12 If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.
The second couplet focuses on the contrast between believers suffering in time and their ultimate glorification with Christ in eternity (Ro 8:17).
12 If we endure [persevere],
Believers enduring persecution and even martyrdom will reign as kings with Christ, the King of kings, in the Millennial kingdom. This couplet of “endure” and “deny” is positive. “Endure” is to bear up under hardship and affliction. If a believer perseveres persecution without dying, a positive eternal consequence is in store for him.
We shall also reign [as kings] with Him.
The issue with this sentence is the shame of the gospel (2 Tim 1:8, 12). God promises the victory of reigning with Christ in eternity for those who bear up under affliction without shame. They will reign in a kingdom with their Lord. The privilege of reigning with Christ is a restoration of the principle of a theocratic king, which was lost by the fall of mankind.
PRINCIPLE:
There is a difference between being with Christ eternally and reigning with Him.
APPLICATION:
All believers will spend eternity with Christ, but faithful Christians will reign with Him in an active sense (1 Co 4:8; Rev 3:21; 5:10). There are differences between reigning and rewards; in the future, some believers will reign with more rewards than others. Not all Christians remain faithful to the end.
God created the first man, Adam, to gain dominion over the earth and to reign as a king. That was a purpose for everyone; they were to be theocratic kings. Since Adam’s fall, people lost the dominion; the whole world lies in the wicked one (1 Jn 5:19). The devil tried to gain dominion over the earth by giving Jesus dominion under the condition that He worshiped him.
One day, the kingdoms of this world will become “the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ”; at that time, “He will reign forever and ever” (Re 11:15). He will have fulfilled the purpose of man gaining dominion over the world (Isa 9:6, 7; Jer 23:5, 6). Believers will reign with Him (Re 20:6).
