The Fate of the Nations (1 Timothy 2:1-8 [Part 1])

Open Your Bibles to Psalm 2

If you recall how we ended in our last segment of 1 Timothy we saw that God’s concern is for the souls of people. That is why Christ came, to save sinners. So, the end of right doctrine and ordering the church rightly is effectively carrying out our mission to make disciples of all nations.

So now Paul comes to the first order of business in chapter two. First of all, he says. I urge that, in a number of words, the church to pray... Now, in America, we have a great desire to know what works and what doesn’t. Often on the backside of advice there this question of, “yeah, but, will it work.” As we begin this passage in first Timothy, Paul begins with prayer and our temptation may be to immediatly to run on to how one should best pray.

But my heart just is not satisfied with giving you how to pray this morning, but to go deeper and show you the theology behind what Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:1-8. This requires us to turn our attention this morning to Psalm 2. Now, Psalm two has nothing to do with prayer, but you will see today and in the coming weeks why my brain went there and why it drives my interpretation of this passage. Paul calls the church to pray, and then roots and grounds his command is wonderful and beautiful theology.

The theology or reason to pray mention in 1 Timothy 2:1-8 can be easilly read over and missed. Thus it is good for us to slow down and understand the foundation Paul is building on so that we might not be decieved into a cheap idea of prayer…

So would you stand with me for the reading of God’s word from Psalm 2…And this morning I am going to read from my Legacy Standard Bible, which I find to use more literal words which paint a clearer picture of the literal meaning of the Psalm…

Read Psalm 2....

__________________

Many, if not most Psalms have inscriptions . They attribute an author, a style, and maybe some notes to the choir master. Psalm two has no inscription. However, in Acts 4 the Apostles attribute Psalm 2 to being written by King David. Psalm 2 is a prophetic psalm, a psalm composed of the authoritative words and mind of God.

Why Psalm 2 is so important to us here and to us as we read any of the New Testament is that Psalm 2 is at the heart of New Testament theology… It is quoted in many places, Acts 4, 13, Hebrews 1 and 5, 3 times in Revelation… Not to mention the langauge is found in multiple other places.

Psalm two is a call to all people in lowly and high places of authority to submit to 3 things: 1) That there is one God, 2) He is angry with all desire to be Him ....and....3) There is only one way to be at peace with Him.

It begins with a question… Not really asking why it is that the nations do this, but stands as a question of amazement. Why do they do this? It is extremly foolish and fatal to act like this. The idea involves nations, meaning leaders of nations and the peoples that are associated with them. They all rage, like a tumultuous sea, stirring up to plan destruction. Being a prophetic Psalm, this is not the destruction of Israel, but we are looking into deeper things. This their attempt to destroy the Lord.

You might say to yourself, “you can’t destory God”… Exactly the point of the amazement question. It is a vain thing. All of their strivings will amount to nothing. The kings of the Earth take their stand, and the rulers counsel together. They are colluding, and against who? Yahweh. The eternal, creator, sustainer, and sovereign God over all of life.

But you notice, this is not just against Him, but against his Annointed. My version has this in a capitol A, because the term here is “messiah”, or in greek, “Christ”. These nations feel so encumbered, tied up, by God. They feel so restricted by his rule of law. THey know he is there, that he deserves glory, and they don’t want to give it up… They feel oppressed to even be associated with God’s people on Eath that they seek to cast off any assocation with Him whatsoever. They themselves desire to be their own god…

Which is the desire of our own heart. Thats why we must submit. Because naturally, you and I are born tyrant kings. We are born with the stain of sin thinking that we have the right to be god… And unless corrected, we end up as leaders of our own kingdom who rather than obey God, believe ourselves to be God.

But what is God’s response? He laughs… These measly kings who are on earth have no idea what they are doing. Yahweh, who sits in the heavens. High above all of the Earth. In a different realm even. He laughs at them, and mocks them. Psalm 113:4

Psalm 113:4 ESV

The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens!

The point is, that God looks at the hearts of these people and sees thier plans as ridiculous.

Psalm 113 continues Psalm 113:5-9

Psalm 113:5–9 ESV

Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people. He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord!

But He speaks to them in his anger, and terrifies them in His fury…He laughs not because he is happy, but because he is a jealous God.

Isaiah 42:8 (ESV)

I am the Lord; that is my name;

my glory I give to no other,

Think of God speaking to Nebuchadnezzar, or His prophetic messages to the nations surrounding Israel. He warns them. What is His message? Well let me ask you this, what is the greatest threat for a King who is so proud that he thinks he come against God? the greatest threat is to lose his position. His power.

And God tells them, You plan this, but as for me, I do not flinch at your plan. I have set up, or installed, MY King… He is upon Zion, my Holy, Eternal Mountain. Yes, I have set up an eternal Kingdom, that will come to earth and dash to pieces your Kingdoms you thought so high and mighty.

Verse 7. We come to the prophet who records the metaphoric, phrophetic words the Father or God has said to His son, the King. You are my Son. He is of the same kind as Yahweh. We see here the prophetic calling of the second person of the trinity. This is the Son of God. The Chosen King. The Annointed one, the messiah who comes to rule and reign His people eternally.

