Heaven Responds To Earth's Rebellion

For our Scripture reading and our text this morning, turn with me to Psalm 2. Hear now the Word of God. Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against His Anointed One. Let us break their chains, they say, and throw off their fetters. The one enthroned in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. Then He rebukes them in His anger and terrifies them in His wrath, saying, I have installed My King on Zion, My holy hill. I will proclaim the decree of the Lord. He said to Me, You are My Son. Today I have become Your Father. Ask of Me and I will make the nations Your inheritance, the ends of the earth Your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter. You will dash them to pieces like pottery. Therefore, you kings, be wise. Be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you be destroyed in your way. For His wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him. Dear people of God, as one reads through Psalm 2, it doesn't take very long for us to realize that what is being talked about in this psalm is a conflict. There's a fight taking place. There is a major struggle for power being talked about. But the truth of the matter is, it's hardly a fair fight. We know that often those who pick fights with others dare to do so because they are bigger and stronger and are sure to win, or at least that's what they think. Or in the case of what has taken place in this past week, they blind aside the other one. They get them when they're not looking. They take cheap shots. They're cowards. Bullies pick unfair fights with those who are smaller and weaker than they are. For example, consider Gideon's army of 300. When that small army went out against the enemy of 132,000 men, according to human standards, that was an unfair fight. and beloved indeed it was an unfair fight but not because of the human ratio the human standards but because God was on Gideon's side and the 132,000 didn't stand a chance against the 300 and that's similar to what is taking place in Psalm 2 in this fight, in this power struggle we find the kingdoms of the earth that they are challenging the kingdom of God And it's unfair because in reality, it is no contest. No one can oppose God and win. Yet the kingdoms of the earth, the rulers of the earth, and sometimes even we as Christians try, don't we? But Psalm 2 lays before us the truth that our God reigns supreme. That our God is sovereign over all things. I preached to you this Word of God this morning. Heaven responds to earth's rebellion. Notice with me the exclamation of vanity. Secondly, the announcement of dominion. And third, the call to submission. Now this psalm seems to begin with a shout of frustration. Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against His Anointed One. Let us break their chains, they say. and throw off their fetters. At first, this may sound like a lament or a complaint or a cry of sorrow, but the truth is, the one who shouts is making that exclamation of vanity. And the thrust of that exclamation is, how dare the nations and the people do this? What are they thinking? Who do they really think they are? More than that, who do they think the Lord is? What are they doing? The nations conspire, or as another version says, the nations are in an uproar. And the peoples plot in vain, or again as another translation says, the people devise or imagine vain things. Now, boys and girls, that means that they have empty ideas or schemes going through their minds. They have worthless thoughts. They are thinking completely unrealistic and sinful thoughts. Their ideas are as unrealistic, for example, as trying to trap a grizzly bear with a gopher trap or trying to empty the ocean one teaspoonful at a time. It can't happen. It can't be done. We must also notice a contrast here with Psalm 1. The same word that is used for plot in the text can also be translated imagining and is the same word used for meditate in Psalm 1. And the contrast is between the man who meditates on God's law in Psalm 1 and the people who imagine or plot vain things in Psalm 2. The man who meditates on God's law does so with wisdom, knowing who God is. But the people who plot or imagine or divine vain things do so in foolishness, not knowing who God is and in fact denying who He is by their very actions. And notice the vanity that they plot. Again, verses 2 and 3. The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against His Anointed One. Let us break their chains, they say, and throw off their fetters. The kings and the rulers of the kingdoms of the earth are stepping out against God, standing face to face to challenge Him. They are taking their stand in the sense that they are rising up and preparing themselves for battle against God. Now some of you recall that this past Tuesday night as we gathered together for prayer, we considered Psalm 46 for a few minutes. And the Lord says there, Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. Be still or cease striving against Me, the Lord says. Put down your weapons of battle. Why? Because this is complete vanity and utter foolishness, isn't it? As if to say there is no God. The creature foolishly believes that it can attack and defeat the Creator. But why shouldn't the creature think