The last time I was here, Lloyd was not able to be here because of his illness. And now he’s not here. His absence is surely noticed. It’s great to see Rana and the family as well. Great to see you guys. Great to be back with all of you. I appreciate this church and the blessing it’s been. I was thinking, coming up here, it’s been something, Ruthie, over 30 years that Ruthie’s been attending here, and then shortly after that, my parents; and you folks have been a blessing here for a long time. We’re grateful for it.
If you will, take your Bibles and turn to Psalm 2, the second Psalm. There’s no superscription over this psalm telling us who the author is, but we have confirmed for us in Acts chapter four that this is a Davidic psalm. King David wrote this psalm, and we’ll be talking more about that as we go through.
Psalm 2:
“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury saying, as for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Now therefore, O kings, be wise. Be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
Let’s bow together for prayer. Our Father, we are grateful for this marvelous psalm that is a favorite of so many. We pray that you will take our minds and our hearts and give us understanding and appreciation of what is here for us. Give us through this a new appreciation of our great King, the Lord Jesus. Give us a greater, deeper faith in him and a deeper resolve to serve him, and instill in us, your people, a greater affection for him and a greater longing for his coming. We look forward to that day. We pray in his name, amen.
Background To The Messianic King
Psalm 2 is a high point in a developing Old Testament theme of the messianic king, the Messiah who will come to reign. And I want to provide a bit of background to that before we get into the psalm itself. This theme of the reigning king, God’s king, who will come to reign over the earth actually begins for us back in Genesis chapter one.
God, who of course is king over all, creates man and woman in his image and places them in the garden to reign over the earth. They were to subdue the earth and have dominion over it. And so Adam and Eve stood as some kind of vice regents, kings under the king reigning over the earth. And they were to extend that reign throughout the earth through their multiplying and so on. That was their responsibility. That of course failed. Our first parents failed in that, and the authority over the earth was surrendered and given over to Satan, who now is referred to as the god of this world and the king of the earth and so on.
Now that does not mean that God is no longer king. God is still king over all, but now he’s king and his kingdom—these themes are now in two senses. There’s a sense in which God is king, of course, and reigning over all and all things are under his rule and nothing happens apart from his control. He’s the sovereign over all that is. But his kingdom now, that reign, is being contested. Earth is in rebellion against the king. And so the rest of the Bible story is the story of God reestablishing his reign in the earth, reasserting his kingship in the earth.
God makes a promise in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15 that he will send a champion who will defeat the tempter. And the implication is now God’s reign and God’s rule will be re-established in the earth through a son of the woman who will come. And so God’s human representatives, the king reigning under the king, will be re-established through this promised champion who will come. And that theme then runs through the entire Bible and it’s reasserted throughout the Old Testament in many different places and different kinds of ways.
The next big pickup on it, of course, is Genesis chapter 12, where God promises to Abraham, “In your seed, all the families of the world will be blessed.” In Genesis chapter 17, he tells Abraham that “kings will come from you.” And he tells the same to Sarah, “kings will come from you.” The promise is reiterated to Isaac and to Jacob. And then we find in Genesis chapter 49 of Jacob’s sons, it is Judah who will reign over all. One from the line of Judah, a lion will come from Judah and he’ll reign over all the nations.
And then we have the next big step in all of that developing theme is the nation of Israel who is God’s kingdom on earth. God is the king and we have a theocracy now on earth—God’s people living under God’s king. And we find the theme of the coming king developing through that. In Judges, the various judges come up and there are glimpses: Is this the king who will come? Is he the one?
And then we have, of course, kings that are appointed in the history of Israel. The first one was Saul. He is anointed king. And to be God’s anointed king is to be his possession. It’s to be essentially undefeatable, invincible until God says otherwise. He’s God’s property, he has God’s protection, and he is to rule under God. Moses had left instructions for the kings that when kings are appointed in Israel, the very first thing the king is supposed to do is copy out by hand God’s law and to recognize that he is not a king unto himself, he’s not a law unto himself, he’s a king reigning under God the king, and it is God’s law, God’s will that is to be administered by this earthly king.
Saul of course failed in that miserably; he’s apostate, he’s rejected, but God had appointed another king to follow him. And then we have Samuel anointing young David as king. And for that little period of time in Old Testament history, we have one king too many in Israel. And we have the anointed King Saul and the anointed David who will become king and Saul then turning on David and David running from Saul and David not taking action against Saul because after all Saul is God’s anointed—it’s God’s business to take care of this and to sort it all out.
