The Anointed King

Introduction

General Welcome and Personal Intro

Hello and good morning. It is a pleasure to be visiting with you from Calvary Church in Valpo. My name is Timothy Carey. I was born and raised in Valparaiso, IN then moved to Phoenix, AZ where I spent almost 10 years and met my wife. We moved back here in 2017 with our 3 children and began attending Calvary. Earlier this year, I began working in Discipleship and Spiritual Growth Ministry at Calvary and I also run a teaching ministry here in Northwest Indiana called Faithfully Radical Ministries.

I must say it is such a joy to be gathered with you today and to share in your worship service. As Pierre pointed out a couple of weeks ago, we can really feel and experience how our church homes are really just local communities of a much larger body where we can share in the glory of Christ and fellowship together as brothers and sisters.

Today, we will be digging into Psalm 2 in its entirety and looking at Jesus as the Son of God and Anointed King over our lives. As I began to prepare this sermon, I was reminded of one of the first times I taught over the Bible. I had the great joy of going to Bethesda Outreach in South Africa with a team from Calvary and, as we prepped for the trip, a dear brother of mine named Chris and I were tasked with teaching some of the kids down there. We decided to teach over Jesus being fully God and fully man. After weeks of preparation, the time had finally come for us to teach this group of probably 60 kids. We made our way through the lesson and as we reached the end, I asked if everyone in the class had learned something. And there was this beautiful pause as I expectantly waited for them answer. Then suddenly, with one voice in unison, they all yell out “No!” As I took a minute to compose myself, I asked again, “You didn’t learn anything?” Once again, with one voice they yell back “No!” And that’s when I decided I wanted to preach and teach in front of people. Just kidding. But we can pray that the Lord will be with us today and reveal His truth to us. Would you pray with me.

Father, I thank you so much for Evergreen Baptist Church. I pray that you be with them as they continue their search for a new lead pastor. Bring, in your providence, the right man to faithfully and sacrificially shepherd the flock here. Hold tightly to these people and keep them as a family, and help them gracefully and peacefully transition in this time. Father, I thank you for these brothers and sisters and for the opportunity to share your Word with them. I pray that you hide me behind the cross and that your Holy Spirit would work so that I may not say my words or opinions, but Your Words and Your truths. Thank you for the great gift and sacrifice of your Son, through whom we have been redeemed into relationship with you to be adopted as heirs. It is in His Holy Name we pray. Amen

Today, we will be looking at all of Psalm 2. If you could open your bibles, let’s read the Word of God together.

Psalm 2

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.

The Psalms are a beautiful and unique book, and one that was called a mini-bible by Spurgeon. The Psalms are there to help us, to direct us, to show us, in almost concentrated form the true nature of God and the true nature of man.

Psalm 2’s Place and Context

Psalm 2 is a very unique Psalm. First, it joins with Psalm 1 in creating the introduction to the book of Psalms. These two Psalms are generally considered to have originally been one Psalm. A strong indicator of this is the use of a literary device called inclusio, which just means inclusion. The first verse of Psalm 1 is “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked”, and the final line of Psalm 2 is “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” These dual forms of blessing form a frame work for the meat of the Psalms and they describe our duty and our Savior. Now, understanding this we will look at Psalm 2.

The Psalm has no set title or author, but Scripture reveals that the author was King David himself in Acts 4:25

Acts 4:25 ESV

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?

This Psalm is known as a Royal Psalm because it deals with kingship. Royal Psalms deal with the relationship between God and king. And here in Psalm 2, we have a very special circumstance. Most Royal or Kingship Psalms deal with either divine or human kingship, but here we see the author very masterfully integrating both. We see the contrast between the Divine King (Jesus) and His human counterpart (David) with the hostile kings of the earth. While we can see that much of this can be applied to David, we also see other aspects that definitely cannot be. In verse 7, we see the Lord say “You are my Son.” In verse 8, He says that he will make the “ends of the earth his possession”, which is not indicative of the Davidic Kingdom, but of the Greater King, Christ.

The Nations Are in Rebellion

Psalm 2:1–3 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.”

