According to a recent survey, roughly 73 percent of adults in the United States believe in heaven. Drilling down further, about 60 percent believe the afterlife entails a future free of suffering where we’ll have “perfectly healthy bodies.” But I suspect the majority have thought little about what they’ll do in these bodies for all eternity. This article considers what activities the church will perform for eternity as described in Revelation 22.
The Bible teaches that believers will dwell intimately with God in the new heavens and earth. Revelation 21–22 depicts a cosmic sanctuary, where all creation houses the glory of the triune God (21:1–4). As Revelation 21 unfolds, John narrows his focus to the church’s identity in this new cosmos. He depicts the church as a city-bride, two symbols that underscore the church’s identity as true Israel and the end-time temple (vv. 9–21). There’s no need for a physical structure that houses God’s glory on the new earth, for creation and redeemed humanity function as a massive sanctuary (v. 22).
High Priests of the New Sanctuary
While John emphasizes the church’s identity, he also drops two clues about its function. According to 22:4, believers “will see [God’s or the Lamb’s] face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” We can pick up on John’s incredible grasp of the Old Testament here as he recalls Exodus 28:36–38:
You are to make a pure gold medallion and engrave it, like the engraving of a seal: HOLY TO THE LORD. Fasten it to a cord of blue yarn so it can be placed on the turban; the medallion is to be on the front of the turban. It will be on Aaron’s forehead. (CSB)
On the Day of Atonement (the holiest day of Israel’s calendar), the high priest (the holiest person in Israel), twice entered the Holy of Holies (the holiest place on earth). When the high priest entered for the first time, he poured two handfuls of incense over the hot coals taken from the altar of incense to create a “cloud of incense” to “cover the mercy seat” (Lev. 16:12–13). The purpose of this cloud was to obscure the ark from the high priest, because “it is here, above the lid [of the mercy seat], that the LORD manifests his presence . . . and full exposure to such glory would be lethal.”
Consider the gravity of the situation: God only permits the high priest to enter into his presence once a year, and when the priest enters, he must still create a buffer of incense between himself and God’s glory. And the glory that resides behind the temple’s backroom isn’t even the full manifestation of God.
Applying what we’ve learned from Exodus 28 and Leviticus 16, we discover that every believer in the new heavens and earth is, strikingly, a high priest. The Spirit has so radically anointed and transformed believers’ bodies that they’re utterly holy. There’s no stain of sin, uncleanness, or defilement. Every individual in the eternal state, on account of Christ’s work and our union with him, has full access to God’s presence. No cloud of incense will obscure us from God’s face.
Kings of the New Sanctuary
Let’s examine our second clue. Revelation 22:5 says, “[Believers] will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” The last line brings to mind one of the Greek translations of Daniel 7:27: “[God] shall give the authority and the kingdom and the magnitude of all the kingdoms, which are under heaven, to the holy people of the Most High, to reign over an everlasting kingdom” (NETS).
The Spirit has so radically anointed and transformed believers’ bodies that they’re utterly holy.
Daniel 7 is one of the most difficult texts in the Old Testament, yet its difficulty is matched by its importance. Daniel 7 largely concerns an enigmatic “son of man” who possesses divine qualities. This messianic figure will defeat the fourth beast (the Roman Empire) and vindicate a righteous remnant who identifies with his eternal rule (7:11–14, 22–27). What’s true of the son of man is true of the righteous remnant. Daniel 7 is a prophecy about events that will transpire at the very end of history. All four Gospels insist Jesus is the enigmatic son of man and that his life, death, and resurrection inaugurated the long-awaited prophecy. The Gospels also insist that Jesus’s followers inherit his eternal reign. But there’s a twist: Satan and his demons—not the Roman Empire—are the fourth beast. And Christ’s followers extend God’s rule over the demonic realm.
Revelation 22:5, though, is the consummation of the Daniel 7 prophecy. Whereas believers primarily ruled over Satan and his devices on a spiritual level (sin, false teaching, temptation, etc.) between the two comings of Christ, in the new creation they’ll rule, to some degree, over the spiritual and physical realms. This may explain Paul’s statement in 1 Cor. 6:3: “Do you not know that we are to judge angels?” Of course, we won’t rule in the same way God rules and reigns over the created order, but it appears we’ll govern creation in the manner God intended Adam and Eve to rule from the beginning (Gen. 1:28).
Awe of Life in the New Sanctuary
Let’s now tease out the significance of the church’s priestly and kingly images we’ve discussed. We ought to remain cautious, as we’re working with trajectories, hints, and subtle biblical-theological connections. A great deal of priestly activity in the Old Testament is bound up with their service in the sanctuary. They were, for example, responsible for ensuring the sanctuary functioned the way God intended by burning incense (Ex. 30:7–9), tending the lamps, (27:20–21), and setting out 12 loaves of bread (Lev. 24:5–9). In short, they maintained the function of God’s house. If Israel’s tabernacle/temple is a shadow of the new earth, then the priests’ maintenance may correspond to the church’s maintenance of the new earth.
Perhaps this maintenance would include cultivating the earth for food production. Didn’t Jesus eat in his glorified body (Luke 24:43)? Scripture is rife with examples of his people dining together. Isaiah 25:6 even relates how God himself will prepare a rich banquet for the nations in the new creation. The passage is laden with metaphors, of course, but the metaphors appear to point to something tangible.
We’ll govern creation in the manner God intended Adam and Eve to rule from the beginning.
The church’s identity as kings is also worth considering. The idea of ruling, as found in Revelation 22:5, often entails exercising God’s sovereign authority over a realm. The church will function as kings who appropriate God’s rule throughout the new earth. The church will “exercise sovereignty over the new creation in a way similar to how Adam was to rule ‘over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”
Consider Adam’s conduct in the garden when he inspected, cataloged, and named the animals (Gen. 2:20). Similarly, the church in the new creation will likely study the created order, learn how it operates, and manage it. One author states explains:
The purpose of this new body will be to rule wisely over God’s new world. Forget those images about lounging around playing harps. There will be work to do and we shall relish doing it. All the skills and talents we have put to God’s service in this present life . . . will be enhanced and ennobled and given back to us to be exercised to his glory.
When we grasp our identity as priest-kings in God’s sanctuary, our future becomes exciting, concrete, and filled with awe and wonder. We can be confident our priestly and royal activities will finally and fully be done “to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).
The Gospel Coalition