Days of Vengeance - The Preterist Archive

20:4
The relationship between the priesthood of the elders
and that of the Church at large has been well
summarized by T. F. Torrance in his excellent study of
the Royal Priesthood: “In the Old Testament Church
there was a twofold priesthood, the priesthood of the
whole body through initiation by circumcision into the
royal priesthood, although that priesthood actually
functioned through the first-born. Within that royal
priesthood there was given to Israel an institutional
priesthood in the tribe of Levi, and within that tribe,
the house of Aaron. The purpose of the institutional
priesthood was to serve the royal priesthood, and the
purpose of the royal priesthood, that is of Israel as a
kingdom of priests, was to serve God’s saving purpose
for all nations. So with the Christian Church. The real
priesthood is that of the whole Body, but within that
Body there takes place a membering of the corporate
priesthood, for the edification of the whole Body, to
serve the whole Body, in order that the whole Body as
Christ’s own Body may fulfill His ministry of
reconciliation by proclaiming the Gospel among the
nations. Within the corporate priesthood of the whole
Body, then, there is a particular priesthood set apart to
minister to the edification of the Body until the Body
reaches the fulness of Christ (Eph. 4:13). . . . This
ministry is as essential to the Church as Bible and
sacramental ordinances, but like them, this order of the
ministry will pass away at the parousia, when the real
priesthood of the one Body, as distinct from the
institutional priesthood, will be fully revealed.” 21
We therefore are not forced to choose whether those
who are enthroned in the Millennium are elders or the
Church, because both are true. In St. John’s vision, he
sees the elders on thrones – but they represent the
whole Church. 22 Related to this is the promise Jesus
made to His disciples: “Truly I say to you, that you who
have followed Me, in the Regeneration when the Son
of Man will sit on His glorious Throne, you also shall sit
upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel” (Matt. 19:28; cf. Luke 22:30, where the term
kingdom is used instead of regeneration). By His death,
resurrection, and ascension to His glorious Throne
(Eph. 1:20-22), Jesus inaugurated the Kingdom Age
(Col. 1:13) – the Regeneration – in which all nations
are being brought to feast at His Table with the
patriarchs and apostles (Isa. 52:15; Luke 13:28-29;
22:29-30). In this age, the apostles reign over the New
Israel; they are the very foundation of the Church
(Eph. 2:20), which itself is a nation of kingly priests (1
Pet. 2:9).
Jesus gave His disciples two promises regarding the
Messianic era: that they would sit on thrones, and that
they would judge. This is precisely what St. John shows
us in this text. He tells of those who sit on the thrones
of the Kingdom, and adds that judgment was given to
them, paralleling his statement in 11:18 that the saints
are “judged” or “vindicated”; further, however, there is
the sense here that the privilege of judging (ruling) is
given into the hands of the saints. Before Christ’s
victory over Satan, the Church was judged and ruled
over by the heathen nations, because Adam had
abdicated his position of judgment and surrendered it
to the Dragon. But now the Son of Man, the Second
Adam, has ascended to the Throne as ruler of the kings
of the earth, and His people have ascended to rule with
Him (Eph. 2:6). Definitively – and increasingly as the
age progresses – judgment is given to God’s people. 23
The Dominion Mandate of Genesis 1:26-28 (cf. Ps. 8;
Heb. 2) will be fulfilled through the triumph of the
Gospel; as the Gospel progresses, so does the dominion
of the saints. The two go together. In His Great
Commission (Matt. 28:18-20), Jesus commanded us to
teach and disciple the nations, and as the earth is
gradually discipled to the commands of God’s Word,
the boundaries of the Kingdom will expand. Eventually,
through evangelism, the reign of Christians will
become so extensive that “the earth will be full of the
knowledge of God, as the waters cover the sea” (Isa.
11:9). Edenic blessings will abound across the world as
God’s law is increasingly obeyed by the converted
nations (Lev. 26:3-13; Deut. 28:1-14). 24
It must be stressed, however, that the road to Christian
dominion does not lie primarily through political
action. While the political sphere, like every other
aspect of life, is a valid and necessary area for Christian
activity and eventual dominance, we must shun the
perennial temptation to grasp for political power.
Dominion in civil government cannot be obtained
before we have attained maturity in wisdom – the result
of generations of Christian self-government. As we
learn to apply God’s Word to practical situations in our
personal lives, our homes, our schools, and our
businesses; as Christian churches exercise Biblical
judgment over their own officers and members,
respecting and enforcing the discipline of other
churches; then Christians will be able to be trusted with
greater responsibilities. Those who are faithful in a few
things will be put in charge of many things (Matt.
25:21, 23), but “from everyone who has been given
much shall much be required” (Luke 12:48; cf. Luke
16:10-12; 19:17). One of the distinguishing marks of
heretical movements throughout Church history has
21. T. F. Torrance, Royal Priesthood (Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd Ltd., 1955), p.
81.
22. It might be asked: Why didn’t St. John simply say that those whom he saw
on thrones were the twenty-four elders? There are at least two reasons – first,
the various clues in the text (the mention of thrones, judgment, and a
priesthood reigning with Christ) make an explicit identification unnecessary;
second, in keeping with the symbolism of the Church as the New Israel, St.
John uses the term elder twelve times (4:4, 10; 5:5, 6, 7, 11, 14; 7:11, 13;
11:16; 14:3; 19:4). At this point in the Book of Revelation, he has already
used up his “quota”!
23. See two essays by Gary North: “Witnesses and Judges,” Biblical Economics
Today, Vol. VI, No. 5 (Aug./Sept. 1983); “Christ’s Mind and Economic
Reconstruction,” Biblical Economics Today, Vol. VII, No. 1 (Dec./Jan. 1984).
These are available for a donation to the Institute for Christian Economics,
P.O. Box 8000, Tyler, TX 75711.
24. Iain Murray has shown in The Puritan Hope: Studies in Revival and the
Interpretation of Prophecy (London: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1971) how
this view of worldwide conversion has provided a basic inspiration for
missionary activity throughout the history of the Church, particularly since
the Protestant Reformation.
202