The Reign of the Lord's Anointed (Psalm 2)

Announcements

Ending Zoom services and changing those services to online live-streaming services on YouTube. What this means is that we will no longer utilize the video conferencing services that we’ve been utilizing since we started Wednesday evening services. This is partially because utilizing Zoom hasn’t really been accessible for many people within our congregation. This means that instead, it’ll be like Sunday morning services where it’s live-streamed on YouTube. We just won’t have a congregation meeting in-person until we’re able to move into a permanent location. If you have prayer requests that you would like us to pray for, you can either email them to us at [e-mail] or comment on this video on YouTube.

Speaking of a permanent location—we did hear from the building manager for the property located at 110 E Pine St. From what I understand, the landlord has agreed to make the few repair requests that we’ve asked her to concerning the need of a working emergency exit and the flooring repairs. It also seems as if she approves of the cosmetic changes that we told her that we would be able to handle. We’re essentially waiting for the contractor to do the work that the landlord has agreed to do and then we can start doing the work that we need to do to get everything ready to have services there. This would include painting, building a small stage, wiring a sound system, and it’s going to include a lot of cleaning. So I’m asking for two things in particular:

The work that needs done, is probably going to cost somewhere around $10,000. I’m reaching out to some other churches, agencies, and private donors to help fund that $10,000; but that is still a large amount of money so I’m asking for us all to pray for that money to come in as quickly as possible so we can start working

Secondly, I need everyone to consider ways that they can help with the work. If you have some ability with painting, we could use you; if you can clean, we can definitely use you, if you can build a small stage, let me know. The building needs a lot of work, but once we get it cleaned and ready to use, I think we could use the building for many years as we continue to grow and as we add a children’s ministry to the church.

One last announcement, I still have 13 tickets left at $9 per person for the Altoona Curve game on August 22nd. We’re utilizing it as an opportunity to fellowship and share life with one another, if you’d like to attend, reach out to me and I’ll give you any information that you might need and you can purchase those tickets from me.

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Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Sermon

Introduction

This evening, we’re continuing on our series through the Psalms in which we’re working line-by-line and verse-by-verse through the first 41 chapters of the book of Psalms. Last week, I gave an introductory sermon in which I gave background information concerning the whole book of Psalms—its purpose, how it’s organized, and how we can apply the psalms to our lives today. We spent the remaining time last week working through Psalm 1 together, which is an anonymous psalm that introduces the whole book of Psalms and it explains to the reader that there are essentially two paths in life—the way of the wicked, which ends in judgment and destruction; and the way of the righteous that leads to blessings and spiritual prosperity.

Psalm 2 was written anonymously, as in no one signed his name to it in the psalm itself, however, from Acts 4, we know that David wrote this psalm. In Acts 4, we see Peter and John being taken captive by the Sanhedrin for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is that well-known passage of Scripture in which the Sanhedrin tells them that they cannot keep preaching the Gospel and they respond with, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, make your own judgment; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” After Peter and John make that statement, the Sanhedrin threaten them some more and then they release them. Peter and John then pray with their friends and within the prayer itself, they make the statement, “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? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed.” So, in their prayer, they quote the psalm that we’re looking at today and they attribute the psalm to David himself.

The psalm itself is considered a royal or kingly psalm because of its focus on the king and the Jewish people have understood Psalm 2 to be connected with Psalm 1 based on the facts that the themes are similar and Psalm 1 begins in a similar way to how Psalm 2 ends—speaking of the man who is blessed. Though my one pushback to that would be that Psalm 1 was written in a way that introduces the whole book of Psalms to the reader and was probably written in Ezra’s day, which would be about a 500-year difference. Of course, the two psalms could be connected without necessarily sharing a common author—I’m just pointing out that there’s a lot of unknowns in determining if they are connected.

Psalm 2 is quoted frequently in the New Testament because of its connection to the Messiah, which I think you’ll see rather easily, but we do need to take time to understand the Psalm in its original context before applying it to the Messiah and then applying it to ourselves. Let’s read the psalm together and then we’ll jump into Scripture.