And then finally David becomes king. He secures both the northern and the southern kingdom. In 2 Samuel chapter 6 we find the kingdoms coming together, the ark being brought to Jerusalem, and we have a unified kingdom under King David. In 2 Samuel chapter 7 we have the great turning point in all of this. David is now secure in his kingship, he’s reigning over a unified kingdom in Israel, in Jerusalem, and he gets the idea: “I have this wonderful palace that I live in, and God’s still living in a tent. That’s not right, I’m gonna build a temple for God, something more worthy of him.”
Nathan the prophet comes, you remember, and says, “That’s a good idea, you do that.” And Nathan goes home and God says to Nathan, “That’s not a good… who told you that was a good idea? I didn’t tell you that. Go back and tell David he will not build a temple for me.” And as it turns out, his son Solomon will build the temple. But go back and tell David that he will not build a house for me. And here’s the pun. “You will not build a house for me. I will build a house for you.” And there’s a pun. David wanted to build a real house, a literal house, a temple. And God instead for David will build a house, a dynasty. Your son, your son will reign on your throne forever.
Now he’s got to be an obedient son. And if he’s not obedient, God will punish him with the rod of nations. But David will have a son and God says, “I will establish his kingdom forever.” And that promise to David is picked up in the Psalms, it’s picked up in the prophets, it’s expanded on in all kinds of passages where we have the coming of the reign of God on earth, administered through his earthly king, the son of David. You have passages like in Jeremiah and Ezekiel where “my servant David will rule over them.” And sometimes it’s the famous Christmas prophecies like Isaiah chapter 9, “unto us a child is born, to us a son is given,” and this theme is picked up of this Davidic son coming to rule over David’s kingdom, eventually over the entire world.
Now an important point is made here in 2 Samuel chapter seven—we don’t have time to go there and work through it—but one important point is made there that when he says, “not only I will build you a house,” God says, “he, that is your son, will be my son.” And here we have begun the language of the king as God’s son. So he will be David’s son, and David’s son will be God’s son. When you get to the New Testament, you have the “Son of God” language that crops up over and again, particularly in the opening chapters of the gospel of John, where Jesus is recognized as the Son of God. It’s first of all a messianic title. He’s the king. Now, of course, particularly in the Gospel of John and elsewhere in the Gospels, it’s freighted with implications of deity as well and other things, but first of all, this term, Son of God, is a messianic title. He’s the promised king who will come. He will be David’s son.
Well, that’s picked up in the prophets, it’s picked up in the Psalms, and this is what is called the Davidic covenant, the covenant promise that God made with David. David recognized what was promised to him, he understood it well. He was profoundly moved by the enormity of the promise that God had given to him, and for the rest of his life, he remained keenly aware of what God had promised to him, and it crops up in David’s Psalms as well. He is the sweet psalmist of Israel, Israel’s premier psalmist, and over and again in the Psalms, we find this ideal king being prophesied, statements about the ideal king who will come. Often it’s a psalm about the king himself in ancient Israel, but the language goes way beyond it, and it speaks of this greater king, David’s greater son, who will come to reign on David’s throne forever.
Well, that’s the broader background then to Psalm 2. It is, as I say, a Davidic psalm. We find that out in Acts chapter 4. Psalm 2, and it’s the same with Psalm 110, were evidently sung as a part of a coronation ceremony. So you’ve gathered at the Temple Mount, you’re at the temple, the king is enthroned, and the new king takes his position, and these psalms are sung as part of the ceremony. The language is sung about and to this king, but the language in some of these psalms—particularly, like I say, Psalm 2 and Psalm 110—the language goes beyond any human king, any historic son of David, and it refers to this ideal king, this greater son of David, who will come to rule. And Psalm 2 is one of those psalms. Each successive king that came in David’s line inherited the promise, and these psalms were sung. But each of them only stood as representing a greater king who would come and fulfill it in an idealized way. And that we find in the New Testament—Acts chapter four, Hebrews chapter one, various places—specifically refers to the Lord Jesus. We’ll find more of that as we go along.
All right, this is the background then of Psalm 2 in brief. Now let’s look at an overview of the Psalm quickly. I’d like to glance through it quickly a couple of times here before we work through it carefully. Notice that the Psalm has 12 verses. We have four stanzas of three verses each. You might have it separated that way in your Bibles. We have four stanzas of three verses each, and each of these stanzas is marked by a different speaker. And that’s very important to notice.
