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Psalm 2

This particular Psalm has been in my mind and heart for a few months; even before the new coronavirus pandemic hit the world. I have thought about preaching on it as part of a short series on the book of Psalms for our congregation; more messages on the Psalms which will continue for a few weeks. However, the meaning of the Psalm has become more and more intriguing to me as we go through this time of social distancing, mask wearing, empty restaurants, and non-essential businesses closed. It has been hard to watch the world around me in a pause mode, even in a smaller community as I am now living for the past year.  

As I reflect on this Psalm I quickly see how the way the world is and how do its “kings” consistently act (and react) before the reign of our King Jesus Christ. The more I read it, the more I realize why Jesus Christ is indeed King of kings, and Lord of lords. Here we are before a portion of Scripture that clearly shows what indeed is the reign of Jesus Christ and how God has proclaimed his sovereignty.

I would like to propose a short theme and develop it as briefly as possible for our reading this Sunday. I would like to write about the reign, the rule of God’s Son over the world.

The Rage of the Nations

The first three verses show that the nations conspire or rage against the Lord Almighty. They also show that the nations and the peoples (plural) plot, that they conspire against God. The whole conspiracy started in Eden and has perpetuated throughout the ages to this very day. As the human race grew in number, the volume of their sins were so high that God decided to destroy it, “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become. . . . So the Lord said, ‘I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth…’” (Gen. 6:5a, 7a[1]). Then he sent the flood, having saved only eight people, Noah’s family. But we go further in Genesis and again find the descendants of Noah plotting against God, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth’” (Gen. 11:4). Then God came down and stopped their plan, scattering them all over the earth.

No matter how many books do we read about world history, we will find the nations raging against God and trying to destroy his kingdom. This Psalm brings us to a very powerful passage that will make even clearer the attitude of the nations and the peoples against the Messiah Jesus. It is taken from the Acts of the Apostles, when the people of God were intensely involved in prayer,

“You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.’ Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen” (Acts 4:25-28, emphasis added).

This is impressive! We see here that the death of Jesus Christ was pre-ordained, the very term for “predestined,” and that the Jews and Gentiles conspired to kill him. It was also, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, a solid hermeneutical and factual fulfilment of God’s prophecy in Psalm 2.

As we attempt to see it in our current historical developments, I would suggest that we should take a hundred year trip back in time and watch what was going on in the world in the first part of last century. The world was raging against God during World War I and we cannot set aside the raging of Russia by literally forsaking God through their revolution which had its historical inauguration in 1917. Yet in another trip back in time, we will see the “proclamation of man’s independence” with the inauguration of the Enlightenment, which brought to light man’s complete rejection of God in their presuppositions. Suddenly their “independence” dictated that humans cannot submit themselves to God any longer. Along with that, we had the Fall of the Bastille in France, and the process of independence of numerous nations in the world, including American nations.

Today we see the same happening. Our nations, mostly the ones in the North Atlantic hemisphere, have abandoned God again and again. Europe has become a post-Christian continent a long time ago. Our nation has kicked God out of the schools, for example, and out of common people’s lives. The great Mammon god has become the highest idol of all times with the crescendo of economic power. Jesus was very clear in saying that we cannot serve two lords, God and Mammon; the sad decision was made and Mammon won. Since 1949 China has completely rejected God and aggressively has become an industrial superpower. We see it happening but we seem to not pay much attention to it. But the nations and the peoples of the world continue to rage against God and his Anointed One, his Christ or Messiah.

The Laughter of God

“The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.” It is somehow difficult to imagine God Almighty laughing and scoffing at the nations. But this is what the Psalm says. The point that I get from this is very simple: Whatever the human race does against God will not affect him; He is sovereign, He is Almighty! His glory embraces the whole creation, the whole universe. There is nothing that we humans do that will destroy God, much less his plans.

The way God responds to those nations and their kings is through the demonstration of his power. Psalm 29 repeatedly points to the voice of God over all that he created; everything is under his control and there is nothing that will interfere with his agenda. That is why he laughs and scoffs at the nations and their kings. The voice of the Lord terrifies them and more than that, in his wrath he says that he has installed his King on Zion, his holy hill. This Psalm talks about the coronation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is here that the Father makes him the King of kings, the Lord over any other lord on earth.