Psalm 2 ESV

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.

As we study this passage, we’re going to break it into two parts: Vs. 1-6, The Rebellion of the Nations, opens the psalm by introducing us to the idea of the nations raging against the LORD. The psalmist writes about the the people plotting against the LORD and against the Anointed of the LORD and the response of God towards their plotting. Vs. 7-12, The Decree of the LORD and the Psalmist’s Exhortation, then closes the psalm by giving a decree from God with the whole psalm ending with the Psalmist encouraging the people to take refuge in the LORD and to honor the son. The whole psalm should warn against making plans opposing the LORD and it should encourage us to seek refuge in him and pay homage to the LORD.

Prayer for Illumination

The Rebellion of the Nations (1-6)

The psalm starts by posing a question and by setting the stage. The question is, “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?” And the psalmist continues this line of thinking by making the statements that “The Kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed.”

So, the psalmist is pointing out a problem in which the people are intentionally going against both God and God’s Anointed.

Now the Hebrew word that’s translated as Anointed is the word Messiah, which I think you can tell that this has a New Testament application then—that Jesus as the Messiah or the Anointed was plotted against by the people of earth, but remember, this is being written prior to that point and while there is definite messianic meaning here, that isn’t the only meaning of the text.

Every king that was selected by God for Israel was considered his Anointed. Thus, in a literal sense, the psalmist is writing about the nations and the peoples plotting against the king that God has picked to rule Israel.

So the question that the psalmist is posing is really, “Why are the nations raging” and “why do the peoples plot” and “why do the kings of earth set themselves against God and against God’s chosen king.”

Why are the other people set against the king chosen by God?

The reason is given in vs. 3, which describes the kings of earth and the rulers taking counsel together and making the statement, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”

The people of earth wished to be free from the political control of the king chosen by God, which lets be honest, if you consider a bit of Israelite history throughout the Old Testament, it’s clear that the description of the earthly kings isn’t exactly true.

They make it sound as if Israel was oppressing all the other nations and they utilize imagery that makes it seem as if Israel and God’s chosen king had tied all the other kings down.

When in reality, Israel was more often oppressed by the other nations—we just studied through Jonah and Nahum on Sundays in which Nahum specifically gives hope to the Israelites, that Nineveh would soon be judged for their oppression of Israel and the surrounding nations.

They make it sound as if God was oppressing them, but in reality, the historical data doesn’t support their statements. Rather Israel was often oppressed by the kings of the earth.

Nevertheless, this is the accusation from the kings and rulers of the earth.

Vs. 4-6, then shifts to the LORD’s perspective on the opposition from the kings and rulers of the earth. “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.”

Whereas the kings and rulers of earth are opposed to the LORD and seem to think that they can actually oppose the LORD and the LORD’s Anointed, what we see in Vs. 4-6, is that the LORD has little concern for their opposition.

The LORD is in heaven and he is laughing—typically, when someone takes a threat seriously, laughter isn’t how they respond. This shows us that the opposition coming from the people of earth is foolishness in the eyes of the LORD. The fact that the rulers and kings of Israel want to oppose the LORD, causes no fear in the LORD, the LORD is still in control and his authority supersedes anything that the earthly rulers can even imagine doing against God.

God is essentially scoffing at the plans of opposition against him. I can’t help but to think of 1 Corinthians 1:20, “Where is the wise person? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world?”

From the Lord’s perspective, what the kings and rulers of the earth are doing, is utter foolishness.

But because of their direct opposition to both the LORD’s anointed and the LORD himself, God has to respond and the opposition in Psalm 2 is so great, that he responds in wrath and fury. Vs. 5, “Then he [the LORD] 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.’”

Because of their evil plans against the LORD—and let me be clear, to plot against God is evil by the very definition of the word evil—the LORD will speak to them in wrath, which will terrify them in his fury. The rebellion of the people, will be responded to with the anger of the LORD.

