Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Psalm 2 | Date: November 8, 2020 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

We’re in Psalm 2 tonight. So if you have your Bible, please turn to Psalm 2. I was talking to Dr. Fred earlier. He said he was here a few years ago and heard me preach. I know I’ve preached Psalm 2 before, so hopefully he’s not here to set the record straight, but certainly a timely Psalm for us to consider. And I’m excited for the word to be open to us. Let’s read this together. Psalm 2 says this:

“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 pray this evening. Father God, we do thank you that we have a word from you. We have the word made flesh who’s dwelt among us, as we were wonderfully reminded this morning, who has allowed us to dwell with you as the new and perfect temple. And so, Holy Spirit, we pray tonight you would come minister to us in a special way in this time. We thank you for your messenger to us and ask that as we examine Psalm 2, you would equip our hearts with humility, Lord, that this would not be something that we so much look outward at the world, but that we would first and foremost take inventory of our own lives. Lord, give us ears tonight to hear and minds that understand and hearts that believe. Lord, open our lives, though, that we would live out this truth. And we do pray that it would be a ministry and a testimony of your gospel to the nations. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

Well, once again, it has been a delight, just a great delight, to be with you all today and to make some acquaintances and to get acquainted with your pastor. We’re thrilled for the work that God is doing here and glad to see all of you a part of it. Turn with me, if you will, in your Bibles to Psalm 2, the passage that was just read. Psalm 2. This is a psalm that was written by David. It does not say that in the heading of the psalm, but it seems to be, and many have argued that this psalm was written during a time when David was challenged by the nations around him in many of his exploits in war.

But we have more than that in Acts chapter 4 that we’ll see in a little bit. We have the confirmation that this was a Davidic psalm. David wrote this under the inspiration of the Spirit, they tell us in Acts chapter 4, so we have that. This is a psalm that was written by David, but it’s clearly written about David’s greater son—the anointed as he’s called in verse 2, the Messiah. And the theme of the psalm is stated for us in verse 6: “As for me I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.”

Now the psalm then is about the Messiah. It is about the Davidic king, David’s greater son who will come. We know that as the scriptures unfold, that is Jesus, the Messiah. So it’s a psalm written about him. There is some discussion as to exactly how this gets to Jesus. And I’ll just take just a second for that. I don’t know that it makes a lot of difference, but prophecy and psalms in particular work in various ways. Sometimes there is a direct prophecy of the Messiah. He is coming. It’s an oracle that is given. We call those oracular prophecies. Just a direct prophecy: here he comes and that’s what he’ll be like.

There are other passages in the Psalms where it is a prophecy of the coming Messiah, but it gets there in a different way. It will often talk about David himself. And then as you’re reading through the Psalm about David, suddenly the language goes beyond David. And you realize, OK, we’re not talking about David anymore. We’re talking about that Davidic son to come. Let me give you one example of that: Psalm 45.

Psalm 45—some of you might recall that this psalm was picked up in Hebrews chapter 1. You’ll notice the heading of the psalm, Psalm 45. It’s a choir master according to Lilies. And then verse 1: “My heart overflows with a pleasing theme. I address my verses to the king. My tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.” So this is a psalm, it says in the heading, it is a love song. This is evidently a psalm written for one of the Davidic kings, one of the descendants of David, on his wedding day. And the psalm then is written about that Davidic king, and you’ll see how it unfolds about him.

“My heart overflows with a pleasing theme. I address my verses to the king. My tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe. You are the most handsome of the sons of men. Grace is poured upon your lips. Therefore God has blessed you forever. Gird your sword on your thigh, oh mighty one, in your splendor and majesty. In your majesty, ride out victorious for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness. Let your hand teach you awesome deeds. Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies. The people fall under you.”

So here we have a psalm written on a wedding day about the Davidic king and you’re the best looking, you’re the most handsome, you’re the greatest, you’re the strongest, you’re the most valiant in warfare—and your sword and your arrows, they’re all going to strike where they need to strike, and your enemies are going to fall before you. The Davidic king, getting married, he’s a great, great, great guy.

Verse six: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” And on it goes. Now this is where you see it’s picked up in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 1, as an Old Testament witness to the deity of Messiah. So it starts out as a Davidic psalm about one of the Davidic kings on his wedding day, and he’s triumphant, and he’s good-looking, and he’s all of that, and then suddenly you get to verse 6. It’s gone beyond that, with language that isn’t fitting to any mere Davidic king.

