Introduction to 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 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.”
If I were asked to choose a favorite psalm, I don’t know how I could select one of them, but Psalm 2 would certainly be in the contending for it. It’s a marvelous psalm. It looks ahead to the whole completion of God’s purpose to establish his kingdom in the earth, and it looks at it all with this long-range lens, and it speaks to us of Jesus, as we will see. This is a high point in the developing Old Testament theme of the Messianic King.
That theme begins in Genesis chapter one. We’ve gone through this many times before. We’ll see it again, by the way, in our Sunday evening lessons when we come to the subject of the Messianic Psalms. We’ll take at least a couple of weeks looking at them, and this is one of them. But the theme of God establishing his kingdom in the earth and the theme of his messianic king—the Messiah who will come to rule as God’s king—begins for us all the way back in Genesis chapter one, where man is created. Men and women are created to be in God’s image; they are to be God’s vice-regents ruling for him in the earth. God is still king, but they are to rule in his place over the earth.
And as we remember, of course, we get to Genesis chapter 3, and man’s kingship over the earth has failed. He surrenders his kingship to Satan, and so begins the contest. God is still king. He still reigns over all. But from that point forward now, God’s purpose in history is to reestablish his rule in the earth. And that, in short, is the story of the entire Bible. His human representatives have failed, but he has set out to restore humanity. He has set out to bring in willing subjects to bow before him, and he will have his king rule yet in the earth. So God is still king universally, reigning over all, but his kingship is being contested at this point ever since Genesis chapter three. The world is in rebellion against his kingship, and God has determined to reestablish and reassert his kingship in the earth. And that in brief is the story of the Bible.
We get to Genesis chapter 12, as we’ve seen in our Sunday school lessons, and God makes a promise to Abraham that he will, through him and through his seed, bless all the nations of the earth. Shortly after that, in Genesis chapter 17, God, in reaffirming that promise to Abraham, says, “Kings will come from you.” And there’s the first anticipation we have explicitly of the reestablishing of kingship in the earth, and this from Abraham’s seed. When we get to Genesis 49, we find in Jacob’s prophecy that the ruler’s kingly staff will belong to the tribe of Judah. There’ll be this lion from the tribe of Judah who will reign over all the earth.
And then we have, beginning with Exodus and the establishing of Israel as a nation, we have the establishing of a theocracy in the world. The establishing of the Israelite nation is the establishing of the kingdom of God in the earth. God is king over Israel, and now his kingship in the earth has been asserted and been established. And we have this program with Israel that moves forward. We have anticipations of coming kings that run after that. The period of the book of Judges, for example, we have one judge after another who comes up, and we’re left to wonder, “Is this that king who will reign?” And one after another, of course, fails, and it’s not the one we’re looking for eventually.
We find finally with the prophet Samuel, he anoints a man by the name of Saul to be king. This is the one that the people had chosen. This is the one they wanted to reign. They wanted a king to reign over them like the other nations. Saul was the one they wanted. Samuel anointed Saul to be king. The king then in Israel was to be God’s vice-regent over his kingdom. He was not to be a law unto himself. He was to mediate God’s rule in the earth. Part of Moses’ stipulations in the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 17, stipulates that when this king comes—looking ahead, there’s not a kingship yet in Deuteronomy, but looking ahead—when you have the king, his first responsibility as a king is to copy out by hand all the law of God that has been given to Israel through Moses. Copy it out by hand and he’s to keep it in front of him every day, every day, every day, and to rehearse God’s law. He was not a law unto himself. He was to mediate God’s rule. This was God’s kingdom, and the king was to mediate God’s rule in his nation.
Well, eventually, as you know, Saul was apostate. He was rejected, he was unfaithful, his throne was taken away, and God had prepared another king. His name, of course, was David. He was a young boy at the time when he was anointed. He was a seeming nobody. But God anointed him, and that anointing that God gave to David now through the Prophet Samuel again—anointing David—set David apart as God’s chosen king. This sets him apart as God’s property. God will now protect him. It virtually ensures his success because God now has set him apart as his. He will be his king and God will make it so.
