<p>2:27 <em>And he shall rule them with a rod of iron- </em>The allusion is to Psalm 2 which is clearly about the future Kingdom on earth. Yet the Psalm is given a first century fulfilment in Acts 4:24-28. The same prophecy has multiple fulfilments; and that is exactly what we find in the book of Revelation. As the Lord will rule the world with a rod of iron (Ps. 2:9) and brake the nations to powder at His return (Dan. 2:44), so will each of those in Him. And notice how Ps. 2:1,2, a prophecy about opposition to Jesus personally, is appropriated to those who preach Him, because they are in Him (Acts 4:25,26).</p><p>The Lord Jesus will rule, or shepherd (Gk.) His enemies with a rod of iron. He can somehow both shepherd and crush at the same time. Our relationship with Him is a reflection of these two aspects of His character. Perhaps the idea here is that His punishment of sinners is even then an attempt to shepherd them to be His sheep.</p><p><em>As the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces; as I also have received from my Father</em>- The unbelieving will be broken to shivers, &quot;as the vessels of a potter&quot;. But this is in fact quoting Jeremiah's words concerning the breaking of the individual believer who is rejected at the last day (Jer. 18:4-6; 19:11). The point of the Lord's quotation is surely that those He rejects will share the world's condemnation.</p><p>Dan. 2:44 describes how the kingdoms of this world will be broken and scattered as the chaff before the wind, as a potter&rsquo;s vessel. Yet this is exactly the language of Jer. 13:24 concerning Israel's latter destruction. The apostate amongst Israel will be &quot;dashed&quot; (Jer. 13:14) as the nations of the world will be (Ps. 2:9). The faithful will have some kind of part in the judgment of the systems which persecuted them, be they Jewish or Gentile.</p><p>The structure of the book of Revelation reflects this theme- the first series of visions are of judgments on God's people Israel, whilst the second part of the book is judgments upon the Gentile powers of Rome / Babylon however we wish to interpret them. Likewise the plagues upon Egypt recorded in Ex. 7-10 are frequently alluded to in later Scripture concerning the judgments upon the apostate people of God. Quite simply, God's rejected people suffer the judgments of this world.</p>