Come Under the King’s Mercy Psalm 2
Notes
Transcript
Psalm 2
Subject: Kingship
Theme: Unshakable Kingship
Thesis: The King whom the world resists is the King in whom sinners are invited to find refuge.
Principle Statement: True blessing is found in submitting to Christ’s rule and taking refuge in Him.
Main Point - Jesus reigns!
Introduction
Most of us I’m sure are familiar with the name C.S. Lewis.
He has written some well know books - Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity, Screwtape Letters.
Did you know though that C. S. Lewis spent years rejecting Christianity.
He was intelligent, well-read, and capable of answering weak arguments.
But over time, the evidence he had tried to dismiss kept pressing in on him.
When Lewis finally acknowledged God, he did not describe the moment as cheerful or easy.
He wrote that he “gave in” and admitted that God was God, calling himself the most reluctant convert in England.
He understood that believing in God meant more than changing an opinion.
It meant surrendering his claim to run his own life.
There is something almost humorous in that picture.
Lewis resisted, argued, delayed, and looked for another explanation.
Yet God was already there.
Lewis’s objections did not make God less real, and his reluctance did not make God less worthy of trust.
Most of us do something similar on a smaller scale.
We may not reject God’s existence outright, but we resist His right to rule a particular part of life.
Psalm 2 takes that resistance and places it on the world stage.
Nations rage, rulers gather, and kings make their plans.
Yet God’s King is already established.
The question is not whether He will reign.
The question is whether we will continue resisting Him—or find refuge in Him.
The King whom the world resists is the King in whom sinners are invited to find refuge.
True blessing is found in submitting to Christ’s rule and taking refuge in Him.
1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” 7 I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” 10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Psalm background -
Psalm background -
Psalm 2 is closely connected to Psalm 1.
Both Jewish and Christian traditions indicate they were once considered one psalm.
The two are separate psalms in our Bibles.
But both stand together as the introduction to the Psalms.
This Psalm here does not tell us the who the author is directly but in Acts 4 of the NT we find it quoted.
24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “ ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? 26 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
Messianic/ Royal Psalm
The royal psalms focus on Israel’s King, usually David, showing him in his position as the wise, godly leader of the nation. Scholars do not agree on which psalms are royal psalms, but a list should include: Pss 2; 18; 20–21; 45; 72; 89; 101; 110; 132; 144. Many of these may also be called “Messianic” psalms because David (and any of his royal descendants) was a forerunner of the great Messiah (see “anointed,” 2:2).
Use in the NT.
Psalm 2 ranks among the most frequently referenced psalms in the New Testament, though the exact count varies slightly depending on how allusions are counted.
The psalm appears as a direct quotation or indirect reference seven times across Matthew 3:17 (paralleled in Mark 1:11 and Luke 3:22), Matthew 17:5 (paralleled in Mark 9:7 and Luke 9:35), Acts 4:24–26, Acts 13:33, Hebrews 1:5, Hebrews 5:5, and Revelation 2:27, with at least five additional allusions in John 1:49, Hebrews 1:2, Revelation 12:5, Revelation 19:15, and Revelation 19:191.
The World Resists the LORD’s King
The World Resists the LORD’s King
Psalm 2 begins with a question:
“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?”
David is looking at kings who cannot control tomorrow, cannot stop themselves from aging, and cannot guarantee another breath,
yet imagine they can overthrow the God who made heaven and earth.
The question carries disbelief: Do they really think this will work?
The word translated “rage” can describe a noisy gathering.
Picture a crowd feeding on its own anger—one voice rises, another repeats it more sharply, and soon nobody is examining the claim anymore.
Then the peoples “plot.”
That word comes from same Hebrew root used in Psalm 1 when the blessed man “meditates” on the law of the LORD.
In Psalm 1, a man rehearses God’s Word.
In Psalm 2, the nations rehearse rebellion.
Both are shaped by what they keep repeating.
Rebellion seldom begins with someone shaking a fist at heaven. More often, it starts quietly:
“I should not have to forgive after what was done.”
“If I do not hold everything together, it will fall apart.”
“I know what Scripture says, but surely my situation is different.”
Those murmurings compound and grow, become deliberate and spills out to others.
Which is what verse 2 shows.
Verse 2 shows that this rebellion is deliberate.
