The Once and Future King

One of the things I wasn’t prepared for when I became a pastor was the questions.

Now, I’m not afraid of questions, and I certainly don’t mind giving my opinion about things. I wrote newspaper editorials for more than two decades, so having opinions about controversial matters and then sharing them widely has never been a problem for me.

But what struck me early on about the questions I’d hear as a pastor was that THESE opinions and THESE answers are of another class from the opinions and answers I gave as a newspaper editor.

When someone comes to me with a question about God or about the Bible, I want to be certain that I’ve honored God in my answer, and I want to be sure that I’ve given the fullest account of the truth that time and circumstance permit.

Sometimes I do that well, and sometimes not so well. Either way, I have to remind myself of two things: God’s word will not return void, and the Holy Spirit is the one who draws people to Jesus, not me.

A few weeks ago, I was approached with one of the theological questions that often arises in the context of discussions about hell.

The question was this: If God loves everybody, why does He send people to hell?

It’s a great question, and I want to talk about it today.

We’ve concluded our study in the Book of Jonah, and in a few weeks, we’ll begin a study of the Book of Galatians. But we have a couple of special services coming up first, so this is the perfect week to take a look at this question.

We’ll start by going all the way back to the beginning, back in the Garden of Eden.

The Bible tells us that God created Adam and Eve in His image. Now, God is spirit; He’s not flesh-and-blood. So, being created in His image can’t mean that we LOOK like God. He doesn’t have arms and legs and a brain and a heart.

Instead, we can interpret the fact that we’re made in the image of God as meaning that we’re made to reflect His character, to BE like Him.

He is righteous, so we’re to be righteous. He is compassionate, so we’re to be compassionate. He is faithful and just and merciful, so we’re to be those things, too.

And to those He’d created in His own image, God gave the job of ruling over and subduing or bringing under subjection the rest of the earth.

Mankind was tasked with ruling over the earth as God’s vice-regents. As the one who created everything, God is the legitimate ruler over all. Everything belongs to Him. He is sovereign over it all.

But He put mankind on earth to rule here in His name and according to His character. He charged them to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.”

We were never intended to pass eternity in the Garden of Eden. We were expected to extend the condition of peaceful contentment that existed in the Garden until it covered the earth.

But you all know what happened. Deceived by the serpent, Eve ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And then Adam ate from it too, though he couldn’t claim to have been deceived. Adam sinned with his eyes wide open.

But there was more going on there at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil than simple disobedience.

What hung in the balance was trust. Whom would Adam and Eve trust? Would they trust God? Would they trust that He is good and that He’d withhold nothing good from them?

Or would they trust Satan, the serpent? Would they believe him when he suggested that God was being selfish, that He was just arbitrarily keeping something good from them?

Sadly, Adam and Eve had decided that THEY wanted for themselves the authority to declare what’s good and what’s evil. And so, they declared good the tree whose fruit God had warned would bring death.

They trusted the devil, instead of trusting God.

And in this decision, they set into motion a conflict between two kingdoms, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world.

That’s why Jesus would later refer to Satan as “the ruler of this world.”

In their disobedience, Adam and Eve allowed the devil to illegitimately usurp both their authority on earth and God’s place as their legitimate ruler.

Their disobedience represented rebellion against God, their king. And we who are all descended from them have inherited their rebelliousness. We’re all born sinners, rebels against the kingdom of God.

And the rest of the biblical story can be read as an account of God’s plan to restore His kingdom here on earth and to redeem fallen mankind from the penalty for our sins.

King David, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, describes this conflict and the certain way it will end in the second Psalm, which we’re going to study during the rest of our time today.

Let’s read it together, and then we’ll look more closely, verse-by-verse.

Psalm 2 NASB95

1 Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. 5 Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, 6 “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” 7 “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. 9 ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’ ” 10 Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. 11 Worship the Lord with reverence And rejoice with trembling. 12 Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

Now, the first thing to understand about this so-called “royal psalm” is that it was written by King David, probably for his coronation.

But it’s also typological in nature, meaning that even though it applied broadly to David, this psalm finds the fullness of its meaning in Jesus.

So, for instance, when David talks about the nations “devising a vain thing” and taking their stand, he’s referring to the Gentile nations that surrounded and badgered Israel during the Old Testament times.