And the LORD makes the declaration that his King will be set on Zion, his holy hill—Zion is referred to about 40 times in the book of Psalms. It was originally a Canaanite city conquered by David in 2 Samuel 5:7, but at this point in time, when this psalm was written, it is synonymous to the city of Jerusalem. The term “holy hill” refers to the temple mount on which the temple to Yahweh stood.

So in this context, the LORD is stating that he will set a king in Jerusalem and all will be subject to that king—now in the direct context of this passage, this refers to King David and every king that was anointed by God and followed in the kingly line, but ultimately, this finds its fulfillment in Jesus, David’s greatest descendent and we know that from the very next verse.

What we see in Vs. 1-6, is that the people of earth were in opposition to both the LORD’s anointed as well as the LORD himself. They were so utterly opposed, that they were plotting against the LORD and his anointed—what exactly they were plotting is unknown to us, but it was definitely a plot in which they felt that they could actually win against the LORD, which again referencing 1 Corinthians 1:20, is utter foolishness.

While they’re plotting against the LORD, the LORD is in heaven simply laughing at them for their foolishness, which is precisely what someone who has all control, all power, and all authority would do.

The leader of a large nation doesn’t bow down to the leader of a small town and neither would God who controls the whole universe bow down to a king who has a modicum of power on earth.

In fact, the leader of a large nation would typically disregard the threats of a small town leader unless the small town leader was developing a group of those in opposition to the nation, which is what the kings of earth were trying to do against the LORD.

The LORD already has a plan, but because of their contempt against him, he speaks his plan to them in wrath and fury.

This plan is for God’s anointed king to be set in Jerusalem. And remember, there are two ways to look at this passage, from the perspective of how it was utilized in the Old Testament—as a coronation psalm or a royal psalm and then in light of the New Testament.

From the Old Testament use of the passage, the assumption was that every new king anointed by God would be the Messiah who would save Israel. So, every king selected by Israel after David was considered anointed and it was assumed that this king would lead Israel in the manner of this passage.

From the New Testament, however, we see that this king set on Zion by the LORD is Jesus himself—and that idea is proven as the Psalm continues. In light of this truth, we can view this psalm as part of God’s redemptive plan for mankind—that while the leaders of earth were in opposition to the LORD and to Jesus Christ, the LORD had already made up his mind to make Jesus the King. And when God establishes his king, he makes all subject themselves to the King.

Read with me the second portion of the passage:

The Decree of the LORD and the Psalmist’s Exhortation (7-12)

Psalm 2:7–12 ESV

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.

The last section of Psalm 2 starts with a decree from the LORD and this decree resembles the Davidic Covenant given between God and David. If you remember with me 2 Samuel 7:12, God speaks to David, “When your days are finished and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him and he will be a son to me.”

God makes a decree that says, “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, I know some of the wording here is familiar because it’s similar to word-use utilized to refer to Jesus, but remember that this passage had meaning prior to its Messianic meaning.

And that meaning had to do with the coronation of a new king in Israel—so what God is saying in Vs. 7, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you” not only applies to Jesus, but it also applies to each king anointed by God to be king of Israel.

So, each king actually chosen by God would have this father-son sort of relationship. The begotten here, doesn’t have to do with physical birth, but it’s an extended metaphor describing the king becoming God’s “son.”

And because of this relationship between God and the king being a father-son sort of relationship, God has an inheritance for the king. That the king of Israel will have the nations for a heritage and the earth would be his possession.

Now of course, we know that there was no earthly king of Israel that has had this sort of authority and we know that because of the Messianic meaning of this Psalm

That while God has made a decree that the king of Israel would eventually have the nations for an heritage and the earth as their possession, it has yet to happen.

