Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #33 of Revelation 2, and we are going to read Revelation 2:26-27:

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.

In our last study, we were looking at verse 26 where it said, “And he that overcometh,” and that has to be referring to the Lord Jesus, “and he shall rule them with a rod of iron.”  We looked at all the places in the Bible where this particular phrase is used, and it is found four times – three times in the book of Revelation, and once in Psalm 2. 

So let us read them again because we need to get familiar with this.  It says in Psalm 2:7-9:

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.

(The word “heathen” is a word that is also translated as “Gentiles,” or “nations.”)  We also read this of Christ 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.

Remember that it was back in Revelation 14 that we were reading of the day of the wrath of God, Judgment Day, and it said in Revelation 14:18-20:

And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

We did a study in Revelation 14, and we saw that the blood coming out of the winepress by the space of 1,600 furlongs is pointing to Judgment Day which began on May 21, 2011, and there is a continuous, ongoing judgment.  It is called “the day” of Judgment, but the Bible teaches it will be longer than a single day.  The Bible permits this, and there is biblical allowance for this.  We have looked at that before.  It is God’s prerogative to identify a long period of time as a single day, and that is what He has done here.  So it is the winepress of the wrath of God in which the clusters of the vine of the earth are cast, and they are trodden without the city, and blood comes out of the winepress for this space of 1,600 furlongs.  This points to God bringing His punishment upon the unsaved people of the earth, and there is a possibility that the 1,600 furlongs represent 1,600 days, which would complete the wrath of God on sinful mankind because the Great Tribulation period which was judgment on the house of God continued for 8,400 days.  And then there was a transition of judgment.  The judgment was already under way, but then it expanded to include all unsaved inhabitants of the earth.  The 1,600 days added to 8,400 days would bring the total number of days of judgment upon mankind for their sinful rebellion against the Lord to 10,000 days of judgment.  That would indicate the completeness of the wrath of God upon the sinner.  It would be the complete payment that the Law demands for violating the Word of God and transgressing against it.  It is this period of time, 1,600 days, which we will find is a time when God is looking at the earth as a conquered foe.  The nations of the world have been beaten.  They were defeated on May 21, 2011, and Satan’s kingdom of darkness was defeated on May 21, 2011.  

Satan was also deposed on that date, and Satan had been given rule and authority in the Garden of Eden when he deceived Adam and Eve, and they ate of the forbidden tree, thereby believing the lie and becoming subject to sin and Satan.  Remember when the Lord Jesus was tempted in the wilderness.  It says in Matthew 4:8-11:

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Notice that Christ did not correct Satan’s statement concerning the kingdoms of the world and their glory when he said, “All these things will I give thee.”   Satan was saying this to the Creator.  How could he say that?  It was because of the “right of conquest” when Adam and Eve fell into sin and obeyed the lie of Satan, the father of lies, rather than the truth.  And God is truth.  They began to serve Satan, so this rule of Satan continued throughout time, to one degree or another, and then at the end of time God did something.  Yes, He bound Satan at the cross in a figurative way, limiting his activity to hinder the going forth of the Gospel, but Satan was still active even in the churches.  He was sowing tares among the wheat, and he was still going about as a roaring line seeking whom he may devour, and yet he was “bound” at that time.  Then at the time of the end, God loosed Satan, and we read in Revelation 13 striking language of the “beast” coming up out of the sea and of the rule given to him.  It says in Revelation 13:1-5:

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? d there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

That is, God gave him authority to rule in the churches for the duration of the Great Tribulation, as typified by forty-two months, but we know it was an actual 23 years for the timeline of the Great Tribulation.  God allowed him to rule in the world as the world was given up to its sinful tendencies and wickedness as never before.  So Satan began to rule in the churches, showing himself that he was God.  It was a glorious time for him and his kingdom of darkness.  Yet there was a limit placed upon it for the duration of the Great Tribulation, and at the end of the Great Tribulation and the conclusion of the Latter Rain, God had saved the last of His elect by May 21, 2011.  God had ransacked Satan’s kingdom, and He delivered all those whose names were written in the Book of Life, and the war was over.  The battle had raged over the souls of the elect as God went forth with the Gospel to save the elect over the centuries, and Satan tried everything to hinder and stop God from saving even one of these elect.  That was the battle that raged for centuries, and that came to an end because all the elect had been saved, and God was no longer plundering Satan’s kingdom to find His lost sheep.  They had all been found, and now the judgment had come.  Satan’s period of reign in the churches ended, as well as his reign over the world.  He was deposed.  He was a defeated foe, as well as the nations that were part of his kingdom of darkness.  All that had finally come to an expected end, and God is now victorious.  The Lord Jesus Christ began to reign on the earth, as it says in Revelation 19:15:

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.

