Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #35 of Revelation 2, and we are continuing to look at 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.

We have seen that verse 27 says, “And he shall rule them with a rod if iron,” and it has particular emphasis to Judgment Day itself, as Revelation 19 and Psalm 2 used very similar language to describe the judgment of Christ upon the unsaved people of the world.  God speaks of mankind as “vessels” that are “dishonorable,” and which will be destroyed.  That is when they will be “broken to shivers,” as our verse in Revelation 2:27 indicates.

We have been looking at the language of Christ ruling the nations.  It says in Revelation 19:15, “And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations,” and that would be the Word of God.  By the way, that is a spiritual reference when it says that Christ will smite the nations.  It is done with the Word of God, and that is exactly what we have learned since we entered into the Day of Judgment, the present time in which we live.  God is judging the world.  He is “killing” them by His Word.  It is not literal physical destruction that is occurring.  The world is not being smitten to pieces, but God is doing this now in a spiritual sense.

God has also put down Satan, as we have seen in several verses, and the Lord Jesus Christ has been exalted.  God uses that figure in the book of Jeremiah and in Ezra with the image of the “fall of Babylon.”  Also, in the book of Daniel, Babylon falls as Cyrus and the Medes and Persians took the kingdom.  He conquered Babylon, and Cyrus typifies the Lord Jesus, as Isaiah 45:1 clearly shows us.

Also, there is another historical parable in the book of Esther where the Lord pictures Judgment Day as the day that Haman was killed.  It so happens in this historical setting that he was killed on “the seventeenth day of the second month,” and of course that date relates to May 21, 2011, which had the underlying Hebrew calendar date of “the seventeenth day of the second month.”  And that day ties in with the day of the flood, and the day that God shut the door of the ark.  In the book of Esther, Haman was killed, and Mordecai, a great type of Christ, was lifted up to take over the house of Haman. 

These are passages we have learned because God uses the seventy years of Babylonian captivity to picture the Great Tribulation, and the end of that seventy years pictures the end of the Great Tribulation.  And again, that occurred on May 21, 2011, after exactly 23 years of the Great Tribulation.  And immediately after the Tribulation comes Judgment Day.  These are things we have been learning.

And now we find there is a system of eschatology called “Premillennialism” in which they noticed several Scriptures where the Bible teaches that the Lord Jesus would reign on the earth in “time.”  Of course their theological system has many errors, so I would not recommend it to anyone.  They take the Bible literally in many places they should not, and it leads them off course and far from truth, again and again, due to their failure to understand how God wrote the Bible in parables, and “without a parable he did not speak.”  We must look for the spiritual meaning in the Scriptures, so when the Lord speaks of “David” ruling, He is not referring to the man David being resurrected for that purpose, but He is speaking of Christ.  And when the Lord speaks of a great future for Israel, He is not speaking of national Israel and the physical descendants of Abraham, but He is speaking of “spiritual Jews,” or those that were saved out of every nation, being circumcised in their hearts.  They are the “Jews” that the Bible has in view, and not the Jews that live in the Middle East.

And when the Bible speaks of  a thousand-year reign, it is not speaking of a literal thousand years.  God often uses the number “10,” or “1,000,” or “10,000” to point to the completeness of whatever is in view, and in this case, it is the reign of Christ with His people.

So you can see how quickly these people go off course from what God has established in His Word, so please do not think that EBible Fellowship is recommending “Premillennialism,” as it will certainly lead astray.  But in understanding that they are wrong about so many things, we can dismiss their teachings, but they were correct in offering many Bible verses that indicate the Lord would rule on the earth for a period of time.  They went to Psalm 2, and to Revelation 19:15-16 where it says the Lord Jesus would rule with a rod of iron, and He would KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS.  They also went to Daniel 7.  And we do see that these are passages that do teach a reign of Christ on the earth.

They also go to Psalm 72:8-11:

He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him.

This is what we are finding repeatedly regarding language that indicates He will smite the nations and rule them with a rod of iron.  This has been going on since May 21, 2011, and we are now able to get a more proper appreciation of that day and what God did in bringing victory to His kingdom in conquering the enemy in the kingdom of darkness.  It was a grand and glorious day in which the Lord Jesus was exalted over the kingdom of Satan.  The kingdom of Satan were the nations of this world, the people in darkness, the unsaved inhabitants of the earth. 

So our verse in Revelation 2:27 says, “…and he shall rule them with a rod of iron.”  Regarding the word “rule,” let us spend some time looking at this word.  It is found eleven times in the New Testament.  It is also found in the Old Testament, but we are going to concentrate on the Greek word translated as “rule.”  It is found eleven times, and four of those times it is translated as “rule.”  It is translated that way in our verse in Revelation 2:27.  It is found in Revelation 12:5:

And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron…

It is used 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…

A fourth place where it is translated as “rule” is in the Gospel of Matthew.  It says in Matthew 2:5-6:

And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

Of course this is referring to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, where we are reading information concerning His birth.  Herod had asked the priests and the scribes where Christ should be born, and they referred to the book of Micah.  It was a quote from Micah that He would be born in Bethlehem, “a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.”

In these four places where this word is used are very consistent, and it means “to rule,” but this word is found seven other times in the New Testament, and it is translated differently.  It is translated as “feed,” or as “feeding.”  Actually, we are going to look at each of these verses so we can see exactly how this word is used.  It says in Luke 17:7:

But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?

Also, this word is used in John 21, a passage we are getting more familiar with in these days after the Tribulation.  In this passage, the Lord says three times to Simon Peter, “Lovest thou me?”  Then He would tell him, “Feed my sheep.”  It says in John 21:16:

He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

The word “feed” is the same word as “rule” in our verse where it says, “and he shall rule them with a rod of iron.”  We wonder, “How can this be the same word?”  But it does not end there.  Let us go to Acts 20 where we find this word used in Acts 20:28:

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

Once again a “flock” is mentioned, and then we see the word “feed.”  We are to feed the people of God. 