David, as Israel’s king, was the one they were rebelling against. But there are some things that don’t fit David’s life here. God never promised to give David the nations as an inheritance, for instance.

But when we recognize that this psalm is ALSO pointing us to Jesus, then everything begins to make sense.

“Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing?” David wonders.

The most obvious example of what David’s describing here is the crucifixion of Jesus.

From the perspective of the people who demanded it and took part in it, the purpose of crucifying Him was to stop His teaching, to destroy the message of the gospel. And in that regard, their actions were in vain. They were futile.

Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and the arrival of the Holy Spirit after He’d ascended back into heaven in His now-glorified body actually paved the way for an explosion of the gospel.

From the divine perspective, none of this was a surprise. Indeed, the cross was ALWAYS part of God’s plan.

It was through Jesus’ sacrificial death for us and in our place that the debt we owe for our sins would be paid and that forgiveness would be available for all who turn to Jesus in faith.

Of course, this doesn’t absolve those who crucified Jesus from their guilt. They are responsible for their own actions and choices.

But as the Apostle Paul reminds us, “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

God’s plans can never be derailed. But man’s plans — especially when they’re opposed to God — often turn out to be vain or futile. And from an eternal perspective, everything that’s opposed to God will be crushed eventually.

So, King David, the psalmist, wonders here why people would devote themselves to such futility.

Why would they “take their stand” against God in heaven and against His anointed here on earth? Indeed, he says, they’ve taken counsel together against the Lord and His anointed — His Messiah in the Hebrew.

They’ve united against God and against His Messiah in their rebellion. “Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us,” they say.

The nations don’t want to be under the authority of God or of Jesus. They want to do as they please. So they conspire to rebel against God and against His Anointed One.

They’re united in their rebellion against Him, just as Adam and Eve were united against Him in their rebellion in the Garden of Eden.

And lest we think that anything has changed since David wrote this psalm, we need to recognize that ALL sin is rebellion against God. We were made to reflect HIS character, but when we sin, we reflect the character of Satan, instead.

Each one of us has at some point in life done just as Adam and Eve did. We’ve considered whether to do something we know is wrong, and we’ve done it anyway, because we want to be able to say for ourselves what’s right and what’s wrong.

So, how does God respond to this rebellion? Well, He’s not worried. He’s not threatened. And He’s not enraged. In fact, the narrator tells us in verse 4 that He simply laughs at the futility of mankind’s rebellion.

God is sovereign. God is in control. He is working His plan to restore His kingdom here on earth, and our puny rebellions won’t change a thing about how His plan comes together.

In fact, God scorns those who are working against Him. He mocks them.

And then, in verse 5, He promises to turn His fury against them and bring them terror.

Remember the context of the biblical meta-narrative about the conflict between two kingdoms.

Throughout history and across cultures, the penalty for those who rebel against a king is death. And that’s just what God said would come if Adam and Eve disobeyed Him and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

They experienced spiritual death in their exile from the Garden of Eden, when they were separated from the presence of God. And they experienced physical death many years later.

And if it weren’t for God’s amazing grace, death and eternal separation from God would be the predicament we all face because of our sins.

But God IS gracious, and so He sent His Son, Jesus, the king He installed or consecrated on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem. This is why Jesus could tell people that the kingdom of heaven was at hand.

The new King had been anointed, and He had established His kingdom here on earth. And, unlike perhaps any other king in history, Jesus offers amnesty to each rebel who turns to Him in faith.

And Jesus has the authority to pardon the sins of those who turn to Him in faith, because His Father gave Him that authority when He made Jesus king. Look at verse 7.

Here, the narrator quotes the Anointed one, who recalls God’s words to Him. First, God calls Him “My Son.”

God had told King David back in 2 Samuel, chapter 7, that He would think of the future kings of Israel as His sons. Certainly, that meant that He’d have a special place for them in His heart, that He’d love them and protect them and discipline them.

But from the earthly perspective, the idea is that, as God’s “sons,” the kings — and, later, Jesus — were to be image-bearers. They were to represent the character of God to the world around them.

