Revelation 2:27

he shall rule them
This promise is closely related to that given to the Laodicean overcomer: “I will grant to sit with Me on My throne as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” See commentary on Revelation 3:21. See commentary on Revelation 1:6. See commentary on Revelation 20:6.

This power will be given, He shall rule. It is yet future, at the time of the millennial reign of Christ on earth (Mtt. Mat. 25:21-23; Luke Luke 19:17-19; Rev. Rev. 20:4-6+). Of particular interest concerning the timing of this power being granted to the overcomer is the parable Jesus told “because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately.” In this parable, the nobleman who goes to a far country to receive a kingdom is Jesus returning to the right hand of the Father. The kingdom is received just prior to His Second Coming (Luke Luke 19:15), after the little horn is defeated and “the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom” (Dan. Dan. 7:22-27). The servants who remain faithful in His absence, like the overcomers at Thyatira, are given authority over cities (Luke Luke 19:11-19). At the end of the Millennial Kingdom when Christ has put down the last of His foes (Rev. Rev. 20:9-10+), He will then deliver the kingdom to God the Father (1Cor. 1Cor. 15:24-28). The reign of the overcomer extends beyond the Millennial Kingdom into the eternal state (Rev. Rev. 22:5+).

rod of iron
Unlike other scepters, this scepter is of iron indicating His divine prerogative to rule and the impossibility of disobedience. This is a “breaking scepter” (Rev. Rev. 12:5+; Rev. 19:15+). “The Lord is at Your right hand; He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath. He shall judge among the nations, He shall fill the places with dead bodies, He shall execute the heads of many countries” (Ps. Ps. 110:5-6).

dashed to pieces
See Trouble Ahead.

The allusion here is to Psalm Ps. 2:1. The dashing will take place when Jesus’ rule is extended to the ends of the earth—at His return to establish the Millennial Kingdom (Rev. Rev. 20:4-6+).¹

Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel. (Ps Ps. 2:8-9)

The Hebrew word for “Thou shalt break,” and that for “Thou shalt rule,” only differ in their vowels; their consonants are identical; at the same time the parallelism of the latter half of the verse, “Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel,” leaves no doubt that “Thou shalt break” was the intention of the Psalmist.²

Christ shall rule them with a sceptre of iron to make them capable of being ruled with a scepter of gold; severity first, that grace may come after.³

During the millennial reign, the saints are destined to execute vengeance on the nations and judge according to the written judgment of God (Ps. Ps. 149:5-9).

like potter’s vessels
“The allusion . . . is apt in view of the known existence of a guild of potters in Thyatira.”⁴ The clay of the potter was originally intended to be formed and fashioned according to the purpose of the potter (Isa. Isa. 29:16; Isa. 64:8; Jer. Jer. 18:1-11). Since the clay refuses to serve its intended purpose, it is the right of the potter to dash it to pieces (Isa. Isa. 41:25; Isa. 45:9; Dan. Dan. 2:35, Dan. 2:43-44).

received from My Father
God cares as much or more about the means as the ends. Many Christians would do well to remember this when seeking the miraculous from questionable sources. The Son would only receive the kingdom from the Father, not from Satan (Luke Luke 4:5-8).

There is a divine chain of authority: Father to Son to believer. The Son has authority because He is under authority and likewise the believer. This authority is forfeited when the chain is broken. The centurion, in explaining his authority said that he, like Jesus, was also under authority (Luke Luke 22:29). All things have been given to Jesus by the Father (Mtt. Mat. 11:27). Jesus can bestow a kingdom because His Father bestowed one upon Him (Luke Luke 22:29).

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Notes

¹ “It would appear that this section is eschatological in nature and looks 1) to the Millennium when all nations and peoples will acknowledge Christ as king and 2) to Jerusalem as His royal capital (cf. Eze. Eze. 28:25, Eze. 28:26; Joel Joel 3:9-17; Mic. Mic. 5:4-15).”—John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Word Publishing, 1997), Ps. 149:6-9.

² Richard Chenevix Trench, Commentary on the Epistles to the Seven Churches in Asia (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1861), 148.

³ Ibid., 149.

⁴ Colin J. Hemer, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia in Their Local Setting (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1989), 125.