Thrust Statement: The sovereignty of God calls for surrender of one’s life
to Him.
Scripture Reading: Psalm 2
Psalm 2 is one of five specific Messianic Psalms (22, 45, 72, 110) This Messianic Psalm reads like a modern day newspaper—rebellion against God. The issues that David addresses are always contemporary. David speaks of a world that is out of control. He lived in a world in which it did not appear that God was in power. Does this Psalm upset you? Do you find this Psalm about God’s sovereignty rather strange? This Psalm reveals the weird and wonderful way in which God exercises control. One quickly observes that God does not rule in the same way dictators govern. His reign is a government of love. God wants all men to serve Him because they love Him. When individuals fail to respond, God is still longsuffering.
Psalm 2 speaks of those who refuse self-abandonment. As a result of autonomous behavior, the ungodly often pursue the righteous with a vengeance that often creates doubt in the faithful as to the powers of God. The righteous—those who live under the sovereignty of God—will be vulnerable to the powers of the world. In fact, the very next Psalm (Psalm 3) reveals the heartaches that David endured at the hands of his enemies, especially his son Absalom. But in spite of tragedy, God still delivers. David goes right to the heart of God’s involvement: “From the LORD comes deliverance” (Psalm 3:8).[1] What can believers do in the face of circumstances that are beyond their control? How do you relate to personal problems in your own life? How should individuals respond to things that they do not understand? Listen to the Psalmist as he strips away all vestiges of self-reliance: “Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (Psalm 2:12d). Those who put their trust in Him find true happiness.
Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 are both encased in the word happy (yrev]a',[2] a~vr@, blessed). The introduction to the Book of Psalms sets forth the things that create happiness in the life of His people. Just as Psalm 1 begins with the word blessed, so Psalm 2 concludes with a blessing: “Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (2:12d). Psalm 1 is a contrast between the righteous and the sinner. The second Psalm is a contrast between the world’s disobedience and the exaltation of God’s Son. In the first Psalm, the wicked are driven away like chaff (1:4), but in the second Psalm, the wicked are dashed to pieces like pottery (2:9). In the second Psalm, the Psalmist brings us face to face with the Messiah, the Son of God.
This Psalm is best understood when it is
viewed as a four-fold picture. In other words, the Psalm is divided into four
stanzas of three verses each. For example, consider the following analysis:
1 Why do the nations conspire and the peoples
plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth take their stand and the
rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. 3 “Let
us break their chains,” they say, “and
throw off their fetters” (2:1-3).
4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord
scoffs at them. 5 Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies
them in his wrath, saying, 6 “I have installed my King on Zion, my
holy hill” (2:4-6).
7 I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He
said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father. 8 Ask
of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your
possession. 9 You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash
them to pieces like pottery” (2:7-9).
10 Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you
rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with
trembling. 12 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 (2:10-12).
As one reflects upon Psalm 1 and Psalm 2, one discovers that both Psalms set forth a life that is dependent upon God and is the opposite of autonomy. God wants individuals and nations to practice self-abandonment. These two Psalms make clear that God is sovereign. In other words, God is reigning over the affairs of men. God wants men and women to delight in His law and to be opened to His instructions (1:2). If one takes pleasure in the Law of God, then that person will “take refuge in Him” (2:12d). These two Psalms should be read together. Not only does the word blessed link these two Psalms, but the Hebrew word hg*h* (h`g>) is employed in 1:2b (“meditate”) and 2:1b (“plot”). But the translators of our English versions render the Hebrew word h`g> with two separate English words: “meditate” in 1:2b and “plot” in 2:1b. This repetition creates a contrast between persons who meditate on God’s instructions and those whose thinking is vain, empty, and purposeless.[3]
As one thinks
about these two Psalms, one must search his/her own soul to determine if he/she
is God-centered or self-centered. These two Psalms are against autonomy, that
is to say, a law unto one’s self. The contrast is between those who are
self-instructed and those who are God-instructed. Are you listening to the
counsel of God? Are you rejecting the guidance of ungodly individuals? Have you
accepted the Messiah as God’s Anointed One for the salvation of your soul? This
last question brings one face to face with the full-blown teachings of Psalm 2—the
rejection of God’s Anointed One, namely, Jesus as God’s Messiah for the
redemption of humanity.