Knowing that this psalm is referring to Jesus as the anointed king of Israel, we then know that the fulfillment of the king of Israel having all nations for a heritage and the earth as his possession will occur in Jesus; but even this fulfillment has yet to happen. Even though Jesus is reigning in heaven and Jesus has all authority, the complete fulfillment of this has yet to happen—we live in a constant state of Jesus already being king in heaven, but not yet completely on earth.

It is this king that God has called his own Son, that “will break [or rule] them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

This verse is actually quoted multiple times in Revelation with the last quotation of this Psalm being in Revelation 19 during the coming of Christ, which heavily implies that the fulfillment of Psalm 2 is in Jesus during the end times.

The Bible says in Revelation 19, “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many crowns; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 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. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written: King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.”

Now by the way, this is a side point, but it is important nonetheless. Often when we think of Jesus we only ever think of him as the shepherd who leaves the ninety-and-nine to go and get the one.

And it is an accurate statement that Jesus is the shepherd who cares for the one lone sheep that wanders off, but it is inaccurate to only ever think of him in that light. Why do I say that?

Because when we see Jesus elsewhere in Scripture, he isn’t always described as a lowly shepherd caring for his sheep.

We have a term in theology called a “Christophany.” This would be any appearance of Jesus Christ outside of his 33 years of life on earth as fully God and fully man.

You can find these in the Old Testament in particular when the Bible utilizes the term Angel of the LORD with the LORD interchangeably.

You see these in passages like Genesis 16, when the Angel of the LORD speaks to Hagar

Genesis 18, when three men come to Abraham and one of them tells Abraham that Sarah is about to be pregnant with their child—the Bible goes back and forth and calls this man Yahweh at least once

This same term is utilized again in Genesis 22, Judges 5, 2 Kings 19, and Daniel 3.

Now I admit, some of that is speculation because the Bible itself doesn’t specifically call the angel of the LORD Jesus Christ. However, the point remains, in the places outside of the Gospel when Jesus is described (like Revelation 19), Jesus is described as more than just a shepherd caring for his sheep.

He’s described as the righteous judge, the one who wages war, clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and he’s described as the one in charge of all of heaven’s armies with the ability to strike down all the nations.

Jesus is more than just a shepherd caring for his sheep

Which is why this description of Jesus who will have all the nations for himself with all of the earth as his possession is so important. This is why the description of Jesus who shall rule with a rod of iron and dash those who oppose him into pieces is so vital.

Believing that Jesus is only the shepherd that cares for his sheep is to miss out on a large part of his personality and his character

Just like only seeing Jesus as the judge who will rule with a rod of iron and dash those who oppose him also misses out on a large part of Jesus’ personality and his character.

This King that God has chosen—that he has anointed and called his own Son, is going to have all-power and all-authority over all the nations and he will exercise his reign over all the earth. And then the psalmist closes the psalm with an exhortation for the kings of earth. Vs. 10-12, “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.”

Because God has chosen a King and because this King will reign with a rod of iron and dash apart his opposition, the Psalmist recommends and exhorts those who were opposed to the LORD and to the LORD’s anointed to essentially straighten out and get in line. The psalmist warns them to do two different things: “serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling.” and to “kiss the Son.”

Because of what is happening—that the LORD anointed this king, there’s really only two things that those who are opposed can do; and these three things really center around the idea of submitting to the king.

To serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. The idea with Vs. 11, is two-fold:

One they are to submit to what the LORD wants and by extension, that means to submit to what the Anointed King wants—this idea is seen in both the words “fear” and “trembling.” We often downplay the word fear in the Bible when it speaks of fearing of the LORD. We usually define it simply as a reverential awe and that’s certain true of what it means, but there is a bit of the word that does simply mean to fear—as in be afraid.

Secondly, they are to submit to the LORD with joy—fearing the LORD doesn’t negate the ability to still rejoice. In fact, joy does not depend on emotion, so thus, you can be joyous even in the worst times of your life. So the idea of submitting to the LORD with fear and trembling and yet, still rejoicing while submitting to the LORD is not only possible, it’s clearly recommended in the passage.