But clearly it’s talking about Messiah. So you have these two ways—there are others, but these major two ways in which prophecy works in the Psalms. The question then in Psalm 2, back to what we’ll look at this evening, is how does that work here? Many have argued that, in fact most have argued, that that’s how it works here, that it’s a psalm about David, and then by extension, it’s a psalm about the Messiah. I rather think that it is an oracular psalm, a direct prophecy of the coming Messiah.

David—we have here in verse 2 that it’s written about his anointed, his Messiah. Well, David is called the anointed so that’s not really decisive. David ruled from Mount Zion like we have here and David battled Gentile enemies like we have here with the nations raging and so on. But David was anointed at Bethlehem and at Hebron. Verses 6 and 7, as we’ll see in a moment, seem to indicate that the anointing of this Messiah is in Jerusalem. “Zion, my holy hill.”

And then more than that, this whole psalm is about the rebellion of nations against God’s rule. They’re trying to overthrow the rule of God. David fought with Gentile nations, but after David conquered any Gentile nation, he never had a rebellion against any of them. It seems to me that this then is an oracular psalm. At any rate, and in any case, it is clearly, however we get there, a psalm about the coming Messiah. Now the structure of the psalm is pretty easy. It’s pretty straightforward. We have 12 verses. We have four stanzas of three verses each, and I’ll give this to you ahead of time in case you need to fall asleep. In the meantime you’ll at least have the outline.

The Rebellion Or The Revolt Of The Nations

Verses 1 to 3 we have the rebellion or the revolt of the nations. If ever there is a psalm that sounds like something contemporary, it is Psalm 2. Verses 1 to 3: “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.”

So we have the nations of the world in revolt against God. The revolt, the rebellion is global in scope. That’s emphasized for us in verses one and two. It’s the nations, it’s the peoples, it’s the kings of the earth. And in fact, it pictures all of humanity then in collective rebellion against the rule of God over them. And in fact, there’s some organization to it, we find. It’s the kings and the peoples; verse two, the kings take counsel together. So there’s some organization to this global rebellion and revolt against the rule of God.

Verse 2 states for us very clearly the object of their rebellion. It is against the Lord, against Yahweh, and against his anointed. It’s a rebellion that’s marked by zeal. They have rage. They have set themselves. There’s a determined resolve about this. They are in rage and say we are just not going to have him rule over us. We are going to throw off the bonds that he has put on us.

And then verse three: “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” That is their objective—a complete coup, if you will, a complete overthrow of the rule of God. We won’t have this God ruling over us. We don’t want his law. We’ll make our own laws. We won’t have him rule over us.

Now notice, keep your hand here, we’ll be back. I want you to see how in Acts chapter 4 the early church picks up this psalm. Acts chapter 4. In the first part of the chapter we have Peter and John who are threatened by the authorities not to preach anymore in the name of Jesus. So here the authorities under pain of whipping and death: “Don’t preach anymore in the name of Jesus.” Well, there’s one thing that Christians aren’t good at, and they never have been good at, and that’s shutting up. And that’s the situation here. They’re threatened. “Okay, yeah, we’ll see how that goes.”

And we get to verse 23 in Acts chapter 4: “When they were released, they went to their friends, reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them, and when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, Sovereign Lord, who made heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit”—and here’s Psalm 2—”why did the Gentiles rage and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. For truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”

And then they go on to pray for courage as they continue to do what they have to do. But here you’ll see that they’ve picked up this psalm and they have applied it specifically to Jesus. And the heathen, the nations that are enraged against Jesus, they apply specifically to Herod and Pontius Pilate. So this psalm, in one sense at least, has been fulfilled in the crucifixion of Jesus.

Well, in principle, this is the same as all rebellions against God. We won’t have him. We don’t want his rule. We don’t want his laws. We don’t want him telling us what to do. This is the whole world history post-Genesis chapter 3. We don’t want his rule. We’ll decide for ourselves what is right. We don’t have to have God ruling over us. And if there is anything in the Psalms that is a familiar scene to today that sounds contemporary, it’s Psalm 2 verses 1 to 3, isn’t it? Our whole society, our whole culture in a rage against God.

We won’t acknowledge God as our creator. We won’t acknowledge the laws that he gives us. We won’t acknowledge that there’s a thing called truth even. We won’t acknowledge the way he created us as male and female. We won’t abide by any laws that he has regarding sexuality or gender. This is contemporary society if ever anything was. Just notice how people get so angry when you mention Jesus or want to quote something from the Bible to settle a discussion.