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? This is a timeless problem. Why do they? Why did they then in the time of David? Why do they now? We see it clearly in verse 2. Psalm 2:2 “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed,” The nations, the people, the rulers, this is to symbolize all of creation. They have set themselves against the Lord. They do not want to live by His wisdom. They do not want to live by His Word. We know nothing about this today, do we? Of course we do. People worship anything they want; speakers, social media influencers, celebrities. People make their own definitions of God, of sex, of spirituality, of religion. They do not see the timeless truth of God, the objective truth that cannot be changed. The world is against God, against His rule, against His plan. They foolishly and feebly believe that they can stand against a Holy and Almighty God. I was an atheist for a large portion of my life. Especially into early adulthood, I personally raged against God. For so long, I asked myself why. Why didn’t I get it? Why didn’t I recognize the obviousness of God. Well, I didn’t want to submit. Even though all creation testifies to His Glory and Power, I didn’t want to recognize it. My heart was rock solid and totally turned away from God until He, through the power of His Holy Spirit, regenerated me and brought me to a new life. Then I could see. Then the cross of Christ became clear. And there is another important realization we must grapple with here. Until we are born again, until the Holy Spirit has gripped our hearts and revealed the sweet truth of Jesus Christ to us, WE are the raging nations. Until we turn our hearts toward the Savior, Jesus Christ, we IDENTIFY with the nations here. But even as born again believers, we are constantly and repeatedly tempted by the things of this world. The evil one works overtime to try to tempt us, cause us to slip, cause us to undermine or demean the authority of Jesus in our lives, but this is the beauty for us as believers, we are covered with the righteousness of Christ. This is an important distinction between those who follow Christ and those who continue to rage with the nations. The one who follows Christ has his sins covered in righteousness, but the one who rebels will endure God’s wrath.

Judges 17:6 states clearly what we see in those of the world: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” But is this wise? No. God created and upholds all through His Son, Jesus Christ. This is not true freedom. Is a fish freed from the water when the fishers hook reels him up? Is the bird freed from the sky when his wings are clipped? Were Adam and Eve freed when they trusted Satan’s voice over God’s? No. There is no freedom or power for those that turn away from God. Only slavery. Imprisonment. A life set apart from the ultimate Life Giver.

We see another parallel here between Psalms 1 and 2. In the Legacy Standard Bible, we see vs 1 translated this way: “Why do the nations rage and the peoples meditate on a vain thing?” This isn’t just an arbitrary translation. The Hebrew word for ‘plot’ is the same word for “meditate” in Psalm 1:2 “but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” So we see this very real and stark contrast here. Psalm 1 is outlining what the blessed man is like, and he meditates on God’s Word day and night. But what about the peoples here in Psalm 2? They meditate on vain things, on things set against the Lord, on ways that they do not have to obey Him. They don’t simply want to ignore God, they want to overthrow Him. They say “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” Let us break the bonds with which God guides us. Let us cast them away, so we don’t have to submit to this eternal kingdom. The arrogance here! The world looks at the Creator and says “lets cast Him away to do it ourselves.” They are rebelling against the Lord and His Anointed. Who is His anointed? Well, we have the eternal or historical way to observe this Psalm. David was appointed King by God, and we can read about and imagine the great conflict and rebellion he experienced at different times. But this also has much further reaching ideas. These people are rebelling against God and the One He set in place to rule them at the beginning of time, King Jesus. Jesus is the Anointed King, brought out from the line of David. While David was a great king appointed by God, Jesus is the better King. Not only that, but the BEST KING. He is the fulfillment of all of Scripture. And certainly the point of this Psalm. Calvin says that David, “was made king, not so much for his own sake as to be a type of the Redeemer.” David was a type that Christ fulfills. Since Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension, the nations aren’t now praising and glorifying God. They still stand against Him! This seems like a real problem! If Christ came and went again, shouldn’t the nations be restrained? Shouldn’t God be worried that the nations haven’t submitted? Let’s see how the Lord responds.

The Lord Responds

The response is this, Psalm 2:4 “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.” Is the Lord worried? Is He quaking in heaven worried about how all of this is going to turn out? No! He laughs. H.B. Charles Jr. says about this verse “human rebellion is divine comedy.” Rebellion is futile. Not only futile, but absolutely utterly ridiculous. The divine creator of all things, and the world’s plan is to cut him out? To ignore He is there? Well, the Lord laughs at that, and not only that, but holds them in derision. They are mocked. Psalm 11:4 “The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.” The Lord isn’t worried. He isn’t shaking in His boots. He’s not sitting up on His throne making a plan b, c, or d. The plan was set before the foundations of the earth. The Lord is the LORD! Yahweh! The ultimate! This is plan a. It always has been, it alway will be. But why? How? The King is set in Zion.

Psalm 2:5-6 “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.”

