Christ Reigns

Christ reigns today as the enthroned messiah, yet many church groups deny the current reign. This is unfortunate since those groups could miss salvation.  Acts 16:31 says, "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved". Since Lord and Christ are present titles, then believing in Christ's current reign is a necessity for salvation. Those rejecting the current reign could very well be lost. That is why we fight to announce this fact. Acts 16:31 doesn't say belief is faith only, so they spoke the word of the Lord to them after making the statement.. The statement of v.31 was made before speaking the word. It was a general statement about Jesus being Christ and us believing his authority as Lord and Christ. Then we must follow through by accepting and obeying his word regarding salvation. Baptism etc. Read 16:28-34. V.31 is a precursor to the rest of his statement.

According to Acts 16:31 it is a salvation issue. In Greek Believe is connected to the title Christ. The last word is as important as the first. "believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ" , this in Greek expresses belief in the authority to command, the person, and the office. Denying Jesus reigns isn't a good thing. It can and will cost us salvation.

Most pre-millinialist use Revelation 20:4 to justify their belief Jesus doesn't reign yet.They tend to believe Jesus will come back with raised martyrs to rule earth 1000 years.

Revelation 20:4

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and [I saw] the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received [his] mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 

Thrones - apostles probably, see Luke 22:28-30 "they will sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes", Luke 22:30 matches Rev 20:4. Only Luke is future while Rev. is past.

judgment - apostolic judgments written in scripture, 

early martyrs such as apostles

It is important to notice that these were physically dead, in other words no longer on earth and it says nothing about coming back to earth for 1000 years. They were beheaded. It says also they "lived and reigned" with Christ. It doesn't say how long Christ reigned.  If he started around Acts 2 he has already been reigning 2 thousand years. The 1000 years is probably a symbolic number and not literal. This is common in scripture such as "cattle on a thousand hills". Scripture uses exponential 10s to express a long time or a lot of hills or a multitude of people. It could also express generations of kings since all Christians are kings. It may not be the length of individuals living but the total generations. I say may not, since I leave it possible i'm wrong about all of it. This makes sense to me though.

Also, "lived and reigned" could have begun before their beheading. They are aorist verbs which means past tense, exact timing isn't mentioned, it is stating a fact without time, but it is past tense. So it may be past tense when the vision was seen by John. In Revelation 1 they were kings already. Living could be the New Birth as they were saved on earth through the Gospel. They lived in a spiritual living state and reigned. Some see it as the resurrection of the body but not necessarily so.

They could continue to reign through the New Testament as it was a lasting judgment delivered by the Apostles and prophets of the early church. They reigned through their past lasting authority.

Thus, a perpetual state of Christians reigning throughout all generations. We live through the new birth and continually reign. This is my current belief about this chapter. It seems to match other passages. It doesn't mention coming back to earth to reign since they already reigned on earth through a living authority., Christians reign before leaving earth and even after death.

Revelation 1:6

And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him [be] glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 

Revelation 5:10

And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. 

A continual reign. We know Christ was reigning in Acts 2 on Earth but from heaven.

Acts 2:30

Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; 

Acts 2:31

He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. 

Acts 2:32

This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 

Acts 2:33

Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. 

Jesus was Raised and exalted, he already reigns.

Acts 2:36

Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. 

Christ's exaltation and enthronement on David's throne has already occured.

Jesus has been reigning since Acts 2, and even before. He will reign until the end of death.

1 Corinthians 15:25

For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 

Colossians 1:13

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated [us] into the kingdom of his dear Son: 

Matthew 28:18

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 

There are many passages declaring the current reign of Christ. The sad part is most churches follow the premillenial doctrine, which is one of the Spirits of anti-christ. Most have been deceived. Catholics teach current reign, but believe they were appointed on earth to reign. Basically replacing Christ. The term anti means to substitute or replace in Greek. As vicars of Christ Popes replace his authority with theirs. Christ reigns through the judgments of the early church, the apostles and prophets, not substitute Popes.

You only have a few church groups teaching current reign. Church of Christ is one and seems to fit Christ word better than any others. Most teach infant baptism, we teach disciples baptism, so we fit the new birth much better.