Someone has—I’ve heard it several times—people remarking that as bad as America is today in its society and its collective rebellion against God, as bad as it is, it’s not as bad as many cultures have seen in the history of the world. Ancient Rome, other places as well—the society is just given over entirely to evil. We have some semblance of morality still today in some respects. And so, cheer up, it’s not as bad as it has been in other places.

And whenever I hear that, I want to say, “Yes, yes, yes, that’s right and thank God we’re not as bad as they are; that’s great.” But there is one respect in which in our own society it’s much worse, and that is that our rebellion against God has specifically the character of apostasy. We know better, we have been taught better, we have a long history of better, and we are overthrowing and trying to overthrow this Christian consensus that has been agreed upon in our society for centuries. Well, that’s the scene here. It’s organized. It’s global in scope. It sounds like political parties. It sounds like international leaders gathering together. “How can we throw off these morals? How can we throw off this external authority?” And all of that then, verses 1 to 3, is just preliminary in anticipation of a great final rebellion that the scriptures speak about.

God’s Response To That Rebellion

All right then, verses 4 to 6: God’s response to this rebellion. How do you think God responds to that? “We won’t have you. We won’t keep your laws. We’ll make our own laws.” How do you think God responds to that? Well, I’ll give you a hint. He’s not nervous.

Verse four: “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.” Now verse four now is intended to picture God in supreme majesty ruling over the earth. This little expression, “he that sits in the heavens,” it’s not just the idea that God is reclining; the idea is that he’s enthroned, sitting on his throne. And God sitting on his throne, ruling over all that is, it tells us, laughs. He holds them in derision.

And the idea here is not just a laugh of amusement; it’s a laugh of mocking amusement. He looks at these people in all of their rebellion against him. As one person has called it, it’s a majestic scorn. He is unthreatened by any of it. Here they are saying, “We’re going to overthrow your rule.” And God says, “Yeah, you think? We’ll see how that goes.” That’s the idea here. God is laughing at the utter folly of their attempted coup. It’s like, “You fools, you think you’re going to pull this off?”

Now I want you to go back again to Acts chapter 4, and I want you to see how the early church applied this psalm to their own circumstances. As I just mentioned, they’d been threatened, and now they come back to their own companions, and they pray—which of course is the response in such a circumstance. They pray. And the first thing they mention is verse 24: “Sovereign Lord who made heaven and earth.” Okay, God, let’s address him as who he is, the one who rules over everything. That’s what we need to know now, that God rules over everything.

“And you are the one who said by David, Psalm 2, why did the Gentiles rage and the people’s plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, to do what? To do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”

In other words, in their rebellion against God and in all of their evil revolt against God, what they did was accomplish God’s purpose. Isn’t that something? It’s as though God is up there; they’re rebelling—”we won’t have you, we won’t have you”—and they carry out the greatest crime in history, the crucifixion of Jesus. And God is in heaven saying, “Yep, right on time.”

In other words, God rules even over evil, even over the devil’s actions. The devil inspires these people, they go after Satan, and all of them clamor against Jesus; they clamor together against Christ: “Crucify him!” Wow, he got that done, and they do whatever it was that God had ordained to be done. You’ve got to know the devil hates this doctrine. He works so hard to revolt against God, and in the end he’s accomplished just what God ordered to be done. And that’s why God laughs. “You think you’ll pull this off?”

In crucifying the Messiah, what they did is establish a savior who gave himself in the place of sinners and secured for himself a kingdom and rescues men and women out of the kingdom of Satan into his own kingdom. And they did it with evil intent and through this awful wicked crime accomplished the sovereign purpose.

Well, that’s verse four. Verses five and six: “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.” Now notice in the beginning of verse five, “then he will speak.” And then verse six, “as for me, I.” The idea in both of these statements is to draw a contrast now. “Okay, you’ve talked, and now I’ve laughed, and now I want to say something.” That’s the force of this. “As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. You have revolted, you’ve rebelled, you’ve organized, you’re determined in your revolts, and you’ve done everything that you can do. Now let me tell you something. I’ve set my king on Zion. It’s settled. And nothing will overthrow my purpose.” And it says he speaks to them and they will be terrified. I don’t know that that means today, but one day. And we’ll see how that works out in the psalm. You may be angry, you may be filled with zeal in your rebellion, but know that I’ve established my king; it’s settled, my decree is fixed. I’ve established the king and he will be successful.