The nations are his inheritance. All of the earth is his. Colossians 1:15-17

Colossians 1:15–17 ESV

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

My friends, consider this, that bullet that pierced Trumps ear last saturday was not a miracle. It was not luck. It went exactly where it was supposed to God. Jesus Christ, holds all things together. He spared the life of Trump and two others and took the life of Corey Comperatore. I don’t know why, because His plans are above my own… But consider this, there are no rouge cellls in our body, no rogue bullets, no breath given to you that was forgotten or a mistake.

God is sovereign. And His Son is sovereign in His rule and reign. So much so that He is given the authority to break these nations with a rod of iron. The picture is a King’s scepter of the strongest material. This shows us His authoritative power over the nations. He will shatter them to pieces like a potters vessel. Now, why would one do that with an inheritance? He is not removing all of creation, but crushing the rebellion. The whole message of Psalm 2 is not to those people who fear God and serve God. In fact, it is metaphorically written by God’s people… It is a worldview of God’s people.

This is a message to the rebellious, the unruly, those who have no allegience to God. This is the urgency of Paul’s urging in 1 Timothy 2:1… This is sure to happen! There is a price to pay that you can’t afford, and you will be crushed under the debt required for your sin!

So we get to the last stanza, verse 10. What this has all been building to. The author calls the Kings and rulers to show actual wisdom. God warns them. He desires all men to be saved… Not all men will be saved, but he desires them to be saved, so He tells them what to do!

You see, they think themselves wise to make their battle plans, and store up their weapons, and plot and provision to come against God. But God says, stop playing your war games, true insight, true kingly wisdom would be to serve Yahweh with fear and rejoice with trembling. Would you like to keep your position over your nation? You can, by submitting to me as the highest authority. Come to me oh king, come to me oh ruler and serve me in your role that I have given you and I can take away.

To serve is to worship. To obey the commands of God and align yourselves with Him alone. Fearing God, in a nutshell is to align yourself with God. To see that He alone holds the power of life and death, and in a great mix of emotions, in a sense of love, and amazement, and literal shrinking fear, and trembling, you turn to Him and serve Him. Isaiah 66:2

Isaiah 66:2 ESV

All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

Now, we get to verse 12. The outward sign of a person, or a nation, serving God and aligning yourself with Him is to “Kiss the Son”. To come to the feet of the king, to ay honor to his banner, his kingdom. It is to recongize, and worship and bow down and ascribe glory and honor and literally sign over your life to the Son of God.

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way. The Son of God will come to earth, and when He comes he will dash all rebellion to pieces. Will you be among those broken vessles? Take heart though, God’s wrath may soon be kindled. Kiss the Son.

How blessed, how happy are those who take refuge in Him. Not with him. Not taking refuge beside Him. But in Him. He becomes the source of protection. The author knows it well, he began with that question of amazement. He knows the power, and strength, and eternal rule of the Lord.

Now, what do we do with this? We must see in this greatly important Psalm that there is a message to the nations...that includes you, you are part of a nation. You have a ruler that represents you, that God holds responsible, but you are included. There is a message to the nations that there is ONE God. He is sovereign. And the only way to be at peace with Him is through His Son.

So the application here is this… Our worldview as Christians, and our message as Christians must contain this merciful truth: That the natural man stands opposed to God, and will be destroyed by God, but God offers them mercy through His Son in order to save them.

So the application is both applicable nationalistically, and personally.

Nationalistically it is tempting for us in our nation to think, ah we are a christian nation. We are not lost... My friends, we are a far cry away from “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights”…

At our founding, yes, we believed that. You want to know how I know we believed that? Not just because we declared it… But because people died for it. Suffered and sacrified for the cause of the creator. But how many people are standing up with that message today? And that is only part of the message. Part one, there is one God, His name is Yahweh, He is creator, He is sovereign, but my friends if we don’t get part two down, part one doesn’t do us much good.

Part two is this, that Yahweh has a Savior, a King. Part two is that mankind requires a mediator between them and God, and God has one! He has ascribed that mediator as His annoined, His Son, Jesus. Jesus stands between man and God, he takes the hands of the humbled person who has come to His feet begging refuge and joins them with His Father’s hand. He is the mighty king who shed His blood to make peace between man and almighty God. He is the only authority you can come under that is pleasing to God. He alone is the only source of safety from the wrath of God.

This application is personal too. For nothing in your life will have the full stamp of eternal approval from God the Father on it until you have kissed the son in allegience to Him. Sure, we might make our life work. We have a nice house, a nice job, a productive garden, a good looking family, a full photo album of memories etc. We can muster up enough strength and common sense to make our life seem profitable. But the true test is the eternal one.

Is God pleased with your life? Or is He mocking you? Are you hidden in the refuge of Christ, or do you stand exposed and vulnerable to His wrath?

Forget the pledge of alligence to the united states of America for a moment, do you pledge your alligence to Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, who will is the only way to be at peace with God? Have you aligned yourself with the King of the nations who sits entroned in Heaven and is preparing His return to Earth with fire in His eyes? Have you made peace with the Christ who will make war with those who are aligned under another’s rule?

Here is the warning to those of you still trusting in princes,and horses, and chariots, and laws to save you. Kiss the son. Blessed are those who take refuge in them.