Psalm 2

11/27/22

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Sermon Transcript

Good morning. You know, it’s been said that Jesus can be found on every page of the Old Testament. And I think that’s right. All throughout the Old Testament, we can see God’s great plan of redemption through Christ moving forward. All throughout the Old Testament, we can see the great unfolding of God’s promise to Abraham to bless the entire world through His seed. All throughout the Old Testament, we can find God’s plan going forward to establish His eternal kingdom, to raise Christ up to sit on the throne of David. Over and over, we find great promises and prophecies of the coming Messiah coming to bless the entire world.

Some of the prophecies tell us of His birth. Others tell us of his ministry, other prophecies tell us of his death. Others tell us of his resurrection, others tell us of his ascension. Others tell us of his eternal kingdom, the church, all throughout the Old Testament. And there are many such prophecies that we could point to, telling us about all of those things. But if we were going to pick just one, just one Old Testament prophecy, perhaps to teach someone about the prophecies of Christ. Which one would we choose? Could we find one, just one Old Testament prophecy about Christ that includes all of the promises that we just listed? Could we find one Old Testament prophecy that describes Jesus’ birth and his ministry and his sonship and his death and his resurrection and his ascension and his kingship and his priesthood and his gospel all in one prophecy and the answer is yes we can please open your Bibles to Psalm 2, the second Psalm.

The New Testament quotes or refers to the second Psalm of David some 18 times, which is more than any other Psalm. When Revelation 12:5 describes the birth of Christ, it does so by pointing us back to the second Psalm. When Mark 1:11 describes the beginning of Christ’s ministry and his baptism, it does so by pointing us back to the second Psalm. When Mark 9:7 describes the sonship of Christ and the kingship of Christ at his transfiguration, it does so by pointing us back to the second Psalm. When Hebrews 5:5 describes the priesthood of Christ and the death of Christ, it does so by pointing us back to the second Psalm. When Acts 13:33, which we heard read just a moment ago, describes the resurrection of Christ, it does so by pointing us back to the second Psalm. And when Hebrews 1:2-5 describes the ascension of Christ and the kingship Christ, it does so by pointing us back to the second Psalm of David.

So let’s look at this wonderful second Psalm. And what we find first is that it’s divided into four parts, each three verses long. So let’s look at each of those four parts of Psalm 2. In the first three verses, we hear a question. “Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine of anything. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.” Why do the heathen rage? David asked that question 3,000 years ago and we’re still asking it today, aren’t we? Why the rage against God? Why the vain imaginations? Why the plots against God and against the people of God? Why are the powers of this world arrayed against God and against the kingdom of God?

The reason David asked those questions and the reason we are still asking those questions many years later is that rebellion has always been the way of this world. This world has always rebelled against God. And verse 2 tells us the heathen are not just working against God, they are also working against His anointed. Well, who is that? Is that perhaps King David, the anointed King of Israel? Or is it some earthly king that followed King David onto the throne of Judah? The answer is no to both questions. We are not looking at any earthly king here in Psalm 2. How do we know that? Because the opening verses of the book of Hebrews quote Psalm 2 and tell us that the anointed in Psalm 2 can only be Christ, can only be the Son of God. In fact, that’s the entire point of Hebrews. That’s the entire reason it cites Psalm 2 is to show that Christ is unique, that Christ is superior. The anointed in Psalm 2:2 is Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah. In fact, Christ and Messiah both mean the anointed one. Psalm 2 is a Psalm about Christ, it’s a Psalm about Jesus. And the first thing we learn about Christ from Psalm 2 is that the entire fallen world is arrayed against him.

But the question in verse 1 is why? Why do the heathen rage against God? Why do they rage against Christ? And we find the answer in verse 3. They are seeking freedom. That was the reason in the days of King David and it remains the reason today. These opponents of God and of Christ do not want to submit to God. They do not want to submit to his king or to his kingdom. They view that type of submission as bondage. Instead, they want freedom. They want to be their own God. And that promise of freedom has long been Satan’s watchword, hasn’t it? Going back to the garden, Adam and Eve, they believed Satan’s lie, that God had placed those restrictions on them in the garden just to keep them in bondage. And that has been the belief of fallen humanity ever since. Satan blinds men from seeing the love of God. Instead, they just see bondage and oppression. They, like the parable in Luke 19:14, say, “We will not have this man reign over us.” And that hatred of God and that hatred of Christ is also a hatred of the people of God, people of Christ, his church. John 15:18-19, “If the world hate you, you know it hated me before it hated you. If you were of this world, the world would love his own, but because you are not of this world, I have chosen you out of this world, therefore the world hates you,” Jesus told his followers. We proclaim the wonderful words of life from the word of God, but many in the world have been deceived and they hear only words of oppression, words of bondage. And so they rage against God and against the anointed. So where are we at the end of verse 3? The heathen are raging, the heathen are plotting against God and against Christ because they want to be free. They do not want to submit to God and to his kingdom.

