God, Christ and Saints rule over the nations of the world in such a way as to maximize opportunities for a maximum of people to be saved. This involves a lot of patience with wicked, selfish, narcissistic, hard-hearted, back-talking sinners, giving them every chance to repent. Such patience with the wicked is not conducive to making the whole Earth a righteous Disneyland. There is plenty of time and space for good, holy saints to enjoy eachother’s company forever and ever in God’s Paradise, inside the gated community of the New Jerusalem reserved for them following the brief sufferings of this present life in the flesh.
So, Christ’s reign over the nations of the world balances two things:
- Keeping repentant people (Christians) alive long enough to preach repentance to sinners and
- Keeping sinners alive long enough to repent and be saved from the Lake of Fire.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9, NKJV)
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:3–4, NKJV)
We (Christians) are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you (you who need our ministry).
(2 Corinthians 4:8–12, NKJV)