So in verses one to three, notice we have the nations speaking in collective rebellion against God. Their rebellion against God and his anointed king, and they are in rage against God’s rule and against the rule of his king, and they rebel against him. Verses one to three.
Verses four to six, the second stanza, we have God now speaking. God speaks in response to the rebellious nations who have stated what they want.
Then verses seven to nine, we have another speaker, “I.” And it is the king himself proclaiming what God has said to him. And here he basically reiterates in a poetic way the terms of the Davidic covenant. And he claims his kingship.
So in verses one to three, the nations speak. Verses four to six, God speaks in response. Verses seven to nine, then the king speaks. And then verses 10 to 12, the psalmist speaks, David himself, and here he admonishes the kings of the earth in light of what we have just seen in the previous stanzas.
So again, stanza one, the earth’s kings announce their rebellion and their resolve to throw off the rule of God and his anointed king. Stanza two, verses four to six, we have God speaking and he affirms his own resolve to install his king. Stanza three, we have the enthroned king speaking and he expresses his resolve to exercise that kingship over the earth. And then in the last stanza, the psalmist takes the stage and he admonishes those hostile kings in light of what God has said in his appointment of his king. One more time: verses one to three, the nations rebel. Verses four to six, God responds. Verses seven to nine, the king then asserts his right to rule. And then verses 10 to 12, the psalmist admonishes the nations accordingly. These may well have been sung antiphonally, where you have different choirs, and each one choir singing for the first stanza, representing the first voice, and then another choir singing the second voice, and the third, and the fourth; it may well have been sung that way.
Verses One To Three: The Nations Rebel
Okay, so much then for the overview. Let’s work our way through. Verses one to three. The nations, or the world, speaks. “Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”
So we have the nations in rebellion. The law of God, which in Psalm 1 was the blessed man’s delight, now in Psalm 2, the nations view as shackles holding them in captivity. We won’t have his rule in rebellion against God. And David begins his psalm with the question, “Why?” Why do the nations rage and the people’s plot in vain? This “why” has been called, I think very rightly, the “why” of incredulity. That is, David is in stunned disbelief. Why in the world would you oppose the Lord God of heaven and his appointed king? He’s been anointed by God to establish his kingdom. He’s God’s property. He’s invincible because he belongs to God. Why would you set yourselves on such a foolish errand as to oppose this God and his king?
And David said, “Why would they do such a foolish thing?” And he finds it just incredible that the kings of the earth would set themselves on such an impossible course as to rebel against God. Do you really think this is going to work out well for you? That’s the sense of this. And yet we find in verse two, their rebellion is determined. It says they’ve “set themselves.” They’re determined with this. And not only are they determined, the rebellion is collective as well. It’s universal. The rulers “take counsel together.” There’s an organized factor going on in here. There’s an organized, determined resolve to throw off the restraints that God has put on them. We won’t have him or his law ruling over us.
So this is the world in collective determined rebellion against God, determined to throw off any kind of restraints that God will put over them. And I just have to say it every time I’m in Psalm 2, I don’t know another passage of scripture that has more a contemporary ring to it than this one. In nations, the world at large, in a rage against God and against his law, we won’t have him ruling over us. So much so that we have to deny our very creaturehood. Today we have to even deny that we are created man or woman. We don’t even know the difference. And to carry out their rebellion, they’re willing to sacrifice their children and mutilate them—madness in their rebellion against God, determined against all odds to set themselves against God. And we’ve redefined then terms like justice and tolerance and opposition and danger, all of this with ethical norms being turned on their head.
This is what he portrays in verses one to three: the nations of the world in determined rebellion, in rage against God’s rule. We won’t have it. We won’t have it. We won’t have it. We’ve been privileged in the last couple of hundred years or few hundred years to live in the shadow of Christendom and we’ve enjoyed a certain superiority as Christians recognize that we have the moral high ground. And anymore that’s been flipped on its head and we’ve returned to a pagan world. What’s worse about ours is that it’s not just a pagan world, it has the character of apostasy. It’s turning against the light that’s been given to it. And there’s just a determined rage in our culture against God and against his law.
Verses Four To Six: God Responds
Well, that’s verses one to three. Now, what do you think the Lord says in response to that? Verse four: “He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. Then he’ll speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, as for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.”