God is joining together the Lord ruling with a rod iron with His treading the winepress, which brings us back to that verse in Revelation 14:20 where it says that for the space of 1,600 furlongs the blood (the “life is in the blood”) flows out, or 1,600 days, during which time the Lord Jesus Christ is ruling.  It says in Revelation 19:16:

And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

Have you really noticed that statement before?  It is one of those wonderful verses that really stick in your mind, and we sit in awe at the grandeur, glory, greatness, and majesty of the Lord God, the Lord Jesus Christ, as it said earlier in Revelation 19:6:

And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

And then we see this statement in verse 16: “And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”  This declaration of the glorious title bestowed upon Christ is given at a particular time, and that is something I never noticed before.  I looked up this phrase, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS,” and I was able to find it just three times.  One other place is in 1Timothy 6:14-15:

That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:  Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;

These verses have a lot of interesting things about them, but one thing is that it is referring to “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and that would refer to His second coming as the Judge.  And in His time, “he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.” 

You know, God has been very longsuffering, demonstrating incredible humility in regard to the “claims” of Satan, and in regard to permitting Satan to have rule over the unsaved people of the earth, especially at the end during the “little season” of the Great Tribulation.  But God also had planned to demonstrate or “shew” some things, and this word means exactly that.  It is a word we saw in our study of Revelation 1:1: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass…”  That is, God was going to show some things.  It means exactly what it says, like when we say to someone, “Come here, I want to show you something,” and then we show them. 

Again, it says, “Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate,” and this is not referring to Satan, no matter how desperately he wanted to be like God, and regardless of God’s permitting him to be that “abomination of desolation” standing in the holy place, as God allowed him to take his seat to reign in the churches for that “little season,” and he was the king there, ruling with authority over the congregations for 23 years.  God did that for His own purposes.  He used Satan as a destroying weapon to wreak havoc upon the congregations, and to bring utter destruction to the rebellious church. 

But now God is showing that He is the “only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords,” and He shows this during the Day of Judgment when Satan is put down.

There is a third place that uses this language, “King of kings, and Lord of lords.” And it is a significant place for God to make this statement.  To set the stage, let us begin by reading Revelation 17:10:

And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

These “seven kings” are describing the rule of Satan over the history of the world.  When it says, “five are fallen,” this was true by the first century A. D., and a certain portion of Satan’s reign had elapsed because there is only a limited time for the earth’s existence, so Satan still had a limited time to rule at that point.  So it says, “five are fallen, and one is,” and the one that is refers to the rule of Satan over the wicked at that time, and then it says, “and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.”  And that would be the period of time at the end when Satan was loosed for the “little season” of the Great Tribulation.  Then it says in Revelation 17:11:

And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

That seventh kingship was the seventh period of his reign in which the beast that came up out of the sea and entered into the churches.  Then it says in Revelation 17:12:

And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

The “one hour” is a figure representing the entire period of the Great Tribulation, and it is confirmed because they received their power and authority with the beast, the name given to Satan exclusively for his reign during the Great Tribulation.

Then it says in Revelation 17:13-14:

These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

This is what we read in Revelation 2:26-27:

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…

Satan had dared to war with the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Lord Jesus Christ overcame him.  He overcame the ten kings that ruled with the beast.  He overcame the rule and authority of Satan and his kingdom that had reigned, especially for that “one hour.”  And this is why the statement is made of Christ: “…for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings.”   This was the victorious crowning of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Day of Judgment, May 21, 2011.

You know, we really have not fully appreciated what took place on that day.  Yes, we recognize it was the Day of Judgment, and it began a period of severe testing for the people of God.  And, yes, we realize that all the elect were saved by that date, and there is no need to evangelize the world any longer.  We have learned those things, but we have not properly realized the grand nature of the crowning of the Lord Jesus Christ as “King of kings.”  The longstanding rule of Satan since the Garden of Eden was over.  The rule of Satan that was magnified and grew to include even the churches and all the nations of the world during that grievously wicked reign at the time of the end had come to an end, just as Cyrus took the kingdom and became king of Babylon in a night.  Cyrus was a type of Christ. 

So the Lord Jesus took the kingdom of Satan, the same kingdom Satan had dared to offer Christ if He would fall down and worship him.    Of course that was a blasphemous thing to offer it to the Lord.  The Lord had no need that Satan offer Him anything, and He took it by force of power.  He took it by the glorious conquering of the kingdom of darkness, overcoming the wicked, and by saving all those He intended to save.

And now the Lord Jesus Christ is the Ruler.  The Lord Jesus Christ is the One who reigns supreme, and He is ruling with a rod of iron.

We still need to look at the language of “rod of iron,” and we will do so in the next couple of studies.  But we are also going to look at one of the theological positions in eschatology that many people hold to, which is called “Premillennialism.”  They have a system of doctrine in which they refer to verses like Psalm 2 and Revelation 19 to offer their proof text for their erroneous teaching that Christ will reign on earth for a literal thousand years.  We will look at some of the things they teach, and they teach several erroneous things, but they do have something right.  We will look at what they say in our next study, and then we will look at how it actually is, as we have this advantageous position of living in the Day of Judgment.