Psalm 2:8-9 in Revelation 2:26-27; 12:5 and 19:15 Reconsidering Steve Moyise

koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Visiting Professor

Kyungpook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

Australia

14 April 2011

It is important to read Psalm 2 and understand that Psalm 2:7 is talking not of David or any other king of Israel or Judah, but of Jesus Christ. "You are my Son. Today I have begotten you". It speaks of the incarnation of the Messiah and the announcement of His incarnation. Christ was born because He voluntarily aksed to be born so that He can be able to die, resurrected and be a Savior for all who accept Him.

In Psalm 2:8, God the Father said to Jesus, that He should ask Him and He will give the nations as His inheritance. A reference to the postive side of faith, universally receiving the remnant out of all nations and all languages and all cultures. He will receive the earth as His possession when the door of mercy closes and the atonement phases in Heaven where Christ functions as priest and high priest comes to an end. It is done, He will say, take up His kingship and in glory descend to come and pick up the faithful dead and alive to go to heaven. Christ receive the old earth as His possession and that is why He returns in the Second Advent. His people are still on this old earth. But possessing it will mean to recreate it, will mean to remove all landgrab actions of Satan on this earth by terminating Satan and his allies, angels and humans, in the Hell or final battle of Armeggidon. It is the Day of the Lord events, predicted throughout Scripture. Taking possession and receiving earth as inheritance, Christ has the right to separate the flowers from the weeds. What is remaining will eventually face a destruction described in Psalm 2:9, after the millennium, namely "You [Christ the Warrior and Christ the Glorius King] shall shepherd them [the remaining weeds on earth with Satan] with a rod of iron. You shall shatter them like earthenware".

We know that Psalm is talking about these events because Psalm 2:12 says that we should pay attention to the Son, otherwise He become angry and you may perish as opposed to those taking refuge in Him that will be blessed. The dual and separated entities in humanity is clearly indicated here. This separation can only be done if the Investigative Judgment is completed and the Investigative Judgment  has to precede the Executive Judgment.

Steve Moyise is confused in Psalm 2:9 thinking the following:

" Now unless this is a promise of a wasteland full of corpses, it would appear that the next verse must be an exaggerated expression for the completeness of the victory rather than the annihilation of the nations. It is their futile resistance that will be utterly smashed, not the people themselves." Nothing can be further from the truth and context here in Psalm 2. It refers to their destruction and is no exaggerated expression of the completeness of the victory minus the annihilation of the nations. The nations are annihilated completely, the evil ones. That is why it is a rod of iron [= negative power].  Psalm 2:12 says that they will "perish" if they do not follow Him. But note that the very first word in Psalm 2:9 implies that a Shepherd is King, not David but the Messiah.  "You shall shepherd them with a rod fo iron". The reason is that the sword coming from the mouth of Christ during this deed, or event, in the executive judgment, is His Word. It is not military or military hardware as some try to think. The doctoral dissertation of Sookyoung Kim, published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010 has brought this point out very clearly. Christ does not fight, He speaks. His Words terminates and His Word recreates.

Now that we have this full understanding of the Word of God in Psalm 2, now we can approach Revelation and ask, what did these words mean in the context of Revelation?

Revelation 2:26-27

John explains in 97 CE that he who overcomes, the faithful and keeps His deeds to the end, "to Him I will give authority over the nations, and the rest". Notice one thing, whereas God the Father is speaking in Psalm 2, here it is Christ speaking to the church of Thyatira. What Christ does here to John is to give him security that Christ is so sure that He is going to receive the Kingship Himself from the Father, that He can promise that same authority to all faithful. Christ continue to say: "as I also have received authority from My Father" (Revelation 2:27). This is a very important statement. The Trinity has the right to apply the Scripture in such a way that what was originally meant or said to be in on zone only, can now later be extended to include more by another member of the Trinity without crossing the other member of the Trinity since there is an eternal unity amongst them.

