Sermon for MHBC (4 July 2021). You can listen on Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, or our website. Live at 11:00am on Sundays. Also available as a podcast here or by searching “Monument Heights Baptist Church” in your favorite podcast app.
Psalm 2 is very much a continuation of Psalm 1, and if you can recall what I said about Psalm 1 a little over a month ago, I explained that it is serves as an introduction to the whole psalter. It orients the reader to the rest of the book. The connection between Psalms 1 and 2 is clear both in history and textually. In some ancient manuscripts, the two psalms are simply combined into one. And they are also linked textually. In Psalm 1, the blessed person is the one who meditates on the instruction of the LORD day and night. The same Hebrew word for meditate shows up in Psalm 2 by way of contrast. Why do the peoples plot in vain? The word plot is the Hebrew word for meditate. So this orientation to the psalter is all about the one who humbles himself before the one true God, seeking his desire and will, submitting to his instruction. And that person is contrasted with the powers of the world and the nations of the world who rebel, meditating not on the instruction of the LORD but on their own schemes.
Now of course, here in the US, today is a significant national holiday, and as Christians we can reflect on these national holidays theologically. Psalm 2 is not entirely irrelevant to a national celebration on July 4. It is a warning to all people and all nations that Christ alone is king and the nations belong to him. And it is an exhortation that we should not seek to domesticate God and make him, say, the God of America. It doesn’t work that way. Instead, it calls us not to try to place God on our side but instead to ensure that we are seeking to be on God’s side. There is a world of difference between believing God is on our side and aiming to be on God’s side. God does not serve our interests, whether they are personal or national. Consequently, this psalm calls for an embrace of the one true king, who is Christ, and his plan for the world.
Let’s take a look at the psalm, beginning with the first three verses.
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.”
These verses fairly summarize the human predicament. There is a deep-seated rebellion against God in our hearts. In reference to what theologians call “original sin,” Augustine wrote, “Nothing is so widely declared, nothing is more mysterious.”[1] When we look at the pages of Scripture it is abundantly clear that humankind is not inherently righteous. Unlike some world religions that say humans are divine, Christianity recognizes a rampant and irreversible problem within humanity. Here at Monument Heights, the articles of faith in our constitution are half of the Abstract of Principles—the first Southern Baptist confession of faith. When Monument Heights adopted the current articles of faith, they did not include the article on the fall of humankind from the Abstract. Look what the Abstract says about our problem:
God originally created Man in His own image, and free from sin; but, through the temptation of Satan, he transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original holiness and righteousness; whereby his posterity inherit a nature corrupt and wholly opposed to God and His law, are under condemnation, and as soon as they are capable of moral action, become actual transgressors.[2]
“Opposed to God and His law.” We see that in these verses. We can see it in the power structures of the world—the nations as the psalmist says it. And then as we turn our attention inward, we can see this same tendency to rebel against God in our own hearts.
I want to be careful here. There is real persecution experienced by Christians around the world. We don’t even experience a fraction of that. But I do want to comment on the hostility toward Christianity as representative of these three verses. Christianity is a favorite target of the intellectually sophisticated. Now perhaps it is because it is the world’s most influential religion. Or perhaps there’s something more sinister at work. The psalmist says that the cause has been taken up against the Lord and his Messiah. Restriction, submission—we don’t want it. Think about it in our society and we are all products of this. We live in such an individualized society. We hate the idea of submission, even when that submission is to the God of the universe.
But this poses no problem for the mighty and sovereign Lord. Look at the next three verses, starting in v. 4:
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.”
So we have this huge problem. All the power players are gathered against the Lord, but it poses no problem for him whatsoever. Here I must emphasize the magnitude of the one true God. He is not sleeping. He is not powerless. He is not wringing his hands in despair. No, he is able to laugh at the folly of those who would oppose him. And he is just and good and righteous. We must always remember that when we talk about his wrath and his fury. He isn’t a tyrant or petulant. He is controlled and measured and his anger is nothing like human anger.
And he has a plan. He has established his king over the nations. He has determined the course of history. The nations and political leaders do not determine the ultimate end of history. God is orchestrating all things to culminate in the completion of his plan for creation.
Then we hear a different voice in the next three verses. We hear the voice of the king:
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.”
The king of Israel is sometimes referred to as the Son of God. But on this side of the cross, we know that this is Christ who is speaking. Remember the Christ is mentioned back in v. 2. And notice that the nations are his. The whole earth is his. The nations are his. He does not belong to us. We want to be on his side. He is not necessarily on our side. America does not own Christ. Christ owns America and every other nation on the planet.
And while we tend to think of Christ as a pitiful teddy-bear, notice he is the king who will put this world right, even if there is opposition. He bears a rod of iron able to destroy any would be rebellion. This is the king we need—a king capable of setting the world right, a king who can deal with corruption, a king who can bring justice to the ends of the earth. And this is the Jesus we see in the NT. We see him as he cleanses the temple from corruption. We see him as the returning king in Revelation with sword and scepter. I think we would do well to meditate on this Jesus, to see his power and his authority.
And as we meditate on the biblical portrait of Jesus, we are called to respond. Psalm 2 calls for a response to the king. Look at the last three verses, picking up in v. 10:
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.
Here is the instruction. Serve the Lord with fear. Rejoice over his rule. Kiss the Son, which means embrace Christ. Remember what I said. There is a big difference between thinking we’ve got God in our pocket and instead endeavoring to embrace his side. Practically, this means we aren’t the arbiters of right and wrong. That is the mistake of Adam and Eve in the garden. The phrase “knowing good and evil” likely has the idea of being able to determine what is right and wrong. It was a rebellion against God’s authority. In the same way, we are pulled in a thousand directions. Compromise is everywhere. The church is pressured to abandon the instruction of the Lord for cultural demands. We cannot do this. This is why we must continue to insist on Scripture as the basis for everything we do. This is why we must continue to prioritize the glory of God as revealed in Christ.
As we open the pages of the psalter and read the first two psalms, we are shown an alternative way of life. It’s a life distinct from the world. It’s not a life of pleasure and power and prestige. It’s a life of humility before the living God. It’s a life of looking beyond this world and hoping in the redemption that is only possible in Christ. And even on this 4th of July, it is necessary to remember that our ultimate hope does not lie in a nation, but in Christ, who is the king of the nations.
[1] “Nihil est ad praedicandum notius, nihil ad intelligendum secretius.” De moribus catholicae ecclesia, 20.40. Cited in multiple places. Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 3:100–101; Blocher, Original Sin, 15.
[2] Abstract of Principles, VI.