👑🙏🕊️📖⚖️🌍✨ Training to Reign: Ruling the Nations is the Imperishable Inheritance

I. 1. The Foundation: God’s Works & His Authority

Psalm 111:2, 4, 6

• v.2 – "Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them."
• v.4 – "He has caused His wondrous works to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and merciful."
• v.6 – "He has shown His people the power of His works, in giving them the inheritance of the nations."

Psalm 111 celebrates God’s mighty works and frames them as a revelation of His character and power.

• His works (creation, deliverance, covenant acts) are not just for admiration but study and imitation.
• He gives His people an inheritance, which includes authority over the nations — pointing to a future reign.
• The psalm ends with a call to fear the LORD (v.10), grounding true rule in reverence and wisdom.
• God’s works reveal His authority, and He shares that authority with His people to rule and judge righteously.

2. Jesus’ Claim to Authority

Matthew 28:18-20 – Jesus declares,

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…"

This passage connects back to Psalm 111: Jesus is the embodiment of God’s mighty works, the fulfillment of His covenant promises, and now the ruler who shares authority with His disciples (commissioning them as His emissaries to the nations).

3. Sharing the Throne and Judgment

A striking theme develops through the NT: those who belong to Jesus will share in His rule and judgment:

• 1 Corinthians 6:2 – "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?"
• Luke 22:30 – "You may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
• Matthew 19:28 – "You who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

These passages show Jesus delegating His kingly authority to His disciples, not just as symbolic honor, but as active participants in God’s justice and order.

This is what Judas, the New Testament Esau, gave up...for thirty pieces of silver and a guilty conscience.

4. The Prophetic Background

Daniel 7:22

"Judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom."

Daniel’s vision anticipates a day when God’s holy people receive judicial authority and kingly dominion, which Jesus affirms and fulfills in His kingdom promises.

5. The Eschatological Fulfillment

Revelation 20:4

• "Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed."

Revelation 2:26-27

• "To the one who conquers…I will give authority over the nations...."

Revelation 3:21

• "The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with Me on My throne, as I also conquered and sat down with My Father on His throne."

These passages depict the final, consummated sharing of Christ’s reign. The faithful are pictured as co-rulers, exercising righteous authority alongside Him.

Key Theological Connections

Summary

These passages form a single, sweeping narrative:

• God’s works reveal His power and covenant faithfulness.
• Jesus inherits all authority as the Son of Man (Daniel 7 fulfilled).
• Believers are invited into participation — as witnesses, judges, and co-rulers.
• The end goal is not passive salvation but active partnership in God’s kingdom rule, reflecting His justice and wisdom over creation.

II. 1. The Living Hope and the Secured Inheritance

1 Peter 1:3-5

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

This ties together several threads:

• New Birth → The inheritance of rule and judgment is for those born again into God’s family.
• Living Hope → The future reign is guaranteed by Christ’s resurrection.
• Imperishable Inheritance → Unlike earthly inheritances that fade, this kingdom inheritance is eternal and incorruptible.
• Kept for You → God Himself safeguards this inheritance until the appointed time.

2. Inheritance as Kingdom Participation

When we connect this to Psalm 111:6 ("He has shown His people the power of His works, in giving them the inheritance of the nations"), we see that:

• The "inheritance" is not merely personal salvation or heavenly reward — it is a share in God’s plan to bring the nations under His rule.
• Jesus fulfills Psalm 2:8 ("Ask of Me, and I will make the nations your heritage…"), and then invites His people into His inheritance (Matt 28:18-20; Rev 2:26-27).

3. Inheritance as Authority to Judge

• Inheritance → Authority
  • Daniel 7:22 – "Judgment was given for the saints… and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom."
  • 1 Cor 6:2 – "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?"
  • Rev 20:4 – "I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed."

Our inheritance is not just receiving something but participating in something — God’s justice being established on earth as it is in heaven.

4. The Nature of the Inheritance

This inheritance is described with three key qualities:

• Imperishable → Cannot be lost through death (contrast with earthly kingdoms that rise and fall).
• Undefiled → Completely righteous, free of corruption (no abuse of power or unjust judgment).
• Unfading → Its glory never diminishes (eternal partnership in God’s reign).

This is what makes the idea of believers sharing in judgment and kingdom rule so weighty — it’s not a human kingdom but God’s eternal dominion, and those who receive it must reflect His holiness (hence the repeated calls to perseverance and overcoming in Revelation 2–3).

5. Devotional Insight

When believers face trials, as Peter’s audience did, remembering this inheritance strengthens faith (believing loyalty):

• Your suffering is not pointless — it prepares you to reign with Christ (2 Tim 2:12).
• Your obedience now is training for authority later — those who are faithful with little will be entrusted with much (Luke 19:17).
• Your hope is alive — anchored in Christ’s resurrection and guarded by God Himself.

Big Picture

Adding 1 Peter 1:3-5 re-frames the whole theme:

• Psalm 111 shows God’s mighty works and His covenant gift of inheritance.
• The Gospels and Paul show Christ receiving all authority and sharing it with His followers.
• Peter reminds us this inheritance is secured, incorruptible, and guarded until the time we fully receive it.
• Revelation shows its fulfillment — saints enthroned, judging, ruling, and sharing the Lamb’s victory.

III. 1. Kingdom Participation Starts Now

When Jesus said,

"Not My will, but Yours be done" (Luke 22:42),
He modeled the heart posture of submission that brings heaven’s order into earth’s chaos.

When we pray "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10), we are not simply asking for a future event — we are aligning our lives with the present reality of God’s reign.

Every time we surrender our will, we are:

• Acknowledging Christ’s authority (Matt 28:18)
• Participating in His kingdom rule by allowing His will to govern our actions
• Foreshadowing our future inheritance when we will reign with Him fully (Rev 3:21)

2. Humility as Training for Reign

Scripture consistently shows that the way to the throne is through humility and obedience:

• Philippians 2:5-11 – Jesus humbled Himself, even to death on a cross, and therefore was exalted.
• 1 Peter 5:6 – "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you."
• Revelation 3:21 – "The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with Me on My throne, as I also conquered…"

Humility now is both:

• The means by which God’s kingdom advances in the present
• The character formation necessary to rule rightly in the future

3. Already / Not Yet Kingdom Reign

4. Participating in God’s Works

Psalm 111 invites us to study God’s works — not merely to admire them but to let them shape us. When we yield to God’s will:

• We become living demonstrations of His wisdom and justice.
• Our choices align with the "power of His works" (Ps. 111:6), showing the world what His rule looks like.

This transforms judgment from being merely judicial authority into relational alignment — we are becoming the kind of people who can rightly exercise authority because we are first submitted to God.

5. Devotional Reflection

Every time we say, "Not my will but Yours be done," we are enthroning God in our hearts.
This is not passive resignation but active participation — it is an act of royal allegiance. In that moment, we are already judging between our flesh and the Spirit, already ruling over our own desires, already bearing witness to a kingdom not of this world.

This means that judgment and rule are not just future privileges but present responsibilities, exercised first in humility, prayer, and obedience.

Practicing self-control now is training for governing the Nations later.