The kings “set themselves,” and the rulers “take counsel together.”
Men who normally fight each other find common cause against the LORD and His Anointed.
Acts 4 says this came to fulfillment when Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel gathered against Jesus.
They are standing against the Lord’s anointed.
The Hebrew word translated “Anointed” is Messiah; its New Testament counterpart is Christ.
In the Old Testament, prophets, priests, and kings were anointed for service.
Here the Anointed One is the King, and in the future it is fulfilled finally in Jesus Christ.
Psalm 2 is not only about unbelievers or hostile governments.
Religious people resisted Jesus too.
We can make that connection because this is a messianic psalm and we know that people who knew Scripture and believed they were protecting what mattered opposed the King God sent.
That lands close to home.
We may want Christ to rule the nation while refusing His rule over our temper, our marriage, or an old grudge.
Sometimes resistance sounds responsible.
A worried parent calls control faithfulness.
A spouse calls avoidance peacekeeping.
A wounded person calls bitterness wisdom.
The labels may contain some truth, which is why the questions are hard:
Am I being careful, or afraid?
Am I setting a boundary, or refusing to forgive?
Am I setting myself against the Lord and his Anointed?
Verse 3 names the lie beneath it all:
“Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”
The nations see God’s rule as bondage.
We do the same whenever His command stands between us and the life we want.
God says sex belongs within marriage; the world hears restriction.
God says forgive; we hear surrender.
God says money is entrusted to us; we say, “I earned it.”
Yet throwing off God’s authority never leaves us free.
The impatient man becomes ruled by anger.
The unfaithful person becomes ruled by secrecy.
The unforgiving person keeps reliving a wound long after the other person has moved on.
Sin offers false independence.
The appearance of freedom.
But then it collects obedience.
We are placed into bondage to sin.
Unlike sin though, God’s commands are not ropes meant to choke life out of us.
They are more like a fence along a steep drop or a doctor’s diet restrictions after a heart attack.
The boundary may frustrate us, but the goal is life.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
Christ does not offer Himself only as help when the doctor calls, comfort at a graveside, or forgiveness when guilt grows heavy.
He is the LORD’s Anointed. He is King.
The nations are raging, plotting, gathering, and speaking.
We might expect heaven to be anxious.
Instead, the scene shifts—and God is sitting.
The LORD Is Not Threatened by Their Rebellion
The LORD Is Not Threatened by Their Rebellion
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
Not only sitting, but laughing.
Look at verse 4 again.
God sits sovereignly and in complete control.
Notice the contrast - Nations raging and plotting, sitting together, taking counsel from one another and God is sitting.
Sitting in the heavens.
Not distant or uncaring, but beyond the reach of their rebellion.
2 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
and answers
3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
These people denying him, plotting together causes the Lord to laugh.
God is amused at the pathetic attempts of man to impeach Him.
This is the laughter of someone watching a toddler throwing a fit and laying on the floor.
The child is fully convinced that its resistance will settle the matter.
There may be a lot of noise and effort on the toddlers part but a wise parent is not wondering which one of them will finally prevail.
B. God exposes the foolishness of rebellion
These people believe they can tear apart God’s purposes, create a world in which they answer to no one.
But what they are doing is mistaking noise for authority.
We make that mistake too.
A loud voice can make a weak argument feel strong.
An angry crowd can make a false idea feel inevitable.
When the same opinion appears on every screen, comes through every headline, and is repeated by people with important titles, it can begin to feel like reality itself has changed.
But repetition does not create truth.
A hundred people can call darkness light. The room remains dark.
A legislature can legalize what God forbids. It cannot make it righteous.
A culture can shame obedience and celebrate rebellion.
It cannot change the verdict of heaven.
God laughs and holds them in derision.
Derision here means God is acting in a jesting manner, not making fun of but commenting on their foolish attempt because He knows they can't win.
Imagine some kids on the playground saying, "We're going to be the bosses of the whole school! We'll tell the teachers what to do and make all the rules!"
They're acting really big and tough, but everyone knows it's impossible—they're just being silly.
In Psalm 2:4, bad kings and important people on earth were teaming up and saying, "We don't want God to be in charge! Let's fight against Him and His chosen king!"
God’s enemies mock and jeer, and God turns their behavior back on them, mocking and jeering at their futility.
