“Kiss the Son!”

Like Psalm 1, Psalm 2 is one of the orphan psalms because the authors are not given!

Psalm 2 is a ROYAL PSALM—more specific it is a CORONATION Psalm and is identified as the Psalm used at the coronation of King David—the words spoken as the crown is placed on his head!

There are four sections or stanzas of approximately equivalent length. It is possible that different persons spoke the different sections during the ceremony (the congregation; the priest; the king; and then the congregation)!

HOWEVER, with the Advent of Christ, this Psalm was viewed in a much greater context and with much greater meaning than simply referring to King David!

MAKE NO MISTAKE, this Psalm originally had in view King David

2 Samuel 7:8–16 CSB

“So now this is what you are to say to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, to be ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. I will make a great name for you like that of the greatest on the earth. I will designate a place for my people Israel and plant them, so that they may live there and not be disturbed again. Evildoers will not continue to oppress them as they have done ever since the day I ordered judges to be over my people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. “ ‘The Lord declares to you: The Lord himself will make a house for you. When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with a rod of men and blows from mortals. But my faithful love will never leave him as it did when I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and kingdom will endure before me forever, and your throne will be established forever.’ ”

Psalm 2 is one of the psalms most frequently quoted and alluded to in the NT; from the perspective of early Christianity, it was a MESSIANIC psalm par excellence!

Acts 4:24–28 CSB

When they heard this, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Master, you are the one who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, and everything in them. You said through the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David your servant: Why do the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot futile things? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers assemble together against the Lord and against his Messiah. “For, in fact, in this city both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your will had predestined to take place.

Acts 13:33 CSB

God has fulfilled this for us, their children, by raising up Jesus, as it is written in the second Psalm: You are my Son; today I have become your Father.

Hebrews 1:5 CSB

For to which of the angels did he 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?

Hebrews 5:5 CSB

In the same way, Christ did not exalt himself to become a high priest, but God who said to him, You are my Son; today I have become your Father,

Revelation 2:27 CSB

and he will rule them with an iron scepter; he will shatter them like pottery—

Revelation 12:5 CSB

She gave birth to a Son, a male who is going to rule all nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and to his throne.

Revelation 19:15 CSB

A sharp sword came from his mouth, so that he might strike the nations with it. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Almighty.

HOW did this change come so dramatically?

Israel was a theocracy—a state with a human king, but ultimately its KING was GOD!

When God established the monarchy over Israel and later Judah, The Lord, the Enthroned One (v.4), was the universal king, but his earthly representative was His “son,” the Davidic king.

With the DECLINE of the kingdom of Israel and Judah that ultimately led to the Exile and deportation, it seemed the “Kingdom of God” and the promise of the “rulers of the earth” being subjected to “the Son” was in danger.

NOW Jesus comes preaching the Kingdom of God!

Mark 1:14–15 CSB

After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Craigie – “It is precisely the proclamation of the kingdom of God in the teaching of Jesus which permits the terminology of royalty in Ps 2 to be incorporated into the NT language about Jesus.”

IT IS NO WONDER that now Psalm 2 is much more than a coronation hymn, but rather is a leading Messianic psalm as well!

I. The Nations Speak: Open Rebellion – (2:1-3)

A. The CONSPIRATORS – (vv.1-2) – “nations, peoples, kings, rulers”

B. The OBJECT of their enmity – (v.2b) – “…against the Lord and against his Anointed One.”

Phillips points out this is, “a premeditated crime!”

C. Their OBJECTIVE – (v.3)

No RESTRAINTS! Rebellion is in heart of fallen humankind!

Motyer – “It is not just the political powers of this world which have no desire to be ruled by him. There is scarcely a commercial or intellectual or cultural interest anywhere on earth which would not resent his claims on it.”

II. God Speaks: Divine Coronation – (2:4-6)

Few who ever ridicule and reject God—perhaps even NONE—would ever imagine God ridiculing THEM!

AND YET, that is precisely what the psalmist declares:

A. He LAUGHS & SCOFFS at their foolishness – (v.4)

B. He REBUKES & TERRIFIES them in His wrath! – (v.5a)

(Heb 10:31) – “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

C. He SPEAKS DEFINATIVELY – (v.6)

God speaks (past tense) as if the deed was already done—THUS is the SURETY OF HIS WORD!

III. The King (David) Speaks: Prophetic Proclamation – (2:7-9)

A. He is DIVINELY ATTESTED – (v.7)

B. His RULE will be UNIVERSAL – (v.8) (cf. Acts 1:8)

C. His AUTHORITY will be ABSOLUTE – (v.9)

Revelation 20:7–15 CSB

When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea. They came up across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the encampment of the saints, the beloved city. Then fire came down from heaven and consumed them. The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books. Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them; each one was judged according to their works. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

God wins!

The knowledge that God (and His people) will one day RULE and REIGN should not lead us to hold private victory dinners, celebrating the victory we will one day experience, but rather…

IV. The Psalmist’s Warning: Solemn Exhortation – (2:10-12)

A. The ACTIONS we should be ENCOURAGING – (vv.10-12a)

NOTE the VERBS: “be wise; receive instruction/[be warned]; serve with reverential awe; rejoicewith trembling; Pay homage to [kiss]the Son!”

B. The FEAR we should be AWARE OF – (v.12b) – “…or he will be angry and you will perish and you will perish in your rebellion, for his anger may ignite at any moment.”

Proverbs 9:10 CSB

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

C. The PLACE of BLESSING – (v.12c) – “…All who take refuge in him are happy.”

CONCLUSION: How Do We Apply What We’ve Learned?

Q: How should we react when it seems the whole world is in rebellion “…against the Lord and against his Anointed One?” How do we love those who seemingly hate us? – (vv.1-2)

The ANSWER is THREEFOLD:

1) We LIVE in the CONFIDENCE that God WINS!

He will one day RULE and REIGN – (vv.4-9)!

2) We LIVE/WALKin the WISDOM that God GIVES! – (vv.10-12a)

– “be wise; receive instruction [be warned]; serve with fear; rejoice with trembling; kiss the Son!”

3) We LEARN what it means to LIVE in the tension of the fear of the Lord, and yet at the same time we “take refuge in him”(v.12b)!

THAT is the place of HAPPINESS/BLESSING!