He gives the Lord Jesus Christ the Crown of Majesty. God Almighty says, “You are my Son.” He spoke those same words in the baptism of Jesus by the Jordan and at the mount of transfiguration. But also, the Author of Hebrews uses this very Psalm to announce that Jesus is above the very angels of God, “For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father’? or again, ‘I will be his Father, and he will be my Son’” (Heb. 1:5).

The name of Jesus makes the earth tremble. The Son of God reigns forever and everything is under his rule. God Almighty gave him the nations, the ends of the earth, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.” The rule of the Messiah is total, he is the One who indeed has Total Authority, nobody else can usurp that authority. It is Jesus who said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18). That is what makes the earth tremble before his majesty; nothing else!

The Iron Rod of The Messiah

“You will rule with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.” The Lord Jesus is the Good Shepherd and even when we walk through the valley of death, he is there for his sheep. But, as a shepherd, he has his rod and his staff. As the Good Shepherd, he disciplines us with them, but also uses them to protect us from the enemy, from predators, from wolves and other beasts. In this sense, the iron scepter of the Lord is a blessing for his people, as we find in Hebrews 12.

But, when the Lord Jesus Christ reigns over all the nations that rebel against God, his iron scepter shows the terrifying power of his majesty, because being God, Jesus Christ is love, but he is also the Righteous Judge over all.

We see plagues coming and going. We saw how God showed his power in Egypt by sending ten plagues, we read the prophecies that say that we will be visited by earthquakes, famine, plagues, and so forth, as signs of Jesus’ Second Coming. But we also see that during hard times, those plagues divide people. It is then that we see how heavy the iron scepter of Jesus might be. We should read history more often and learn from it to see how God is present in times of pandemics. As we flew to the first part of last century and saw how the nations and their kings were raging and plotting against the Messiah; we also were introduced to the Spanish Flu plague in 1918. Such pandemic took the lives of more than fifty million people worldwide; more than seven hundred thousand in the United States alone. Was it a coincidence? Was God caught by surprise? Was God not there? Had God not seen the pain and despair of millions? Only when we cross the river into the chambers of heaven will we learn more about that time.

Then, just a decade later, the world received the impact of the plague in its economic area: the Great Depression hit the world and affected our nation rather deeply. And life went on. World War II came up and more than twenty-seven million people perished as a result of the war, among them six million Jews were sacrificed as powerless lambs to the “god” of the day.

What do we see as a trigger for the current pandemic? How can we explain that such a miniscule corona virus has been spreading so fast all over the world? What about its presence today in the thick of the Amazon, that has no contact with the so-called “civilized” world? There are so many questions, and, again, only when we pass through the gates of heaven will we learn more about this pandemic.

Conclusion

“Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.” I see this time as a great opportunity for all the kings, queens, princes, princesses, and so on, of the earth to come to the Lord and repent. Turn to God, the time is NOW! There is no other time. A dear friend of mine made a comment about 2 Chronicles 7:14 the other day, “we see people praying for healing for the land, but they are refusing to repent of their sins and to turn their lives around to God.”

Is this Psalm only for the rulers of the nations? I do not think so. I truly believe it is for all of us. We may not be kings and rulers, but we are always the “captains of our souls.” For me it is the same thing. Because of this, I sincerely believe that God is giving us the opportunity to believe in Jesus Christ even more and to turn to the Father through him. Maybe this is our last chance to respond to the loving call of our Father through his Son Jesus the Messiah before it is too late.

“Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (verse 12). We see here the warning from God to all of us. The invitation to bow down and confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is the King on Zion, the Lord over all. There is no other like him. To God be all the glory and majesty. May the Name of Jesus Christ be over all those who truly believe in him. Marana tha! Come soon, Lord Jesus! Amen.

Pr. Ehud M. Garcia

Omak, WA: April 28, 2020

Soli Deo Gloria!

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[1] Unless otherwise noted, I am using the New International Version (NIV) in this message.