that? That was Satan's promise. Go ahead, eat the fruit. You'll be like God. And then you don't need Him anymore. this open defiance against the ruler of all the kingdoms on earth and in heaven is rebellion but beloved why does the world vainly desire to rebel against god because of his law because of his law of holiness god's law beloved binds all people good or bad and paul says that the law reveals sin. He says I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said thou shalt not covet. The law reveals sin. The law shows me that there's something wrong with me. Now as Christians, we understand by the grace of God that in Jesus Christ, God's law gives true freedom to His people and that there is security and refuge only in Him. Because God's law shows us as well the way of thankful obedience. And therefore, God's people meditate upon God's law. God's people contemplate the holiness of God and desire indeed to be holy even as He is holy. But the peoples and the nations of the world along with their kings and rulers, they don't understand this freedom because they are not of God's people and God's law binds them. It restricts them in a way that's terribly uncomfortable. They want freedom to live like they want, to do what they want, to live freely in unrestrained sin. They want complete autonomy with no accountability, not even to God. They are blind to God's sovereignty that whether they believe it or not, whether they will accept it or not, God does rule over them. They do not see the need for a Savior. And because of fear and pride, The wicked world interprets God and His law to be bondage. And therefore, in rebelling against the Lordship of God, they try to break their chains and throw off their fetters, the chains and fetters of God's rule. And the psalmist describes this rebellion as a challenge to the throne and against the Lord's anointed. Now this psalm is rightly considered to be a messianic psalm, pointing forward to Jesus Christ. But we must also understand that there is a historical backdrop here with God's covenant people and their kings, all of which prefigures, all of which is a shadow of, all of which points forward to the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The Israelites were God's chosen covenant people, a showcase among the nations, so the nations could look at them and see the grace of God and what God was able to do. They were set up to rule the nations of the earth and the kings of Israel were the anointed of the Lord. The nations of the earth were supposed to be subject to God's chosen nation and His chosen king, but they didn't like this very much and therefore they often rose up against Israel. We have a clear example of that with Goliath. We remember Goliath well. Goliath openly taunted and cursed God's people and by doing so, he openly taunted and cursed Israel's God. And when David said, For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? When David says that, we can almost hear him say here in that the words of Psalm 2, verse 1, Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? David makes it clear that in challenging the armies of the living God of Israel, Goliath was challenging the living God Himself. And this is vanity. It's an empty-headed thing to do. It is foolishness to challenge the living God. What does Paul say in Romans 8? If God is for us, who can be against us? And the conclusion of the matter, as Paul says, no one. No one. It's foolishness to challenge the living God. that's nothing more than asking for an unfair fight. One which you will lose. And beloved, that's the way of sin. How often haven't we, even as God's people, challenged God by ignoring the teaching of His Word. When we find something else to be more comfortable, or we're happy with the way things are going, but then all of a sudden, Scripture, there's a light there that shows us that maybe we're not quite on track, but, well, I like it. I want to keep doing what I'm doing. I'll just ignore it. And in so many ways. But the psalmist also teaches here that the Lord and His anointed will not let this vanity go unchecked. The Lord and His anointed respond with the announcement of dominion. In verses 4-6, the Lord, the God of heaven Himself, responds with these words, the one enthroned in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. Then He rebukes them in His anger and terrifies them in His wrath, saying, I have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill. First of all, the Lord laughs at them. He scoffs at them. Why does He do this? Simply because of their vanity. Because of the foolishness of this challenge. Again, it's an empty-headed thing to do. And beloved, we can almost hear David laugh also when in essence he says of Goliath, who in the world does he think he's dealing with? Beloved, the Lord's laughter, although dangerous for His enemies, is to be comforting for His children because He cannot lose. He will not lose. He can only win. The martyrs of the Reformation knew that all too well. As we read about the accounts of the martyrs running to the stake, knowing they were going to be burned to death, running to the stake, singing praises to God as they ran, knowing that no matter what happened to them, they would lose their life. Yet God is sovereign. He rules