Saturday, March 6, 2010

Psalm 2

Why do the heathen rage? (vs. 1-3)—This is a Messianic psalm; let me get that fact out immediately. We are dealing with the Lord Jesus here and how people react to Him and His divine message. The first three verses of Psalm 2 present a perfect picture of the way humans--the “heathen” (KJV, or “nations,” ASV, NKJV)--act “against Jehovah and against His anointed” (v. 2). They “rage” against righteousness, they “imagine (or plot) a vain thing” (v. 1). They simply do not want to be bound by the strictures of the word of God: “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (v. 3). All one has to do is look at our own country today and see the viciousness of the ungodly towards Christianity and you will have a perfect example of what the Psalmist is talking about in these three verses.

God holds them in derision (vs. 4-9) Verse 4 is a bit haunting: “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh.” He’s not amused. It is a contemptuous, derisive laugh. “The Lord shall hold them in derision.” His wrath is imminent and will be exercised through “My King on my holy hill of Zion” (v. 6)—the “King” being Christ. Verse 7 reads, “I will declare the decree: The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” This passage is quoted in both Acts 13:33 and Hebrews 1:5 and applied to Jesus. He will have all authority (v. 8; cf. Matthew 28:18), and “shalt break them with a rod of iron” (v. 9). He could come—and did for some—as the Lamb of God. But He is also “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5) and His rule as “King of kings and Lord of lords” (I Tim. 6:15) will ultimately not be pleasant for those who reject Him. Because it is His word by which they—and all of us—will be judged (John 12:48).

Be wise, O kings (vs. 10-12)—The advice given in these last three verses is directed at leaders—“kings” and “judges” (v. 10—remember the parallelism of Hebrew poetry). The idea, of course, is that, more often than not, the people will follow their leaders. “O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err” (Isaiah 3:12). So, in Psalm 2:11, He instructs these leaders to “Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” Honor the Son, “Lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little” (v. 12). It doesn’t take much “wrath” from the Lord to destroy the wicked. The “Son” obviously is Christ. The last statement in the psalm is one for which the righteous can only pray: “Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him” (v. 12). What kind of country would we have, how much better off would we be, if our President and Congressmen—yea, all people—truly “put their trust in Him.”

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