THE DAY OF THE LORD

Many people who think of the Shepherd’s rod or the Overcomer’s rod of iron really do not know how to interpret these symbols. They think of something overly harsh, especially if they consider it in terms of God’s Law.  This is because they do not understand that the heart of the Law is mercy. 

Jesus says, ”If you had known what this means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless.” (Matthew 12:7 KJ2000)  And again, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith: these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” (Matthew 23:23 KJ2000)

Here, then, are the weightiest matters of the Law: justice, mercy, and faith. God’s overcomers will rule with a rod of iron, the Law.  They will rule with justice, in mercy, and by faith.  And not only that, they will rule as they worship.  The following psalm gives us a picture of the days in which the Shepherd’s Rod rules the earth:

Praise you the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song(1), and his praise in the congregation of saints. Let Israel (2) rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion (3) be joyful in their King. Let them praise his name in the dance (4): let them sing praises (4) unto him with the timbrel and harp. For the LORD takes pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing (4) aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises (4) of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand (5); To execute vengeance upon the nations, and punishments upon the people; To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute upon them the judgment written (6): this honor have all his saints. Praise you the LORD. (4)  (Psalms 149:1-9 KJ2000)

(1) This “new song” can only be sung by the overcomers, as we see here, “And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty-four thousand, who were redeemed from the earth.” (Revelation 14:3 KJ2000)  The number 144,000 refers to the overcomers.

(2) The words Israel and Zion here also refer to the overcomers.  Remember the discussion earlier in this series about interpretting the context of these words.  Israel here are those who “rule as God.” 

(3) Zion is the mountain of God’s government as we see here, “Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were  crushed together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them: and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” (Daniel 2:35 KJ2000)

(4) The Overcomers shall rule with praise by song and dance, following the pattern of  the priests blowing the trumpets on the seventh day (the Day of the Lord) in order to destroy Jericho (Babylon). The Overcomers are priests of  the Order of Melchizedek who rule the earth with praise and worship by a rod of iron.

(5) The two-edged sword refers to the Word of God.  It is also the Rod of Iron and the Shepherd’s Rod.  Following is a picture of the Overcomers beginning their godly rule:

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon it was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he does judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a robe 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 goes forth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelation 19:11-16 KJ2000) 

(6) The “judgment written” is the “wrath of God.”  It is the overcomers, ruling with a rod of iron, who administer God’s wrath.  The overcomers are those “not appointed to wrath.” See 1 Thessalonians 5:9.  They are those appointed to administer wrath, the justice of God done in mercy.