over all. But beloved, this rebellion against the living God is no joking matter. We can be assured that his laughter is not a knee-slapping, funny sort of ordeal. We can be assured, beloved, that as the hijackers hijack those planes and smash them into buildings, killing thousands of innocent people, that our God was not sitting up in heaven, slapping his knee, laughing, thinking it was funny. That's not what this laughter is all about. And for the kings and the rulers and the people of the earth, it's no laughing matter. And that's because the laughter of the one enthroned in heaven who reigns over all at all times, who rules the whole universe, his laughter turns into burning anger because of their vain opposition to him and his anointed. Because they are not doing and being what he created them to do and to be. Again, the kingdoms of the earth say, let us break their chains and throw off their fetters. But the one enthroned in heaven says, Ha! You go ahead and try. I have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill. Historically, the kings of Israel, especially David and his sons, were the anointed of God over his people. And these kings reigned with the authority of God Himself in Zion, an earthly reference to Jerusalem, the capital of Judah. The place where the temple was, a religious reference, earthly dwelling place of the Lord where He placed His name and dwelt among His people. And from Zion, the Lord exercised dominion over the earth. Then notice the announcement of dominion continues with a speech by the Lord's anointed Himself in verses 7-9. I will proclaim the decree of the Lord. He said to me, You are my servant. Today I have become your father. Ask of Me and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter. You will dash them to pieces like pottery. Again, beloved, this clearly points forward to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and speaks of universal dominion. But in history, it refers to God's earthly kings who foreshadowed Christ. The King of Judah was considered to be the Son of God, Son with a small s, if we can say it that way. The Son of God by anointing. In that way, he was adopted by God. And especially with David, the people recognized that his calling and his anointing came directly from God. And to call the king the Son of God was to confess that he was the representative and agent of God. Only the term son for the king could best describe the special and unique relationship that he had with God. And beloved, we enjoy that special and unique relationship of adoption into God's family as sons and daughters of the Most High God through Jesus Christ. But God Himself established that relationship with His earthly kings. In 2 Samuel 7, we read about the fact that David wants to build a house for God. But he's not allowed to do so because he's a man of bloodshed. And instead, once again, and really something quite amazing it ought to be to us, is God does something wonderful for David instead. He will make David a house, as verse 11 says. And then speaking of David's son, the Lord says, And I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son, and your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever. Each king from the house of David was considered the Son of God by adoption because of the position that he held. Now Psalm 89 also talks about this promise to David. Now there we read, I have made a covenant with My chosen. I have sworn to My servant David, Your seed I will establish forever and build up Your throne to all generations. Then a bit later in the psalm we read, He shall cry to Me, You are My Father. my God and the rock of my salvation, also I will make Him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth, beloved. Such beautiful promises from the mouth of God. And each of David's sons could lay claim to God's promise in Psalm 2, verse 8, Ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. We know that a son is an heir, eligible to receive the Father's inheritance. Israel, whom God called His firstborn Son, was given the inheritance of the land flowing with milk and honey. And that inheritance also included the nations and the ends of the earth which God can give because they belong to Him to give. He owns them. The earth is the Lord's in all its fullness. The world and those who dwell therein, as Psalm 24 says. But the text also describes the nature of the Son's rule when it says, you will rule them with an iron scepter. An iron scepter, a picture of strength and indestructibility that indeed describes the kingdom of our God, the kingdom of Christ. It may not be totally visible today, but it will be demonstrated fully on the day of the Lord. But this iron scepter refers to the power and the authority of the king's scepter. Queen Esther said to Mordecai that whomever went in to see the king without being invited or called in by the king would be put to death except the one to whom the king held out his golden scepter. That scepter was a symbol of power. And this scepter of iron that God's king rules with means that He rules the nations and the ends of the earth with a power that they cannot overcome. It's impossible. If they try to resist, the king will dash them to pieces like pottery. Now boys and girls, think about a glass