The Messiah’s Response

That then brings us to the third stanza, verses seven to nine: the response of the Messiah. And here we have the Messiah speaking: “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.”

So again, verse 7, “I will tell the decree, the Lord said to me,” this is Messiah’s response. And in his response, he quotes what God has said to him. So we have an interesting passage here. We’re let in on a conversation that God has with the Messiah. And God says to the Messiah, “you are my son. Today, I have begotten you.” Now, that is enthronement language. It is an enthronement proclamation: “You are my son, this day I have begotten you, I’ve made you king.” This is standard ancient Near Eastern terminology for an enthronement proclamation. “I’ve made you my son. I’ve made you king.”

This goes back, as many of you will remember, to 2 Samuel chapter 7. A fascinating story in the life of David. David has come to Jerusalem now, and he’s built a palace for himself. And it’s a beautiful palace. And then he looks out his palace and he sees the tabernacle, the tent, the place of worship that we talked about this morning. It’s just a tent. And he begins to feel bad and he says, “It’s just not right that I have this great palace and God lives in a tent.” So he brings in Nathan, the prophet, and he says, “It’s just not right that I have this palace and God lives in a tent. I’m going to build a house for God. I’m going to build a temple.”

And Nathan says, “That’s a good idea. You do that.” And then Nathan goes home and God speaks to Nathan. Says, “Who told you that was a good idea? I never told you that was a good idea. Solomon’s going to build the temple. David’s not going to build my house. You go back to David and you tell him this. You will not build a house for me. I will build a house for you.”

There’s an intended pun. David wants to build a house that is a temple for God. God instead will build a house that is a dynasty for David. “You won’t build a house for me, I’ll build a house, I’ll build a dynasty for you. And your son will rule on the throne and he’ll rule forever. And I will be a father to him and he will be my son.”

And so we have now born this messianic terminology as God’s Son. The Messiah, the King, the Davidic King, is the Son of God. God has appointed him. He’s made him Son. We find this when we come to the New Testament. For example, we have Nathanael in John chapter 1 when Jesus tells him he saw him under the tree and all of that. “Now I know that you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel.” Now he recognizes that he’s the Messiah and the terminology he uses: “Son of God.” So in its first instance, this “Son of God” terminology is a messianic title.

Now, this takes us also into a larger sonship theme in scripture. Adam was God’s son. He failed. Israel’s God’s son. Israel failed. The Davidic king is God’s son. One after another failed until finally Messiah, the Davidic King, is God’s Son, the Son of God. And at that point we get to the New Testament, it becomes freighted with more implications—not only is it a messianic title, but it’s freighted with implications of his deity and so on. But he is, and the emphasis here is, the Son of God in the sense that he is the messianic king.

And now he says, “You are my son today. Today I have begotten you.” When is that today? When does that happen? Or put it this way: when did God make Jesus king? When was this fulfilled? When will this be fulfilled? Before I try to answer it, I want to back up again and give you just a broad overview of how prophecy tends to work particularly in the Old Testament.

Most often in the Old Testament, I would argue most often, prophecy is not just a one-to-one fulfillment. For example, the Davidic King will be born in Bethlehem. Well, there’s a one-to-one fulfillment. There we have it. But think, for example, of the first prophecy of Scripture, Genesis 3:15. A champion will come who will crush the head of the tempter. Right? He’ll crush the serpent’s head. When was that fulfilled?

When we get to the New Testament, we have Jesus casting out demons in Matthew chapter 12. And he says, “If I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come among you, and I’ve come in and bound the strong man.” Well, there’s similar language. It sounds like with Jesus’ miracles and his earthly ministry, there’s an in-breaking of the kingdom, and Satan is being defeated. And yet, we could go to John chapter 12 and we find Jesus saying in reference to his crucifixion, now his hour has come, “Father glorify me” and all of that. “Now the prince of this world is cast out.”

That is, in the crucifixion of Christ, Satan is defeated. That’s when Genesis 3:15 is fulfilled. Romans chapter 16, we have Paul writing to the believers of Rome and he says, “I trust that God will trample Satan under your feet shortly.” So Satan is defeated through the advance of the gospel throughout this age. No. You get to Revelation chapter 20, and Satan is taken by the angel and thrown into the abyss. Okay, there it’s fulfilled. No. There’s that final rebellion, and finally he’s taken again and defeated and thrown into the fire of hell forever and ever. There it’s fulfilled. You see how it works? It’s fulfilled, it’s fulfilled, it’s fulfilled, fulfilled. Ah, now it’s fulfilled.