So this is God’s response to the world in rebellion. He is secure in his reign, secure in his rule. He’s resolved to carry out his purpose. Nothing will interfere with that. And so the world shakes its fist and God says… that’s kind of like when my little grandson comes in the room with the boxing gloves that we gave him and he comes in and wants a fight with grandpa. You know, the only response is, “This is gonna be fun.” It’s kind of like Gulliver’s Travels. Gulliver washes ashore on the island of Lilliput. Remember, he falls asleep and they tie him up with their little ropes and he wakes up and for a little while he plays along.
And here we have God. He responds to them with a laugh. It’s not just a laugh of amusement. That’s not absent. It is a laugh of amusement, but it’s more than a laugh of amusement. It’s a laugh of offense, a laugh of derision. That’s what the text says. “He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord holds them in derision.” This contest is so lopsided that the rebellion is comical. This can only go one way. And so God mocks their rebellion against them. And so like Gulliver and Lilliput, God allows their little rebellion to play itself out for a time, futile as it is. But over it all, God reigns uninterrupted, unthreatened. He reigns over it all. He has established his king in Zion. He is resolved to carry out his purpose.
So in verses five and six, he speaks, and he will “speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, as for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.” All right, you’ve had your say, now I have something to say. You’ve stated your rebellion, here’s what I have to say in response: I’ve set my king on his holy hill. He’s established. And what God has to say then reflects his resolve to carry out his purpose in the earth. I’ve set my king on Zion—that’s the Temple Mount, that’s the place of the enthronement ceremonies. God has made a promise: David’s son, God’s son, God’s king will rule, and I’ve established him in place and he’ll rule.
So then notice how this stanza, stanza two, verses four to six, notice how this stanza is framed. It begins with, in verse four, the Lord God enthroned in heaven. And then it ends in verse six with the anointed king enthroned in Zion. The king, God himself, enthroned in heaven, laughing. “He who sits in the heavens laughs.” And then his anointed king enthroned in Zion. “I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.” I’ve “set,” that is I’ve established, I’ve enthroned him in his place. And so the stanza is beginning with God on his throne, it ends with his appointed king on his throne: God above ruling over all, and now his king on earth administrating his rule over his kingdom. I’ve established my king, he will rule. That’s what God says in response to the earth’s rebellion.
So stanza two then, God affirms for us that God will allow evil to run seemingly unchecked for a time, but he’s unthreatened by it. He laughs scoffingly at the futility of the rebellion. It can’t succeed, it can’t succeed. He’s resolved to establish his kingdom in the world through his enthroned king.
Verses Seven To Nine: The King Asserts His Right To Rule
And that brings us then to the third stanza of the psalm, verses seven to nine, and here the king himself speaks. “I will tell of the decree. And here’s the decree: The Lord said to me, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
This is simply a poetic elaboration of the Davidic promise in 2 Samuel chapter seven, the covenant God made with David. And what’s striking about this here is that David is telling us this, but he does it in the words of God himself as recited by the king. He lets us in—this is kind of an interesting situation—he lets us in on a conversation that was prior to all of this. Notice how it says it again. “I will tell of the decree,” we know from the following verses, this is the king now speaking. “The Lord said to me, you are my son, today I have begotten you.” So the Lord said this to Messiah. This is something God has said to the king, his anointed king.
So the messianic king here speaks, but what he says is what God has said to him previously. And that is his decree to rule. Verse seven, “I will tell of the decree.” The Lord said to me, that’s the prior conversation, and here’s the decree: “You are my son,” that’s enthronement language. “You are my son, this day I have begotten you.” This is the language of enthronement; this is God’s word to his king. I have made you my king.
And then what he has to say in verse eight is that the Messiah, here reciting the words of God to him again, that his reign will be universal. “Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.” So God has bequeathed to his anointed rulership over the entire world. This is the king’s inheritance from God. He said that he must ask, but he’s promised that when he asks, God will give him the nations. These nations presently in rebellion will be his, all of them. To the end of the earth, they will all be his.