This language is meant to convey divine confidence.
He's way stronger and wiser than all of them put together.
12 The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, 13 but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.
Verse 5 - He speaks in wrath and fury saying “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
God is not just the God of love. God is also a God of wrath.
A.W. TOZER said, “God’s wrath is His righteousness reacting against unrighteousness.”
We are often uncomfortable with the wrath of God.
Human anger is usually mixed with sin.
We know what it is to lose our temper over something small.
We speak too sharply because we are tired.
We bring yesterday’s frustration into today’s conversation.
We punish one child more severely than another because our patience has worn thin.
Our anger can be selfish, uninformed, and out of proportion.
God’s anger is none of those things.
He never wakes up in a bad mood. He does not misunderstand what happened.
He does not hear one side of the story and react before learning the rest.
His wrath is His holy opposition to evil.
And what God speaks is to declare what is already sure.
6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
The nations intentions are to reject God altogether.
“Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”
God answers with what He has already done:
“I have set my King.”
God’s decree is settled.
God has chosen a king to rule the nations.
He has set this king in Zion, his holy hill.
This refers to both a specific location on earth and a transcendent place in heaven.
This is God’s word to human rebellion: It’s too late!
Any hope of preventing Christ’s kingship is gone.
You may try to reject me and my plans, but they are already set in motion.
The Son Will Reign Over All the Earth
The Son Will Reign Over All the Earth
In verse 7, the king who the Lord has set speaks.
7 I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
In the Old Testament, the Davidic king could be called God’s son because he ruled as God’s appointed representative.
But Psalm 2 reaches beyond David and beyond any ordinary king who sat on his throne.
David ruled a small nation surrounded by enemies.
His sons failed, divided the kingdom, and eventually lost the throne. None of them received the ends of the earth.
Jesus does.
The NT takes verse 7 and uses it in multiple places to show the authority of Jesus.
5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”?
This shows Jesus deity.
32 And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, 33 this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, “ ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’
This is a reference to the resurrection.
Phil 2:9-11 refers to the majesty of Jesus.
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus is not simply another ruler in David’s family line.
He is the culmination of God’s promise.
As such the nations belong to Him.
The Father gives his Son the nations as an inheritance – the same nations that rage divine authority.
The Father further offers his Son the ends of the earth as his possession.
This verse prophesies that the kingdom of Christ will ultimately extend to the very ends of the earth.
It helps to get us out of our insular bubble of our small part of God’s kingdom.
Sometimes the kingdom of Christ feels small from where we stand.
A church may look thin on Sunday morning.
A few families are gone.
We can begin measuring the kingdom by what we can see in one room.
Psalm 2 will not let us do that.
The Father has promised the Son the nations.
Those who persist in resisting the Son will eventually discover that His rule cannot be overturned.
Look at verse 9 again.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
That language is severe.
We should not soften it until it says something more comfortable.
A clay vessel cannot withstand an iron rod.
Persistent rebellion will not end in a negotiated settlement between equals.
Christ is patient, but He is not weak.
We sometimes confuse those things.
Because judgment does not fall immediately, we assume it may never come.
But patience is not permission.
Jesus is not merely offering to become King; He is the King, and every person will finally encounter His authority.
If the Son’s reign is certain and His judgment is irresistible, what hope is there for those who have resisted Him?
The final movement of the psalm gives a warning, but it also gives an invitation.
The LORD Invites Rebels to Find Refuge in the King
The LORD Invites Rebels to Find Refuge in the King
What should the kings and rulers of the earth do?
10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
The first call is to be wise.
They thought they were being wise.
But it was wise in their own eyes.
7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
This sentiment is found frequently in proverbs.
12 Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
Paul instructs in Rom 12
16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
This warning reaches us too.
Being wise in our own eyes may look like interrupting because we assume our point matters more,
entering a conversation having already judged the other person’s motives, or refusing advice because we have decided we know enough.
Pride is not always loud.
Sometimes it is the quiet certainty that we cannot be corrected.
So the question is not merely, “Were these rulers foolish?”
Where have I become unteachable?
Be wise, and be warned.
We sometimes think of warnings as harsh, especially when they are plain.
If a bridge is washed out ahead, a neighbor does not wave politely and hope you notice.
They step into the road flash lights. shout through the window.
