Christ’s Coronation

Concerning when the kingdom of Christ shall be and when His coronation in that kingdom was, we now look at Psalm 2. Remember that the kingdom of Christ is the millennium. Psalm 2 describes this millennium and Christ’s coronation after His resurrection. We will quote the whole Psalm, as it so well depicts the age in which we now live:

Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak to them in His wrath and vex them in His sore displeasure.

Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord has said to Me, You are My Son; this day have I begotten You. Ask of Me and I shall give You the heathen for Your inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

Be wise now therefore, O you kings: be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him. (Psalm 2).

This Psalm is not about David’s coronation. It is about the reign of Christ. David never expected to reign over the uttermost parts of the earth or receive the nations of the heathen for his inheritance. This Psalm is about the reign of Christ from sea to sea.

He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. (Ps 72:8).

The scripture is full of passages like this. They are not describing the world to come, but the world which is now, when people will still oppose the rule of Christ. Texts in the prophets such as “the lamb shall lie down with the lion” and “they shall beat their swords in ploughs” relate to our current gospel age.

His Redemption

Before we look at Isaiah 2 (and chapter 65 further below) we need to realise that Isaiah uses parables. These are parables of Christ’s kingdom, just as the parables that Jesus used. They use terms familiar to human existence, to help us to understand His redemption plan. They are not meant to be literal.

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 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 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 ploughs and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. (Is 2:1-4).

This is speaking of the kingdom of Christ set up in the last-days of the Old Covenant age. When Isaiah wrote this, it was still about 600 years away. The passage speaks of the Gentile nations coming to the Lord and of His gospel going out from Zion and Jerusalem, which means from Christ’s kingdom.

It also says that Christ will reign among the nations. He brings down one nation and lifts up another as He establishes the gospel message throughout the earth. As nations come against the Lord and His gospel, He rebukes them in His time and brings peace and periods of establishment for the church. Just as in Psalm 2, we see Christ ruling not in the next world, but in the presence of His enemies.

This is redemption peace. It is more than physical peace. It is peace that passes all understanding, which Jesus gives and is greater than worldly peace (Phil 4:7). It is resurrection peace, given at Pentecost, with the Spirit within us. It is a fruit of the Spirit. Those who walk in this peace are children of God (Matt 5:9). “The fruit of righteousness is peace.” (Is 32:17). Whenever a nation serves the Lord this is what we have.

This peace in Isaiah 2 was fulfilled in the birth of Christ:

Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, blessed be the Lord God of Israel. For He has visited and redeemed His people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David. As He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began.

That we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to our father Abraham. That He would grant to us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life. (Luke 1:67-75).

As Isaiah also said of Christ’s reign:

And all Your seed shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of Your seed. In righteousness shall You be established. You shall be far from oppression; for You shall not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near You. Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by Me: whosoever shall gather together against You shall fall for Your sake. (Is 54:13-15).

Speaking of the church, Haggai said:

The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, says the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, says the Lord of hosts. (Hag 2:9).

Regarding the gospel, Zechariah says:

And He shall speak peace to the heathen: and His dominion shall be from sea even to sea and from the river even to the ends of the earth. (Zech 7:10).

His peace conquers the world:

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33).

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I to you. (John 14:27).

This peace is spoken of throughout God’s word as a New Covenant blessing (John 20:19, 21, 26, Acts 10:36, Rom 5:1, 10:15, 14:17, 15:3, 16:20, Gal 5:22, 6:16). Brothers in Christ from different tribes and nations are one nation in Christ and fight each other no more:

But now in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are made near by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace (between Jew and Gentile), who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of two one new man, so making peace. (Eph 2:13-15).

These New Covenant blessings go on into eternity. The peace that Isaiah speaks of in Is 2:4 climaxes as Christ hands His kingdom to the Father at the end of this church age. However, there is no mention in any of the prophets of a 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth. In prophetic language Jerusalem and Zion speak of Christ’s rule, not of an earthly Jewish kingdom. (See our chapter on Israel where this is shown in detail.)

The rest of Isaiah 2 depicts the judgment upon Israel, including its destruction in 70AD, after the New Covenant has been established in Christ. Compare Is 2:19-21 with Luke 21:20-26, 23:30 and Rev 6:16, 9:6.