Now this notion of a universal reign is picked up often in the Psalms and in the prophets. Let me give you a couple of samples in the Psalter. Look at Psalm 72. Psalm 72—now this is a psalm by Solomon, but it reflects the same anticipation of a universal rule. This is a marvelous psalm of the ideal king. This, by the way, is the psalm from which Isaac Watts wrote the hymn, “Jesus Shall Reign Where’er the Sun.” That’s right, from Psalm 72. “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun, doth his successive journeys run. His kingdom spreads from shore to shore.” All of that language is here; it’s paraphrased, but it’s here in Psalm 72. Let’s pick it up with verse eight: “May he have dominion from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. May desert tribes bow down before him and his enemies lick the dust. May the kings of Tarshish and the coastlands render to him tribute. May the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. May all kings fall down before him and all nations serve him.” So he has a universal reign and notice in verse nine here of Psalm 72, that this rule entails the destruction of all of those who oppose him. “His enemies will lick the dust.” Does that ring a bell? Does that sound like Genesis 3:15? His enemies will lick the dust.
Let’s look at another, look at Psalm 110. Psalm 110 promises the same. Verse one: “The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” Look at verse five: “The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.” So all of this destruction language—his reign will be universal and his enemies will be destroyed.
And you’ll see that now back in Psalm two as well. Psalm two and verse nine: “You’ll break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Now there are two aspects to the kingdom of God. On the one hand, when God establishes his kingdom on earth, there will be the vindication and the rescue of his people. And that’s that positive side of the establishing of the kingdom of God that you find throughout the Psalms, through the prophets, that God will establish his people, his rule, and his people at last will be safe in his presence and they will be vindicated.
The other side, the other aspect of the kingdom of God, is the destruction of his enemies and putting them down. And that’s what is first emphasized here. “He’ll break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” We have a graphic illustration of this imagery here from the Egyptian execration texts. These are pieces of pottery that have been found and put together to illustrate how in the ancient world, in Egypt, they would pronounce a formal curse on their enemies. They would get a clay pot or a ceramic bowl or something and they’d inscribe on that piece of pottery the names of their enemies. It might be a king’s name, it might be a city name or something like that. Inscribe the name and then smash it in pieces, pronouncing a curse over it. And David says here, that is how it will end for those who oppose God and his king.
And that is why then in verse one, David finds it so incredibly foolish that the nations would oppose this God. Who do they think they are? Who do they think he is? And so David in verse one is saying, “Can’t you hear? Haven’t you heard? God has established his king. This is nuts. You’ve set yourself in rebellion against this God and this king?”
Now, who’s in view here in Psalm 2? Who is this king who’s in view? Well, you go to church, you understand the answer to every question is Jesus. Well, certainly not David. David was not anointed in Zion, he never inherited all the nations. Certainly wasn’t Solomon; he was apostate. There are no other Davidic kings in Israel’s history who would rule through the ends of the earth. It’s pointing forward. It’s a prophetic oracle on David’s part concerning great David’s greater son, the Messiah who will come.
We come to the New Testament, we find the Lord Jesus laying claim to this psalm, to this prophecy in all of its broad strokes and many of its specific prophecies. He accepts the title from Peter in Matthew chapter 16. He asserts the title to the Samaritan woman in John chapter four. He everywhere speaks of establishing the kingdom of God and bringing it to earth. He is the one to inaugurate God’s kingdom. He claims fulfillment of the Old Testament passages over and over again.
And in a verse I’ll come back to in a minute, I think, in Matthew chapter 28—this is after Jesus’ crucifixion, after his resurrection from the dead—we come to what we call the Great Commission. We always read verses 19 and 20, but it starts with verse 18, which is sadly overlooked too often, where Jesus says, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.” He’s laying claim to this universal authority that’s been given to him. And that’s why you go and make disciples of all nations, because he’s the universal king. And so Jesus lays claim to this promise. The New Testament writers over and again point out that Jesus is the one to fulfill this.
And here in Psalm 2 now, David is allowed to listen in as God the Father issues this decree and promises his son a kingdom. Verse six, “I’ve set my king on Zion, my holy hill,” and then David listens as the king speaks of it himself in verses seven to nine. “I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You’ll break them with a rod of iron and you’ll dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Jesus then is the king that this speaks of.
Now that brings up a big subject that we find in the New Testament. We should take a moment to give a thumbnail sketch of it. What is the New Testament teaching on Jesus’ kingship? When is Jesus king? When and how is Jesus made king? When is he enthroned? And the answer to that is a little complex. Because on one level we find that Jesus is king at his birth. We find that with the wise men coming from the east, giving presents to worship the king. This is the king that’s born, the one that’s born king of the Jews. His kingship is recognized at his birth. We find it in Jesus’ earthly ministry, in particular when he casts out demons. That authority by which he casts out demons demonstrates that the kingdom of God is among you. He’s bringing the kingdom of God in. And so Jesus is king at his birth. Jesus is king in his ministry.