Revelation 12:5

In Revelation 12:5 the remnant as a woman gave birth to Christ in 4 BCE during the incarnation and Satan tried to kill Him several times. Note that the child who was to be born was to rule all nations with a rod and iron, again a reference to Psalm 2:8-9. Some scholars like Steve Moyise like to call it an allusion to Psalm 2:8-9. It is not just an allusion to the Psalm but definitely a use of this text in a paraphrastic way. An allusion has at its base something that may compare to something else but not necessarily so. This is definitely that something else but cryptic and limitedly cited or reproduced in a paraphrastic way but definitely still connected. In Future Christ or this son born, will receive the Kingship and will reign as the glorious King over this earth and will come to fetch the remnant dead and alive and will return later to fight the Final Battle of Armeggidon in the Hell event or the Day of the Lord event. He will rule with a rod of iron, meaning He will overcome all these bad and evil powers in final absolute termination. That is why it will be iron. The Shepherd rule His people with a stick of wood but bad nations with a rod of iron. The rule here is over the bad and Christ is the one in Psalm 2:8 that will rule over the bad. He will be Victor over them. Moyise is wondering whether the word means rule or destroy. It means both. Since He rules He has the authority from His Father to destory. That is why Christ is asked to ask authority from His Father in Psalm 2:8 and He will receive it from Him as Revelation 2:27 said so explicitly.

Revelation 19:15

This verse is a clear explanation of the intent of Psalm 2:8-9 continued unto verse 12. Revelation 19:15 tells of Christ who will have a sword from the mouth, words that is, and He will smite the nations and rule with an iron rod and tread the wine press of the Wrath of God the Almighty. This is in full harmony what we found embedded and spread out in Psalm 2. There is not a single inconsistency with Psalm 2 and neither are their extra elements in Revelation 19. All these imagery we find in the sermons of Jesus as well, about the harvest and the weeds and Christ's double actions in future pertaining to the good and the bad. It is actually throughout Scripture and nothing new. All knew about it since Adam and Eve but Moses only recorded cryptic extracts from the Book of Adam that survived after the Flood and was passed on from generation to generation and which fell into his hands when he fled in 1490 BCE from Egypt to Midian to hide there. That is why the dragon wanting to attack the child in Revelation 12, is not strange in this context of using Psalm 2.

Hans LaRondelle and Psalm 2

In his book, Deliverance in the Psalms, Hans LaRondelle is explaining that the New Testament focuses on the eschatological aspects of Psalm 2 fulfilled and to be fulfilled in Christ. What LaRondelle is doing with the Old Testament and New Testament on this Psalm, is to keep Psalm 2 as a reference to aspects pertaining to the kingship in Judah and Israel (LaRondelle 1983, 1986: 55). The theory that the Old Testament had a local own time application and that the New Testament takes what is originally written to meant something in the past (preteristically) and transform it into a Messianic new meaning, is only based on theories and axioms. It is very possible that in this section Hans LaRondelle is citing a preteristic commentary written by a Lutheran or Calvinist or the same. This is not necessary. God gave the original poet the insight to see what the New Testament is citing about this Psalm.

The application of Psalm 2 in Revelation 12:9-10 by Hans LaRondelle is that the time of Judgment indicated by Revelation 12 was identified, according to Hans LaRondelle as at the cross (John 12:31)

“Now judgment is upon this world, now the ruler of this world shall be cast out”. Christ was talking about His death (verse 33). It was in 31 CE that Satan was cast out of Heaven and no entry permitted. The deception was unveiled at the cross and overcame by Christ. Although the salvation, power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come in 31 CE, the actualization of His authority and His Kingship is still in Future until He finishes His Highpriestly role in the Heavenly Sanctuary. Christ is Righteous King at the Cross but will still be revealed Glorious King at His Second Coming. There is a difference. There are a number of scholars in Protestantism who are using preteristic models of interpretation who tries to lock the Psalms into the times and activities of the kings of Israel and Judah including Saul, David and Solomon, and who only want to switch on Messianic allusions to these Psalms no earlier than the New Testament. This view is non-Seventh Day Adventist. Christ did not become Messiah but was Messiah before the Fall (katabales tou kosmou). There is no growth in the thought from something else earthly to something divine, Messianic. Adventists do not operate with such theories.

Sources:

Hans LaRondelle, Deliverance in the Psalms (Berrien Springs: First Impressions, 1983, 1986).

Sook-young Kim, The Warrior Messiah in Scripture and Intertestamental Writings (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010).