启示录 2:27

and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to shivers; as I also have received of my Father:

As the last clause of this verse indicates, the authority Christians are to exercise is "as" the authority that the Father has given Christ. They will "reign with him," not in the literal sense of enjoying temporal authority in human governments, but in the spiritual sense of sharing the holy blessings of his kingdom and of winning others through the gospel of Christ. The twelve apostles, at this very time, are reigning with Christ (Matthew 19:28); and it is inconceivable that anything other than this is implied here. The bizarre notion that some eschatological revolution connected with a literal return of Christ to the earth will suddenly give the reins of human government into the hands of Christians is foreign to the New Testament. "This is not a future millennium text. It is plainly the imagery of the irresistible force of the gospel."[94] "The rod of iron" and the shattering of the "potter's vessels" are merely expressions of that great power.