Psalm 2:7-9: …’You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’
A couple of weeks ago I embarked on an expositional journey through Revelation with John MacArthur. I discovered his sermon volumes by book of Scripture on the Grace to You Android app and was excited to dig in to this most glorious book of the Bible revealing the exalted and glorified Christ Jesus. Last week I listened through the second part of Thyatira: The Church That Tolerates Sin, and was greatly encouraged in MacArthur’s teaching of Revelation 2:26-27 on the faithful overcomers of this church and how they, we, will rule the nations with Christ during the Millennium Kingdom.
I understand some of the readers of this blog may not hold to a pre-Millennial view of the Kingdom, but I hope a careful study of this verse will give you something to consider. The text reads:
He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; 27 and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father
Who will Christians have authority over, why would they need to rule them with a rod of iron, and shatter them as earthen vessels?
You can listen to the message in its entirety here. Here’s MacArthur:
Then finally, the counsel. And now He turns to the good folks there. I guess I kind of feel they must have been in the minority or they would have overruled the rest. Certainly if it was a Baptist church they could have voted the woman out. Verse 26, “And he who overcomes and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to Him I’ll give authority over the nations and he’ll shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces as I also have received authority from My Father and I will give him the morning star.”
There’s so much here, it’s so wonderful. As in the other letters, John closes with a word to the true Christians and it’s a word of promise. “And he who overcomes,” and I’m not going to reinterpret that every time, that just means a Christian, 1 John 5:5…1 John 5:5, “He that overcomes is the Christian.” “To the true Christian who overcomes the evil, who overcomes Satan, enduring to the end, John says our faith is that which overcomes, the one who believes is the overcome [sic]…1 John 5:5…and he who keeps My deeds, that means who obeys,” there’s two evidences of saving faith. Saving faith triumphs, it never abandons, you never lose it, you never give it up, you always overcome. No matter what comes against you, you never lose your faith, you continue to believe. Who is the one who overcomes the world? But he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and you overcome by believing, constant faith.
So, the true Christian has an unending faith and has a pattern of obedience. His faith is made manifest in his works. So to the true believer, He says, “I want to give you two things. First, to him I will give authority over the nations.” If you endure in constant faith and a pattern of obedience, to the end whatever end, the end of your life, or the time when Jesus comes, to the end, “I’ll give you authority over the nations.” Wow, what does that mean? I believe that that clearly can be understood one way, you’re going to reign with Christ in an earthly millennial kingdom. If you don’t have a millennium, this promise makes no sense. If you don’t believe in a thousand-year millennial kingdom, what in the world is He talking about? Because this is taken right out of Psalm 2. And Psalm 2 verse 7, “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord, He said to me, `Thou art My son, today I have begotten thee. Ask of Me and I’ll surely give the nations as thine inheritance and the very ends of the earth as thy possession.” You say, “Oh yeah, that’s in heaven, that’s in heaven…when we all get to heaven, when we all get to heaven.”
No it isn’t. The next verse, “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt shatter them like earthenware.” And there isn’t going to be any nation full of people getting bashed around with a rod of iron or broken like a pot in heaven. It’s got to be on earth. It has to be a millennial kingdom, there isn’t any other explanation. And the first thing He says to them is, “You’ve had a lot of problem here and you’ve been beaten up, but when you get to the Kingdom you’re going to get to do some of the beating.” That’s what He’s saying. You’ve been hammered so get ready for your time to take your own hammer and sit on a throne and rule with Me.
You say, “Who gets…who gets hit with the rod of iron during the millennial kingdom?” The nations that come against God, the nations that fight against Christ, the rebellious wicked nations, the ones that would attack the sheep. You see, you even have here…you see that word there, “rule,” it’s the word poimaino, from poimen which is a shepherd. And what He is saying is I will shepherd them with a rod of iron. A shepherd has a rod but he always had a wooden rod, but Jesus says when I get to My kingdom My rod is going to be made out of iron. And what did the shepherd use the rod for? Many times the sheep would be being attacked by wolves or whatever wild animals and he would use the rod to smash that animal and fight that animal off who came to attack his sheep. And He says there’s coming a time in the kingdom when the nations of the world are going to move against Me and My people and I’m going to wield a rod of iron and I’m going to use that rod and I’m going to smash them like clay pots and you’re going to be there with Me, you’re going to be ruling with Me, protecting My people in the kingdom, protecting holiness and righteousness.
