Psalm 02

Turn with me to Psalm 2. I said Wednesday that for a while at least, I am going to use the Psalms to fill in when I don’t have a series to preach. I don’t want to start a new series yet, so I’ll stick with the Psalms.

Before I start I thought I’d bless you with some puns I came across this week.

What is a dentist’s favorite hymn?

Crown Him with Many Crowns

Second favorite: Holy, Holy, Holy

What’s a salesman’s favorite Scripture passage?

The Great Commission

Where was Solomon’s temple located?

On the side of his head.

Who was the smartest man in the Bible?

Abraham. He knew a Lot.

Where is the first baseball game in the Bible?

Genesis – In the big inning. Eve stole first, Adam stole second. Cain struck out Abel. The Giants and the Angels were rained out.

Who’s the patron saint of poverty?

St. Nickeless.

At what time of day was Adam created?

A little before Eve.

Why did Moses cross the Red Sea?

To get to the other side.

If Moses were alive today, why would he be considered a remarkable man?

Because he would be several thousand years old.

Need an ark?

I noah guy.

Perhaps they weren’t that funny.

Have you ever thought about why we laugh? There are actually scientists who study why we laugh. If you think that’s a waste of time don’t worry, they waste even more time by writing books about why we laugh. One such scholar noted:

Laughter is part of the universal human vocabulary. Every human understands it. Unlike English or French or Swahili, we don’t have to learn to speak it. We’re born with that capacity. In fact, the first laughter appears at about 3.5 months of age – long before we’re able to speak. One of the remarkable things about laughter is that it occurs unconsciously. You don’t decide to do it. We don’t consciously produce laughter. That’s why it’s very hard to laugh on command or to fake laughter.

Another scientist said that:

Nervous laughter is a physical reaction to stress, tension, confusion, or anxiety. . . . People laugh when they need to project dignity and control during times of stress and anxiety. In these situations, people usually laugh in a subconscious attempt to reduce stress and calm down; however, it often works otherwise.

The Bible talks about people laughing. Sarah laughed with unbelief when she was told she would have a baby in her old age. Abraham laughed with joy when the child was born. In fact Isaac’s name means laughter. We also told about God laughing. I don’t think either of those experts on laughter was thinking about Sarah or Abraham and certainly not about God when they explained laughter. But we’re going to read about God laughing in this psalm.

A week ago I mentioned the different types of psalms:

Wisdom

Royal

Lament

Imprecatory

Thanksgiving

Pilgrimage

Enthronement

I thought it would be interesting to compare the first two psalms.

Psalm 1 is a wisdom psalm. Psalm 2 is a royal or messianic psalm.

Psalm 1 tells us how to live a life that will be blessed by God. Psalm 2 talks about the coming Messiah.

Psalm 1 begins with a beatitude. Psalm 2 ends with one.

Psalm 1 is never quoted in the New Testament. Psalm 2 is quoted or alluded to seventeen times, more than any other single psalm.

Psalm 1 talks about those who delight in the law of God. Psalm 2 talks about those who rebel against it.

While we’re not told who wrote Psalm 2, Acts 4:26 attributes it to David. The psalm is interesting in that it starts with a question.

1 Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? (Psalm 2:1)

Some translations ask: “Why do the people rage?” The real question is: “Why do people rebel against God?” The psalmist isn’t asking this in jest, he really wants to know. After all, what reason do people really have to rebel against God? What has God done to deserve people rebelling against him? And here’s another question, what benefit is there to rebelling against God? Yet people do it and have been doing it almost since the beginning of time.

About a year-and-a-half ago, the president of the Philippines railed against religion and Christianity making derogatory statements against God including calling God stupid. He even said that he’d resign if someone could prove that God did exist. Statements like that are offensive and don’t make sense to us, but then again people have been making those kinds of statements for thousands of years. The psalmist asks why.

2 The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, 3 “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” (Psalm 2:2-3)

This is where we get to the messianic part, though there is more to come. The word Messiah means “anointed one.” So the psalmist says that the kings of the world are rising up against God and his Messiah – his anointed. The reason for this rebellion is they think that the commands of God are like chains and shackles.

When people, like the president of the Philippines, argue against believing in God, they will give you everything but the real reason for their unbelief. The real reason most people don’t want to believe in God is they don’t want to be constrained morally. They don’t want God telling them what to do. They want to do whatever they want to do. More importantly, they don’t want to be held accountable for their actions.

Oswald Chambers once said:

The beginning of all sin is the suspicion that God is not good.

People think God just doesn’t want them to have any fun. That’s why he makes all those rules. But the truth is God is good and he wants your life to be blessed. That doesn’t necessarily mean financially wealthy, but he wants us to have lives filled with peace. However, to have that blessing we have to follow him where he is leading. The road that God leads us on isn’t always going to be easy, but in the end it is easier than taking the broad path to destruction that most people are traveling. Those that don’t follow Christ are going to face the same major obstacles along the way too that we do, but what they don’t realize is that they are facing those obstacles alone and they are climbing over them only to find that the road they are on is a dead end. But when we are in Christ, we know that at the end of the road there is a heavenly reward, purchased for us by the blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

It’s been said that when we free ourselves from belief in God that we open ourselves to belief in anything because without a belief in God, belief in almost anything and everything becomes plausible. Do you remember the lyrics to John Lennon’s song Imagine? In the song he tries to get us to imagine if there is no God. The first verse says:

Imagine there’s no heaven

It’s easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people living for today

That’s the anthem of the world, “Live for today because tomorrow you die.” If there is no God then when you die there will be no remembrance of anything done here on earth so you might as well enjoy yourself while you can. However, the Bible tells us not to live for today, but for eternity.