cup, a drinking glass. If you've ever dropped one on a cement floor or on a tile floor, you know what happens. It completely shatters in what seems to be a million pieces. They fly all over the place in directions you can't imagine. and even if you were able to retrieve all of the pieces into one pile, that glass is unfixable. It's beyond repair. And the point is, beloved, there is no hope, absolutely no hope for those who vainly resist God, who persist in their hardness of heart and unbelief. Now, what a gracious promise for God's people and for His anointed. But if you know your Bible history well, you know that God's people struggled with the nations around them and they hardly possessed them at all. Why is this? It's not because the nations were bigger and stronger than Israel. That's true in many, many cases, that the nations were in fact bigger and stronger than Israel. And often Israel looked more like Gideon's 300 compared to the 132,000 of the enemy. But that wasn't the reason for Israel's failure. Consider Gideon's 300. They were victorious. Psalm 89 again gives us a hint. We read in verses 30 to 32, If his sons forsake my law, the sons of the king, of course, of David, and do not walk in my judgments, if they break my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. God's people and earthly anointed kings did in fact forsake Him and transgress against Him. And the result was that for a time, for a long time, when the Israelites were in exile and captivity, and even after that, there was no Son of David sitting on the physical throne. So then what happened to all of God's promises? What about Psalm 2 and everything we've talked about so far? Was it all for nothing? Was it all in vain? No. Not at all. Again, Jesus Christ is in view here, very clearly. He was announced by the very Word of God already in the garden. As we are told that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the seed of the serpent. The actual battle took place on the cross. In Acts 4, Peter quotes from Psalm 2 and says that it speaks of Christ. Then Peter points to Herod and Pilate as representatives of the kings and rulers of the earth and he includes the Gentiles and Jews as taking their stand against the Lord's anointed. Christ's baptism and transfiguration on the mountain were God's announcement that His Son had His anointing to take David's everlasting throne. And this was accomplished, beloved, when He rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven. Paul says in Romans 1 verse 4 that Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Christ's resurrection, ascension, and session at the right hand of God where He rules and reigns today are God's response to earth's rebellion. His response to sin. But the resistance and challenge to His kingship took place in full force by Satan throughout Christ's earthly ministry. Through Herod, Satan tried to destroy the Christ child by killing the baby boys of Bethlehem. After his baptism by John the Baptist, Satan worked hard to tempt our Lord to forsake His Father and to worship Satan. Ever since the Garden of Eden, Satan worked through the nations and the peoples of the earth to take their stand against the Lord and against His Anointed and challenged the kingship of Christ. And today, Christ is victorious, but this continues. The challenge goes on and on, even as we've witnessed in very clear form this week. The wicked world is under the dominion of sin and Satan not under the dominion of Christ. They do not acknowledge Him and they boldly challenge our Lord. Standing against Him, saying, I'm going to do what I want. And what are you going to do about it? But God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name that is above every name. And every knee, beloved, shall bow before Him because He has been given to the nations as an inheritance. We sing Jesus, and rightly so, we sing, Jesus shall reign where'er the sun, shall its successive journeys run. Beloved Jesus Christ is victorious. He rules over His church and over the world. And no amount of terrorism can dethrone our Lord. And no amount of terrorism can separate you and me as believers from the salvation that Christ has earned for us. God's people are eternally safe. And as the rightful king, Jesus then calls to submission the rulers of the earth. Verses 10-12 Therefore, you kings, be wise. Be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you be destroyed in your way. For His wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him. Jesus Christ has been given universal dominion over those in heaven, those on earth and those under the earth. Again, this is not recognized. And at this point, every knee does not yet bow, but this will be revealed again on the day of the Lord. His rod of iron is His holy Word, which is a sharp two-edged sword which dissects down to the intimate thoughts of the heart. And those who do not submit to the truth of God will be overcome by the truth of God. But notice something, beloved. Notice the grace of God here. Notice the grace of God here. He gives kings and rulers of the earth an opportunity to repent. When we may not want to give our enemies an opportunity to repent, when we may want to go in and blast them right away to give them what they deserve, our God gives His enemies