Luke22:30

Who is greater? Jesus said the one who serves is greater than the one being served. Jesus went against the thinking of His culture and against the thinking of mankind throughout all time. He flipped the narrative 180 degrees. Greatness comes through serving others.

Furthermore, the principles of humility and servanthood are learned through suffering quietly. The disciples were with Him in his trials. They were in the process of learning humility and servanthood by participating in small ways in the sufferings of Jesus. After Pentecost, we see that they understood what Jesus had been teaching and the Holy Spirit helped them live it. None of the apostles used the typical human methods for attaining greatness; none of them relied on human strength, trickery, lies or manipulation to gain influence. They accomplished things the Jesus way, including martyrdom.

Therefore, since they were learning how to follow His methods, Jesus conferred on them a kingdom, a kingship, i.e. authority. He shared some of His authority with them, while expecting them to serve under His authority to accomplish His will, not their own.

The obvious way they would judge the twelve tribes is this: Based on the fact that they had learned humility and had suffered with Jesus, their lives would serve as measuring rods by which the actions and lives of others may be evaluated. While this is not a competition, and the ultimate standard is the word of God, it is helpful to have human examples to follow. Paul told the Corinthians “Be imitators of me, as I am [an imitator] of Christ” (I Cor 11:1). We need human examples to follow, and we have had many, including the disciples turned apostles. These examples are never perfect in all they did, but that makes them an encouragement to us.

Would they also participate in rendering judgement in other ways, such as at the final judgement? We do not know for sure. It appears that Jesus will be the judge at the final judgment and He won’t need our help. My sense is that the answer to that question should be “No”.

Are there other ways in which we have received the authority of Jesus? Yes, there are. We have been given authority to cast out demons and heal the sick whenever the Holy Spirit communicates to us that it is God’s will. We have authority to preach the Gospel with power and confidence, and without apology.

We have been granted many other things as well, such as the command to convince the world through love, to suffer and even die for Christ’s sake, etc.

But what do these things have to do with judging the twelve tribes of Israel?

I said above that the Greek word for judge focuses on things related to judging. However, the Hebrew understanding of this concept was based on their history and was more expansive than the simple act of judging during a court trial. The concept was expanded to mean “lead”. We have a book of the Bible called judges, i.e. leaders. They sometimes rendered judgment, but they did many other things as well.

Therefore, I think Jesus was saying that they would lead other believers, and that is what they did.

The phrase, “In my kingdom” means “under my authority”; timing is not specified.

Its first completion was after the authority and kingship of Jesus became evident, meaning after Pentecost and then even more after the destruction of the temple in AD 70 leaving Jesus as the only sacrifice for sins. So it had what I call an “immediate” fulfillment in these disciples.

But it is possible that it will have a future fulfilment when we pass from this life to the next. What that will look like is mostly shrouded in mystery. The Bible tells us little to nothing about that. Thus, I will not even venture a guess as to what the exercise of authority by followers of Jesus will look like in that era.