And I would argue that that is standard issue in biblical prophecy. It happens all the time, particularly in references to Christ, but in other prophecies as well. We have it with, for example, prophecies of the return from exile. You have the prophets saying, “God will bring you back to Jerusalem, you’re going to come back and he’ll be gracious and bring you back out of exile, out of Babylon.” And then you’re no sooner reading that, the language goes way beyond, and you’re talking about a bigger return from a bigger exile.

Prophecies of the day of the Spirit. “He will come.” Has he come? Has that prophecy been fulfilled? Well, yeah, that’s the meaning of Pentecost, right? Yeah, it is. But we just have the firstfruits of the Spirit. There’s going to be a fullness of it yet to come in the days to come.

Or we could give other examples. Daniel chapter 2. There’s the vision that Nebuchadnezzar has of this great metallic image. You’ve got the head of gold and the shoulders and chest of silver, and you’ve got the midsection of bronze, and then the legs and the feet of iron. And you’ve got the succession of kingdoms, as it’s interpreted for us. There’s Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and then that last one, although it’s not named, is certainly Rome. Or is it? Because suddenly the language takes us to the very end of time. We have Rome, the time when Jesus was born, the kingdom has come, but no, it takes us to the end. And we find references to it in the book of Revelation at the return of Christ.

Another example: the abomination of desolations in Daniel. It is beyond question that that has reference to Antiochus Epiphanes in the second century BC. Daniel chapter 10 makes that very clear. And yet, we get to the Olivet Discourse, Matthew chapter 24, and Jesus refers to the abomination of desolation as something yet future, something that’s realized in AD 70 in the destruction of Jerusalem. And then we have Paul picking it up in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and it’s a specific eschatological time frame. It’s going to be a great rebellion when Christ returns and he will crush you. And you see again, prophecy is fulfilled, it’s fulfilled, it’s fulfilled again. It’s not quite what biblical scholars used to say, there’s a near view and a far view. It’s not quite that. It’s more like an unfolding in successive fulfillments. That’s typical of how prophecy works in the Old Testament.

And I think we need to understand that when we come to Psalm 2 with this prophecy of Christ being made king. When was Christ—when was Jesus made king? “Today I have begotten you.” On one level we have to say he was king at his birth. That’s the point of the infancy narratives. “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” and the Magi come to worship him who is king of the Jews. And yet we find a little further on in the gospel narratives, it is in his earthly ministry and in his miracles the kingdom of God has come among you. He’s the king.

And yet we find it is in his death, in his crucifixion that he’s exalted before God in his great moment of success, dying in place of sinners. And there he is exalted as king. No. It’s his resurrection and when we see him exalted and leaving this state of humiliation and being exalted in glory. No, it’s his ascension. There when he finally ascends to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, now the prophecy is fulfilled. You see how it unfolds?

Now we have many indications of that that’s picked up in the New Testament. And I think it would be helpful for us to see it. Let’s turn to a couple. Look at Matthew chapter 28 and verse 18, a very familiar passage. This is the Great Commission. Matthew 28 verse 18: “Jesus came out and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” Notice verse 18 again: “All authority in heaven and on earth is mine.” It’s not quite what he says, is it? “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

When was it given? Well, I think to answer that, we have to look at the context. This is post-crucifixion. This is post-resurrection. Jesus has fulfilled and successfully accomplished his mediatorial work in dying for sinners. And as a result of his death for sinners, God has raised him from the dead. He has exalted him and given him now an authority over the nations. Therefore, go make disciples of all the nations. An authority to what? What authority has been given to him? Well, it’s all authority, but specifically, it’s his authority to save and to judge. And so it is in his hands now to give eternal life to those whom the Father has given him. It’s in his hands to make the Father known to those whom he chooses.

Or, for example—well, we won’t take time to turn to it, it’s a familiar passage—Philippians chapter two. Jesus, a great passage of the condescension of the Son of God: he was in the form of God, surrendered it, became in the fashion of a man, and now he’s not noticeable as God, but yet he, as God, comes as man, and he was obedient unto death, all the way to the cross. Therefore, because of his mediatorial work, therefore, God has highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. He has accomplished lordship. Now on one level he’s been Lord forever, he’s the son of God, but this is his messianic kingship and it’s been established through his mediatorial work.

