Smoodock's Blog

We are told in scripture that the Church will rule as a kingdom of priests with Jesus (Revelation 3:21; Exodus 19:6; cp. Revelation 1:6 and 5:10).[1] In the context of Jesus ruling today, the martyrs who are said to have “reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4) could not mean that they reigned as kings on the earth; they were slain by the kings of the earth or by their representatives. Instead, they ruled “with Christ” in the sense that he pronounced his judgment, vindicating them of wrongdoing. In other words, they spoke truth to power, and the authorities of this world found them guilty of wrongdoing, but they reigned with Christ both in their witness against the wrongdoing of the powers of this world, and they reigned in Christ’s judgment of their vindication.[2]

Therefore, in one sense, we rule or reign with Christ, when we, vis-à-vis the Church, speak truth to power. Doing so will put our reputations, perhaps even our lives, at risk. When the Church speaks prophetically[3] to power, she demonstrates her reign with Christ, in the sense that Jesus’ disciples have been raised to heavenly places to sit with him, vis-à-vis on his Messianic Throne (Ephesians 2:6; cp. Revelation 3:21).

Additionally, the Church also demonstrates her reign with Christ through the ministries she establishes in the name of Christ both to serve mankind, and to challenge and correct men and governments to stop abusing their authority and to do as she is doing. The key point is that the Church inaugurates these ministries in obedience to God, as a priestly labor, a labor of righteousness, and her call to do likewise, is a call from Jesus’ throne for the nations to do what the Church is doing, vis-à-vis do WWJD. In other words, image God (cp. Hebrews 1:3), because that is and has always been the prime directive.

A precaution that the Church needs to take very seriously is to test the spirits in order to be certain the “spirits” that move one to “serve Christ” is actually inspired by God (1John 4:1), because not every thought we have in our quest to serve Christ actually images him, because a perceived goal for good, if it is not good, will drive the laborer onward to do evil, when the spirits aren’t tested (Proverbs 16:25-26). Yet, how do we know that the spirit is of God? The scriptures identify several ways in which we are able to determine a spirit is of God or not, and I’ve written several studies to this end, during my study of John’s first epistle.[4]

We are told in John’s epistle that we can know the spirit is of God, if it confesses Jesus Christ is come in the flesh (1John 4:2). However, I take issue with how this verse is normally interpreted. Even an atheist will say Jesus had come in the flesh, vis-à-vis he was a man and only a man. If God is Spirit (John 4:24), what is the Spirit of God or the Spirit of the Spirit who is God? There are things that we experience in life that cannot be seen, heard, felt, tasted or smelled (our five gates of understanding our world). Love, for example, is spiritual and cannot be examined physically. Life, itself, is spiritual and cannot be seen or heard etc. The mind, not the brain, is something spiritual, and the scriptures tell us that we have the mind of Christ (1Corinthians 2:16), which is the same as saying we have the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9; cp. 1Peter 1:11).

Therefore, in the context of 1John 4:2, every spirit (thought) that confesses Jesus Christ is come in flesh, vis-à-vis in Christians, is come in Jesus’ disciples, is of God. Moreover, in the context of this study, as I said above, the Church needs to “test the spirits in order to be certain the “spirits” that move one to ‘serve Christ’ is actually inspired by God (1John 4:1).” It is possible for the Church to get it wrong, but, if we test the spirits, we can know for certain. Does the idea, we believe is God inspired, allow man freedom of choice, which is necessary to image God (the prime directive). If it does, good, but if not, we need to reconsider. For example, do we really believe that the issue of abortion can be solved by the Supreme Court, or is it a spiritual issue that must be solved by the mind of Christ in the individual? Test the spirits, because they aren’t all of God.[5]

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[1] The scholars are not united in the interpretation of Revelation 1:6 and 5:10. Some translations have “kings and priests,” while others have “kingdom, priests” or “kingdom of priests” or “kingdom and priests.”

[2] I could say that I flew from Pennsylvania, where I live, to the west coast in Washington, but I don’t really know how to fly an airplane. The fact is the pilot of the airplane did it for me. I was with him, when he did it, so I flew to Washington. I believe in this context the Church rules with Christ. He does the actual ruling, and we agree in our prayers, a priestly act, with his judgments. Thus, our prayers move mountains (nations) through Jesus, and our prayers reign over them.

[3] Prophetically – not in the sense of foretelling the future, but in the sense of calling power to behave and rule righteously.

[4] See my previous studies in First John: Believe Not Every Spirit; The Spirit of God and That of Men; and The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error.

[5] This is my final study inspired by N.T. Wright’s book Simply Jesus. I take a different view of 1John 4:2 than Dr. Wright does in his book. These studies, all of them, are my “interpretation” of the themes in his book. Sometimes I am in agreement with my favorite scholar, but not always.