We read through the life of David and we have these various episodes early on. He slays Goliath, he becomes a national champion, and then of course Saul gets jealous. He’s a wicked man and he’s jealous against David, chases him down. David has to go into hiding and he’s in exile, running for his life away from Saul for a number of years. Finally, he achieves his kingship in Hebron and then finally, in Jerusalem, a united kingdom under David’s rule in 2 Samuel 6. And so David is established, God’s chosen king established in Jerusalem.
And David now in Jerusalem, he’s quite taken with what God has done for him. And so he says to the prophet, Nathan, “It’s not right that I have this great palace to live in. I want to build a big temple for God. It’s not right that he should just be in a tent, the tabernacle. Let’s build a temple for God.” God, as you remember, had other plans than that. And God comes back to David through Nathan. The prophet says, “No, you will not build a house for me. I will build a house for you.” And there’s an intended pun in that. You wanted to build me a physical house, a temple. I’m going to build for you a house, a dynasty. Your son will rule on your throne forever.
And we have there beginning in 2 Samuel 7 the beginning of this, in a big way, the beginning of this flourishing messianic theme. “I’ll make a house for you. I’ll make a dynasty for you. Your son will be my son.” And that’s a very important terminology. You’ll want to keep that in mind when we get into Psalm 2. In 2 Samuel 7, God says to David, “Your son will be my son. I’ll make him my son.” And that king then will be my son and he will rule on your throne forever. And so we have established then a Davidic dynasty. Each next descendant of David reigns on the throne. He inherits that kingly promise that had been given to David.
And one after another comes, and there’s that clause in 2 Samuel 7: “Your son must be an obedient son. And if he is not an obedient son, I’ll punish him with the nations.” And you have this tension built in. Your son will rule, but he must be obedient. If he’s not obedient, I’ll punish him with the nations. You have this tension built into the Davidic promise. But eventually, of course, ultimately a specific son is in view in the Davidic promise. This is the Davidic covenant in 2 Samuel 7. David will have a greater son and he, the singular he, will reign on your throne forever. In fact, 2 Samuel 7 verse 13 says, “I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”
And so we have then the beginning of what we now like to call great David’s greater son—the hope of great David’s greater son coming to rule. This is the anointed one, the Messiah. And the expectation becomes dominant through the Old Testament. The Psalms speak of it very often with all of its references to the king. We spent much time early on in our Sunday evening series talking about the royal orientation of the Psalter. It gathers around the king and sings his praise, often presents an idealized picture of this king to come, an idealized presentation of a king that transcends any of the Davidic kings that we have in ancient Israel. The prophets picked this up as well. We have famous prophecies like the Christmas prophecy of Isaiah chapter nine, or Isaiah 7 with the virgin born. And many of these prophecies are of this great Davidic kingdom that is coming; it will extend over the entire earth and be forever.
We also have in 2 Samuel 7 a very important term. I’ve mentioned it already, but keep it in mind. And that’s this term “son.” “I will make him, that is your son, your greater son. I’ll make him my son.” And that becomes then in 2 Samuel 7 a messianic title. When we come to the Gospels, very often we’ll see this expression, “the Son of God.” Now when we get to the Gospel of John in particular, that’s just freighted with all kinds of implications of Christ’s deity, and earlier in the Synoptic Gospels as well. But first of all, that expression, Son of God, is a messianic title. He’s Israel’s king. And you find that, for example, in John chapter one, with John the Baptist referring to the coming one as the Son of God. You find it later with Nathanael and others speaking, “This is the Son of God. You are the king of Israel, the Son of God.” This is a messianic term. Waiting for the great son, David’s greater son, the Son of God, the one whom God makes his son; he will be king and fulfill the Davidic promise.
