We need to be those who dine, who feast, with the Lord in this age so that we can sit on the throne with the Lord in the kingdom age. To sit with the Lord on His throne will be a prize to the overcomer that he may participate in the Lord’s authority in the coming millennial kingdom. This means that the overcomers will be co-kings with Christ ruling over the whole earth. Strictly speaking, all the promises in these seven epistles concern the coming kingdom. Any negative word regarding loss or suffering refers to a loss during the coming kingdom, and any positive word regarding gain or enjoyment refers to the enjoyment of Christ as our special portion during the age of the kingdom. We must have the insight to understand these promises in a proper way. Nevertheless, in principle, these promises may also be applied today, and we may pre-taste them now. There is no need to wait until we enter into the kingdom age to enjoy all these special portions. Today in the church life we are privileged to enjoy the kingdom.
The overcomers will be on the throne with Christ as His co-kings (2:26-27; 3:21). Christ is on the throne, and they also will be on the throne. He has the authority, and they also will have the same authority to rule over the nations.
God’s intention is to work on man in order that man can be on the throne. God will not be satisfied until we are on the throne. God’s intention is to take us to the throne. His desire is to make us people of the throne. God’s kingdom cannot come in full until we are on the throne. Furthermore, God’s enemy will not be subdued until we are on the throne. God’s goal, therefore, is not merely to deliver us out of hell but to bring us to the throne.
God desires to bring us to the throne because of the rebellion of Satan against God’s throne (Isa. 14). If we read the Bible carefully, we will see that the greatest difficulty God faces in the universe is that His throne has been opposed and attacked by rebel forces. God’s throne is absolute, but one of His creatures has rebelled and seeks to exalt his throne to be equal with that of God. In his rebellion against God’s throne, Satan intended to exalt his throne to the heavens and thereby to intrude upon God’s authority. Isaiah 14:12-14 says, “How you have fallen from heaven, / O Daystar, son of the dawn! / How you have been hewn down to earth, / You who made nations fall prostrate! / But you, you said in your heart: / I will ascend to heaven; / Above the stars of God / I will exalt my throne. / And I will sit upon the mount of assembly / In the uttermost parts of the north. / I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; / I will make myself like the Most High.” From the time of Satan’s rebellion until now, there has been a dispute in the universe regarding authority. Much of what is happening on earth is an expression of Satan’s resistance to God’s throne. The crucial question is this: Who is actually reigning on earth—God or Satan?
The Lord Jesus became a man, and as a man He went to the throne. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He was absolutely submissive to God’s authority. To obey God is to be a person under the throne. Because the Lord Jesus obeyed God the Father and submitted to God’s authority in an absolute way, after He was resurrected from the dead, God gave Him all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18) and exalted Him to the throne. Now the One sitting on the throne is not only God but also man, for this One is the mingling of God and man. Therefore, after the ascension of the Lord Jesus, there has been a man on the throne.
Through His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, the Lord Jesus was brought to the throne. A real man whose name is Jesus is on the throne. This is why we declare, “Jesus is Lord,” and this is why we call, “O Lord Jesus.” God has always been the Lord, but now a man is on the throne as the Lord. Through His resurrection and in His ascension, “God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus” (Acts 2:36). God has made Jesus, a Nazarene, the Lord, and now today the Lord of heaven and of earth is a man.
It would not seem strange to us to say that Jehovah Elohim is the Lord of the universe. But it is not easy for us to realize that a man who could be crucified and buried could be the Lord of the universe. When Judas and the multitude came to arrest Him, He did not run away. He willingly made Himself weak and allowed Himself to be arrested and crucified. In the words of 2 Corinthians 13:4, “He was crucified out of weakness.” But after He was crucified and buried, God resurrected Him and set Him at His right hand, making Him the Lord of all the universe. Today the Lord of the universe is a man.
We need to see that the Lord Jesus led the way to the throne. He was the Pioneer, the Forerunner (Heb. 6:20), cutting the path to the throne (2:10). This indicates that He is not the only man destined for the throne. He has cut the path and has taken the lead so that we may follow. He was the first one to the throne, and we will come after Him. Now we are marching to the throne, for God intends to bring us into glory and to set us on the throne. When we overcome, we will sit with Christ on His throne and have authority to reign with the Lord and rule over the nations.
God’s mind is on man (v. 6), and He wants man to express Him and to exercise His authority. Man has God’s image and God’s dominion with His authority. God desires to manifest Himself through man, and He desires to reign, to administrate, through man. God’s intention is to cast Satan down and to redeem many of those taken captive by Satan and bring them to His throne. God cannot receive the full glory until we are brought to the throne. One day we will be brought to the throne, and then God will be able to boast to Satan. He will triumphantly declare that His chosen ones, who had been taken captive by Satan, have been brought to the throne.
However, we need to realize that in our present condition we may not be qualified to be on the throne. This is a very serious matter. We have been called to be sons of God, and we are destined to be kings, but we need God to work in us and on us to qualify us for kingship.