Contrasting the ongoing Reign of the Lord Iesou Christos against his final Rule over the earth and handing over of the Kingdom back to His Father in Heaven.
The Rule of the Messiah
During cell-group Bible study last Friday 6Apr18, on the prophecies about the Messiah in Psalm 2, questions were asked about the authority that is given to the Messiah.
In particular, reference was made to verses 2 through 7 of the second Psalm,
7 “I will declare the decree:
The Lord has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
8 Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’” nkjv
Several cross-references from the New Testament were made to point out that the Lord Iesou has already been given the "ends of the earth" as his possession, that he may "break" them and "dash" them to pieces.
For example, Matthew 28:18 tells us that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to our Lord Iesou. Further on in Ephesians 1: 20 - 21 we are told that the God of our Lord Iesou worked His exceedingly great power in raising our Lord from the dead, seating our Lord at His right hand, having authority "far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come."
This is similarly stated in 1 Peter 3:22, where our Lord Iesou is described as having gone into heaven after his resurrection, seated at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities and powers being subject to him.
Another significant cross-reference was made to Revelations 2: 26-28, where the resurrected Lord quoted Psalm 2: 8 in his message to the Apostle John to be conveyed to the assembly at Thyatira:
And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nationsThus. it was obvious to all of us at Friday night's Bible study that the Apostles taught about our resurrected Lord Iesou as having all authority over every principality, power, might, dominion, authority and angel. And we were reminded strongly that our Lord has the authority to rule over the nations (literally the Gentiles), even dashing them to pieces with his rod of iron. Furthermore, we who obey our Lord until the end will also share such authority with him.
‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron;
They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’
as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star.
However, we do not yet see such authority being manifest over the world around us today. We do not see kings and rulers, nations and organisations being subject to the iron-rod rule of our Messiah. We do not see as yet, any people of any nation in this world being "dashed to pieces" by the power given to our Lord Iesou.
Instead we continue to see oppression and suffering. We look around us and continue to see poor, weak and powerless people being ruled over and oppressed by unjust rulers and wealthy leaders. We see wage earners having to put in long hours at work to bring home meagre incomes to raise a family in needy conditions while billionaires at the top of huge corporations live in their own heavenly world.
Where is the authority of our Lord Iesou? Where is the power of his iron-rod?
The Reign of the Messiah
The answer lies in two other passages of the New Testament, quoted below:
Hebrews 10:12-13
But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.
1 Corinthians 15:24-27
Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For “He has put all things under His feet.” (cf Ps 8:6)
Last Friday evening's Bible study group left these two passages out. We forgot distinguish the powerful authoritative iron-rod "rule" of our Lord Iesou over the earth from his ongoing "reign" seated at the right-hand of God, waiting for God to put all his enemies under his feet.
We forgot about the waiting part.
Today our Lord Iesou Christos reigns over all the world. We who have believed in the Word of God are living under his reign. However our Lord Iesou is still waiting for his enemies to be put under his rule. In other words, he is waiting to rule over all his enemies. In fact he is waiting to rule over death, after which death will no more rule over us.
Today, let us acknowledge that our resurrected Lord, seated at the right-hand of God in heaven, reigns with all authority over everything in heaven and on earth.
At the same time, let us remind ourselves that our resurrected Lord is waiting to rule. He is waiting for his God to put all enemies under him. He is waiting to rule over them with his iron-rod, even to dash nations in pieces.
Finally, after the Lord Iesou has put an end to "all rule and all authority and power", he will deliver the Kingdom to God his Father. (see 1 Cor.15:24)
Brothers and Sisters, let us wait together with our Lord for his rule over his enemies.
