Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #32 of Revelation 2, and we are going to read Revelation 2:26-29:

And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

These verses are very interesting.  Actually, they are verses from which we are going to learn some very important information regarding this present time of the Day of Judgment.  As we read them, we will have some questions.  Again, it says in Revelation 2:26:

And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:

This is following the pattern we have seen for each church that has been addressed.  That is, the Lord keeps mentioning, “…he that overcometh.”  For instance, back in Revelation 2:7, He said to the church at Ephesus, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life.”  Then it in Revelation 2:11, He said to the church at Smyrna, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.”  Both of those statements have to do with salvation.  If you “eat of the tree of life,” and if you “shall not be hurt of the second death,” then you are saved.

We also saw in Revelation 2:17 that He said to the church at Pergamos, “ He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.”  Again, it involves salvation for the individual that “overcometh.”  Each time it is mentioned, it is referring to overcoming in Christ, as it says in 1John 5:4:

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

Who is our faith?  Christ is our faith.  He is faithful and true, and He is the essence of faith.  We are justified only by the faith of Christ.  He is the One who overcomes.  That is what He said in John 16:33: “…but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”  We are born again when God saved us through the overcoming and victorious work of the Lord Jesus on our behalf, and, likewise, we will overcome.  So it can be said that we the ones overcoming, but we always want to remember that it is only through Christ that this is possible.

So we wonder if Revelation 2:26 is following the pattern that God has already established three times in this chapter.  Again it says in Revelation 2:26:

And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:

And the answer must be, “Yes.”  It is referring to the believer who overcomes in Christ.  But how does God give us power, or authority, over the nations?  In order to properly understand that, we have to go the next verse, Revelation 2:27:

And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

Now let us ask a question.  Who is in view when it says, “And he shall rule them with a rod of iron?”  We suspect that it cannot be the believer, but it is Christ who is in view, and we think this because of other verses in the Bible.  For instance, it says in Psalm 2:6-9:

Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: JEHOVAH hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

This is very similar language to our verse in Revelation 2:27, and certainly the Lord Jesus is the One who is clearly in view: “Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.”  Then it speaks of Him breaking them with a rod of iron and dashing them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

By the way, who it is that dashes the pottery in pieces?  It is the Potter, as it says in Romans 9:20-22:

Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

God is the Potter, and He has made “vessels of clay,” mankind, and God will destroy a great many of these creatures that have rebelled against Him and gone their own way.  He will take them as a potter would take an imperfect, dishonorable jar of clay and smash it to pieces.  On the other hand, it is also the Potter’s prerogative according to His good pleasure to spare some of the vessels, and to recreate them and make them “vessels unto honor,” and that is what God has done for His elect.

So we can see that Psalm 2 is speaking of Christ, and no one else.  But there are other verses that mention “ruling with a rod of iron,” in addition to our verse in Revelation 2:27: “And he shall rule them with a rod of iron…”

Actually, two more times in the book of Revelation this same language is found.  It is found in Revelation 12 where it refers to a “woman” that appeared, and she is with child, which spiritually points to Christ as the man child that would come forth from Israel, the people of God.  It says in Revelation 12:5:

And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

Again, the man child is to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and that is exactly the language in Revelation 2:27: “And he shall rule them with a rod of iron.”  So according to Psalm 2 and the verse in Revelation 12:5, the personal pronoun “he” refers to the Lord Jesus.

But there is another reference to “ruling with a rod of iron,” so let us look at it in order to be sure we have checked everything that relates to this language.  It says in Revelation 19:13-15:

And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

Here it is again, and this passage is referring to Christ.  There is no doubt about that.  He is on a white horse, and He is called faithful and true, and His name is called The Word of God.  Jesus is the Word made flesh, and He is the One who is pictured as having a sharp sword protruding from His mouth, which relates to the Word of God, and He is smiting the nation with that.

In addition, God gives us another curious statement in this verse which can only be describing Judgment Day, as we read the context before and after this statement in Revelation 19:15:

…and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

This is the same language of the Lord treading the winepress of the wrath of God as we see in Revelation 14, another chapter that discusses the Day of Judgment.  Here, the Bible says that in the Day of Judgment, the Lord Jesus Christ (KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS) will be ruling “them,” and they are the nations He is smiting with the sword that comes out of His mouth, and He will “rule them with a rod of iron.”

