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.

Paul makes explicit the connection between Christ’s resurrection and enthronement.