KEYWORDS: lord, family, god, iron, kingdom, earth

Vespers--Psalm 2:9-12

David Berg

4/82DO 2360

1. (Maria prays: Thank You for Your goodness & mercy to us, Lord, & this beautiful day You've given us & many accomplishments. Thank You for this little time of hearing from You & listening to what You have to tell us from Thy Word. Thank You for it & we pray that it would be a great blessing not only to us‚ Lord, but to Thy Worldwide Family, an inspiration to them & a strength to them, Lord, as it is to us. Bless Dad & really strengthen him & anoint him as he gives out Thy Word, in Jesus' name.) Amen. TYL! (Yawns) Excuse me, as you can see, I'm plenty sleepy, but I woke in time for this so I thought it must be the Lord's Will to come. PTL! Hallelujah! TYL!

2. The last verse we had was Psalm 2:8: "Ask of Me, & I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, & the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy possession." (Verse 9:) "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Well now, that doesn't exactly sound like the souls we're going to win, does it? When do you think that's going to happen? Well, it can happen on occasion in different places for God's children any time He wants to bring vengeance on our enemies or give us victories in battle.

3. But there's one great occasion when it'll definitely happen unto the uttermost parts of the Earth upon all the heathen left on Earth! (Family: The Battle of Armageddon!) Definitely! It wouldn't necessarily be in the Wrath of God because it says "thou shalt break them in pieces." We won't be here on Earth during the Wrath of God, we'll be at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. But we'll come back from that to destroy the kingdom of the Antichrist & his forces at the Battle of Armageddon, right?

4. It says, "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron." Where's that expression "rod of iron" used elsewhere? (Family: In Isaiah?) And I think it's also in Revelation. Does anybody know exactly where it is in Revelation? He says that we shall rule them with a rod of iron. (Family: Rev.2:27: "And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of My Father.") Very good!

5. Revelation 2, verse 25: "But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, & keepeth My works unto the end‚ to him will I give power over the nations." Didn't He just say in this other verse we were studying that He'd give us the heathen for our inheritance & the uttermost parts of the Earth?—Psa.2:8. That's talking about a literal takeover of the World, right?

6. "And he that overcometh‚ to him will I give power over the nations." What are we going to do? (Family: Rule them.) "And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I have received of My Father." Praise God! So He's going to give us the World to rule over when that day comes!

7. And when will our World takeover begin?—In a literal powerful sense? (Family: At the Battle of Armageddon.) When does that happen? (Family: After the Wrath.) After the Wrath of God & the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, when we come back with Whom? (Family: With Jesus!) How? (Family: Riding white horses!) Charging out of the skies, right from Heaven!—From Space City where we've been having the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Amen! Hallelujah! What a picture! Wow! The Bible's better than any fairy tales, huh? And the best part about it is, it's all true & it's really going to happen!

8. So how are we going to rule the World? Well, they didn't want a rule of Love‚ they rejected us‚ right? They didn't cause us anything but trouble, so we're going to come back & sock it to'm the way they deserve. They didn't want peace, they didn't want Love, they didn't want Salvation, they didn't want Jesus, they didn't want the Prince of Peace, so we're going to come back & give'm what they want—violence—what they love—violence—the only thing they understand—violence—the only thing they respect—force!

9. The only thing that will make them bow the knee is a rod of iron, a rule of force! We're going to force them to obey because they wilfully chose not to obey & would continue to choose not to obey. And as we see at the end of the Millennium, even in the End after a Thousand Years of our rule, they'll still choose to disobey.

10. So God is going to let us force them to obey for a Thousand Years, & in a sense‚ even showing mercy to the wicked by so doing, yet as a lesson to the whole creation that "even though mercy be shown unto the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness."—Isa.26:10. And they will still again rebel & disobey & rise up against the Kingdom of God under the Devil himself to merit their total destruction!

11. So that's what's going to happen, we are going to rule'm with a rod of iron‚ break them, dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel! Where else do you see a picture of the nations of this Earth being crushed & dashed in pieces like pottery, actual clay? (Family: The end of Daniel 2?)—Exactly! What do we see? (Family: A big boulder or rock.) Coming out of what? Doesn't it say out of the mountain? ("Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, & that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, & the gold."—Dan.2:45a)

12. God & His Kingdom are the Mountain, the Universal Kingdom of God! The Boulder, the great Rock, the great Stone cut out of the Mountain without hands is Jesus & His Kingdom, because it becomes a Mountain that fills the whole Earth. Mountains are always types of kingdoms or powers or nations or governments. And what does it do? (Family: It smashes the feet of the Image.) And what are the feet at that time? In fact, we're already in the feet‚ approaching the toes‚ the last governments, made of what? (Family: Iron & clay.) And what's that? (Family: Dictatorships & democracies.) Exactly!

