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He that Overcomes will Sit with Me on My Throne

(Revelation 3: 21)

      Scripture declares that they who are sealed to God are such a large number that they cannot be numbered (Revelation 7: 9).  These are said to be from all nations, kindreds and peoples and tongues, and all clothed in white garments.  Therefore, they are seen as those who are redeemed.

      The question has been asked, If the number of the redeemed is so great, how could that many persons sit on the throne of David with Christ?  Certainly, Jesus did not even indicate that more than himself would be literally sitting on the throne of David.  Only Jesus is promised literally to sit on the throne of David (Luke 1:  31-33), ruling the earth from that throne (Zechariah 14: 9; Psalm 72: 8).

      Perhaps Revelation 2: 26 will help to better understand the meaning of Jesus: “He that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations.”

        This helps us to see that simply sitting on a throne is not the whole subject.  The subject must be understood to mean that all who overcome will share with Jesus the rulership of the world.

      Jeremiah 3: 17 declares that in the kingdom age, the throne of the kingdom will be Jerusalem. From Jerusalem Jesus will rule the world (Zechariah 14: 9). The parable of the ten pounds of Luke 19: 11-24 illustrates for us that Jesus will give unto those who perform in this life to his satisfaction will receive rulership under him, some over ten cities (verse 17), and some over less (verse 19).

      Therefore, the many saints of Jesus will have rule “under Jesus” over certain portions of the earth.

      Therefore, the saints will share with Jesus, His rulership over the earth which proceeds from his throne in Jerusalem. 

      With the saints being scattered all over the earth, ruling portions allotted to them, they are all sharing in the rulership of the earth which is what is meant by Revelation 3: 21. Thus both Revelation 3: 21 and Revelation 2: 26, show the saints scattered all over the world, not literally all sitting on a single throne, but they will all have “power over the nations,” power which proceeds from the throne in Jerusalem (Jeremiah 3: 17).

      Thus, all saints will share in the power that proceeds from the throne in Jerusalem as they rule “under Christ” the portion that has been allotted to them (Revelation 5: 8- 10).                                               Wayne R. Tanner

Peace and Safety: two Instances, two Meanings

An eTPL31 Analysis

In Ezekiel’s prophecy of the Gogian invasion of Israel, there are only two paramount features of Israel that are prominent in the mind of Gog – the prophet defines these conditions as Israel’s dwelling safely and securely, without walls or other defenses – and of Israel’s possession of a great “spoil and prey” which will attract the attention of the Gogian autocrat. We wish to consider the former of these attributes in this short article.

The words pertaining to Israel’s peace and security at that time are these specific references – three verses in Ezekiel 38:

Eze 38:8  After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. 

Note that this indication is general knowledge that Israel is in fact dwelling safely at a given time in that era; the prophet readily attests to the fact.

Eze 38:9  Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee. 

Eze 38:10  Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: 

Eze 38:11  And thou (Gog) shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, 

This second instance affirms Gog’s conviction that Israel is convinced that it is dwelling in what its administration believes is a condition of safety. It is enjoying peace with all its neighbors at that moment. Israel appears to be vulnerable to Gog’s attack.

 That perceived weakness of Israel is a factor in Gog’s decision to attack the Jewish state. The only other stated incentive is that Israel at that time possesses a great “spoil and prey,” which is the plunder of warfare – not goods and valuables produced by hard work or incentive. That factor is the subject of the next sentence as well as verse 13. These are two facts that are shrewdly observed by the Gogian despot, both seeming to invite his aggression.

Eze 38:12  To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. 

Eze 38:13  Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? 

Eze 38:14  Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it? 

In this case, the statement is made positively by the Father – that “My people dwelleth safely” without controversy. It no longer opinion; it is concrete fact.

Something shall have occurred that shall have concretely resulted in verifiable peace and security for God’s people. They are not at war and are not threatened by imminent attack from anyone. In addition, as concerns the wealth of the Jewish state at that time, Zechariah 14: 14 notes that great wealth shall be gathered from the nations round about when that conflict ends ... the “wealth of the nations” that have attacked Israel and been defeated.

We have not observed such a condition of such peace (or wealth accumulation) in all Israel’s modern history. The Jewish state has always existed under the threat of annihilation by the nations round about them – the Islamic states and NGOs located between the Nile and the Euphrates, and between the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf – the precise territory that God promised to Abram in Genesis 12, 13, 17, etc.

Another instance of nearly the same condition – Israel at that time seeming to be dwelling in “peace and safety” – is described in Paul’s first epistle to Thessalonica:

1Th 5:1  But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 

1Th 5:2  For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 

1Th 5:3  For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 

This case must not be confused with Ezekiel’s observations.

 This appears to be the saying that some shall have concluded about Israel after a long period of adversity and oppression; as such, it seems to have taken an extended time to reach this era when the powers that be are tricked into the false notion that Israel has achieved peace and safety. We know it is a false conclusion because of the tumult that follows upon their enemies – Israel’s fierce aggression and all-out victory against their enemies of that day.

During the first 72 years of its modern history no such conditions appeared. At no time in that drawn-out period might one reasonably claim that Israel was dwelling in peace with its neighbors or safety from their relentless attacks.

Only in the 72nd year of its Commonwealth did events occur that may soon lead to that false notion – that Israel is finally at peace with its neighbors round about.

The breakthrough came when the United Arab Emirates and Israel announced that they would come to a written agreement on trade and commerce, investment and scientific endeavors, and would exchange ambassadors. Then, almost immediately, Bahrain, a small but wealthy Islamic island enclave in the Persian Gulf asked to be included in the accords – to be known as the Abraham Accords.