That’s the first promise, millennial participation. You’re going to be in My kingdom. You’re going to share that great time when the nations of the world are forced to bow the knee to Jesus Christ and He rules as King of kings and Lord and lords, when the whole curse is reversed, when the lion lies down the lamb, and the children can play with the poisonous snakes because they’re not longer poisonous, when the desert blossoms like a rose. In that great time when peace fills the earth and wisdom and knowledge of Christ and whatever rebel raises his ugly head, the rod of iron comes out and you’re going to be there shepherding with Me and using with Me that authority. I don’t know what that means. I don’t know how true Christians are going to do that but we’re going to be there as co-shepherds, in a sense, co-disciplinarians with our Lord.
And He took it right out of Psalm 2, this quote, “I’ll give authority over the nations and He shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father.” Jesus said, you remember, back in John 5 the Father has committed all judgment unto Me and He’s now saying to us…And I’m going to share that judgment with you as together we rule the nations of the world. There is no explanation for that other than a millennial kingdom. And we’ll be there….
Further Consideration:
Why Every Calvinist Should Be a Pre-Millennialist
Darrel
May 19, 2013
Complete agreement with you and John MacA. You may be in for an unkind visit from the a-mill police, so beware. Whoever came up with the insane idea in the first place is a mystery to me. Some claim that it was the standard doctrine of the reformation fathers, Calvin, Luther, etc. but I can find no such evidence. In actuality, they are calling the Father a liar and negating all prophesies that concern the nation of Israel during that time. Now I see that the same holds true for the Lord Jesus (they call Him a liar, too) according to Rev. 2:26&27. May the Lord expose the evil that lurks behind the cloak of being “reformed.”
Justin Edwards
May 20, 2013
Darrel, your tone for your reformed brothers is rather caustic. It is only by the grace of God that you rightly understand Israel. A different hermeneutic and tradition has led these brothers astray on Israel, but they are our brothers nonetheless, and it is quite uncharitable to suggest they call God a liar – that is akin to the unpardonable sin.
Michael A. Coughlin
May 20, 2013
I figure if premillenialism was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me. And his cousin was a Baptist. I guess I’m a double-winner. Maybe that’s what is meant by double predestination?
Justin Edwards
May 20, 2013
I’ll go with that, Michael. 🙂
Darrel
May 21, 2013
If truth is true, then that which opposes truth is a lie. Those who hold to a lie instead of holding to the truth make themselves a liar. It has become the mantra of some in the a-mill camp that the church=Israel=the church; and that we are in the Great Tribulation today-right now!! It takes a great deal of effort to manufacture such nonsense and an even greater effort to maintain such a thing in the face of Biblical opposition. These are they that suppress the truth in unrighteousness and love darkness rather than light Rom. 1:18 & John 3:18-21. Legitimate and hard-hitting questions they refuse to answer (some refuse to enter into discussion at all) and the answer given to those who are trying to sift through to the truth are condescending and often demeaning. This is the case for those who hold to any false doctrine, not just the a-mill variety. So are these the characteristics of brothers or false brothers? It’s a question, not a statement. I have not the right nor the wisdom to declare any man saved or lost, but I can and do observe fruit and what is displayed by such men is rancid. Is their speech akin to the unpardonable sin? You bet!!! And that’s the scary part. The mere mention of Rev. 22:18&19 sends them into a tail spin, whereas it should drop a believer to his knees. Lord, may it never be so that I should entertain such thoughts.
It is difficult for me to think that the Holy Spirit would allow me, you and others the knowledge of the future state of Israel and yet withhold such wisdom from other believers. I know of no Scriptural evidence or mandate for this; if there is one I have missed please help.