This Psalm had an original setting concerning David being established on his throne, in spite of opposition. Scholars, as a whole, have not been able to identify the events described in this Psalm to David or Solomon his son. The language, at times, appears to have an uncommon glow and to participate in bold exaggeration for the sake of emphasis in order to lead one to contemplate something much higher than David himself. A casual glance at this royal Psalm leads one from things below to things above, from things human to things Divine. David transcends his earthly reign to the reign of the Messiah. This revelatory Psalm depicts the ultimate rejection of God’s Son. This classic Psalm of a world out of control is an example of the mutiny of the human heart against God.
JESUS
AND PSALM TWO
There is ample evidence from the New Testament writings that this Psalm
had its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus. Luke records that Jesus, after His
resurrection and before His ascension, spoke to the disciples concerning the
Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. Luke preserves for his readers the following
comments of Jesus to His disciples:
“This is what I
told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is
written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the
Psalms.” Then he
opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise
from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be
preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:44-47).
In Jesus’ instructions to His disciples, He calls attention to the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. No doubt, Psalm 2 was one such psalm that our Lord expounded to His disciples. The Psalms, as well as the Law and the Prophets, were to be read with eagerness to ascertain the Messianic overtones found in them. As one peruses the denial and unbelief of Peter, shortly before and after the resurrection, one observes an individual that did not fully understand what was going on. After Jesus instructed the apostles from the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, one finds Peter on the day of Pentecost citing from the Book of Psalms to give credence to the election of Matthias to replace Judas.
Following the choosing of Matthias to take the place of Judas, Peter addresses a group of believers—numbering about 120—concerning the field of blood. Luke says everyone in Jerusalem was conscious of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas and the purchase of the Field of Blood with the money paid to Judas (Acts 1:12-19). During his speech, Peter informed the company of believers that this action on the part of Judas and the replacement of Judas with Matthias was foretold by the Psalmist: “May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it” (Acts 1:20; Psalm 69:25) and “May another take his place of leadership” (Acts 1:20; Psalm 109:8). These two passages of Scripture were put forward to call to mind that Judas had left a vacancy that had to be filled. How did Peter know this? Was not his understanding of the Psalms from the instructions that our Lord shared with the Eleven before His ascension?
On the day of
Pentecost, Peter speaks of the death and resurrection of Jesus as having been
foretold through Psalm
16:8-11. Peter begins this quotation with the
words: “David said about him” (Acts 2:25). Then he cites Psalm 16:8-11 to prove that God had foreordained this
resurrection of the Messiah:
8 I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, 10 because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. 11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand (Acts 2:25-28).
How did Peter envision this citation? Listen as he logically draws conclusions to illustrate that this Psalm could not possibly refer to David:
Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear (Acts 2:29-33).
Peter then understandably draws an inference based upon the historical reality of the death of David. He states that even though David did not ascend into heaven, nevertheless, David could still write (Psalm 110:1):
1 The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” (Acts 2:35).
The people to whom Peter addresses these words understood the implications—Jesus is both Lord and Christ—and responded to the Messianic character of these Psalms by inquiring as to what actions they could take to eliminate their guilt for crucifying the Son of God.
Psalm
Two and the Rejection of Jesus by the Rulers
Luke reveals an episode of conflict between two apostles—Peter and
John—and the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:21). These two men had been arrested and
released for preaching Jesus as the only way of salvation (4:3-4, 12). After their release from
incarceration, Peter and John “went back to their own people and reported all
that the chief priests and elders had said to them” (4:23). Upon hearing the testimony of these
two men, the crowd broke out in prayer of praise and thanksgiving (4:24). The significant thing about their
“praise and thanksgiving” is found in their interpretation of Psalm 2. They begin their reference to this
Psalm by saying, “You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your
servant, our father David” (4:25a). As mentioned earlier, this Psalm is one that Jesus must
have expounded upon in his discourse with the eleven.