The announcement was made known by the Trump administration and soon the preliminary agreement was being signed between the three nations (as well as the United States as additional signatory) on international television in the Rose Garden of the White House.

The Abraham Accords were heralded as the means to achieve lasting peace and cooperation between Israel and some of its formerly most avid foes. Almost before the ink was dry, other Islamic nations recognized the opportunity to join in – nations which had never had a good word to say about Israel! Even the nation of Sudan, which has been the home of numerous terrorist training camps affiliated with the PLO, Islamic Jihad, and other enemies, willingly joined in. Morocco hastened to add its signature as well. There are hints that even Saudi Arabia is thinking along the same lines and may soon join the nations of the Abraham Accords.

This very late trend has prompted some Bible students to equate this set of agreements with those described by Ezekiel – that this initiative will result in the reality of Ezekiel’s prophecy.

In our studied opinion, they are not equivalent to each other but are distinctly different and meaningful in completely different ways.

The Abraham Accords are not even peace agreements as such, although peace between the various signatories is certainly implied. And, unlike the treasures of Ezekiel’s and Zechariah’s accounts, no spoils of warfare are implicated in them – no great plunder which has come to Israel as a result of military conflict.

So our dilemma is ... how does one move from the first declaration (it is not a Peace Cry as some have claimed; it is a calm statement of what is believed to be fact) to the second declaration of concrete fact?

If the present trend continues, the nations will increasingly become convinced that the conflict that has always surrounded the State of Israel is a thing of the past. The “Pales******” animosity may even fade into relative obscurity – even in the wake of the Biden administration’s having made it a hot issue again in recent weeks.

We can visualize conditions in which the prominent powers will claim that the Israeli-Pales****** conflict is no longer one of consequence ... and that there is now peace in the Middle East. Some kind of reconciliation between Israel and its resident PLO may be established, but its character is unknown to us at the present time.

That would bring a huge sigh of relief from every quarter, but shall in actuality be preliminary to the most intense and bloody war that the world shall have witnessed in its history – that relatively local conflict of Israel with all its enemies round about her.

Jordan will break its peace treaty with Israel in a trice; Iraq and Syria will avidly combine forces and attack toward the south. Even tiny Lebanon will join the fray, as we believe Saudi Arabia will also aggress Israel in one last-ditch attempt to eradicate the Jewish state and remove that “cancer” from “their” territories.

By default, other smaller powers within the confines of the Promised Land such as Kuwait and some of the Arab emirates of the Gulf region – all of which are decided enemies of Israel – will likely join in and be eradicated by a surprising development that is described in Isaiah 59: 18-21.

Isa 59:18  According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence. 

Isa 59:19  So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. 

Isa 59:20  And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. 

Isa 59:21  As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever. 

The result of this sudden conflict will change the Middle East forever. The Redeemer spoken of in vs. 20, of course, is the LORD Jesus Christ, Who shall have come to fulfill the prophecy of Zacharias in Luke 1: 71 and 74: “That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us ... that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear....”

We see the utter obliteration of all the interlopers of the Land between the Rivers and the Seas as the only solution to Israel’s present confrontation with the nations round about her ... and more importantly, the nations that now occupy the Promised Land of Abram. If any of these shall have made “peace” with Israel, the Lord Jesus will ignore those agreements, for the heathen philosophies of those nations have no place in His nascent Kingdom.

In this initial, unforeseen action the LORD Jesus shall have come to begin His Kingdom’s establishment for a 1,000 year duration – an institution in which those alien peoples have no right of participation whatever. Israel has failed to dispose of them in its 73-year history; the LORD Jesus Christ may accomplish it in one 24-hour day!

The thunderous repercussions of such a victory will shake the world to its core. The conflict will in our thinking be completed in the twinkling of an eye – long before any of the outside interests such as Russia, Iran, and China even understand the nature of the campaign or that it will not end well for them.

They shall not lift a finger in opposition to Him due to the instantaneous nature of the conflict! They will simply not have an opportunity to react before it is too late!

The destruction of all the Iranian proxies within Syria and Iraq will not greatly harm Iran itself. The destruction of the limited Russian forces at Latakia and other bases in Syria will not damage Mr. Putin’s home country to a great extent. These are left intact to fight at another time in the near future. But Islam within the Promised Land shall be completely eradicated ... utterly destroyed.

No “Christian” (Orthodox or Catholic or Protestant) institutions will be allowed to remain in the Promised Land; and “Judaism” as such will be eradicated by the enlightenment and conversion of all the Jews of Israel as they behold the nail prints in the hands of the Master (Zechariah 12 and 13). 

These then shall immediately shed their objection to Jesus as Messiah and accept Him as such with great repentance and mourning. The result is His forgiveness of their great infraction against the Almighty and His Son in 29AD, and their global acceptance as His People of the beginning Kingdom.

Only such an outcome can result in the “peace and security” that Israel is certified to be then enjoying. No active enemies remain. Their King is on the restored Throne of David, and is busy building the infrastructure of His Kingdom. And the “peace and security” of Ezekiel’s prophecy shall have become an obvious reality for them.

That blessed achievement is the condition that is observed by the Gogian despot and prompts his attack on the now disarmed nation of Israel under its new King. But Gog cannot know of the power of His speech (breath) and the impossibility of Gog’s resistance to it! “With the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked” says Isaiah 11: 4, speaking of the identical prophetic period in which we live today.

<HEL>  ~2,350 words.  An eTPL31 Analysis.  Published April 29, 2021.