Caustic? Yeah, ok. True? Absolutely. It has been a different hermeneutic and tradition that has kept the rcc and others in their lies for centuries, is it proper to cut slack to those who rebel against the Word and preach the a-mill heresy? You decide. Uncharitable? If so, then the truth should never challenge a lie. Generally, it seems that you think I should not have said: “they are calling the Father a liar” but I would propose that you reread the prophesies concerning the millennium and then decide if it really was caustic and uncharitable. I will gladly remove myself from the comment thread if you so desire.
072591
May 21, 2013
I remember you and your caustic rhetoric, Darrel, or would you prefer the name you used when you disparaged my name and personally attacked me without addressing anything I was saying – gracealone1. I am curious as to whether or not anybody can disagree with you on any issue without declaring that they are deceivers and liars.
gracealone1
May 22, 2013
” and personally attacked me without addressing anything I was saying” . Gee, is that a privilege only for you, 07251? (Now that’s real anonymity!). As to the reason for the name change, you’ll have to ask word press. Since you have chosen to “personally attack me” (to use your own words) rather than address the concerns and questions brought up are we to assume that 1) you don’t have an answer or 2) they were too tough for you or 3) reasons known only to you which you don’t want anyone else to know or 4) ?????
Would it not be better to defend the faith and the character of OUR Lord than to be so concerned for the “feelings” of those who teach falsely? Or is false teaching to go unopposed?
072591
May 22, 2013
I had presumed that my last statement, “I am curious as to whether or not anybody can disagree with you on any issue without declaring that they are deceivers and liars,” would be understood as a response to what you brought up, but it clearly wasn’t; as such, allow me to explain, bringing into reference other comments you have made.
You see the view of the Millennial Kingdom as an issue that strikes to the matter of who God is. The only other person I have heard of who holds to your view is Darwin Fish, and that is not a compliment! I am not aware of any Scriptural reference that makes the premillennial view a requirement for salvation, and yet by declaring it to be not a secondary issue, you are clear that you see it that way. The proper term for that is “adding to the Gospel.”
You went so far as to declare that teaching to be equal to blaspheming the Holy Spirit (despite the fact that in your view, the question is about the character of the Father); this is an area where you need to be VERY careful, as you are now setting yourself up as judge in the area of who God’s elect are!
You may notice that I am not answering the actual questions you asked because your questions assume a preposition that you merely asserted to be true: that those who are amillennialist are living in rebellion against God and are deceivers (you already asserted that they have committed the unpardonable sin). It would be akin to me asking you, “So will you confess to molesting children or will you continue to pretend you don’t?” If you answer my question in any way that is not simply rejecting it, you are accepting an assertion that I am making. It’s a dirty debating trick, and I have found that those who employ it are either 1) idiots or, 2)presuming I am an idiot.
The sad irony is that I am a premillennialist; I believe that the Millennial Kingdom will be a literal 1,000 years (although I do suspect it will be based on the lunar calendar, not our modern one). I do not believe that we are living in that time now, nor do I believe that Satan is currently bound and prevented from deceiving the nations. I also believe that Israel means Israel and that the promises of Israel did not transfer over to the Church. That being said, I have no problem accepting as a brother one who disagrees with me on this secondary issue. The kind of person I do have trouble accepting, on the other hand, is one who would caustically declare someone to have committed the unpardonable sin for disagreeing with my premillennialist views.
Justin Edwards
May 21, 2013
“I have not the right nor the wisdom to declare any man saved or lost” – but you just did that a few lines up: “These are they that suppress the truth in unrighteousness and love darkness rather than light Rom. 1:18 & John 3:18-21.”
You’re telling me that Paul Washer, to use an example we are both familiar with, to be a heretic preaching another Gospel because we believe him to be wrong in his eschatology?
I want to make sure I’m understanding you correctly.
“It is difficult for me to think that the Holy Spirit would allow me, you and others the knowledge of the future state of Israel and yet withhold such wisdom from other believers.”
