variation at all. The four horsemen of Revelation add Christ as the first seal, riding on a white horse. This lets us know, and adds to our understanding, that this is all being done by His guiding hand which has gone forth ‘conquering and to conquer’.

It is also very interesting to any who have been given to identify the four beasts, that it is they who show us these four sore judgments. They can do that because they, too, are being judged “even when [they] were dead in sins”, and God has given the four beasts life and has made them to be seated with Christ in his Father’s throne. That is exactly where those four beasts are, simply because they are God’s elect (Rev 5:8-10) who He has ordained would show these things to the elect.

Eph 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

Eph 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.

Rev 5:8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rev 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

In our next study in this series, we will see how the first of these four sore judgments, ‘the sword’ is used by God to judge us within, first, yes! But we will also consider how ‘the sword’ will also be used outwardly to prepare the kingdoms of this world to become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ.