Reign in Life

Reign in Life

When death reigns, it quenches life. When a person reigns in life through the One, Jesus Christ, life drives out death.

“Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom. 6:11. In Hidden Treasures we have written much about death, saying that it must be active in us and that we should be dead to sin. It is meaningless to talk about reckoning ourselves alive in Christ Jesus unless this death is truly active. One way to express the effects of reckoning yourself alive is to say that you “reign.”

Those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Rom. 5:17. No one can experience true fulfillment until he has matured to the point where he can reign in life.

What does it mean to reign in life?

Every one of us is surrounded by sin and ungodliness. If you are a conqueror, you reign in life.

At every opportunity, religious hypocrites and Pharisees try to take your life. If you can strike them with the Sword of the Spirit and expose their craftiness, you will reign in life.

Envy will cause Korah to rise up among you. If you have such a relationship with God that the earth opens and swallows up such people, you reign in life.

So-called educated people try to catch you off guard and deceive you. If you reign in life, you will be able to give such people an appropriate response.

If you stand in the counsels of God, you will always be able to reign in life; you will become independent. There is a need for many such people. All of us must grow up into Him who is the Head—Christ. If you have a personal relationship with the Head, you will be able to hear for yourself what the Spirit is speaking in the church; you will not need a mediator. When you are able to hear this voice, you will reign in life.

However, if you lack confidence in yourself and do not dare to act on the revelations you receive from Christ, don’t even try to reign. Sirach says, “In everything you do, rely on yourself! For also this is to keep the commandments.” Sir. 32:23.

When you reign in life in Christ Jesus, you overcome yourself, the enemies of the cross and all the power of Satan, as far as God has given you light. This demands faithfulness. To retreat a little here and compromise a little there, either for the sake of courtesy or cowardice, is totally unacceptable.

When the majority of those in the church begin to reign in life, you can expect a huge assault that will overcome all opposition to the cross of Christ. The false “freedom doctrine” which has become so prevalent, and is promoted by the hypocrisy of false teachers, will then receive its deathblow, and the power of Christ and His gospel will again come into its own.

If you live by Christ, exercise yourself in faith so that you also reign by Him. The Scriptures say, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Gal. 5:25. In other words, we can actively forge ahead in the Spirit. Yet has anyone ever made spiritual progress without meeting opposition? No! Anyone who wants to progress in the Spirit must reign through Jesus Christ.

When we reign through Jesus Christ, the result will be a church that is growing up to mature manhood. Eph. 4:13. When someone tries to reign according to the flesh, he focuses on everything that glorifies himself, his own personality, his own writings and every aspect of himself.

The foundation for fellowship in God’s church is the death of Christ and walking in the light so that death is at work. Where the death of Christ reigns in the church, life will also reign. In such churches people do not elect shepherds, evangelists, prophets and teachers, because God has already appointed them.

Today, however, people say it is “biblical” to scrape together as many people as possible for a church roster and then, according to human customs, appoint certain people as ministers—usually those whom God has never appointed.

Those who reign through Christ Jesus never indulge in such folly. God has formed His church. We have no right whatsoever to exclude anyone from the church by selectively fabricating a church. To require one’s sheep to be on good terms with other churches does not rectify the folly.

There are already plenty of denominations. We do not need to create any more. The person who organizes a group and appoints leaders is, of course, the big man, and that undoubtedly counts most in these assemblies. A person leaves one assembly bitter and full of complaints and immediately joins a new one. He considers this going forth to Him outside the camp.

But that’s not true. It would be too much trouble for these leaders to look after the sheep outside the camp. They think that if the sheep are placed within an assembly where they can be safely watched, they are in a good place, nicely kept under lock and key. And people call this freedom?

It would not surprise me if even more people started organizing so-called “biblical” churches. There are plenty of “religious vagabonds” out there who are in no way mature enough to handle the freedom that is outside the camp. What the cross could not accomplish, these newly-ordained church leaders somehow try to manage.

Nowadays, we see many who try to reign in life, but whether they reign through the One, Jesus Christ, is another question. There are people who attempt to dominate churches, and yet they have never shown themselves to be examples worthy of following. They cannot truthfully say, “Follow me, as I follow Christ.”

We know of traveling preachers who show up at a Pentecostal church in one city, then in a Missionary Alliance in another, and in some other evangelical assembly in yet a third town—all depending on which place can provide them with the most personal advantages. Is this reigning in life? It seems to me that the error of Balaam is reigning; he also ran greedily after profit and honor.

God has brought forth a church by the blood of Christ. Stop trying to create a church. God has appointed some to be apostles, some prophets, some teachers and so on. Let us free ourselves from the idea of creating shepherds and teachers. Pray that God will save you from such “biblical” darkness.

The word “biblical” has become a very popular slogan in these days. It is intended to have a double effect: The first is to suppress all opposition that really is “biblical.” The second is to exalt itself—together with all other folly. We will, by the grace of God, overcome all of it through the One, Jesus Christ—He who guards His own honor and does not share it with flesh in any way, shape or form. Whether that flesh is trained in a seminary, earning itself the name Pastor, or whether it is trained in the skills of war so that it is called a soldier makes no difference to God. There is only one God, and we are all brethren.

Some people give themselves the title “preacher,” others “evangelist” and still others, “pastor.” That is what happens when the flesh rules and people are so blind that they are willing to swallow it. They call such folly “biblical.” May God save His people from such a bible.

People comfort themselves that they are guides for the blind and lights for those who are in darkness, and at the same time, they delight in having a title like “pastor,” “preacher” or “evangelist,” directly against everything that is truly biblical.

If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another; but now it has become quite “biblical” to fabricate fellowship and then dissolve fellowship, with no regard to walking in the light. As long as the outward appearance of holiness is in order, and their name is registered, then everything is all right. Indeed, it is even “biblical.”

The people of God flit from one folly to the other; and the people at the helm have never done anything but run ships aground all their lives. Now it looks like the “revival” has run so firmly aground that they don’t think it is advisable to even try lifting the vessel off the rocks. So they have decided to build and dwell there on their new reef. After all, they say, that is the safest thing to do. Sailing was really rough: pitch darkness, hidden reefs, poor knowledge of the waters and storm after storm. Now everything is quiet. Now they can live in peace and minister to the people inside the camp. It was impossible outside. Finally they can rest after all their hardships.

I would like to give you some advice: Never set sail without charting your course beforehand, without familiarizing yourself with the waters. It is dangerous territory outside the camp.

It can also be dangerous inside the camp. The rest indeed seems sweet, but it is biblical that “a man who wanders from the way of understanding will rest in the assembly of the dead.” Prov. 21:16.

If you are not willing to bear your cross, to bear dishonor, it will be dangerous for you to go outside the camp.