My favorite passage in the New Testament that describes this theme is Revelation chapter 5. Remember in Revelation 4 you’ve got God seated on his throne in supreme majesty over all. And then chapter 5 opens and God has a scroll in his hand. It’s got seven seals on it. It’s evidently a last will and testament kind of symbolism—God’s purposes for salvation and judgment for world history. And he’s got the scroll in his hand. And the question goes out, “Who’s worthy to take the scroll? Who in the world could possibly carry that out for God?” And they look around and they can’t find anybody. And there’s a great wail in heaven because we can’t find anybody who could take the scroll from the sovereign’s hand.

And then someone says, “Oh wait, look. You see the lion of the tribe of Judah who has prevailed.” And so they turn and look and no more is it a lion. It’s a lamb who has been slain. And all of heaven breaks out into a song: “Worthy are you to take the scroll.” Why? “Worthy are you to take the scroll because you were slain and by your blood you have redeemed us unto God out of every nation and kindred and tribe and tongue.” He has through his successful work in his death and resurrection earned the authority to save and to judge universally. And that is why in the Great Commission he says all authority has been given to me in heaven and earth, therefore make disciples of all the nations. Bring them all into subjection to me as the universal King.

Well then we have Christ crucified, resurrected, ascended to heaven, and now verses 8 and 9 back to Psalm 2, take it just a step further. Psalm 2 verses 8 and 9. And here keep in mind the Messiah is quoting the words of God to him: “Ask of me and I will give you the nations. I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

And so God sends the Messiah on this task and he says, “You complete this task, and I’ll give you the world. All the nations will be yours.” And now it’s as though the Messiah, having done the work—he’s crucified, he’s borne the curse of sin for sinners. God has accepted the work, he’s been raised from the dead, he’s been ascended to the right hand of the Father—and now the Messiah in so many words says, “Father, you promised me the nations.” And the Father says, “That’s right, and I’ll give them to you.”

So then Christ’s kingship has already been established. It’s established in his death, his resurrection, and his ascension. It is now an accomplished fact. And that, by the way, was the message of Pentecost. Remember that? “What’s going on? What is all this that we see?” But what you see is this: God has exalted him to the right hand, just like David said in Psalm 110, this Jesus whom you crucified, God has made him Lord and Christ. He’s exalted him and made him the world king.

The message of the early church was just that: Jesus is Lord. I think the early church would be in shock disbelief to hear the language of the contemporary church. “Make Jesus Lord.” You can’t make Jesus Lord. One, you don’t have the authority. Two, it’s too late. God has already made him Lord and Christ. He’s exalted him to the right hand and made him the world king. And that was the message of the early church—not make Jesus Lord, but understand now he is Lord. You will bow before him now or you will bow before him tomorrow, but make no mistake, Jesus is Lord.

And that then is this third stanza. Verse six, God says, “I’ve set my king on Zion, my holy hill.” The Messiah responds and says, “Yes, that’s just what he told me. Ask of me, I’ll give you the nations, and I’ll put them all into your hands.” Well, then that raises the next question. How is Jesus’ kingship seen? How is his kingship realized?

And the first answer is what we’ve already seen, for instance, in the Great Commission. His kingship is realized in this gospel age with the king enthroned claiming men and women from every tribe and kindred and tongue and making them his own and bringing them into the kingdom of Christ. This is Matthew chapter 28 verses 18 and 19; that is Acts chapter 1 verse 8—”you’ll be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth.” And if we are reading the book of Acts correctly, we will see it being fulfilled there. The book of Acts is the record of the first expansion of the gospel in the early church. And it is as though God has pulled back the curtain and said, “Now let’s watch it happen.” And the gospel goes out from Jerusalem to all the world. Christ is king. And one by one, he’s claiming men and women for his own. And so how is Christ’s kingship seen and realized? First of all, it is in this gospel age. He’s enthroned and he’s making men and women his.

And yet, remember how prophecy is fulfilled, and yet the full realization of this prophecy will not be seen until the second coming of Christ. All of the nations will be brought into subjection to Christ, but one way or another. And so we have this rod of iron language, verse 9. That’s not the language of gospel advance. That’s the language of rule, enforced rule. This language is picked up in Revelation chapter 2. Christ writes to the churches and says, “You are faithful, you overcome, and I’ll give you authority over the nations and you’ll rule them with a rod of iron.” And then it’s picked up in Revelation chapter 19 with the second coming of Christ himself. He rules the nations with a rod of iron and all of his enemies will be destroyed.