The urgency is not anger. The danger is real.
Verse 11 says, “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” There are two commands here.
First, SINNERS SHOULD CHANGE THEIR WAYS.
“Serve the LORD with fear.”
Serving the LORD “with fear” does not mean living as though God is waiting to strike us over every mistake. It means we stop treating Him casually.
He is not one voice among several, to be considered when convenient.
The verse also says to rejoice with trembling.
A parent holds a newborn with delight, but also suddenly feel the weight of responsibility.
When two people stand before each other to get married, they are making vows to one another that will shape the rest of their lives.
We are to rejoice in God.
Yet to know who God is should cause you to tremble at the thought of his holiness, justice and authority.
This results in action towards the anointed king.
12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.
The kiss pictures homage, allegiance, and willing submission to the King.
When a vanquished ruler surrendered to a conquering monarch, he would vow his allegiance with a kiss on the cheek, hand, or feet.
For some, that means turning from open unbelief.
For others, the resistance is quieter. We obey in the areas that cost little and keep negotiating where obedience would require apology, surrender, or change.
Where are we still saying, “Anything but that”?
The warning is serious:
There is urgency in this verse as well.
12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.
The road of rebellion does not end in freedom.
Psalm 1 said the way of the wicked will perish.
Psalm 2 says the rebel will perish while walking that way.
While Psalm 1 started with a statement about the blessed man - this psalm ends with a statement of blessing.
12 Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
This is the surprise at the end of the psalm.
The King with the iron rod also offers refuge.
We do not escape Christ’s authority; we find safety by submitting to His mercy.
The rebels are invited to run to the very King they resisted.
That is the gospel in this psalm.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Jonah knew what God wanted him to do.
God told him to go to Nineveh.
Jonah went down to the harbor, paid the fare, stepped onto a ship, and headed in the opposite direction.
He was not confused about God’s will.
He did not need another sign or more time to pray about it. Jonah understood the command.
He simply did not like where obedience would take him.
And Jonah had his reasons.
Nineveh was violent.
Its people were enemies of Israel. Jonah knew that if he preached and they repented, God might show them mercy.
Later, Jonah admits that this is exactly why he ran.
He did not want God to be gracious to those people.
From Jonah’s point of view, God’s plan seemed wrong.
So he resisted.
He chose the ship. God sent the storm.
He went down into the sea. God appointed the fish.
He tried to get away from Nineveh. God brought him back to the same assignment.
Jonah could make the journey harder.
He could bring fear into the lives of the sailors around him. He could spend three days in the darkness of the fish.
What he could not do was overthrow the purpose of God.
Nineveh still heard the warning.
God’s mercy was still extended.
Jonah eventually discovered that God’s plan was already in motion—and that God understood the situation better than he did.
Psalm 2 places that same struggle on a much larger stage.
The kings resist. The nations rage. They gather together and announce that they will throw off God’s rule.
Yet God has already established His King.
The question is not whether Christ will reign. He will.
The question is what we will do with Him.
Some people resist Christ openly. They want no part of His authority. Others resist Him in quieter ways. We come to church.
We sing. We believe the right things.
But there may still be one command we keep sailing away from.
Perhaps you know you need to forgive someone, but you have spent years explaining why this case is different.
Perhaps you need to confess something you have carefully kept hidden.
Maybe you are trying to control a child, a marriage, a ministry, or an uncertain future because trusting Christ feels too risky.
You may have good reasons. Jonah had reasons too.
But reasons do not become wisdom simply because we have repeated them for a long time.
Psalm 2 says:
“Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.”
Stop and reconsider the direction you are traveling.
Where are you resisting the King?
What has Christ plainly said that you are still negotiating?
What would it look like—not someday, but today—to bow to Him there?
The psalm does not merely say, “Stop rebelling.” It gives us somewhere to go:
“Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
You do not need to run farther. You do not need to defend yourself more carefully or prove that your way was reasonable.
Turn around.
Submit to the King whose rule is good.
Bring Him the fear, the wound, the sin, and the part of life you have been trying to hold together without Him.
The King whom the world resists is the King in whom sinners are invited to find refuge.
Do not keep sailing in the wrong direction.
Come to Christ.
Bow before Him.
And find that His rule is not the end of freedom, but the beginning of life.