an opportunity to repent. Yet there's an urgency here. This is a command to repent. And to do it, and to do it now. As well, they are to learn from their mistakes. They are to be wise, the text says, which is opposite to what they have been, vain and foolish. They are to be warned. Up until now, they've been a law unto themselves. They are, as verse 11 says, to serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. And this too is to be a complete change from challenging Him with an arrogant attitude. As Proverbs 1 verse 7 says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. And Jesus Christ, the Lord's anointed, is to be submitted to totally. That's what it means to kiss the Son. Another version says, Do homage to the Son. He is to be held in reverence. He is to be esteemed as He truly is. He is high and exalted. And alone is He to be worshipped. And beloved, the Word of God is clear. There are only two ways. And for those who reject Him, when His wrath is kindled, they shall be destroyed in their way. And this is forever. But those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by the grace of God, Those who trust and obey and take refuge in the cleft of the rock of ages are blessed eternally. There can only be either opposition to His kingship or refuge in His kingship. Jesus Christ is heaven's answer to earth's rebellion. He is this answer, beloved, on behalf of His people as He answered for our rebellion. And He endured the anger and wrath of God which should have been against us. But He is also Heaven's answer against those who reject Him, those who themselves will have to answer for their own sin. And they will be crushed by Him. As the anointed Son, He has opened the way for His subjects to be adopted as sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father. He is our King. And our lives and everything we do is to be done for the benefit of His kingdom. He has dominion over all of the kingdoms of the earth and He rules the kingdoms of the earth through His church today. His church of which He is the head, the ruler. And He rules through His Spirit and by the scepter of His Word. As His people, beloved, we are called to be obedient to His Word with complete submission and to call the kingdoms of the earth to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. For there is salvation in no other than Him. Indeed, the church today may look small and insignificant in the eyes of the world, the opposite of ruling the world for the sake of Christ. And the rebellious people of the world might laugh and scoff at the church and say, you've got to be kidding me. But our Lord will have the last laugh. Our Lord will have the last laugh when those purchased and cleansed by His blood, His bride, the church, is presented to His Father without spot or wrinkle. holy, and blameless, while those who vainly rejected Him will be destroyed in their ways. Those who rise up against Christ, against His Word, and against those who come in His name rise up against God Himself. And beloved, that's spiritual suicide. For as we sing, to live apart from God is death. And beloved, when you cast aside the Word of God in favor of your own personal desires, you rise up against God Himself. That's a vain thing to do. That's a foolish thing to do. It's a deadly thing to do. But for those who repent of their sins and confess Jesus Christ as their Savior, their Lord, and their Eternal King, they are comforted by the chains and fetters of His Word and salvation. Those blessed chains and fetters which hold His people close and tight as His possession and protect us. And by the grace of God, we can sing, "'Tis good His face to seek. My refuge is the living God. His praise I long to speak." Our sovereign God responded to the sinful rebellion of man through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. For those who reject Him, that means eternal separation and punishment because they cannot stand against Him. But for those adopted by God the Father for the sake of Jesus Christ, for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by grace through faith, this means eternal life. Beloved, what is truly unfair about this fight? It's truly unfair that Jesus died. So that we might live. Such grace, huh? Undeserved. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, as we bow before You once again in Jesus' name, who else, in whose name can we come to You but His name? For He is our King. He is our Savior. And Father, we thank You and praise You that we may have the comfort and assurance that when we feel the weight of the peoples of the world, of the nations of the world coming down upon us, when we feel the weight of wickedness and sin trying to press against us as God's people and trying to destroy us, we thank You for this assurance that this mortal life, even though this more life might go even though we might die in this life yet we are saved forever and ever as you protect your people unto eternity may we go forward Father in greater confidence and assurance of this your grace may we never ever again stand against our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ but always and only by the power of your spirit stand with Him standing always only for our King hear our prayer for Jesus' sake and in His name Amen