Well, this is the Davidic covenant. David was profoundly moved by the enormity of the promise. You talk about a disproportionate return on what he had planned to do for God and what God in turn did for David. “I want to build him a temple.” “No, you’re not going to build me a temple. I’m going to make you a dynasty and your son’s going to reign over the entire world forever.” David is just profoundly moved by the enormity of the promise. And for the rest of his life, he’s keenly aware of what God had promised. And we find that creeping up in what we call now the messianic Psalms—Psalms that refer to the promised Messiah or the King who will come. As I said, each next Davidic son, each Davidic king, was anointed for office. He inherits the covenant promise and he and each next one anticipates that greater son who will come and rule over the entire world forever.
Well, that’s a quick and brief overview, but that is the background now to Psalm 2. This is, in fact, a Davidic psalm. You don’t find that mentioned in a superscript. There’s no superscript here, but we have that affirmed for us in Acts chapter 4, that David is the author of this psalm. Psalm 2, as well as Psalm 110—there’s just a lot of research that has gone into this to establish that Psalm 2 and Psalm 110 were sung as part of the formal coronation ceremonies when each next Davidic king was appointed as king in Israel. There’d be this great affair at the temple where he’s installed in Zion and there was a huge ceremony associated with it and psalms were sung at the event. And this psalm, Psalm 2, as well as Psalm 110, were psalms that were sung at those events celebrating the appointment of each new Davidic king.
But as we find very often in the psalms, and we’ll see this many times as we go through, the language of the psalm, although sung at the ceremony of this next appointed king and then the next appointed king and then the next Davidic king, although they are sung in celebration of his appointment as king, the language of these psalms so far exaggerates beyond what any of those historic kings have ever accomplished. In fact, they present this king in his idealized personification in David’s greater son, who will rule the world over. And of course, we have that picked up in the New Testament and referred exactly to Jesus. Acts chapter four, we have it. Hebrews chapter one, Hebrews chapter five, other places pick up Psalm two and refer it to Jesus. He is that anticipated greater Son who will come to rule.
All right, that’s the background then to Psalm 2 that we need to keep in the front of our minds as we work our way through it. By way of an overview of the Psalm, you’ll notice the Psalm has 12 verses and actually we have four stanzas, three verses in each stanza. Each of these stanzas is pretty easily identifiable. You might read through the Psalms sometime and find it not easy to recognize how to divide this up into stanzas. This one’s pretty easy because each stanza is marked off by different speakers.
In verses one to three, you have the nations speaking. And they’re speaking in their collective rebellion against God and against his anointed king. That’s verses one to three. In verses four to six, God responds. He speaks. And then in verses 7 to 9, the king speaks. That is, that promised king whom God has appointed. He speaks and he proclaims God’s decree with regard to the Davidic covenant. And he claims that kingship and that he will rule. So verses 1 to 3, the nations speak. Verses 4 to 6, God speaks. Verses 7 to 9, the king himself speaks. And then in verses 10 to 12, the psalmist speaks. And he admonishes the kings of the earth in light of God’s decree.
So again, we have stanza one, verses one to three: the earth’s kings announce their resolve to throw off God’s rule and throw off the rule of his anointed king. Stanza two: God affirms his own resolve to install his king and to assert his kingship in the earth. Stanza three: the enthroned king then expresses his resolve to exercise that kingship that’s been promised to him and to rule over the nations. And then stanza four: the psalmist steps onto the stage and he admonishes these hostile kings to submit to the Lord. And he warns them of the futility of their rebellion.
So verses one to three, the nations rebel. Verses four to six, God responds. Verses seven to nine, the king asserts his right to rule. Verses 10 to 12, the psalmist admonishes the nations accordingly. All right, with that clear framework of the psalm, it’s been suggested that this psalm was sung antiphonally. So you have various choirs or sections, one singing the first stanza, another the second, reflecting each of these voices in the psalm. But in either case, we have these four voices that are speaking, and it’s the natural division of the psalm.