The Psalmist then exhorts them to “kiss the Son”

This is an unusual phrase for most people today because we don’t speak like this and most of us don’t kiss people at random, we no longer practice the idea of greeting each other with a holy kiss and like I said, the wording here is abnormal to us because we don’t use this type of statement.

The image that’s being given is that of submission to a king. Think of anytime you see a person subject to a king in a movie, book, or TV show. Often, they will kiss the kings signet ring or hand.

They do this in order to show submission or to give homage to the king.

The psalmist is telling the earth’s kings to submit to the LORD and to his anointed king.

There is a sense of urgency to this homage towards the king because there is a suddenness to the wrath of the king, Vs. 12, “lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.”

Submit yourselves to the King before it is too late

Honor the king before it is too late.

And the Psalmist ends with “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”

Like last week, the term blessed is often misunderstood because we typically don’t have a full idea of what being blessed means, but it is essentially the idea of being happy because of something.

There is great happiness or blessing in taking refuge in the king that has been anointed by God.

To take refuge means to find safety in a safe place. During a storm, you take refuge under a roof of some sort; if the storm is severe enough, this might mean going into the basement or into an inner room with no windows. You go to these rooms because of the stronger structure and its ability to protect you.

Psalm 2 ends by pointing the kings of earth to seek refuge in the king of Israel for safety and for his ability to protect them.

Now before we move into application, we have to take a few minutes to discuss the New Testament application of this psalm because like I said at the beginning of the sermon and even though I’ve tried not to relate the text to the New Testament as we’ve worked through it, the reality is that this psalm is written with Jesus is mind—the fulfilment of this passage is in Jesus Christ himself, so in order for us to actually understand the passage, we need to talk through this passage with the lens of the New Testament.

So, starting back in Vs. 1-6 keeping in mind that Psalm 2 is ultimately about Jesus

The Psalmist starts off by stating that the nations rage and peoples plot in vain. That the kings and rulers of earth take counsel together against the LORD and against Jesus.

Now this is seen in two ways: First off, through the life of Jesus Christ, we read about the religious leaders and the governmental leaders speaking out against Jesus, crucifying him, and murdering him on a cross. It is clear that the rulers of earth during the time period of Jesus’ life were opposing him.

But this passage isn’t necessarily about the life of Jesus Christ, it has deep connections with the return of Jesus in Revelation, which means that those that counsel together, rage together, and plot together would be living during this age of history.

Or in other words, right now; there are people who rage and plot against the LORD. There are people who are absolutely against Jesus Christ and would do anything to “cast away their cords.”

Now, I don’t want you to start thinking that everything that happens is a conspiracy against Jesus Christ—unfortunately, that is the mindset of some who claim to be Christians. I want you to be aware, that there is opposition against God and against Jesus.

But ultimately, this opposition is utter foolishness. God laughs in heaven because Jesus has already been anointed as God’s King.

And it is King Jesus that the psalmist speaks of next in Vs. 7-12.

It is King Jesus who is God’s Son. It is King Jesus who all the nations will be his heritage and the ends of the earth his possession

It is King Jesus who will rule with a rod of iron and will dash apart the opposition.

It is King Jesus who deserves the submission of all the other kings of earth

It is King Jesus who the kings of earth should serve with fear and trembling

It is King Jesus who deserves all the homage of the rulers of earth

It is King Jesus who blesses those who take refuge in him.

Knowing that this psalm is about Jesus, how can we apply its timeless truths to our lives today?

Application

The Rebellion of the Nations (1-6)—The first half of the psalm starts with the psalmist accusing the kings and rulers of the earth for rebelling against God and his anointed King. In its original context, this would refer to the nations surrounding Israel opposing the king of Israel and ultimately God by their opposition of the king; but knowing that this also refers to Jesus Christ, it’s clear that there is opposition to Jesus and to God in our world today. The Psalmist makes it clear that any plot, any raging, and opposition to God and to his anointed King is utter foolishness; and the LORD laughs in heaven for their vain plotting. We can apply this today in two ways:

First off, it is important for us to recognize that even if we aren’t a king or leader in this world, we can still be opposed to God and his King.

