April 20: ROD AND STAFF OF COMFORT

“‘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” Revelation 2:27

Because the small minority, the remnant, in the church at Thyatira who held to their faith, we have concrete examples that love for the Lord buoys faithfulness to Him and manifests itself in Christian service in spite of horrendous circumstances. This Christian service has a quality punctuated with perseverance, while the majority compromises with the world. The twelve hundred and sixty years of the Dark Ages brought the severest testing for true believers that the world had thus far seen. Even so, they persevered in bringing the comfort of Truth to the world, at great personal risk and cost. Jesus foresaw it all and gave the promise to His faithful ones beforehand, as stated above. This promise is a continuation of power over the nations (v.26).

During this longest era of New Testament church history (AD538-1798), it was the church “calling the shots” while the majority of the executions were actually carried out by state powers in obedience to the church, the same model of the union of “church and state” that executed Jesus (see Luke 23:12, Acts 4:27). This promise to overcomers from Jesus, as stated above, is a promise that He Himself had received from His Father in heaven:

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. Psalm 2:8-9

The Lamb of God is also the Good Shepherd. For those who love Him, His scepter—the rod of iron—is seen as the greatest of comforts in a world fraught with danger at every turn. For He guides and rescues us with His shepherd’s staff of solid, unchanging truth. The crook of the staff is for snatching fallen sheep out of the pit! Are you in a pit right now? Look up!

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4

Jeremiah expounded upon the Potter’s prerogative to further illustrate that He is the ultimate righteous Judge whose jury—the faithful remnant—is perfectly settled in His truth. The standard of judgement is the Word of God and there shall be no trace of disagreement on that Day.

‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Even so I will break this people and this city [the earthly Jerusalem], as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot be made whole again.”’ Jeremiah 19:11a

The utter destruction of the worldly kingdoms is illustrated early in Daniel and developed throughout the rest of the book:

…crushed together, and became like the chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Daniel 2:35

For further study see: v.44; 7:14, 27; 8:25; 11:45; 12:1; Matthew 21:44