Jesus perfectly represents the character of His Father. He is the image of the invisible God. That’s what it means to be an image-bearer. That’s what it was supposed to mean when God made man (and woman) in His own image.

Because we’re made in the image of God, we should be expected to BE like Him, to carry the likeness of His character with us. When people “see” us, they should “see” God’s character.

But we’ve failed in this. Miserably. Adam and Eve failed in this. But Jesus did not.

He lived in perfect obedience to God’s will and in perfect faith in God’s goodness and in His perfect plan. So, God has declared Jesus to be His unique and special Son among all the kings He’d called His sons.

And as the perfect Son, Jesus becomes the inheritor of His Father’s kingdom. God has designated Him as ruler over ALL the nations, indeed, over heaven and earth.

God says elsewhere that He will put all things at the feet of Jesus. Everything and everyone belongs to Him to do with as He pleases.

For those who continue in their state of rebellion, rejecting Jesus, devising vain defiance against Him, attempting to tear free of His authority, the news is not good. Look at verse 9.

“You shall break them with a rod of iron,” God tells His Anointed One. “You shall shatter them like earthenware.”

Here, the Anointed Son is acting on behalf of His Father, crushing the enemies that have arrayed themselves against God, leaving nothing recognizable remaining of them. This is a death sentence for the rebels who are broken.

And note that the Apostle John brings up the “rod of iron” language in Rev 19:15, where he describes the conclusion of the great uprising against Israel that will take place at the end of the Great Tribulation, when all the nations rise up in a vain attempt to destroy Israel.

Revelation 19:15 NASB95

15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.

The rebels against God’s kingdom — all who have aligned themselves with Satan instead of God by rejecting God’s anointed King — will be vanquished with a word from the mouth of Jesus.

But God is gracious, and He DOES love us. And so, the narrator in our psalm says there’s still time to repent. There’s still time to avoid God’s righteous judgment. There’s still time to grab ahold of His grace. Look at verse 10.

Show discernment. Recognize the futility of striving against God. Take warning. As the prophet Isaiah puts it:

Isaiah 55:6–7 NASB95

6 Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

“If God loves us, why does He send some people to hell?” That’s the question I was asked a few weeks ago. But I think the better question is this: If God is perfectly righteous, then why does He pardon ANYBODY?

And the answer is right there in those verses from the Book of Isaiah: Because God is compassionate.

But God’s compassion cannot overrule His perfect justice. In His compassion, He sent Jesus to give Himself as a sacrifice to satisfy God’s perfect justice.

But if we reject Jesus and His gift of salvation, then we reject God’s compassion, and WE must bear the punishment we deserve for our rebellion and betrayal.

King David’s Spirit-inspired solution is simple: “Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling.”

In other words, change your allegiance from Satan and the things of this world to Jesus and the kingdom of heaven.

Do homage to the Son, David writes. The Hebrew literally reads, “Kiss the Son.” The picture you should have is one of bowing at the feet of the King of kings and Lord of lords and kissing His feet as a sign of complete surrender.

Remember that the Bible relates the account of a conflict between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of this world, with Jesus ruling the kingdom of heaven and Satan ruling the kingdom of this world.

In our sins, we’ve chosen to rebel against the rightful king and instead follow Satan, the illegitimate ruler. And the only options for rebels are surrender or death.

Friends, God’s wrath is coming. The Book of Revelation tells us how this conflict will end, and the short version is that Jesus wins.

But the punishment for those who’ve rejected Him will be terrible. They’ll eternally suffer the just penalty for their rebellion.

In short, you are either saved by Christ or you will be destroyed by Him. He will bestow upon you either the blessings of deliverance and refuge in Him or the curse of His righteous fury.

It’s no surprise that a king would impose such a sentence upon those traitors who’ve rebelled against Him and aligned themselves with His enemy.

The surprise is that this King took upon Himself the punishment WE deserve for our sins against Him. The surprise is that we rebels have the opportunity to be redeemed and brought into the kingdom of heaven as adopted sons and daughters of God.

Will you kiss the Son today? Will you wave the white flag of surrender and give your life to the One True King? Will you turn from your sins and give yourself completely to this compassionate King?

The conflict rages on, but His wrath may soon be kindled. Please don’t wait.