Why Do the Nations Rage?

Psalm 2 ESV

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 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.

Introduction

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The season of Pentecost is a long one. We have now switched to the non-festival portion of the Church year, sometimes called the “time of the Church.” Because of this, it lends itself to sermon series, sometimes not related to the texts which are appointed for the day. We are going to embark on such a series this week, and it will last for 10 weeks. It will be a series of sermons on selected Psalms. One doesn’t often have the opportunity to either preach or hear sermons on the Psalms, yet they are the “hymn book of the Scriptures” containing poems sung by the Lord’s people from the time of Moses on.

One mistake that you can make when you read the Psalms is that you may be tempted to write yourself into their story. But they’re not talking about you. They’re talking about Jesus, the Messiah King, who comes bearing forgiveness, love, and salvation; sometimes judgment and wrath, and fulfills them all. They’re all about Jesus. And yet, you have been baptized in Christ Jesus, so He has fulfilled them for you. Because of it, the words directly apply to our lives through Him and Him alone.

Secondly, the Psalms that will be chosen will specifically and directly speak to loss, depression, anger, and hurt— things that we experience in our daily lives that were only intensified during our forced time apart due to the outbreak of COVID. COVID is a real disease, to be sure, now it seems that my mother’s death may have been due to this back in March. And yet the response to this disease by the medical field, science, and the government are at best confusing and at worst conspiratorial in nature.

Restrictions on the basic things of life— like even hugging each other or gathering together to worship the Lord, have touched us all in a not-good way. Yes, we voluntarily did our part to stem its spread. But now it seems that the door has been opened against the Church— and ultimately against the Lord and His Anointed. For instance, the mayor of New York City has declared that if Churches go against his decrees they will never open again. I have no doubt he will try to make good on that promise.

The Governor of Michigan— who has publically stated her hatred toward Christians and the Church-- has been given a golden opportunity to keep her foot on the neck of Christians in a region that was minimally effected by this virus. The door has been opened, beloved, to attack the Church, and in doing so attack the Head of the Church, the Son, the King, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. We must talk about these things as His followers. They are nothing new, the Church has endured attacks, persecution , and even death over the centuries. The Constitution of our Country has afforded us the freedom to boldly speak of Christ in the Public Square and worship Him without fear. But that freedom is under direct attack right now and you need to realize this. But our response will always be the same. Last week we sang it in our Hymn of the Day: “Theirs not a jeweled crown, a blood stained sword; Theirs, by sweet love, for Christ a Kingdom won.” We share the Gospel. And we must obey God rather than man.

Why do the Nations rage?

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

One of the things I love to do during the summer is to read and expand my knowledge on theological issues so that I can be a better pastor for you. The first book I am reading this summer is by a Baptist pastor and theologian, the president of Southern Theological Seminary, Dr. Alfred Mohler. The book is entitled, The Growing Storm. In it he addresses the growing tide of secularism that is enveloping our culture that has less and less use for Christianity. He sums it up in his first chapter:

The story of the rise of secularism is a stunning intellectual and moral revolution. It defies exaggeration. We must recognize that it is far more perasive than we might want to believe, for this intellectual revolution has changed the worldviews of even many of those who believe themselves to be opposed to it. If nothing else, many relgious believers in modern societies now operate as theological and ideological consumers, constantly shopping for new intellectual clothing, even as they believe themselves to be traditional believers...

Christian ministers, theologians and thinkers who stand on Biblical authority break the rules by engaging the culture based on the self-revelation of a self-existent God with ultimate moral authority who has addressed his creatures with oughts and who does and will finally judge according to his laws and commands. This culture grows more and more resistant to God— any god— who would speak to us with words such as “Thou shalt” and “Thou shalt not.” The fact that Christians enter every conversation as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who are bound by biblical revelation means they cannot begin without breaking the new rules. And we must remember those who break the rules are not welcome by those who make the rules.

There is nothing new about this cultural shift. It continues to repeat itself throughout human history. King David makes this clear in the Second Psalm: Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

The nations have always raged. Sometimes they have raged in sin: The people of Noah’s Day, Sodom and Gomorrah, Israel worshiping false gods and intermingling with the Gentiles. Sometimes they have raged in war. The barbaric kings of the Gentiles. The corrupt kings of Israel.