And that then is the language of Psalm 2 verses 8 and 9: “Ask of me, I’ll make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” All of the nations finally, in the end, brought into subjection to the world king. Just as that rebellion against Messiah in Jerusalem could not frustrate God’s purpose, so in the end every man and woman will bow before the Lord Jesus and acknowledge him as Lord. God has enthroned his king and nothing will alter his settled purpose. Bow before him today because one day you surely will.

Concluding Remarks With Some Counsel To The Nations

And that is the counsel of the final stanza, verses 10 to 12: “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 who take refuge in him.”

God the creator has issued his sovereign decree: his son will rule and every enemy will be crushed. And the counsel of this final stanza is, if that is the case, what utter foolishness to rebel against this king. We start the psalm with this, the nations in revolt against God. And the psalmist tells us now, don’t be a fool. You won’t thwart the purpose of God for this king.

Notice the five commands in verses 10 to 12: Be wise. Be warned. Serve the king. Rejoice. Kiss the son. All that to say, wise up. Do homage to this king. Bow before him. And notice particularly that last command: “Kiss the son.” Interesting expression, isn’t it? A little bit strange to us in our culture. But in the ancient world, that’s how you showed homage. You bow before the king and you kiss his hand, you kiss his ring. We don’t have that in many cultures today. We have a blasphemous example of it in the Roman Catholic Church—kiss the pope’s ring, arrogating himself to the position of Christ. But that’s the idea here. Bow before this king and do homage. Submit to this king. Take refuge in him while you can.

Don’t be a fool. Verse 12: “Lest he be angry and you perish in the way. For his wrath is kindled quickly”—obviously pointing us to the day of the Lord and the certain destruction of all of God’s enemies. But notice how the psalm ends at the end of verse 12 with a benediction, a benediction on those who submit to this king. And notice the language: “take refuge.” “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”

This universal king offers terms of peace. You will either have him as your savior or your judge. He has offered terms of peace. Come bow before him. Hear the terms. Surrender. Surrender before this king. Bow before him while you still may, because one day you surely will.

And that’s the psalm. It is a brief but graphic portrayal of God’s purpose in history. He has set out to glorify himself by this universal king. Humanity has rebelled. They won’t have him, but what they don’t know is they won’t alter God’s purpose by their rebellion. He has promised his son universal reign—all of the nations brought before him.

And so this psalm looks ahead. It looks ahead to the incarnation of Christ. It looks ahead to the crucifixion of Christ. It looks ahead to the resurrection of Christ. It looks ahead to the ascension of Christ. And it looks ahead finally to the return of Christ as universal judge. And to those who have learned to bow before him, they will be blessed and take refuge in him. But all who have opposed him will be crushed.

This is a biblical perspective of history, and this is a perspective we need to keep in mind in a society that seems crazy in its rebellion against God. And you know, one of the things that just startles me—the language they’ll use, and they don’t know what they’re saying—you hear it today more and more all the time. When you want to hear someone advance some ungodly purpose, whether it has to do with sexuality, because that’s so big today, or it’s a matter of truth and your truth and mine. What they’ll do is they’ll push you with these words: “Look, everybody knows this is true. Get on the right side of history.” You heard that? “Get on the right side of history.” In other words, “You know we’re winning. Might as well join us now.”

And every time I hear that, I want to think, your perspective of history is awfully short. I know what the winning side’s going to look like. And I know who’s going to be on the winning side. That’s the side I want to take. In the end, the question—the question that will settle and determine our eternal destiny—is what have you done with this king? Have you learned to bow? Have you learned to come before him and recognize that you’re helpless before him and that he is King? If you refuse, you will not escape the worst kind of judgment. But if you will come humbly, kiss the Son, you may have refuge in him. Amen.

Let’s bow for prayer. Our Father, we thank you for this psalm. We’re thankful for the exalted view and presentation of Christ that we see in it. What a glorious Savior we have. What a great King he is and what a great hope we have in him. Father, we pray that you would shore up every believer today in this great hope, in this great realization that Jesus is King and that when all of the world seems so crazy and out of step, may we recognize that the King is still on his throne, and his purpose will never be thwarted. And may we realize with great hope that he is coming. Lord, if there are any here who do not know him in a saving way and have not learned to bow before him, Lord, break them today while there is hope. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.