As persons alive again they can take up once more the mandate assigned to humanity at creation, namely, to have dominion over God’s world (Genesis 1:26–27; Psalm 8:6). They have come alive again because of Christ’s triumph over death as demonstrated in his resurrection at Easter. As a reward for his victory, the Lord God gave to Jesus all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:19). Christ Jesus is pleased to share that authority with his saints (Ephesians 2:6; 1 Peter 2:9). See also Matthew 19:28; Matthew 25:21, Matthew 25:23. This reference to reigning recalls the “thrones” with which this verse began.
4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.