Romans 5 speaks of how Christians “were enemies [of God]” prior to salvation. That the only reason we aren’t enemies of God is because “we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.” So, prior to salvation, we are enemies of God; thus, prior to salvation, we are opposed to God and to his King.

In other words, what I’m saying is this—until you repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are opposed to God. Thus, God is sitting in heaven telling you that you need to believe in his King and submit to his King.

Repent and believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior and then Jesus will reconcile you to God—then you won’t be an enemy of God and you will no longer be opposed to him.

Secondly, for those that already believe, it is important for us to recognize that there will always be opposition to God and Jesus on this side of eternity.

Sometimes I think we forget this truth, but the fact of the matter is that Jesus himself says that the world will hate us because the world hated him first.

If as a Christian, you never face opposition for your faith, you probably aren’t fulfilling the Great Commission to go and make more disciples of Jesus.

I say that, because if you were doing what Jesus has taught you to do, you would eventually come up against those who are utterly opposed to Jesus and are thus, utterly opposed to you.

For those that have already faced the opposition against Jesus because of your attempting to fulfill the Great Commission, let me assure you that this opposition is to be expected.

And let me encourage you to continue doing what Jesus has taught us to do despite the opposition. You as a believer are told to go and make more disciples of Jesus—you aren’t responsible for someone’s denial or acceptance of Jesus, but you are responsible for attempting to make disciples.

Even in opposition, keep trying to make disciples of Jesus.

Repent and believe in Jesus and expect opposition as you keep trying to make more disciples of Jesus.

The Decree of the LORD and the Psalmist’s Exhortation (7-12)—in the last section of Psalm 2, we see God’s decree of who Jesus is and we see God giving all nations as Jesus’ heritage with the earth as his possession. The psalmist makes the claim that Jesus will rule with a rod of iron and dash apart his opposition; thus, his exhortation is for all to “serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling” and to pay homage to the Son. I have two application points for this final section:

First off, realize that Jesus Christ has all authority and all power—that’s seen in how all nations will be his heritage and all the earth will be his possession.

This is also seen in his “rule of a rod of iron” and the dashing apart of his opponents. Thus the first application is simple because it’s the same application that the Psalmist gives the kings and rulers of the earth, “serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son.”

Or very literally, the application is this—Jesus is King, so submit yourself to the king.

This means that everything that King Jesus says, you need to take seriously—how does Jesus speak to us today? Primarily through the Word of God.

That means that if you want to hear from Jesus, you need to read and study His Word.

This also means that whatever the Word of God says, you need to do—James 1, “Be doers of the Word and not hearers only.” Just reading God’s Word isn’t submitting to Jesus—you need to actively seek to apply the Word of God to your life today.

This also means that every command that Jesus gives throughout the Bible is applicable to your life in one way or another—so stop trying to pick and choose what you want to believe through Scripture, and submit yourself to the authority of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the King, so stop acting like you’re the king—the world doesn’t revolve around you, it revolves around Jesus Christ.

We submit to King Jesus by serving him with joy

Secondly, in addition to submitting yourself to Jesus as the King, the Psalmist ends with the statement that “blessed are all who take refuge in him.”

Jesus is the King with all authority and all power, but he’s also the King who cares for his people.

Even though you’re facing great opposition from those who oppose God and oppose Jesus Christ, you can find safety and comfort in trusting in Jesus.

Submit to Jesus as your King and seek refuge in Him.

Put simply, Psalm 2 teaches us that (1) all who oppose the LORD are foolish in the sight of the LORD even though they think they’re wise; (2) God has made Jesus the ultimate King; and because Jesus is King, we are to (3) submit to him with our lives and serve him with joy, and (4) we can seek refuge in him.

Pastoral Prayer