1 Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song.
Sing his praises in the assembly of the faithful.
2 O Israel, rejoice in your Maker.
O people of Jerusalem, exult in your King.
3 Praise his name with dancing,
accompanied by tambourine and harp.
4 For the Lord delights in his people;
he crowns the humble with victory.
5 Let the faithful rejoice that he honors them.
Let them sing for joy as they lie on their beds.
6 Let the praises of God be in their mouths,
and a sharp sword in their hands—
7 to execute vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with shackles
and their leaders with iron chains,
9 to execute the judgment written against them.
This is the glorious privilege of his faithful ones.
Praise the Lord!
3 Don’t you realize that we will judge angels? So you should surely be able to resolve ordinary disputes in this life.
1 Corinthians 6:3 NLT
Jesus replied, “I assure you that when the world is made new and the Son of Man sits upon his glorious throne, you who have been my followers will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Matthew 19:28
so that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Luke 22:30
12 If we endure hardship,
we will reign with him.
If we deny him,
he will deny us.
2 Timothy 2:12 NLT
26 To all who are victorious, who obey me to the very end,
To them I will give authority over all the nations.
27 They will rule the nations with an iron rod
and smash them like clay pots.
Revelation 2:26-27
To the one who is victorious, I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne
Revelation 3:21
There has been no question after 149 chapters of the Psalms that Jesus is the King of the universe. We have seen clearly that Jesus is the Word of God, and so the rule of God and His ownership over His creation is exercised through Jesus breathing everything into being.
And then we see Jesus bringing order and dominion to all He has made by again breathing His Word (2 Timothy 3:16) through His Spirit ( 2 Peter 1:21 ) into being.
We as believers are the people who rule with Christ. And you might assume that this is just a future position, but we are doing it even now. As we obey and live according to the Word of our King, we impose His rule on this world. As we proclaim, sacrifice and serve, like our King did, we further demonstrate as priests the ways of God.
I think we continually want to have power and authority to make people do what we want.
Jesus says that is not the way we rule. “Not so with you.” (Mark 10:35-45)
When James and John sought positions of authority in Jesus’ glory, Jesus answered so:
37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
In the garden prayer of Jesus just before His arrest, we learn what this cup is that He mentions here. It is the cross. The cup of death is what Jesus must bear.
Every time God is doing something extraordinary in His rule, He follows His kingdom values (Sermon on the Mount).
those who are poor
those who mourn
those who are humble
those who hunger and thirst for justice
those who are merciful
those whose hearts are pure
those who work for peace
those who are persecuted for doing right
These are the ruling qualities of the kingdom of heaven. So when we read of harsh and iron rod rule we need to see it in a greater context of God’s humility, God’s meekness, God’s servant heartedness, God’s forgiveness and patience.
The vengeance comes when the ruler is exalted by God the Father to sit next to the Son.
If we are going to be like the King, we are going to continue the rule of Jesus just as He said to James and John and just as Jesus did and just as Jesus still does.
Rule through service. Revelation 3:21 makes it clear that the victory for us is to be with Jesus on His throne, not to see our enemies smashed into powder. Jesus overcame and won the victory through laying down His life on the cross. Why would we want anything different?
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| Handwritten Psalm 149 |
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