And then there’s a great and a grand emphasis on Jesus’ kingship surrounding his passion and death. You’ve got the crown of thorns, you’ve got the purple robe and the staff, all of this given to him in mockery of his kingship. And then you have the title above his head on the cross, “this is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” And you got John’s language speaking of Jesus being enthroned or lifted up on the cross, exalted and glorified on the cross. Jesus is king in his death because there in his death, he is not suffering defeat as it appears. He is actually reigning as king, securing a kingdom for himself by his death and securing his people for him by dying in their place.
But we’re not done. Jesus’ kingship is asserted in his resurrection. God raises him from the dead and glorifies him. And here we have the king. And then we have Jesus saying, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.” Notice he doesn’t say, “all authority in heaven and earth has always been mine.” Now that’s true on one level. He’s God the son forever. But there’s a kingship that he has earned and he’s established by his death and resurrection. He has come as the mediator of God’s people and having successfully accomplished that mission, dying in their place, bearing their sin, saving them, God vindicating him, raising him from the dead—he now can say, “I have earned this messianic kingship, it’s mine. All authority has been given to me in heaven and in earth, it’s all mine. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, make them recognize that I am their king.”
And then he ascends to the throne. This is the significance of his ascension. He takes the throne of the universe—”sit at my right hand until I make your enemies my footstool.” And we have Christ in his session, reigning on the throne of the universe, having achieved universal authority. He now reigns at the Father’s right hand, exercising that authority in the outworking of his kingdom. We find this in many passages in the Old Testament and the New. Psalm 110, as I’ve mentioned, “sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” Here’s the king who has accomplished his mission. He’s successful in it and now he’s at the throne of the universe. This is Daniel chapter seven where the Son of man figure comes on the clouds and appears before the ancient of days and receives a kingdom. This is Acts chapter two, the sermon on Pentecost. They’re wondering what in the world is all this? And Peter says, all this is evidence that Jesus whom you crucified and God raised from the dead and you know it, he’s exalted and has made him Lord and Christ.
This is Philippians chapter two. Jesus Christ, who was for all eternity in the form of God, humbled himself, took the form of a man and became obedient, even unto death, the death of the cross. “Therefore,” because he has humbled himself and been obedient all the way to the cross, “therefore God has highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess.”
My favorite depiction of this is in Revelation chapter four and five. Marvelous scene: chapter four, you have God exalted on his throne in unapproachable holiness. There’s a sea of glass and all the rulers of the earth and heaven bowing before him in his unapproachable holiness, singing “holy, holy, holy.” Chapter five, he has a scroll in his hand with seven seals on it, symbolism of the last will and testament. Who is worthy to carry out his purpose of salvation and judgment in history and in this world? Who could do such a thing? And there’s crying in heaven, “Who is worthy to take the scroll?” And someone says, “Look, there’s the lion of the tribe of Judah.” And everyone looks and it’s the lamb who has been slain. And all of heaven breaks out into a cheer. And they sing, “You are worthy because… You are worthy to take the scroll because you were slain and by your blood you have redeemed men and women to God from every nation and tribe and kingdom.” And so Jesus takes the scroll and he starts to undo the seals. The rest of the book of Revelation is the outworking of that God’s purpose in salvation and in judgment in world history, carried out by the reigning king who has ascended to the throne on the ground of his successful work as mediator.
Now David looks ahead to see all of that here. He gives it to us in short form. In the outworking of Jesus’ kingdom, many will acknowledge Jesus’ kingship willingly, with joy. Psalm 110 tells us that: “Your people shall be willing in the day of your power.” That’s the work of the church today, carrying out the terms of peace of this king and offering those terms to all who will come. But the universal dominion of the Lord Jesus is not contingent on human willingness. The universal reign of this king—and here’s the last step, the final step of his kingship—the universal reign of this king will be carried out when he returns. It’ll be carried out in judgment on those who refuse God. That’s verse nine; it points us to the return of Christ. “You will break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” This “rod of iron” language is echoed in the book of Revelation in association with the kingdom, the coming of Christ (Revelation 2, Revelation 19). We find it echoed as well in 2 Thessalonians’ reference to the return of Christ. The kingship of the Lord Jesus, the kingdom of God will be brought to climactic fulfillment and all nations will be his and every knee, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Verses 10 To 12: The Psalmist Admonishes The Nations
Let’s regroup then: verses one to three, where the nations are in rebellion. Verses four to six, God is unmoved in his resolve to exercise his rule through his appointed king. Verses seven to nine, the third stanza, the king recites God’s decree that he will reign universally, and he accepts that, and he states his resolve to carry it out. And now the last stanza, verses 10 to 12. David the psalmist steps on stage here, and he counsels the rebellious nations accordingly. In verse one, he asked, “Why?” Why would you attempt such a futile, futile errand as to oppose this king? And now, the final stanza, he says, “Now therefore, O kings, be wise. Be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear. Rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way. For his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.”
