In Revelation 20:4-6 we see that Christ as the Establisher of the kingdom will reign with the overcoming saints; the overcomers who will reign with Christ in the millennium will enjoy the best resurrection, and they rule and reign with the Lord for one thousand years.
Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You today. We want to learn to reign in life today, even to be Your overcoming saints in this age. Oh Lord Jesus, thank You for coming back soon to reign over the earth for one thousand years. May we receive Your grace and mercy to cooperate with You to the best of our ability so that we may reign and rule with You in the coming age! We Love You, Lord, and we enthrone You in our being. We give You the first place in all things and we want to be fully one with You! Amen!
Today the kingdom of the world is still under the usurpation of Satan, but one day the Lord Jesus will come as the King of the heavenly kingdom and He will bring the kingdom of God to the earth.
The whole creation is under the slavery of corruption, groaning and yearning to be released from it, and one day this will happen. There are a lot of enemies that God is working to defeat today, and one day, only Satan will be left.
After fighting His enemies, Christ will establish the kingdom of God on the earth, the millennial kingdom, and He will reign not by Himself but with His overcoming saints for a thousand years. This is quite important.
Yes, Christ wants to come and reign over the earth, and yes, He is working to defeat His enemies. But He does not do this just by Himself; He does it with the overcoming believers.
It is not Christ by Himself that will judge and destroy Satan; it is Christ with His overcomers that will destroy the enemy.
It is not only Christ who will reign over the earth for one thousand years; it is Christ with His overcomers who will reign.
He is now gaining a group of overcomers, in each age, who will join Him for this next age to rule and reign in the heavenly part of the millennial kingdom.
We believers in Christ have the privilege to one day rule and reign with Christ; if we are overcomers, if we overcome today, we will reign with Him in the next age.
May we give the Lord the best cooperation today to be His overcomers who bring Him back and rule and reign with Him for one thousand years!
Christ as the Establisher of the Kingdom will Reign with the Overcoming Saints
In Revelation 20:4-6, we read how John saw thrones, and Christ and His overcomers sat upon them, and judgment was given to them.
These have part of the first resurrection, and over them the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
This shows us that Christ as the Establisher of the kingdom, will reign with the overcoming saints for one thousand years in the millennial kingdom.
Because the overcomers bring in the kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Lord will reign for one thousand years, and the overcomers will also reign with Christ for a thousand years.
Wow, Christ will not reign alone: the overcoming saints will reign together with Him!
The overcoming saints will sit upon the throne to reign with Christ. Authority to judge will be given over to them; this means that they will have the kingdom (Dan. 7:10, 18, 22).
The overcomers have received and are enjoying the kingdom, for they will rule and reign with Christ. God has His eyes on the kingdom; we also should have our eyes on the kingdom.
What we should see is not just the outward environment or even the present church life; our eyes should be on the kingdom.
The Lord Jesus said in Luke 12:32 that the Father has been well-pleased to give us the kingdom; the Father is happy and pleased to give us the kingdom.
Today the kingdom of God is our portion and belongs to us. God’s intention is not only for Christ to reign but also for all the believers to reign together with Him.
He wants a good group of men to exercise God’s dominion. We have been made alive together with the Lord, we were raised together with Him, and we were seated in the heavenlies together with Him (Eph. 2).
When He ascended, He was seated on the throne, and when we’re in our spirit, we are together sitting with Him on the throne! Amen!
He wants us to be with Him, wherever He is, so that we may be His overcoming believers today to rule and reign with Him.
God’s salvation is not merely to save us from hell, perdition, sin, the world, and all the troubles; the Highest goal of God’s full salvation is to bring us to the throne so that we can rule and reign with Christ.
This is what we see in Romans 5:17 and 21, that we can receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness and we can reign in life by having Christ reign in us.
God saves us all the way to the throne. He wants us to be people of the throne. To reign doesn’t mean that we sit in a High place with a sceptre, giving commands to people and telling them what to do.
To reign with Christ in Christ’s life means that we live out and experience all the riches of Christ, from sanctification to the living out of the church life in the Local churches. All the aspects seen in Romans need to become our experience if we are to reign with Christ.
To reign with Christ doesn’t mean that we rule over others, but the opposite, that we are fully submitting ourselves to Christ’s life within us to express all the virtues and riches of the life of Christ both individually and corporately.
Reigning with Christ is our top portion and our top reward.
All the overcomers will be brought into this condition in the millennium, reigning with Christ.
To be qualified to reign with Christ is by the humanity of Jesus being wrought into us (Rev. 2:26). The humanity of Jesus is being worked into us. We have Christ as the unique proper man dwelling in our spirit as the Spirit of Jesus.
When we contact the Lord Jesus in spirit, we will be one with Him and His proper human virtues are in us to be our humanity.
As we live one with the Lord and have Christ living in us, we will put Satan to shame and be the kingdom of God. This involves a process of growth, maturity, and preparation.
We are like the sons of the king who one day will inherit the throne, but we are now in the process of being prepared and learning many things.
We need to learn how to conduct ourselves in a stately manner, living by the kingly life within us.
May we grow in life unto maturity day by day, having the humanity of Christ being wrought into us and lived out of us until we are the overcoming believers, reigning and ruling with Christ!