His wrath will be poured out. He will speak to them in His wrath. We live in an age and time where God, because of His Grace and mercy, withholds His wrath until the time of judgement. But we still see, although He is reserving final judgement, the Lord still reveals His wrath today by turning people over to their sinful desires. As our hearts stay turned away from God, He allows our hearts to harden toward Him. But for those who follow Christ, those who are set in The Way, that time of judgement has come. God poured out His wrath on the King. The Holy King. The One King. The Anointed King, with a capital A. And for those that follow this King, for those that recognize this King as their Lord and Savior, That wrath was taken for us. Jesus is that King. Jesus is the messiah, the Anointed one. And that is where our hope must always and ultimately lay. The battle is finished. The war is won, even though one side hasn’t realized yet. But the King has already ensured His victory. It was ensured since the creation of all. There was never the slightest chance of it failing. The King is set, the war is won. And then we hear the Anointed King speak.

The Lords Anointed Speaks

Psalm 2:7 “I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.” “I will tell of the decree.” The Messiah is now speaking in response. He has seen how the world He created has rebelled, and He has an answer. “The Lord said to me.” This demonstrates what Matthew Henry called an eternal decree between the Father and Son. It was not a change in plan, it was not the Father responding to the world by sending the Son. This was a decree from the beginning of time. John 10:18 “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.””

Vs. 7b “You are my Son, today I have begotten you.” He is the Son of God. He was not adopted as we were. Nothing else has a qualification that comes close. He was begotten. Begotten by the Father. He is of the same nature of the Father, and is LORD over all. This is a common passage cited in the New Testament. We find it multiple times in description of the Son, especially surrounding His baptism by John.

Luke 3:22 “and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

The writer of Hebrews connects this verse with Jesus being the ultimate, the revealed prophecy, the true Son of God greater than any creature.

Hebrews 1:5 “For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”?

Jesus does not have an equal. He does not have a contemporary. He is the physical representation of God Himself. He is the second person of the Trinity who willingly and voluntarily descended from Heaven to live a perfect life, to be sinless, and to sacrifice Himself for every tribe and tongue. There is no one who can compare to Him. No earthly or heavenly being can even come close. All that was created flows from Him and through Him and for Him. He is eternal, everlasting, more powerful and greater than any earthly King or Ruler or nation or person or power. Nothing can stand against.

And we see in Psalm 2:8-9, we see what the Father has set the Son on the throne for, “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.” He has made the nations His heritage and the ends of the earth His possession. He rules and sees all. Daniel 7 says this, Dan 7:14 “And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” His dominion is an EVERLASTING dominion, not one that blows with the wind. Not one that will pass away. One that lasts FOREVER. And as citizens of that Kingdom we can rely and stand firm on those promises. Our King isn’t an elected official that lasts for a few years. Our King isn’t a leader who blows with the wind or changes His mind. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” We rely on our King because He is a GREAT KING. He is the GREATEST KING. Nothing can surpass or overcome His Kingdom. His Kingdom stands firm. That is our King. That is who we follow. That is who rules us. That is who cares for us.

But what of those who will not submit, who do not recognize Christ’s Kingship, who continue on this path of rebellion until the end, what happens to them if they stay on this path, the wide gate, Psalm 2:9 “You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” They cannot stand. Compared to His iron, they are flimsy pieces of clay. They may rage and plot and take counsel together, but it’s pointless. Whether they know it yet or not, a day will come when Christ will return, and there is an end to this story. We see it more clearly in Revelation. Rev 2:27 “and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.”

Rev 12:5 “She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne,”

Rev 19:15 “From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.”

The language here shows that not all will voluntarily receive His yoke, some will rebel. And though it is a beautiful picture when we see someone willingly run to Christ, there is a very important truth here that we must understand: Jesus rules over the just and the unjust alike. And while many will be rebellious and turn away, their will and planning can never thwart His plan. The time will come when they submit. But the beauty here, is that Jesus gives us the opportunity to come to Him. To cry out to the Lord and repent and recognize Christ Jesus as our Great Redeemer.