So here, David positions himself as a counselor to the nations. He sees that they’re in a fool’s errand; they have to be warned. In verse 10, he calls them to wise up. Consider what he has just written. God’s decree is sure. His king is enthroned. The king himself is resolved to carry out that rule. Your rebellion is futile. “Now therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned, O rulers of the earth.” Wise up. Do you really think this rebellion against this God is gonna turn out well for you? Wise up. And this is the counsel to every man and woman everywhere and to the nations collectively as well. Wise up. Turn to this king for refuge. His anger will be kindled quickly.
Verses 11 and 12, he pleads with them and he extends terms of peace, which is to say, surrender while you may. Verse 11: “Serve the Lord with fear, rejoice with trembling, kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled.” Each of these expressions here—we don’t have time to work through all of each of these expressions—is a call to submission to this king. Bow before him, serve the Lord with fear, rejoice with trembling, come to him rejoicing, yes, that he’ll have you, but struck with fear of this greatness of this king and this God. Verse 12: “Kiss the son.” It’s a symbolism of homage and submission. It’s symbolism that’s not familiar in our culture, except maybe in the movies. The one place that we do see it today is in the blasphemous use of it with the Pope, extending his ring for the subjects to kiss, to show submission to the Pope, arrogating himself to a position that’s not his.
The psalmist here is calling us to do homage before this king. Kiss the son. Bow before him while you still may. Submit to his rule and take refuge in him. And so despite the threatening tone of the psalm—destroying his enemies with a rod of iron, dashing them in pieces like a potter’s vessel—despite the threatening tone, the warning that he gives at the last stanza here is full of grace. He extends salvation to all who will come, not just Israel, but even the ends of the earth, the nations—”oh kings, wise up, bow before this king while you still may.” But these are the terms and make no mistake about it. These are the terms. You are safe only as you bow before this king.
And this is exactly the church’s mission today: to call men and women everywhere to bow before the king, to kiss the son, to do homage before the Lord Jesus while they still may. The message of the early church, mark it well, the message of the early church was not, “make Jesus Lord.” Her message was, “Jesus is Lord, and you will do business with him.” And you may today do business with him. You may bow before him, and he will have you. Take refuge in this king while you still may. But if you will not today, you will tomorrow. He is God’s king. He will rule. And this king will be either your savior or your judge; you may bow before him now, enjoy his loving care, and in fact share in his eternal reign. Or you may continue to refuse him in the imagination that somehow you’re free in doing it, and that you’re on your own. And we’ll see how that works out.
This is true of every man and woman individually, and it’s true of every nation collectively. We are accountable to this king. This psalm then is a brief but a graphic portrayal of the outworking of God’s purpose in history. He has sent his son, David’s son, God’s son, to take the throne and to administer God’s kingdom worldwide over all nations. And in time, in his time, every knee will bow before him and every tongue will confess that he is Lord.
The psalm looks ahead to the incarnation implicitly, the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension, and then finally the return of Christ when he brings the kingdom of God to its consummation. And then at last, the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and forever. And I find myself saying it more all the time: I can’t wait. I’m so sick of seeing our culture strut in its rebellion against this king. And I can’t wait for the day when I can see them all bow before him. This is the church’s hope, and this is our prayer. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Bring to fulfillment all that you’ve purposed for us and for this world. Amen.
Let’s bow for prayer. Our Father, what a glorious psalm this is that you’ve given to us. What a wonderful prospect it is that you’ve given to us, and you’ve let us in on this to see. We’re thankful for the grand invitation to come. And we’re thankful for your grand power at work in us, bringing us willingly to come. We ask that you would use us to extend this kingdom until that glorious day when our Lord returns. How we long for that day. Father, may it be soon. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.