This makes us wonder, “What is this rod of iron that God refers to in these places?”  And now that we think about it, we even saw this in Psalm 2:8-9:

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

Is this also not language of judgment?  He is breaking them with a rod of iron and dashing them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.  And God reserves the destruction of the “dishonorable vessels” of clay for the Day of Judgment.  Remember, He said that in Romans 9:22-23:

What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

This tells us that God would patiently wait, longsuffering, and He would put up with the “vessels of wrath,” the unsaved people of the world, in order that He could save those chosen before the foundation of the world whose names were recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  So God waits to destroy these “vessels of wrath,” and that means that when we read of a time when He is breaking these vessels, it is Judgment Day.  That is the day when the Lord is no longer patiently enduring and longsuffering, waiting to save all His elect.  They had all become saved by that point, and He could start the process of destruction of these dishonorable creatures that were created in His image but they refused Him.  They despised His Word, and they rejected His commandments regarding how creatures in His likeness and image should act and conduct themselves.  God tells us what we should think, what we should say, and what we should do.  But being a rebellious creature that wants to go his own way, man wants to be a “free agent,”  although that is impossible.  There are no “free agents.”  We either serve God in righteousness, or we serve Satan and sin, and the lusts of our own flesh.  We are dishonorable vessels, creatures fitted for destruction, if we have never become saved.

Therefore God set the Day of Judgment as a time to destroy, and in the first instance He will destroy spiritually by shutting the door to heaven, and raining down spiritual “fire and brimstone” upon the inhabitants of the earth, destroying the vessels fitted to destruction.  And He does this with a “rod of iron,” as it says in Revelation 2:27:

And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

Now that we understand that it is Christ who is ruling with a rod of iron, we have some very serious questions.

First, why is the Lord using the language of “ruling” with a rod of iron?  In the traditional sense of Judgment Day that the churches have taught, Christ comes and it is immediately the end of the world.  There is no “rule,” but He simply destroys (unsaved) mankind.  But this speaks of ruling with a rod of iron, so we wonder about that.

Secondly, in the context of Judgment Day in Revelation 19, is Christ actually ruling with a rod of iron?  When would that “rule” take place?

Let me just give you an idea of something that we should begin to think about, and I hope that you will think about it.  It says in 1Corinthians 15:23:

But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God….

That is, this “kingdom of God” are all those that were to be saved.  All the lost sheep have been found and saved, and therefore they are delivered up to God.  Then it says in 1Corinthians 15:24:

…even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

And that word “power” is the same word we find in Revelation 2:26.  So Christ comes at the end, and He delivers up the kingdom, and He puts down all rule, authority, and power.  Whose rule, authority, and power?  Of course it is Satan.  Satan was loosed to rule in the churches and in the world in a great way during the time of the Great Tribulation.  But when the Great Tribulation ended, then the Lord Jesus deposed Satan and he was put down from ruling in the churches, as well as in the world.  He lost all official capacity that he had been granted to rule by God.  And Christ began to rule the whole world because He was victorious.  God conquered Satan, and He released all the captives that had been held in Satan’s kingdom of darkness.  All that were to be saved had become saved, and the kingdom was delivered up to God on the date of May 21, 2011.

Then it goes on to say of Christ in 1Corinthians 15:25:

For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

What is that referring to?  It is telling us that Christ must reign up until the point that He has put all enemies under His feet.  Then it says in 1Corinthians 15:26:

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

How do we understand this?  Is it not true that Christ reigns for evermore?  Remember  that in Revelation 11:20 it spoke of the believers living and reigning with Him for “a thousand years,” and that thousand-year reign points to the completeness of whatever is in view, and in this case it is eternal life, and we will live and reign with Christ for evermore.  So why is there a limit placed on His reign in 1Corinthians 15:25?  “For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”

If it were not for our advantageous position of living in those days after that tribulation, living in the Day of Judgment, we would not have a clue.  But now we can see clearly that the kingdom was delivered up to the Father, and Satan’s rule was ended, and Christ began to rule.  Where?  He rules over all the nations, and He will continue that rule until He has put all enemies under His feet, and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

And now we have more questions, and more things to look into in the Bible.  As we get into this further, we are going to understand several things better than we had before concerning this Day of Judgment, the time in which this world is being judged and the people of God are being sorely tried and tested.  It is also a time in which God speaks of “feeding the sheep,” and that is something that will also come up as we look at this verse in Revelation 2:27:

And he shall rule them with a rod of iron…

The word “rule” is a word that will lead us to some very interesting places, but we will have to look at that when we get together in our next Bible study.