Lord Jesus, we praise You for coming soon as the Establisher of the kingdom to reign with the overcoming believers! Amen, Lord, we give ourselves to You to be Your overcoming believers today! Grow in us unto maturity today and bring us to the stage where we can rule and reign with You. Sanctify us. Reign in us. Train us. Perfect us to live the kingly life, the life of Christ. May the humanity of Christ be wrought into us so that we may be Jesusly human, reigning in life with Christ over all things. Amen, Lord Jesus, may we be those who enjoy the top portion of the overcomers in the millennium, ruling and reigning with Christ! We open to You today to receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness so that we may reign in life through Christ! May grace reign in us unto eternal life! Keep us under Your throne today. We submit to Your life within us so that You may live out Your virtues and the riches of Your life in us! Amen, Lord, bring us on to maturity so that we may be qualified to rule and reign with Christ!
The Overcomers who will Reign with Christ in the Millennium will Enjoy the Best Resurrection, the First Resurrection
One particular aspect of the enjoyment of the overcomers who will reign with Christ in the millennium is the first resurrection (Rev. 20:6). The word for “first” can also be translated as “best” as in Luke 15:22, when the father said to bring out the best robe and cover the prodigal son.
Many will be resurrected, but the overcomers enjoy the best resurrection, the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection; over these, the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
This first resurrection is what Paul calls, “the out-resurrection” in Philippians 3:11, the extraordinary resurrection which the apostle Paul has sought.
Both unbelievers and believers will be resurrected, but there is the best resurrection. At the last trumpet, all the dead believers will be resurrected; this is the resurrection of life.
Then, all the dead unbelievers will be resurrected later, after the millennium, at the great white throne, to be judged. But there’s the resurrection that is the best resurrection, the first resurrection, and the overcomers have part in it.
This is similar to what we have in school when we graduate; everyone graduates, but some graduate with honours, having acquired the best grades.
We want to have this resurrection, which is a resurrection of kingship as a reward to the overcomers so that they may reign as co-kings with Christ in the millennial kingdom.
This first resurrection, the best resurrection, will be the portion of the resurrected overcomers such as the man-child (Rev. 12:5), the later martyrs (15:2), and the raptured living ones, such as the firstfruits (Rev. 14:1-5).
This must be the Highest blessing – to inherit the kingdom manifested on earth and even to be kings within it! Hallelujah!
This is not merely to be satisfied with resurrection life but to never participate in the second death and gain a reward, even to be ushered into the participation of ruling and reigning with Christ in the millennium as a reward.
May this be our aspiration today. May we be those who attain to this out-resurrection.
The overcoming saints who reign with Christ will be priests to contact God and co-kings with Christ to reign over the nations in the millennium (Rev. 2:26-27; 12:5). They will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years (Rev. 20:6).
As priests, the overcoming saints will bring man in His need to God and minister God to man. As kings, they bring God in His authority to man and represent God to shepherd man. This is the reward of the overcomers.
Today we need to be the overcoming saints who live and function as priests and kings, bringing God to man and bringing man to God, until one day our function will be enlarged and expanded so that we may rule and reign with Christ and also bring God to man!
This satisfies God. God wants to gain such a people today, those who rule and reign over the nations with Christ, and who also bring God to man and man to God as priests.
The overcomers will be priests to contact God and co-kings with Christ to reign over the nations in the millennium.
What a realm that will be, with no weakness, no sickness, no trouble, and no hardship! How wonderful this will be!
May we be those who give the Lord our cooperation today to be produced as His overcoming believers so that we may reign with Him when He returns!
May we know Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, so that we may be conformed to His death and may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead!
Lord Jesus, we want to know You, enjoy You, experience You, and express You so that we may be Your overcoming saints in this age. Amen, Lord, our aspiration is to attain to the out-resurrection from the dead, the first resurrection. May we know Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, so that we may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead. Amen, Lord, keep us in the process of being one with You in Your death and resurrection in our daily life today until we will be rewarded with the first resurrection, the best resurrection! What a High blessing for us to inherit the kingdom manifested on earth and even be kings within it! Amen, Lord, we want to contact You and bring man before You as priests and we want to bring God to man as kings, thus carrying out our priesthood and our kingship. Hallelujah, we are priests and kings, and we will be priests and kings to God and to the Lamb for eternity! Praise the Lord!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee on this topic, and portions from, the Conclusion of the New Testament (Msg. 427) by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (4) (2025 December Training), week 46 (msg. 10), Christ—the Establisher of the Kingdom and the Word of God—King of Kings and Lord of Lords – day 2.
- Hymns on this topic:
– O hope of glory, our Christ will return! / the old creation will vanish away, / No more we’ll groan, but have full liberty. / Enjoy salvation in its utmost way. / O hope of glory, our Christ will return! / Over the nations with Him we will reign, / Priests we will be in His presence to serve, / thus His salvation in fulness we’ll gain. (Hymns #966 stanzas 2-3)
– Then Christ when He comes with the kingdom from God / Will to us grant His kingship to share as reward; / thus the Lord will His righteousness thru us maintain / And His wisdom to heavenly powers make plain. / For this the Apostle pressed on at all cost, / For the Kingdom assured that he would not be Lost; / ’Tis for this he charged others, Be true to the Lord. / that the Kingdom might be unto them a reward. (Hymns #947 stanzas 5-6)
– Press on, press on to know the Lord / And resurrection power— / Oh, this is our supreme reward, / E’en in the suffering hour! (Hymns #1205 stanza 3)
