And They Will Reign Forever and Ever Revelation 22:1–6, 12–20

 

Grace, mercy and peace be with you, from God our Heavenly Father, and our Lord, Jesus Christ, who reigns forever and ever.

 

The title of our message is: And They Will Reign Forever, taken from our Epistle.

 

The time had come for Jesus’ visible presence on earth to end, and for Him to be permanently seated at the right hand of God in Heavenly glory, never again to suffer or die, but to rule over Heaven and Earth, and the Church and the Universe forever.

 

But first Jesus had instructions to give and promises to make.

 

In Matthew 28, before ascending into Heaven, Jesus gave the disciples and the Church, the mandate to teach His Word, and baptize, and make disciples of all nations.

 

And He left His followers with this promise: Behold… I am with you always, to the end of the ages. I’m with you until I return; and then I’ll take you home.

 

There are those times and generations and places where people try to push Jesus away, instead of welcoming His presence in our lives and our hearts.

 

And in some ways that’s been done in all ages and generations, and to some extent, we’ve all done that, tried to push Him away by our sin and worldliness.

 

But wherever there’s true repentance in Christ, there’s faith; and by faith He lives within us, to help and strengthen us.

 

And when His Gospel is believed and His Word is obeyed, He goes before us, to lead us and show us the way.

 

And when His Absolution and His body and blood are received in repentant faith, He forgives our soul within, and comforts our heart with peace and love.

 

That’s how He rules His Church, His Kingdom of Grace on earth, by giving these saving, healing gifts.

And that’s why He reigns over us forever, so that He might use His benevolent power to bless us in so many ways, so that we might be a blessing to others.

 

Sometimes, for our own good, God rules with His law to correct us, but as we repent and return, He rules with His Gospel to uplift and restore us.

 

Because He’s with us, because He reigns over us and for us, we have a share in His eternal rule and reign. 

 

We’re not just subjects in His Kingdom; we’re citizens in His Kingdom.

 

As Paul says in Philippians 3:20, But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

We’re citizens of His Church, His Kingdom on Earth; and of His Church and Kingdom in Heaven.

 

But even more than citizens, we’re His children on earth, and in Heaven. 

 

The children of the king are more than citizens, they’re royal heirs, having all the treasures and partaking in all the blessings that belong to their Father, to live and reign and rejoice beside Him.

 

Revelation 20:6 says, They will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

 

That thousand years or millennium, is symbolic of the New Testament or Church Era, the era we’re in right now, the time between Jesus’ ascension into Heaven, and His return on the Last Day. 

 

We’re co-heirs with Christ, serving God on earth and reigning in His Church with the Gospel, that is, living in and sharing the Good News of Christ with the world.

 

And as God’s chosen children, as a part of His royal family, we’ll reign with Him in Heaven.

 

Our Epistle, Revelation 22:5 says, And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

 

As catechized Lutherans, even more so, as God’s enlightened children, we often ask ourselves two very important questions about God’s Word: “What does this mean?”, and “How is this done?”.

 

First, what this doesn’t mean.                      

 

It doesn’t mean we’ll rule and reign in eternity as little gods, or semi-gods, which is taught in some religions, but not in Biblical Christianity.

 

Only God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, will live in Divine honor and glory, being worshipped by saints and angels in Heaven forever, Him alone.

 

And only God will reign and rule with almighty, absolute, but benevolent power.

 

And with the other attributes that are unique to God, like omniscience, all knowing; and omnipresence, present everywhere. 

 

Only God has those powers in Heaven and on earth. 

 

But, there are many attributes or qualities, that we’ll have that are like His. 

 

For example, like God, in Heaven we’ll be holy, with no sin whatsoever; nor any selfishness nor evil within us, only goodness and love. 

 

Like God, having been raised in His perfect image, our love will be pure and unconditional.

 

Of course, in Heaven, we won’t have to do that difficult thing we sometimes fail to do here on earth -- loving sinners who hurt us -- because in Heaven there will be no sinners; no one will be mean or hurtful, just the people of God loving Him and one another with a true and selfless love.

 

So what will we victoriously reign over in Heaven? Sin and all its consequences.

Try as we might, sincere as we might be, on earth we can never completely drive sin and selfishness out of our lives.

 

The devil and the fallen angels and the fallen world, still do their best, or worst, to try to deceive and mislead us into sinful, selfish, hateful, violent, worldly ways.

 

This last week, in the tragic shooting in the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, we saw what happens when evil overtakes the soul. 

 

When God is driven out, the devil is quick to come in and take over. 

 

And that’s not just true in our hearts and souls, but also in our culture, and our nation, and our world. When God is driven out, it’s not a good result.

 

Our hearts are breaking for the parents and families and students and teachers and for all who were traumatized by that cowardly act of evil.

 

But the Holy Spirit our comforter, is greater than any evil power that would dismay us.

 

We pray for them to be comforted and healed by the Gospel; and to be embraced and supported by the Church.

 

And for the Holy Spirit to give them the faith and strength they need to go on in life; and give them a heavenly hope to hold on to, so that they, and we, and all who place their hope in Christ, may reign with Him in peace and joy forever.

 

There, in everlasting glory, no evil will ever harm us, or cause us grief: Jesus won’t allow it.

 

Revelation 21 says, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 

 

And in Revelation 7, They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their Shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, 

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

 

And that’s the eternal victory we will live and reign in -- sin, death and the devil, never again over us, but us over them, us over evil forever. 

 

That will be our rule and our reign.

 

God will rule over us in love, and we will rule over sin by having holy lives, not fallen or corrupted in any way, but good and glorious in every way.

 

And that’s what it means for us to reign forever and ever; and that’s how it’ll be done.

 

May we live in the righteous and victorious reign of our Lord always. 

 

And as we live in His rule and His reign, His peace, which passes understanding, will guard our hearts and minds, in Jesus Christ, our glorious King. Amen.