Why Jesus Reigns In His Resurrection (and Why This Matters For Us)

One of my favorite songs is “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears. While the song represents what’s best about ’80s music, it also gets at a profound truth.

Consider something as simple as the desire to climb mountains, thereby “ruling over” those parts of creation. Over the past 60 years, thousands of people have attempted to climb Mount Everest, with 7,000 “conquering” the world’s highest peak. Yet this feat doesn’t come without great risk, as around 350 people have lost their lives in attempting it. Humanity desires to rule the world, but death (and sin) prevents us.

In Scripture, there’s a close relationship between God’s kingdom and the hope of resurrection. In Genesis 1–2, God gives life and grants humanity the privilege and calling to reign over creation. But with the fall, humanity doesn’t reign as God intended and death enters the picture. Thankfully, the Bible’s story doesn’t end with sin and death. God promises redemption (3:15), and this hope unfolds from Genesis 3:15 to Revelation 22:21.

Embedded in this hope is that God’s people will one day conquer death and reign over creation as God purposed. In this article, I highlight how the twin themes of resurrection and reign come together in Christ’s person and work. In his resurrection, Jesus reigns over the enemies of sin and death and therefore reigns over creation.

Resurrection and Kingship

In Jesus’s life and death, much could be said about these two themes. Christ’s coming means the arrival of the kingdom (Mark 1:14–15), and Jesus even proclaims he’s “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Moreover, Jesus’s death is linked with his messiahship (1 Cor. 1:23) and is the final sacrifice that brings life to God’s people. But something monumentally significant happens with Jesus’s resurrection—Peter proclaims that God raised Jesus from the dead and exalted him at his right hand (Acts 2:22–36). Similarly, in Acts 13:16–37, Paul preaches that God has raised Jesus from the dead and connects his resurrection with his kingship. In both cases, the implication is that Jesus’s resurrection serves as his enthronement.

Jesus’s resurrection serves as his enthronement.

Paul makes explicit the connection between Christ’s resurrection and enthronement. In Romans 1:4, Paul writes that Jesus “was declared to be the Son of God in power . . . by his resurrection from the dead.” Whereas Jesus reigned “in weakness” in his crucifixion (2 Cor. 13:4), he reigns as the Son of God in power in his resurrection. Moreover, in Ephesians 1:20, Paul writes that God “raised [Jesus] from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.” Here, Christ’s resurrection and enthronement are so closely linked that one implies and guarantees the other.

This connection between Jesus’s resurrection and kingship is significant. God creates humanity to reign over creation (Ps. 8), and the author of Hebrews emphasizes that the world to come is subjected to humanity (Heb. 2:5–8). The problem, though, is that not everything is subject to humanity at present (v. 8). On account of sin and death, humanity’s call to rule over creation is frustrated and stifled so it falls short, especially since the end result of (almost) every life is death. Thus, creation actually rules over humanity.

Living One

But here’s where Jesus’s resurrection and exaltation come into view. Although humanity doesn’t yet rule over all things, Jesus is at present “crowned with glory and honor” (v. 9), the same description used of humanity at creation (Ps. 8:5). Jesus is “crowned with glory and honor” because he has conquered death and now reigns. C. S. Lewis writes,

The New Testament writers speak as if Christ’s achievement in rising from the dead was the first event of its kind in the whole history of the universe. He is the “first fruits,” the “pioneer of life.” He has forced open a door that has been locked since the death of the first man. He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death. Everything is different because He has done so. This is the beginning of the New Creation: a new chapter in cosmic history has opened.

In Revelation 1:18, Jesus proclaims, “[I am] the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” Through his resurrection, Jesus has conquered sin and death and consequently reigns over creation. And although believers don’t yet reign over creation as God originally intended, Jesus’s resurrection and reign have massive implications for those united to him by faith.

Look Ahead

Jesus’s resurrection from the dead and reign over all things is good news for those united to Christ by faith. Since Jesus has overcome sin and death, so also will his people. Believers have been set free from sin’s penalty (Rom. 8:1) and have therefore already crossed over from death to life (John 5:24). Because they’ve been made alive and newly created in Christ (Eph. 2:1–10; Rom. 6:1–14), they are no longer slaves to sin but are slaves to Christ and slaves of righteousness (Rom. 6:15–23).

Believers have been set free from the penalty of sin and have therefore already crossed over from death to life.

Salvation’s consummation occurs at Jesus’s second coming. Only then will Christians inherit their glorified resurrection bodies (1 Cor. 15:35–58) and reign with Christ over the new creation (Rev. 22:5). In light of this, we should remember Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4:16–17: “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”