The Nations Speak
So verses one to three now, the world speaks. “Why do the nations rage and the people’s 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.'”
First word of the Psalm: “Why.” This has often been called the “why of incredulity.” That is, David is looking at their rebellion and he’s just in stunned disbelief. Why in the world would you attempt something so foolish and so futile as to oppose the Lord and His King? Why would you do that? You have no hope whatever of success. Why would anyone do anything so foolish? “Why do the nations rage?”
And then verse two, “The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord,” the God of Israel, the creator, the unrivaled Lord of the universe. This is particularly foolish. You think you’re gonna set yourself against this God? Why? To what end? That’s the sense of these verses. “And against his anointed,” that’s the Davidic king, the one whom God has anointed to rule in his place over the nations. He’s been set apart by the prophetic anointing. That’s his badge of authority. He’s in the legitimate position. He’s under God’s protection. He’s God’s property. He’s the Lord’s anointed and you don’t touch the Lord’s anointed. This is not going to work out well for you. To oppose this king is to oppose God himself. You cannot oppose that God. What in the world are you doing?
That’s the sense of these verses. And what he finds so stunningly incredible is that the kings of the earth have “set themselves”—see that note of resolve? They’ve set themselves on this impossible course of rebellion against the God of heaven. And yet the rebellion, verse two, is determined—they’ve set themselves—and it’s collective. You see that? It’s universal. The rulers take counsel together against the anointed. They just will not have God rule over them. God’s law, which in Psalm 1 we saw was the psalmist’s delight, to the rulers of the world, they feel like shackles, chains that keep them in captivity, and they say, “We just won’t have him rule over us.”
And so we have in verses one, two, and three, the world in collective rebellion against God and the resolve now to throw off any restraints that God would put on them. And if ever there’s a passage in the Bible that has a contemporary ring to it, it’s Psalm 2 verses 1 to 3. Our world just seethes in its rebellion against God today. We’ve seen it advance. We’ve seen it get more stringent, more strident, more resolved. We’ll deny our creaturehood. We’ll deny the existence of God, even though we hate him. We’ll deny that he exists.
The world is increasingly resolved. They’ll target your children. In our educational system today—speaking as a whole, speaking with a broad brush, thank God for exceptions in it—but our educational system today, what is viewed as their moral responsibility is to rescue your children from you and from the standards and teaching that you would give them. They’ll tell them that we are not God’s creatures. They’ll tell them that a boy doesn’t have to be a boy. A boy can be a girl. A girl can be a boy. And we’re asked to believe it. We’re even asked to believe that men can have children, can have babies. And everything is just turned on its head. And all ethical and moral norms are just turned upside down and they call evil good and good evil. And it’s just with a seething hatred what we’re seeing in verses one to three in our own society today. That’s the first stanza. A nation’s in a rage, plotting in vain, futilely plotting their overthrow of God. What a stupid program to pursue. Why are you doing it?
God Responds
Well, verses four to six now, second stanza, the Lord speaks. “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.'”
This is God’s response now to the world in rebellion against him. And I think we should notice, and it helps as much as we’re able to notice, how the Psalms themselves and how the stanzas within the Psalms are framed. And we did that last week. You remember how the psalm is framed with “blessed” at the beginning and “perish” at the end. You often see that kind of framing of the psalms. We find that here in the second stanza, particularly here. Notice the beginning of verse four: the Lord’s enthroned in heaven. God enthroned, “he that sits in the heavens.” And then at the end of the stanza, verse six, we have the anointed king enthroned in Zion. “I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.” “I’ve set,” that is, I’ve established, he’s enthroned.
So we have at the beginning of the stanza, God enthroned. At the end of the stanza, his appointed king enthroned. And so you have God ruling over all and his appointed king established in Zion to administer God’s rule over all the earth. That’s stanza two.
