Greetings again Apple7,
I do not believe that the faithful are reigning now, but I believe that Revelation 5:9-10 is speaking of when the faithful are raised and will rule with Christ during the future 1000 years. Note it says that "we shall reign on earth".
Basileusousin is in the future indicative active tense which is subsequent to the aorist(completed action) 'you have made', meaning that we have ALREADY been made a kingdom & priests to our God. Spend some quality time with the Greek, Trev...
Revelation 5:9-10 is a vision of the future at the point of time when the faithful are gathered to Christ and do obeisance to him and rejoice in their redemption and reconciliation to God the Father. At that time what you say may be correct, that these faithful will have by then been appointed as kings and priests. But you have not commented on what I said: “Note it says that "we
shall reign on earth".” You may be good at Greek, but you seem to be careless with English and your reasoning. When the faithful are at first gathered to Christ the nations have not yet been subdued, and therefore the rulership of the faithful over the nations is still prospective and "we
shall reign on earth". You seemed to claim that the Kingdom of God will be in heaven, not upon the earth, but here it says they shall rule on the earth, or upon the earth. You seemed to adopt the JW reading of these verse, as they also believe that Jesus will not literally return to the earth. Your constant attack on the JW teaching is starting to affect you or wear off on you. (Watch out Trevor, as you will now get a full barrage of Greek over the word “on” or “upon” rather than the JW “over”). To calm your insecurity this time you had better add not 3 or 4 symbols of your supposed friends or supporters laughing or sneering, but 5 or 6.
Figurative, trev? Since when is Yahweh's usage of the creation verb 'bara' ever been 'figurative'?! You have some serious scriptural discernment issues...keep running from the original languages...it make you such an easy target for rebuttal...:banana:
My impression is that you take figurative language as literal and reject other literal language such as all the verses that I have quoted so far, for example Isaiah 2:1-4, Micah 4:6-8, Daniel 2:35,44, Zechariah 14:1-3. Will your supposed new universe have the elements of Isaiah 65:17-25, including sinners dying at 100 years old, and wolves and lambs and other details? This seems to me to be details applicable to the earth when Jesus returns.
When reading the prophets, which seem to be ignored or wrongly viewed by some factions of the Evangelical movement, there are many gems both concerning the sufferings of Christ in his first advent and also many aspects of the future kingdom when Jesus returns to the earth. I recommend a gradual reading of the prophets, say one or two chapters per day as well as a detailed study of the many chapters. Isaiah is sometimes called the fifth gospel, but sometimes this is used to describe his ministry at his first advent and his suffering only. For example Isaiah 7-12 is often called the Immanuel prophecies and Isaiah 40-53 are called the Servant prophecies. But even in the midst of these prophecies are details of Jesus’ future reign upon the earth.
A few interesting verses that I have read recently in my daily readings. I have read up to Isaiah 22 in my present readings.
Isaiah 4:2 (KJV): In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.
This speaks of Jesus in the coming Kingdom, but he is described as being “beautiful and glorious”. This is the language of the High Priest’s clothes, but with Jesus it describes not his outward clothing, but it describes his character. He will be the King / Priest of the Age to come, sitting on David’s throne in Jerusalem for the 1000 years.
Isaiah 6:1 (KJV): In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
This is a vision of Jesus sitting in glory as the King /Priest on the throne of David in Jerusalem in the Age to Come.
Isaiah 22:20–22 (KJV): 20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah: 21 And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. 22 And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
This is part of a fairly obscure prophecy concerning Shebna and Eliakim and the key of the house of David. A casual reading of this may be insufficient to understand this properly, because the terms of this is taken up and applied to the Lord Jesus Christ in the following:
Revelation 3:7 (KJV): And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
An integral part of the promises to David is the assurance of the resurrection from the grave, the sure mercies of David. Jesus has this key, and the key to rule as King upon the throne of David in Jerusalem.
Kind regards
Trevor
