The Lord is King (Psalm 2)
Notes
Transcript
The Lord is King
1 Why are the nations so angry?
Why do they waste their time with futile plans?
2 The kings of the earth prepare for battle;
the rulers plot together
against the Lord
and against his anointed one.
3 “Let us break their chains,” they cry,
“and free ourselves from slavery to God.”
4 But the one who rules in heaven laughs.
The Lord scoffs at them.
5 Then in anger he rebukes them,
terrifying them with his fierce fury.
6 For the Lord declares, “I have placed my chosen king on the throne
in Jerusalem,* on my holy mountain.”
7 The king proclaims the Lord’s decree:
“The Lord said to me, ‘You are my son.*
Today I have become your Father.*
8 Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance,
the whole earth as your possession.
9 You will break* them with an iron rod
and smash them like clay pots.’ ”
10 Now then, you kings, act wisely!
Be warned, you rulers of the earth!
11 Serve the Lord with reverent fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Submit to God’s royal son,* or he will become angry,
and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities—
for his anger flares up in an instant.
But what joy for all who take refuge in him!
Let’s change our perspective
There is a lot going on in our country and world right now
There is a contested election. There are claims of voter fraud, there are claims of stubborn arrogance
Many in our country are thinking that the election will solve our problems
If Harris wins everything will be ok
If Trump wins everything will be ok
That is HOGWASH!
The problems in our country are deeper than the solutions those two can provide
At best, they only provide partial solutions
The problem is sin! Trump cannot fix it, and neither can Harris.
Only Jesus Christ can!
This is why we need a new perspective. We have been looking to the wrong person/people to lead us and solve our problems!
No matter who is president, the Lord is still King!!
1 Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? 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.” 4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. 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.” 7 I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father. 8 Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.” 10 Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. 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. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
1 Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. 2 For the Lord Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth. 3 He subdued nations under us, peoples under our feet. 4 He chose our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loved. 5 God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets. 6 Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. 7 For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. 8 God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne. 9 The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted.
1 Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. 3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters. 4 The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic. 5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. 6 He makes Lebanon leap like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox. 7 The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning. 8 The voice of the Lord shakes the desert; the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh. 9 The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in his temple all cry, “Glory!” 10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as King forever. 11 The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.
1 The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength; indeed, the world is established, firm and secure. 2 Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity. 3 The seas have lifted up, Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. 4 Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea— the Lord on high is mighty. 5 Your statutes, Lord, stand firm; holiness adorns your house for endless days.
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
4 John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
14 They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”
So, let’s get back to the solution…
Do you remember in 1 Samuel 8 what happened?
Samuel was a judge and prophet. His job was to listen to God and settle disputes for people and speak for God. As he was getting old, the people begged for a king. Samuel insisted that this was a terrible idea, but the people begged all the more. The people declared they wanted a king so that they could be like everyone else! They no longer wanted to be different! God declared that the people were not rejecting Samuel, but they were rejecting God. God instructed Samuel to warn the people and to give them what they wanted.
I feel we have stepped into a similar situation in our country. We have rejected God and have looked to human leaders to solve our problems. If we want our country to be healed, then our country MUST return to God’s ways! I know a lot of people like to justify ways that are not godly, but I am declaring that if our country wants to be different it must return to God.
But, this isn’t a simple message about what people in our country should do. I believe that Jesus did not come to establish another political realm. Jesus came to establish HIS KINGDOM of which we are a part of while we live in the kingdoms of earth.
36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
No matter what happens in and to the United States, it is NOT our Kingdom. We, as Christian, belong to a greater Kingdom with a greater King!
We are EXILES in Babylon.
There are many Babylons in our world, and of all the Babylons, the United States IS my Favorite - yes. But, we have a greater allegiance than to the United States...
20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Heaven is another way of saying God’s Kingdom/Realm.
In writing to the church in Philippi, Paul is aware that to be a Roman citizen was considered a great and boastful thing. Paul himself was a Roman citizen and he was able to use that for his advantage. The people in Philippi were citizens of Rome because Philippi was a territory of Rome. The people felt it an honor to be considered Roman citizens.
Paul is NOT saying it isn’t an honor to be a Roman citizen or a citizen of any nation. However, he is REMINDING all of us that WE HAVE A GREATER CITIZENSHIP WITH A GREATER HONOR!
Because of this, we are only AMBASSADORS from God’s Kingdom to the kingdoms and people we live in and among on earth!
20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
As an ambassador, our allegiance is to our citizenship in God’s Kingdom - not the USA or any other country!
Now, this doesn’t mean we cannot be patriotic at the right time and right place. I LOVE reciting the pledge of allegiance.
I tear up when I sing/listen to the Star Spangled Banner.
I will ALWAYS stand for the flag and honor those who have had it drape their caskets in death.
BUT, my greatest duty is NOT to the USA but to GOD who is KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS!
There will be a day when our Great King Returns! Hallelujah!!!
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
When He returns, EVERYONE will declare Him as King. EVERYONE will see the truth that He is KING above ALL KINGS!
16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords.
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Yeah, so everyone will declare Him as King. But, that doesn’t mean everyone will enter the Kingdom.
It is when we recognize his Kingship BEFORE that day that we have entrance into His Kingdom.
It is when we recognize Him not only as King over every other king, BUT WHEN WE RECOGNIZE CHRIST AS OUR KING that we are invited into the realm of His Kingdom!
So, our perspective needs to change and adjust.
We need to live our lives with God as our king.
We need to spend our time reading God’s words and decrees and living them out.
Having a common King must unite us! In days of great division, our world will be looking at the Global Church to see whether we are united! Our Unite MUST be attractive to the world.
But, if we are supposed to be united with our King, but then have disunity over political parties, election results...
but, let’s hit a little closer to home… song styles, clothing styles, chairs vs pews, carpet color, mask/no mask. These are petty things that divide us. It is time we come back together in UNITY and put divisive ways behind us!
I would love to see our country united again!
I would love to see us forget about political parties and come back together.
I would love to see news reporters stop reporting on disunity and reporting on acts of unity. That would be great!
But, the truth is, the disunity is disrupting the church.
I would really love to see the church united at the throne of King Jesus.
I would love to see the church LOVE each other in a sacrificial way where we set aside our wants and desires so that sinners are welcome to know Jesus.
That is/should be OUR desire and goal.
It is NOT about who is president. Yes, we have our personal thoughts and opinions on the matter.
HOWEVER, what is more important is whether we live our lives as if Jesus is King NO MATTER WHO IS PRESIDENT!
Church, our job is to BE THE CHURCH, no matter who is in charge of our civic governments and no matter what the consequences are. We are called to be the church. PERIOD!