Verse four: the Lord—this has a degree of humor in it—secure in his rule over his would-be enemies, he laughs. The contest is so lopsided that it’s just comical. Now there is that element of comic intent in Psalm 2. But it’s not just the laugh of amusement. It’s a laugh of offense. A laugh of derision. You think you’ll pull this off? You’re making such a silly effort. Bruce Waltke likens this—I think it’s a helpful illustration—he likens this to Gulliver’s Travels. When Gulliver is washed up on the shore of Lilliput, and he falls asleep, and he wakes up, and the Lilliputians are trying to tie him down, and he wakes up, and he sees what they’re attempting, and he plays along with it for a while, and finally gets up. Something like what we have here in Psalm 2: God allows the world’s rebellion, futile as it is; he allows it to play itself out for a time. But over it all, God reigns universally, unthreatened. He has established his king in Zion, and he is resolved that he will establish his kingdom in this earth. And these Lilliputians might sputter and fuss, but he’s resolved. He will establish his kingdom.
And so verses five and six: God now is angry, he speaks. The wording in verse six calls attention to the change of speakers. “As for me,” I say, “you’ve had your say, now I’m going to talk. You’ve had something to say, now I have something to say.” That’s the sense of it here. And what he has to say reflects his resolve: “I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.” That’s the temple mount, the place of the enthronement of the king. That is, God has made a promise. He’s said that David’s son will rule. God’s king will rule. I’ve established him there. I’m established in this course that I’m going to take.
So in the first stanza, the nations rebel and rage against the rule of God over them. The second stanza, God affirms that he will allow this evil to go seemingly unchecked for a time. He laughs scoffingly at the futility of the rebellion, but he’s angry at the offense, and he’s resolute in establishing his kingdom in the world by means of his enthroned king.
The King Speaks
And that brings us then to verses seven to nine, the third stanza, and here the king himself speaks. “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.'”
This is really nothing more than a poetic elaboration of what we read in 2 Samuel 7 when God makes his promise to David. This is, as I say, picked up in the prophets in a big way, promising God’s rule in the earth. Sometimes even specified: “David, my king, will rule over them.” David’s greater son will come and rule. Picked up in the prophets of this great universal kingdom that is coming.
Now what’s striking here in verses seven to nine is that what we have is David reciting for us a prior conversation that went on between God and the anointed king. The king is going to speak, but he’s going to reflect in his speaking what God had said to him. And so he says, “I will tell of the decree,” and then he recites what God has said. So the Messiah speaks, but what he says, what he has to say, is what God had said to him previously in the decree.
So the decree, verse seven, is this: “You are my son. Today I have begotten you.” That’s enthronement language. I’ve made you king. He’s the Messiah. He’s the messianic king. This is God’s word to this king: “I’ve made you my son. Today I’ve begotten you. You’ve become king.” And then verse eight, the king, Messiah, recites more of what the Lord said. And what he had to say was that the reign would be universal. “Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.” God has bequeathed to his anointed rulership over the entire earth. This is the king’s inheritance from God. He must ask, but upon asking God will grant him the nations, every last one of them to the ends of the earth. They’ll all be his.
Now, just to anticipate what we’ll see later—keep your hand here, we’ll be back in just a moment to Psalm 2—but look at Psalm 72, where we find this another messianic Psalm where this is picked up again. And again, we have in this Psalm the Psalmist portraying Israel’s king in idyllic terms. Pick it up with verse eight. Here he’s talking about—this is a Psalm of Solomon—reflects the same anticipation of universal rule. 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.”