So what is God’s response to the raging of the nations and their leaders?

4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. (Psalm 2:4)

God isn’t worried or afraid of the rebellion of people. He laughs at this foolishness. This is not a boastful laugh, but is God’s response to their confused ideas about him and his laws. He laughs

5 He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, 6 “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” (Psalm 2:5-6)

Just about the time people think they can break free from God, God comes along and puts his king over all the people and all the nations. And where does God put the king and his throne? God puts him in Jerusalem. This verse is a prophecy concerning the second coming of Christ.

In verse 7 the person speaking changes. It’s not the anointed one who speaks as he quotes the words of God the Father.

7 I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father.” (Psalm 2:7)

Now it really gets complicated. He’s talking about that moment in history when he became the Son of God which would mean that there was a time when he was not the Son. The Gospel of John begins by stating:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. (John 1:1-4)

And a few verses later we read:

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

The Word became flesh. What happened when Jesus became flesh? At that point he became the begotten of the Father, but he wasn’t always that way from the beginning.

The Son goes on in verse 8.

8 Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. (Psalm 2:8)

Do those words sound familiar? That’s what the devil offered Jesus when tempting him in the wilderness.

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” (Matthew 4:8-9)

The devil has temporary ownership, but when the Father sets his anointed on his throne that ownership will go to Jesus. Now it makes even more sense why Jesus would turn the devil down. All these things had already been offered to him by God the Father. When the devil wanted Jesus to do was to take a shortcut. He offered Jesus all the glory with none of the suffering.

The devil still tries to offer us shortcuts to God’s blessings. “Why wait till you’re married to enjoy the pleasures of sex. You can have it now. God’s way of doing things takes too long.”

The Father said, “Just ask and I will give you the nations (Do you remember those nations that were raging against me?), just ask and I will give those nations to you.

9 “You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.” (Psalm 2:9)

These phrases are repeated in other places in the Old Testament and are quoted by Jesus in the Book of Revelation. It’s found in his letter to the church of Thyatira.

26 To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations – 27 that one “will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery” – just as I have received authority from my Father. (Revelation 2:26-27)

Jesus is pointing back to Psalm 2 and saying the verse is about him. Just as Jesus was given authority to rule, Jesus will give authority to rule with him to those who overcome. This is how we are certain this is a messianic psalm. If we weren’t sure we can be certain because Jesus quotes it as referring to himself.

In the last few verses the speaker changes again.

10 Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. (Psalm 2:10)

Do you think the rulers of the earth, like the Pilipino president, listen to this warning? Of course not, or he wouldn’t have said what he did.

11 Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. (Psalm 2:11)

“Serve includes the surrender of the will and the submission of the heart. It means to come under the King’s rule and obey him, as a slave surrenders to his master. In the Old Testament the word “serve” is often used with the verb “worship.” For example:

Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. (Psalm 100:2)

The word “worship in this psalm is the same word translated as “serve” in Psalm 2. The “fear” comes from a sense of awe and even terror as we come before a God of majesty, power, and holiness. But there is also joy and celebration. The joy comes from the very presence of God.

You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. (Psalm 16:11)

An attitude of submission to the Lord and joy and awe in his presence leads then to an act of submission in verse 12.

12a Kiss his son. . . . (Psalm 2:12a)

The kiss is a sign of submission. It is an act of worship. The Greek word for worship means “come toward to kiss.” I’ve never really understood why Roman Catholics kiss the ring of the Pope and other leaders in the church. But this is it. It’s a sign of submission and devotion. Think about the kiss of Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.” (Matthew 26:48)

Judas used a kiss, a sign of devotion, as a sign for betrayal.

12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. (Psalm 2:12)

The idea is simple, submit to the Anointed or be destroyed. He’s talking about respect as opposed to the comments that come out from too many world leaders. To surrender to Christ, to rejoice in his presence, and to kiss him in an act of submission, means that the rebellion is over. Apart from this, there is only his anger, wrath, and our perishing. If he does not ride into our hearts on a donkey, he will ride down our hearts on a white charger.

Sometimes we forget that trusting in God is the sanest thing a person can do. It is actually unreasonable to do otherwise. To defy God or speak boastfully against him like many do is the most foolish thing one can do. God is listening.

The psalm ends the way the first one began, with a blessing. And it too comes with a condition.

12c Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (Psalm 2:12c)

Who are the ones that are blessed. The blessed ones are the ones who take refuge in God, literally, blessed are those who place their trust in God. We are to take refuge or trust in God. When we accept what Jesus did for us on the cross that’s exactly what we are doing. We are taking refuge in God and trusting in his promise to forgive. The promise of blessing is extended to anyone who takes refuge in God.

How should we take this psalm? I guess it depends on how you look at it. For those who conspiring and plotting against God it might be seen as a threat. But I don’t think that’s the way it should be taken. Donald Williams writes:

This psalm is evangelistic. It is addressed to the nations. It beats with a missionary heart. It is the nations who are in revolt against Christ. It is the nations, however, who are promised to him (v. 8) and it is the nations who are called to him (v. 10). Psalm 2 directs the nations to the Son, warns them of judgment to come, and promises them blessing if they will worship him. Thus the psalm is for those who make this submission. It is for the nations, the Gentiles who submit to God’s Son and King. In the psalm they will learn how to “serve the Lord with fear,” “rejoice with trembling,” and “kiss the Son.” The psalm tells people what God has done, and also tells them what they must do in response.

In this way the psalm gives hope even to those who rage against God.

Returning to the idea of laughter, here’s a thought for you. In Genesis 18 Sarah laughed and God promised her a son. In Psalm 2 God laughed, and then he made us a promise. He promised his only begotten son. The nations may rage and conspire, but God will always have the last laugh.