So that is three places of the seven places, and the fourth is in 1Corinthians 9:7:

Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?

Again, we see a flock and “feeding.”

The fifth place is in 1Peter 5:2:

Feed the flock of God which is among you…

Peter had not forgotten the lesson the Lord taught him in John 21.  And here, under the inspiration of God, writes in 1Peter 5:2:

Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

In these places where we are reading, it is not a literal flock of sheep, but it is the “spiritual flock,” and when Christ said, “Feed my sheep,” He was talking about people.  And when it says, “Feed the flock of God,” it is talking about people.  The flock are the people of God, and the “feed,” or “food,” is the Word of God.  That is how we spiritually feed the sheep.  It is by ministering the Gospel and sharing the truths of the Bible with them.  That is feeding sheep.

You know, in this day we are living in, the Day of Judgment, we really have to ask the question: “How do we best feed the sheep?  Is it by going back to the first principles of the Gospel, and teaching just the basics?”  That is part of it, as we want to teach all the truth of the Bible, but we feed sheep by telling them what has happened, letting them know that May 21, 2011 was Judgment Day; and by letting them know that the Great Tribulation has already come and gone; and by letting them know that we are living in the days after the Tribulation; by letting them know that God’s wrath is on the people of the world; by letting them know that the door of heaven is shut, and the Lord is no longer saving anyone; and by letting them know that God is severely trying His people.  By letting them know the truth of Scriptures, we are feeding the sheep.  We are just not singing hymns and reading Scriptures without comment, or just going over the basics. 

How were these sheep, the great multitude that God saved out of Great Tribulation, saved?  Primarily, He used the proclamation of Judgment Day, a declaration that was sent to all the world in an unprecedented manner.  Never before in the history of the world had the nations of the world heard a message to such an intense degree as they did the message of coming judgment.  The people of the world could not avoid it.  Even the secular media who normally has no interest in such things was talking about it and thinking about it.  It could not just be dismissed or ignored.  God put that message of the Bible out to all about Judgment Day, the fact that we are sinners, and He is the Judge who would destroy sinners, but there was also the message that He was merciful and gracious, and that people could go to Him before the door of heaven shut on May 21, 2011.  God put this message in the forefront of the eyes of mankind as never before, and He saved a great multitude through it. 

Now these people that had been drawn by this information, so is it the right thing to do to stop mentioning that day?  Are we no longer to talk about Judgment Day and the judgment of God upon the world?  No!  We are to follow up with them and let them know that the date of May 21, 2011, was not an error at all, and that their interest was genuine.  The Bible tells us that the sheep hear His voice.  “You are the flock of God, and you heard the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ when He warned you about that day.”

Yes, we were incorrect about how Judgment Day would happen.  We thought it would be physical, but it was spiritual.  But it is still real.  It does not mean it did not happen because it was spiritual in nature, but it just means we could not see it with our physical eyes.

This is what it means to feed sheep.  We tell them what happened and what God has done since then, and what He expects of us.  He expects us to glorify Him in the fire that He has lit in the Day of Judgment.  It would be “speaking down to them,” and it would be deceitful to not mention this day any longer, or to avoid discussing it.  We are not to just play hymns and talk about the basics of Christianity, like so many churches, and not talk about the “meat” of the Word.  And it was the meat of the Lord that God opened up at the time of the end as He unsealed the Scriptures.  It was this meat that drew these sheep to the Shepherd.  To just forget about the “meat,” and to go back to the “milk,” is not the plan of God.  We are to continue to look at the things that God has so graciously and kindly opened up to us in these days at the end, in this Day of Judgment.

Again, 1Corinthians 9 and 1Peter 5 also speak of “feeding,” and this word is found a sixth time translated as “feed” in Jude 1:12:

These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear…

This really identifies with what the Lord spoke about in the book of Ezekiel concerning the shepherds that ought to have been feeding the flock, but instead of feeding the flock, they fed themselves of the flock.  It says in Ezekiel 34:2:

…Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

Again, in an indirect way, this word in Jude 1:12 is also referring to “feeding the flock,” or to what these individuals involved with the Gospel should have been doing with the Word of God.  But they were not doing it.  They were feeding themselves.

The last place this word is used is in Revelation 7, a wonderful chapter in which God speaks of His salvation plan during the church age, the saving of the 144,000, the firstfruits that would be saved during the 1,955 years of the church age.  Then after this, it says in Revelation 7:9:

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

Then the question is asked from where these came?  The answer comes in Revelation 7:14-17:

And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

This is what the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God, is doing for the great multitude that came out of Great Tribulation.  He is going to “feed” them, and that is the same word translated as “rule” in Revelation 2:27 or Revelation 19:15, and so on.  This is the plan of God.  The Lord Jesus will feed His sheep.

Of course He does this through His people as He demonstrated when He fed the multitude with just a few loaves of bread.  He takes the “bread” and breaks it, and He gives the bread to His disciples, and He gives the disciples to the multitude.  That is the method that Christ uses to feed sheep.  He does not speak to us by breaking the barrier of the supernatural, but He uses the Bible as we compare spiritual with spiritual, and we come to truthful conclusions.  Then we make sure our conclusions harmonize with the whole Bible, and then we teach, and yet the Bible says it is the Holy Ghost that teaches as we do this.  That is how we feed sheep, and this is the plan of God for these days after the Tribulation, during the time when the Lord is “ruling” the nations. 

We could read that to say that He is feeding the nations with a rod of iron.  And that just makes us “shake our heads” as we try to understand it.  In our next Bible study, we will look at feeding the nations with a rod of iron.