Are you perfect in your theology? Do you believe Presbyterians to be heretics because they believe and teach infant baptism, since there is no way the Holy Spirit has revealed credo-baptism to you as biblical and withheld that truth from paedo-baptists? How about continuationists? Are they heretics because you are a cessassionist and the Holy Spirit just wouldn’t withhold that truth from continuationists?
gracealone1
May 22, 2013
I see you missed the part where I said “it’s a question not a statement” but that ok.
As to Paul Washer’s eschatology I don’t know what he believes. Of the dozens of times I listened to him all I ever heard him say on the subject was something like: ‘we’ll know all there is to know about the second coming when it happens.’
Am I perfect in theology? How would you answer that, Justin? None of us know the answer to every question concerning our Lord, nor are we able to form some of the questions that really should be asked, but as Paul Washer has said that ‘we will be learning about Christ for all of eternity’, so may the learning begin now. Is it wrong to oppose and expose evil? It is easily known from your blog that it is not wrong ( and thank you for your valiant and continuing battle against the murder of the unborn). Has not the church gotten itself into this doctrinal morass by allowing false doctrine to be taught as true? Paul and Peter and Christ and Jude and John warned us that this would come from within the church, not from without Gal. 2:4, Jude 4, 2 Peter 2:1 Acts 20:30, Matt. 7:21-23. John Piper would be a prime example. He started out, as best as can be determined, sound in doctrine, but has no less than three heresies to his credit today—Christian hedonism, Federal Vision, and mysticism. Is he just another errant brother, or a real false prophet? May Scripture guide you to the right answer.
Last night I e-mailed R Scott Clark at Westminster Seminary and asked him how Isa. 2:4 would fit into his understanding of the future. I received a long drawn out philosophical response that only dealt with why the church=Israel. Nothing on the Scripture in question. With dozens and maybe hundreds of unfulfilled prophesies concerning the nation Israel why will not such men give an honest answer as to how, in their dynamic, it all works out. Your guess is as good as mine.
Please bear in mind that the first paragraph of my second post was a big long question, not a statement, as mentioned earlier. If my caustic manner is so distasteful to you, then perhaps it is distasteful to the Lord as well, please pray for me in this regard. As to the substance of my “diatribe” no one has yet to provide Scriptural evidence that what I am saying is wrong on the doctrinal level as it pertains to the millennial reign of Christ. This is not a secondary issue as some would claim, but strikes at the very heart and character of the Father Himself. If someone’s soap-box doctrine is more important than defending the very nature of God, does that not qualify as heresy?
Justin Edwards
June 7, 2013
Just posted this to fb from my study this morning…it may be helpful to the reader here:
Zechariah 14 speaks of the Second Coming of Christ and the chapter ends revealing how the nations will worship King Jesus during the Millennial Kingdom. It also speaks of those who will be plagued because of their refusal to pilgrimage to Jerusalem to worship King Jesus. It is clear from here that there will be pagans during the MK, and it is these pagans and nations that the saints will rule with a rod of iron (Revelation 2:26-27).
Zechariah 14:16-19 “Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 17And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them. 18If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no [rain will fall] on them; it will be the plague with which the LORD smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 19This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.”
Ultimately, these pagans will so number the earth at the end of the MK that when Satan is released from prison, he will amass an army to come against the King, and he and this army will be utterly destroyed and consigned to the lake of fire for eternity.
Revelation 20:7-15 “When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, 8and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. 9And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
“11Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one [of them] according to their deeds. 14Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Then Christ will hand the Kingdom back to His Father as He abolished the last enemy, Death, after the MK and GWT:
1 Corinthians 15:24-28 “then [comes] the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. 25For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26The last enemy that will be abolished is death. 27For HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. 28When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.”
Then we shall ever be in the presence of the Lord to worship Him and reign with Him forever:
Revelation 22:1-5 “Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve [kinds of] fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; 4they will see His face, and His name [will be] on their foreheads. 5And there will no longer be [any] night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.”
Amen.