Psalm 2 and the Bible
Revelation • Sermon • Submitted
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· 8 viewsPsalm 2 represents the entirety of Scripture. Man rebels, the rebellion is futile, God judges. Man is called to repentance those who do will serve God, rejoice in Him and love Him being blessed in trusting Him.
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Psalm 2
Psalm 2
Psalm 2
This morning I want to take a just a few minutes to look at something from the Old Testament that we seen played out in our study of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. If it had not been so cold today we would have finished our look at Revelation 14 but since we decided not to meet in person I thought this would be a great opportunity for a quick look at the second Psalm. We will read the entire Psalm to see a few of the things that were revealed in the revelation of Jesus Christ. Let’s pray then we will look at Psalm 2.
I don’t intend to keep you too long this morning because I know it is hard to sit and watch a computer screen for very long but there are a few things I want point out here. I’m not going to go too far back in our review of Revelation but I want to point out some things we have seen and see how it fits with our Psalm this morning. In chapter 6 we saw the four horsemen who represented war, man’s inhumanity to man, famine and disease, increasing death, persecution of the church increasing, natural disasters increasing and everyone blaming God instead of repenting. Then in chapter 7-8 God’s people were sealed and then came the seven trumpets in which 1/3 of the grass and trees are destroyed, 1/3 of the oceans are turned to blood killing 1/3 of the sea life. Then 1/3 of the ships were destroyed indicting 1/3 of all shipping and thereby commerce decreased greatly. 1/3 of all fresh water was rendered undrinkable and 1/3 of the lights of the sky were dimmed. After that in chapter 9 the locust creatures came out of the abyss that stung people who did not have the seal of God on them but did not kill them even though they longed for death and after that an innumerable demonic army (200,000,000) marched forth killing 1/3 of humankind yet no one would repent. God’s witnesses went forth represented by the two witnesses and chapter 9:20 is very clear that no one repented. Then the great tribulation of the church started with the fiery red dragon going after Christ and the church but failing to destroy Christ or His church he turns his wrath towards individuals who are the redeemed of God. Then came the Beast and his False Prophet requiring everyone to take the mark of the beast and bow to worship him. Those who refused were killed or imprisoned but those who took the mark could buy and sell but remember there is not much left to buy and sell because of all the destruction. We have been seeing much of this going on since they hung Jesus on the cross but it appears that everything is intensifying quickly. And yet the people of the earth refuse to repent. Paul described that in Romans 2:5-6 5But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6who “will render to each one according to his deeds”. These people has seen God’s power, they had heard His message of repentance, they had heard the everlasting gospel, they had experienced some of His judgment while at the same time seeing his mercy in that only 1/3 of nature and mankind had been destroyed and still they bowed and worshiped the beast instead of repenting. Those whose names are not written in the Book of life of the Lamb will have the mark of the beast and will be in rebellion against God.
Much of what we just saw in that review is what we find in Psalm 2:1-3 1Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? 2The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, 3“Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.” We don’t have time to go all the way through what we have seen in Revelation up to this point but those three verses in Psalm 2 describes how Satan has led the people of the earth in rebellion against God and against His anointed Jesus Christ. But Satan cannot defeat God so he turns his wrath towards God’s people. Satan and humankind want nothing more than to throw off God’s dominion and be their own gods. That is what went on in the Garden of Eden and it will continue until the end. Whether humanity recognizes it or not they are enemies of God. Paul said it this way in Romans 8:5-8 5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Very clearly you are either Christ’s follower or you want to cast away His claim on you; you’re an enemy.
So how does God respond to this hatred and rebellion against Him, His Christ and His people? I think sometimes we get the idea that it is Satan against God and we are in the middle being fought over. We act like our God is up there in heaven just wringing His hands hoping that we will turn to Him, worried about the outcome. But look at what verse 4 says about how God reacts to the rebellion of man who thinks he can overthrow His kingdom: 4He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision. God is a lot of things, but worried that His creatures will overpower and overthrow Him is not one of those things. When it says that the Lord shall hold them in derision it literally means that He mocks them, He makes fun of them.
I wish I had a good illustration that could be used as a comparison between man and God. I have heard people say that it is like comparing an ant to a man. The ant can communicate by biting the man and the man can kill out that ants bed or colony but that man can not destroy all ants or win all ants so that they follow him or be sovereign over all ants but God can do all those things with man. So I cannot give a good comparison because God is so other than us, so much more powerful, strong, wise, intelligent, compassionate and yes wrathful than we could ever be. So for a creature to think that he has an impact on God the Creator and Sustainer through Christ Jesus of all of creation and can cast Him off is indeed laughable. God literally laughs at man’s attempt to rebel against Him.
Let’s look at Psalm 2:5-9 5Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure: 6“Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion.” 7“I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. 9You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ” In these verses we see that man may believe he can relieve himself of his responsibility to God but God sets up His Son as King and judge over all of His creation including His creatures. He rules and reigns over all of His creation and in the end will punish all those who rise up in rebellion against Him. We have seen a bit of that already in chapter 14 of Revelation but we will see it borne out to its completion in chapters 16-19 and the end of ends for those who rebel in chapter 20.
Mankind is foolish enough to think he can throw off God’s requirements of them. God takes it seriously but not from the stand point that He believes its possible. He laughs at man’s puny attempt to rule himself. Then God will judge those who choose to rebel against Him. So what is our responsibility in all of this and how do we escape His wrathful judgment? 10Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth. 11Serve the Lord with fear, And rejoice with trembling. 12Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.[1]
In these verses we have five commands. It is interesting that God puts ‘Be wise’ with ‘be educated or instructed’. What He is saying here is pay attention to what you know. God has revealed Himself sufficiently in creation for man to know that He Is. Pay attention to what you already know and do not (as Paul says in Romans 1) deny the truth in unrighteousness. Then He says to be instructed or educated. That means to let yourself be corrected. I believe if we put these two together we see a call to repentance. When we do that the other commands fall into place. We will serve Him in reverent awe, we will be glad or rejoice in true fear knowing He is our judge and we will “kiss” or show our love and affection for Christ knowing that just a small amount of His wrath would undo us. When we repent and serve Him, rejoicing in His salvation we will be blessed because we have put our trust in Him and in Him alone.
This Psalm starts with “Why do the nations rage…” This indicates that there is an alternate action. You can rebel (verses 1-3) and receive God’s judgment (verses 5-9) even though your rebellion is in vain (verse 4) or you can be wise, be instructed and serve God, miss his wrath and be blessed by putting your trust in Him (10-12). That my friends is the gospel message in a nut shell and it expresses the entirety of the Revelation of Jesus Christ just as it expresses the truth of the Old Testament, the Gospels and the letters of the Apostles. The whole of Scripture is united in revealing God so that mankind will repent and be blessed. Let’s pray.
[1] The New King James Version. (1982). (Ps 2:1–12). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.