Notice verse nine there in Psalm 72, that this rule entails the destruction of all those who oppose him. “May the enemy tribes bow down before him and his enemies lick the dust.” Well, there’s the language of utter subjugation that might ring a bell, by the way. Genesis chapter three. Now go back to Psalm two and you’ll see in verse nine here that same tone, that same note, that this rule entails the destruction of all of his enemies. Psalm 2:9: “You will break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
We’ll find this consistently in the Bible that there are essentially two aspects of God’s establishing his kingdom in the earth. On the one hand, there’s the rescue and the vindication of the righteous and his people will be saved forever. And on the other hand, destruction of all of his enemies. This psalm focuses in these verses on that. “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 in some of what archeologists have uncovered: the Egyptian execration texts, that’s cursing texts. It was a formal practice of taking some piece of pottery or ceramic bowl or something and taking the name of their enemy, or the name of a king, or a city, and inscribing it on the piece of pottery. And then in a formal ceremony, smash it down, or take a rod and break it. And this is the curse that will come to our enemies. David is picking up on that kind of a custom, and he’s using that analogy to say this is what will come to all who oppose the Lord’s king.
Psalm 110—maybe we should look at that. Psalm 110 promises the same thing. Look over to there quickly. Psalm 110, probably the messianic Psalm par excellence. Look at Psalm 110 verse 1: “The Lord says to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.'” Utter subjugation. Now verse 5: “The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings in the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.”
And this now is why David in verse 1 finds it so incredibly foolish that the nations of the world would set themselves in opposition to this God and to this king. Don’t you know the outcome? Can’t you hear? God has established his king in Zion. What are you doing?
Well, at some point in looking at this psalm, we’ve got to ask the question: who’s he talking about here? Clearly, he’s not talking about David himself. He wasn’t anointed in Zion. Or it’s not Solomon. He wasn’t the best at this either. And in fact, no Davidic king ever extended Israel’s rule to the ends of the earth. What we have in Psalm 2 is a prophetic oracle concerning David’s promised greater son, the Messiah, who will rule.
We come to the New Testament—we should take a good bit of time and track this out at great length, we will at some point, and see how the Lord Jesus lays claim to this promise. He accepts the title of the anointed; that’s what the word “Christ” means, anointed one. He lays claim to the title. It’s confusing to Peter. Remember in Matthew chapter 16, he affirms Jesus’ messiahship and affirms that Peter is correct, and a couple of verses later Peter is all confused because he’s never heard of this concept of a crucified Messiah. It doesn’t make sense to him yet. He accepts the title. In John chapter 4, he claims the title to the woman at the well: “I who speak to you am he.”
We find Jesus going around all the time claiming to fulfill all that was written about him, from Moses, from the scriptures, the law, the prophets, the writings. They’re all about him. He’s the one that’s been anticipated. He even says at his trial that you’ll see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven. He picks up the messianic theme from Daniel chapter seven. Jesus claims to fulfill. He claims to bring in the kingdom, usher it in.
And here in Psalm 2 now, David is allowed to listen in. It’s fascinating. He listens in as God the Father issues a decree and promises his son a universal kingdom. “I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill” (verse six). And then with verse seven, the son—David is allowed to listen as the son speaks of that decree: “I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to me, ‘You are my son. Today I have begotten you. I’ve made you king.'” And then God says to the son, “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.”
The New Testament writers pick all of this up, as you know, with reference to the Lord Jesus, perhaps most famously in Acts chapter two. After the resurrection of Jesus and when we have the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost, and everybody’s wondering what’s going on, Peter stands up and he says, “This Jesus whom you crucified, God raised up, and he’s exalted him to the right hand of God, and he has made him Lord and Christ.” As a consequence of Jesus’ successful mediatorial work—coming as a representative of God’s people, dying in their place, making satisfaction for sin on their behalf—God confirming that, raising him from the dead, he ascends to heaven, and as “mission accomplished,” inherits the throne of the universe. And God had said, “Ask of me, and I’ll give you the nations as your inheritance.” And so the son ascends to the throne. “You told me that you’d give me the nations.” God says, “They’re yours.” And he sends his Spirit to accomplish his kingdom throughout the earth.