13. Being made of iron & clay is like pewter, a very weak type of government. If you've ever had any experience with pewter vessels, they break easily. I think we had a few on those shelves at the Farm in France. They're a mixture of iron & clay or lead & clay or whatever. Anyhow, they're very fragile & easily crushed by the great Stone. TYL! Even a mixture of iron doesn't make it strong enough to resist the Kingdom of God, literally the Kingdom of Christ on Earth‚ in this case.

14. The whole Universe is the Kingdom of God, but this Kingdom on Earth will be the Kingdom of Christ as its Messiah & its King & its Prince of Peace. He's going to be the King of the World, the King of all Kings. PTL? (Family: Amen!)

15. (Verse 10‚11:) "Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the Earth. Serve the Lord with fear, & rejoice with trembling." What are they going to have to do then? You didn't realise this was a Messianic Psalm, a Prophetic Psalm! Of course, this is true in some cases at all times throughout history, but this is generally considered a Messianic Prophecy.

16. David was not only a King, he was also a Prophet! And he was also what? (Family: A type of Christ.) Type of Christ‚ yes‚ but besides being a King & a Prophet he is most noted for being a what? (Fam: Psalmist.) A Psalmist, a singer! How about that?—Ha! Isn't that something? He was my Mother's favourite Bible hero & she thought that's why she named me David, but I'm sure the Lord knew why. So he's saying that the kings & the judges of the Earth are going to really have to bow the knee to the Lord, right? "Fear Him & be instructed, serve Him with fear, rejoice with trembling." Their only joy will be to obey.

17. (Verse 12:) "Kiss the Son, lest He be angry." They're going to have to really worship Him & give Him obeisance‚ respect, reverence & worship‚ right? Or He'll be angry with them &, "Ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little." He would only have to be slightly angry with'm & they would be devoured & destroyed! "Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him." Praise God!

18. My, isn't that a beautiful powerful Psalm? (Family: Amen!) I think we've spent about four nights on it, haven't we? PTL! So that's a good place to quit in order to give us a little time for prayer & dismissal & to say goodnight to the children. Already the heathen rage & the kings of the Earth are angry & they're about to have a war, so this is a very interesting Psalm to study right now. In fact, I think you'll enjoy all of these Psalms! PTL! Are you learning something? (Family: Amen!) PTL!

19. You're studying the Bible now sort of like they do in some good old Bible-loving churches! Not too bad, huh? Churches are very good in some ways, they sing Psalms to the Lord & praise the Lord & study the Bible & all about what's going to happen in the Future & all about the glories of the coming Kingdom of the Lord. They teach prophecy a little differently in some respects, but most of the Evangelical Fundamentalists agree on the Coming of the Lord & His coming Kingdom, etc.

20. They think they know it all!—The only trouble is, they don't do anything about it! And what does the Lord say about that? He said, "You're hearers of the Word but you're not doers also!"—Jam.1:22. He said, "Why say ye unto Me‚ Lord‚ Lord, & do not the things that I ask?"—Luk.6:46. What does He ask them to do? (Family: Go into all the World!)—And preach the Gospel to every creature!—Mk. 16:15. From the very beginning He constantly told His disciples to preach the Word, to preach, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!" Preach the Gospel, preach the Word, win souls!

21. But sad to say, the Church got a bit lazy & had other ideas, & a couple of hundred years later they began building buildings & arguing over doctrine & split up the church by their getting so busy with buildings & churchianity & doctrines & fussing amongst themselves, that they just almost completely forgot the rest of the World & their job of evangelisation & went to bickering & fighting & arguing & church building & abandoned the real building of the real Church of God.

22. Many years later the Lord called dear St. Francis to build His Church, & poor St. Francis, the only kind of churches he knew about building were churches made out of bricks & stone & marble, & that's what he thought the Lord wanted him to do. But did you know that he confessed on his deathbed, "I think I made a mistake. I think what the Lord wanted me to do was to build the True Church of God of Living Stones & I misunderstood Him."—1Pet.2:5. Too bad his followers didn't get the point either‚ because they went right on pretty much the same. All right‚ is everybody happy? Healthy? Wealthy? We're very rich‚ thank the Lord, rich in the Lord & His Word! Shall we pray?

—ARE YOU BUILDING HIS TRUE CHURCH?—WINNING SOULS?