Why do the nations rage? This is really a rhetorical question. You know the answer to this question. Because of sin. When sin entered the world it brought not only our own sinfulness and ultimate death; it brought along with it lawlessness, rage, war, hatred, prejudice, and every other bad situation. The same sin that lurks in your heart is the seed of the raging nations.

When David wrote this psalm, it appears that it is an extension of Psalm 1. He didn’t number the Psalms so there very well may be a break in the contest that he wanted us to understand. Psalm 1 talks about the difference between the blessed— those who delight in the Law of the Lord, and the wicked— the ones who are like the chaff that the wind blows away, the ones who will ultimately perish “on” or “in” the way. These wicked are the ragers.

Their rage is in vain. But It is very specific:

Against the Lord and His Anointed:

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”

Their rage is against the Lord and His Anointed (ultimately Jesus). They see His rule and His law as bonds and cords that bind them, preventing them from doing more evil. But they seek to get out of the handcuffs of the law. And they do. Their lawlessness and hatred toward the Lord and His own become a rallying point for them.

There’s a saying that “controversy makes for strange bedfellows.” For instance, several decades ago, there was a fight against pornography before the United States Supreme Court. The co-complaintants were the National Organization for Women and Jerry Falwell’s “Moral Majority.” Two groups that would never agree on anything and two groups that held each other in disdain. But, when it came to pornography, they both stood against it and signed the complaint together— albeit for different reasons. NOW was against it because it degraded women; the Moral majority was against it because it went against Biblical teaching.

The psalmist implies here that even nations who hate each other join in their common hatred against the Lord and His Anointed. So the Lord allows the handcuffs to be removed.

I believe that this points to the time that Jesus refers to in the Revelation where “after the thousand years he (Satan) will be loosed for ten days” corresponding to the tribulation in the world against the Church. In otherwords, after the “Time of the Church”- that is the figurative 1,000 years where Jesus reigns on earth through the forgiveness of sins in the Church- the devil will receive back all of his power to deceive the elect— if that were possible (it is).

Bottom line, their fight against you is not really against you. It is against the Lord. And it is most certainly against His only begotten Son, the Word Made Flesh, the Christ, that is, the Anointed One.

Is this now? I dare not say. I do not know God’s timing. But it is certainly a foretaste of that time of which Daniel says, “..there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been sine there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered.” It is this deliverance upon which our hope is set. And it is in God’s anointed, Jesus.

I Have Set my King on My Holy Hill

“As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.

God is still in control. He has always been in Control. All creation is His. And all who are Baptized and have faith in Jesus are His. We are a part of the Kingdom of that King that sits on a Holy Hill in Zion.

But that Hill is not just referring to the Temple Mount. But that “hill far away” where stood “the old rugged cross.”

That King, the text tells us, is God’s only begotten Son, Jesus.

He reigns from the Tree. The raging nations think they got their way. They went against the Lord and His anointed, freed from God’s law in their minds, and nailed Him to that Tree.

There He dies. For you, for me. The true ragers against Him. We share the lot of the nations who rage. Our sin causes us to take counsel against the Lord and His anointed. Our sin causes us to cast off the cord and the bond of the Law, and can entice us to sin thinking that if grace abounds, then sin all the more. The war wages within. But the Cross stops it in its tracks. It removes the sin that makes us raise our fists. It takes away the death that comes from God’s rage against sin.

God tells us to “Kiss the Son”. That is a show of obedience. It is a call to honor Jesus as Lord in our lives. We now serve the Lord in fear and rejoice in trembling because we know who we are deep down. But the Son changes our status before the Father. Through faith we are those who are blessed, who take refuge in Him.

So What are We to Do?

Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. If your neighbor asks for your cloak give him your coat as well. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life. He who endures to the end will be saved. I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In short, “go out into the world in peace, have courage, return no one evil for evil, strengthen the faint hearted, support the weak, help the suffering, honor all people, and the blessing of God almighty the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be upon you. Amen.