Commands for the World

And now we see an address to the world. Psalm 2:10-11 “Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” Although God can and does have the power to destroy those who don’t follow His rule, He does not take pleasure in it. It does not bring Him joy to see those lost, striving in the world to find their way, hoping and planning on vain things that will never bring salvation, that will never bring hope, it doesn’t bring Him joy to see them turned away from true love, from true salvation. Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Understanding the Lord Jesus, His Authority, His eternality, all starts with this ‘Fear of the Lord’ we see in verse 11 and in the Proverbs passage. Now this isn’t a terror inducing fear, not for those of us who follow Christ. It isn’t trying to say or imply that you must now live your life walking on eggshells around everything and everyone because you’re afraid of screwing up and bringing God’s wrath. No. Not at all. This is an “awe-inspiring fear.” A reverence for the One who created you. No, it’s not meant to bring terror. It’s meant as a recognition of the Awesome, the All Powerful, All Knowing, All Controlling and All Holding, the All Caring, the Ultimate, the one who holds us and sustains us and has redeemed us to Himself. We must recognize this! We must see Christ as our Lord. Our teaching Pastor at Calvary said it this way, “You can’t have Jesus as Savior if you don’t have Jesus as your Lord.” This is the fear here. Recognizing Him who has authority over you, who created you, and sustains you every second of everyday. Who set forth this very plan for our salvation! Our great King who has poured out His grace and mercy to all those who follow Him. This is true joy! This is true service. And we see at the end of verse 11, “Rejoice with trembling.” This is such a succinct description of worship. We must recognize who the Lord is and rejoice over it! Praise and worship Him, trembling at the recognition of who He is and what that means for your life! You have been redeemed, and not because of anything that you could do, but because of the great King we have enthroned in Heaven who upholds us. And finally, the closing verse:

Psalm 2:12 “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.”

It was common for those who lost wars to kiss the hand or cheek of the new ruler, to show submission to that ruler. Here, we see that great duty required of all, to submit to the Son and His rule. We must Kiss the Son, submit to Him, and recognize His authority. Not because our recognition gives Him authority, but because He is the ONE with the authority, He is the Supreme King of Kings and Lord of Lords. For those in Him and with Him and serving Him, His wrath is quickly kindled. For it is the wrath that God the Father poured out on God the Son for your sake, For MY sake, and for the sake of every believer in history. The wrath the Son took willingly, because of His great love for His creation. The punishment, torment, pain, and death of the Cross, all willingly taken to redeem US to the Father. For us to be called Heirs WITH Christ. God see us not for our own good works, not for our deepest sins, but how He sees His Son, Jesus Christ, who died in our stead. “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.” That is our hope in this fallen world that rebels against The King. That He died FOR us so that we could be WITH Him.

“Blessed are those that take refuge in Him.” Refuge. A place, or person, that provides shelter from danger, that keeps us SAFE. That is who Christ Jesus is. He is our refuge. He provides greater protection than anything else in the universe can. No human or shelter can care for you, love you, or protect you like Jesus can. Not your spouse, not your parents, not your boss, not your job, not your sports team, nothing can provide the security and life that can be found in the Savior. And this is our great hope. This is the good news that is the Gospel, that no matter what you’ve done in the past, no matter the ways you’ve rebelled and raged, you are safe to be real and honest with Jesus, to admit and repent, because HE LOVES YOU. He was appointed King to Redeem you! John 1:1-3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Our Heavenly King was not a back up plan or a second thought, He was there at the creation! Nothing was made outside of Him! He is the very Word that we are studying. This all centers and hinges on Christ. Not men. Not those of the world who rebel at every turn, nor does it hang on us as followers of Jesus Christ, no. All of creation hangs on Christ Alone and the work He has done for you, through you, and for the Glory of the Father in Heaven. Mark 16:19 “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.” Our Lord Jesus is not running around, Heaven fretting about the state of the world, He is sitting on His throne. He’s not in the war room coming up with the next strategy, He is SITTING at the right hand of the Father. He is SITTING because the work is COMPLETE. That is our hope, that is our Savior, and this was His plan from all of time, to give us REFUGE IN HIM. Can I ask, do you believe that this morning? Do we recognize with our hearts and our minds that Jesus Christ is our refuge, the one whom we are safest with? The one who loves us? I tell you, this is Christ’s wonderful invitation to you this morning. Would you accept Him as your Lord and Savior? Because He loves you, He desires a relationship with you, and He desires to bless those who take refuge in Him as Heirs with eternal life with the Father. Would you pray with me?

“Heavenly Father enthroned above, we give you thanks today. We come with open and willing hearts to serve you, to honor you, to glorify you. I thank you for your Word that you have faithfully provided to us that reveals these beautiful truths to us about Your Son. Please help us, equip us, enable us to serve the King, to submit our lives to a great and mighty and powerful God so that we may walk on the right path, through the narrow gate. That we might enjoy the rich and abundant blessings and joys you have prepared and planned for your people. I once again want to lift up Evergreen Church. Bless them during this interim season, and I pray you bring them a strong and faithful shepherd. Lord, protect your church from the work of the evil one, and bring flourishing to this place. Help us all to rest in your promises, fulfilled in Christ, and made for us. It is in the great saviour Jesus’ name. Amen.”