In their prayer to God, they acknowledged that God made the heaven and
the earth, but they also cited Psalm 2:1-2:
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 26 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One (Acts 4: 25-26).
Who
took their stand against God? Who were the rulers? Who were the nations? Who
were the people? Who was the Anointed One? Listen, once more, to this prayer
that occurred almost two thousand years ago:
Indeed Herod
and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the
people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus,
whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand
should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to
speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform
miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were
all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly (4:27-31).
Peter, John, and the other believers were conscious that this Psalm was Messianic. But this rejection of Jesus by the leaders of Israel did not deter their evangelistic zeal. In fact, they prayed, “enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness (4:29). Are you, too, praying that God will enable you to speak His word with courage? Are you mindful that this Psalm is also an evangelistic outreach? They were all aware that this Psalm set forth the tone for their evangelistic passion. In this Psalm, David, through the Holy Spirit, speaks of the Messiah as saying:
7 I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, “You
are my Son; today I have become your Father. 8 Ask of me, and I will
make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your
possession (Psalm
2:7-8).
Not only did our Lord remind His disciples of Psalm 2,
but He also instructed them as to their responsibilities toward the nations.
Again, as noticed above, one should meditate carefully upon the Great
Commission:
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).
As one reflects upon Psalm 2:8: “I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession,” one cannot help but recall the words of Jesus in his farewell discourse to His disciples. Jesus’ missionary activity was to bring about the evangelization of the nations. Again, it is extremely important for one to ponder once more the words of Jesus as reported by Luke:
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things (Luke 24:44-48).
His work was to be a mission of conquest. It is evident that our Lord interpreted Psalm 2 in terms of His farewell message to His followers. It is in this regard to the Great Commission that Paul and Barnabas found themselves in Pisidian Antioch—275 miles NW of Paphos—preaching the word of God to both men of Israel and Gentiles who also worshiped God (Acts 13:13, 16). In Paul’s speech about the good news of God, he cited Psalm 2:7, Isaiah 55:3, Psalm 16:10, and Habakkuk 1:5 to prove that Jesus is the One spoken of in the Psalms and in the Prophets. It is also noteworthy that Paul cites Psalm 2:7 to prove the resurrection of Jesus:
We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: You are my Son; today I have become your Father (Acts 13:32-33).
Nations were to hear the word of God, to learn of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, to see something of the depths of Jesus’ love, and then to come to Him in repentance for the forgiveness of sins through His name. This is God’s way of salvation. He urges His followers to go out into the entire world to make disciples and to win the nations for His “inheritance” and the ends of the earth for His “possession” (Psalm 2:8). God has given to every believer the privilege of participating in the proclamation of God’s good news of salvation through faith in Jesus. Paul soars in his language as he captures the very heart of the good news about God’s way of salvation in his first letter to Corinth:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).
Yes, every Christian is a “new creation” in Christ Jesus. Every believer is reconciled to God through Christ. God in His infinite love allows those in Christ to become a part of the labor force; God has given to every saint “the ministry of reconciliation”; and God has committed to every redeemed person “the message of reconciliation.” One must never forget that every Christian is to “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:12-13).
10 Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. 12 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 (Psalm 2:10-12).
[1]
All Scripture citations are from
The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan Publishing House) 1984, unless stated otherwise.
[2]
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, (Deutsche
Bibelgesellschaft Stuttgart) 1990.
[3] See J. Clinton McCann, Jr., The Book of Psalms in Leander E. Keck, Senior Editor, The New Interpreter’s Bible: 1 & 2 Maccabees, Introduction to Hebrew Poetry, Job, Psalms, vol., 4 (Nashville: Abingdon, 1996), 689. I am deeply indebted to McCann for his insightful commentary and reflections upon Psalm 2.