And at this point, at this point in history, the developing of God’s kingdom is extended through the gospel. It’s the mission of the church to take the gospel of the kingdom to all the ends of the earth and offer terms of peace with this king. He’ll have you, but you must bow before him. But this is going to end not in a happy scene for the world in rebellion. We find it in verse nine. It culminates in the return of Messiah: “You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces with a potter’s vessel.” The inheritance of the nations on the part of many will come willingly with joy as they respond to the terms of the gospel. David is telling us here, make no mistake about it, the universal dominion of God’s King is not contingent on human willingness. And in the end, those who oppose him will be broken with a rod of iron and dashed in pieces. And this “rod of iron” language is picked up in Revelation chapter 2 with reference to the future coming of Christ. It’s picked up in Revelation chapter 19. It’s echoed in 2 Thessalonians with regard to the return of Christ. He comes and he’ll come in judgment against the nations.
The Psalmist Admonishes the Nations
All right, let’s regroup. We have in verses 1 to 3, the nations are in rebellion. Verses 4 to 6, God is unmoved in his resolve that he will establish his rule by his appointed king. And then verses 7 to 9, the king recites God’s decree that he will reign universally. And now the last stanza of the psalm, verses 10 to 12. And here we have David himself stepping onto the stage, and he’s going to take the role of a counselor to the nations who are in rebellion.
“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 rebellious nations. He sees that they’re on a fool’s errand. They have to be warned. And so in verse 10, he calls them to wise up. Wise up, consider what I’ve just written. God’s decree is sure. He’s enthroned his king. Your rebellion will never succeed. “Now therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned, O rulers of the earth.” Wise up. Do you really think that you can oppose the God of heaven forever?
And this is true of all men and women everywhere, individually and collectively. We are accountable and responsible to this God and we will be held to account. We’re all his subjects. Whether or not you have acknowledged that yet, we are all his subjects. And so in verses 11 and 12, he pleads with them, and he extends terms of peace. “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 can’t take time to work through all of them in any detail—but each of these expressions here amount to a call to submission to the king. “Serve the Lord with fear.” Bow before him and recognize his greatness and bow. You can’t run forever. You can’t rebel successfully. Bow before this king. “Serve the Lord with fear. Rejoice with trembling.” The fear is still there, but now rejoice that he will accept you as you’ve submitted to him.
And then verse 12: “Kiss the son.” Might be a little strange expression for us, but we have some remnants of this in our world today, most famously and most blasphemously in the Pope, holding out his ring and people bowing before him and kissing the ring. Blasphemous thing, expressing their submission before him, arrogating to himself the position of God. He says, you kiss the son—God’s anointed. He’s appointed, he’s established his king in the heavenly Zion. Bow before him, kiss the son, lest he be angry. Submit to his rule willingly while you may. These are the terms.
And so, despite the threatening tone of the psalm, the psalmist’s warning here at the end is just full of grace. And he extends the call of salvation even beyond the bounds of Israel, God’s covenant people. Notice verse 12: “Blessed are all,” including you kings, “blessed are all who take refuge in him.” Familiar theme we find all through the Bible: this God and this King. He will be either your savior or your judge, one of the two. You may bow before him now and you’ll know his loving care, and in the end, you’ll share in his universal reign. Or you can continue to refuse him and in the end face his wrath.
And again, what is true of the nations collectively in their rebellion is true of every person individually. You are his subject, whether you acknowledge that or not, you are his subject and you will be brought into account. And you may think, you may imagine that you can rebel against this God successfully forever. You’re free in doing that, but in the end it will not work out well for you.
What we have then in Psalm 2 is a brief graphic portrayal of the outworking of God’s purpose in history to establish his kingdom under the administration of his appointed king. It looks ahead to the incarnation of Jesus, the crucifixion of Jesus, the resurrection, his finished work of redemption, his exaltation to the throne of God, where he inherits the position of universal lordship over all the nations, ultimately to return. And he brings the kingdom of God to its consummation. And at last, at long 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 have to say—this is a personal note, I think you share it with me—I just can’t wait. It sickens me to see the world strut in its increasingly arrogant rebellion against God, and I can’t wait to see the world bow before him and acknowledge his kingship. This is the hope of the church. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.