When Christ rules the earth in the coming Kingdom of God, Israel will be His people who He will reign with, because “Israel” means “a prince with God” or “a ruler with God”. Christ will also rule over the non-Israelite peoples. But Christ’s rule over Israel and the non-Israel peoples will be two different kinds of rules.
In Revelation chap. 7 and 14 it is written how 144,000 redeemed Israelites will follow the Lamb. On the gates of the New Jerusalem will be written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel: “And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Revelation 21:12)
The 12 tribes of Israel are God’s people from Genesis to Revelation, and in the coming Kingdom of God the 12 tribes of Israel will likewise be God’s people.
Christ will also rule over the non-Israelite peoples. In the Book of Psalms it is written of Christ’s reign over the non-Israel peoples: ”Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” (Psalm 2:9)
This is confirmed in Revelation, where it is written of the returning Christ coming out of heaven to battle the Beast : “And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” (Revelation 19:15, my underlining)
The world-wide colonial empires of Britain and the European nations of the 19th century are a shadow of how Christ’s reign over the non-Israelite peoples will be. The British and European nations ruled their empires with a strong hand. This was primarily for Britain’s and the European nations’ own good, but in the end it also benefitted the native peoples in the colonies, because they could live in peace and stability and without famine.
Christ and Israel will not just be a good example to the non-Israelite peoples, but Christ will “break them with a rod of iron” and “dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel”. These are strong words, but they are necessary.
Israel will be Christ’s absolute centre of attention in the coming Kingdom of God, but the non-Israel peoples will be blessed “as a bonus”, as it is written of Christ: “And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6)
App. 760 BC Isaiah had a vision of how the non-Israelite peoples will be ruled with Christ’s “rod of iron”, and how that many of them eventually will acknowledge the Lord God of Israel, and by their own free will will submit themselves to Christ: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isaiah 2:2-4)
In the coming Kingdom of God, the 12 tribes of Israel will be God’s people and the centre of God’s attention. But the non-Israel peoples will eventually also submit themselves to the God of Israel’s authority. And they will apparently almost do it of their free will!
In the Old Testament, before Israel received the Law of Moses and entered the Promised Land, we Israelites were in bondage in Egypt. Our forefathers were under yoke in Egypt so that they would know what it was like to be the subject and the underdog.
Likewise the 12 tribes of Israel today are one day going to rule over the non-Israelite nations. Today the 12 tribes of Israel have become the tail and the coloured people have become the heads of the nations. For the time being, it may not seem as much fun being a Christian Israelite, but this is in order that when we one day will rule over the non-Israelite nations, we will know what it is like to be the subject and the underdog – like they eventually will become – and not use excessive or unrighteous measures.
God is teaching those Christian Israelites who have an ear to hear an important lesson: “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” (Hebrews 12:11)
November 2008