How will God respond to that? You know, we might imagine how God would respond to such things. We might picture the earth just opening up, swallowing them up. That’s not what we see here. In fact, in the next verse of Psalm 2, we don’t see anything. Instead, we hear something. We hear God laughing. “For. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision, then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sword as pleasure, yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” God does not respond to these heathen as we might imagine he would. Instead God responds in two ways, each of which is very surprising. And God’s first response to the heathen is to laugh. You know in a strange way this sound of God’s laughter here in verse 4, it’s one of the most reassuring sounds in the whole Bible. Mankind thinks it’s in charge. Mankind thinks it has the ultimate power, the ultimate authority. Humanity believes that nothing is hidden from it. Humanity believes that nothing is beyond the reach of man. The world views the cross of Christ’s foolishness. The world heaps ridicule and derision on the people of God and on the Word of God. And what do we hear in response? We hear God laughing. Men have long tried to derail God’s plans but God only laughs at such vanity. We see that in another Psalm, Psalm 37:12, “The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him but the Lord laughs at the wicked for he sees that his day is coming.”

So God’s first response here is laughter. What is God’s second response? God’s second response to the heathen is to speak to them in his wrath, to vex them in his sore displeasure and what God says in verse 6 is even more unexpected and more surprising than the laughter. In fact, what God says in verse 6 is one of the most wonderful and important statements found anywhere, anywhere in the Word of God, a statement we could study for a lifetime and still not fully explore. God says, “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” Let’s look at each word and phrase of that amazing pronouncement by God. First we have the word “yet.” “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” In that little word “yet” we find the wonderful grace of God. The world rages yet the heathen plot yet we’re reminded of Romans 5:10 for if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son such more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life we should thank God every day for that word “yet” because we too were once enemies of God.

Second, we have the word “have.” “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” That word “have” is an example of something we call the prophetic past tense. When God says something is going to happen, that thing becomes so certain that it can from that point on be spoken of in past tense. That’s how certain it is. It is as if it’s already happened. It is so certain to come to pass. That’s what we see here. God had promised Abraham that he would bless the entire world through his seed. God had promised King David that his throne would be occupied eternally. Those great promises were unconditional, and they were going to happen no matter how loudly the heathen raged. And they did happen when Christ came into this world to seek and to save the lost.

Third, we have the phrase, “I sent.” Yet have I sent my King upon my holy hill of Zion. This is God the Father speaking here. This is God doing this, not man. The heathen, in verse 3, they said, “Let us.” God, in verse 6, says, “Yet I.” It’s God the Father acting here. God is not taking a poll. God is not taking a quick head count to see just how many are arrayed against him. It doesn’t matter how many are arrayed against God. It doesn’t matter how many are arrayed against the people of God. God is telling us here what he is doing, and there is no one who can prevent him from doing that.

Fourth, we have the phrase, my king, Yet have I set my king upon the holy hill of Zion. We see that little word my twice in this one short phrase and each time it’s applying to God the Father. Here that word my is a reminder of who it was who crowned Jesus king and it was not us. “I set my king” says God the Father. God the Father crowned Jesus King, Hebrews 2:7. There is only one crown that men ever placed on the head of Christ, and it was a crown of thorns.

Fifth, we have the phrase, “Upon my holy hill of Zion.” Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. Again, we see the word my. Whatever is being described here belongs to God the Father, and it is where God is setting his king. So what is this holy hill of Zion? From where does this great king rule? We can turn to another great chapter two of the Bible for an answer to that question, and that’s Isaiah chapter 2, starting in verse 2. “And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow into it. And many shall go and say, come ye and let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us of his ways. We will walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

What is that great mountain of the Lord? It is the church. It was established in Acts chapter 2, another great chapter two of the Bible. Psalm 2, Isaiah 2, Acts 2. That great day in Acts chapter 2 is when the word of the Lord went forth from Jerusalem as Isaiah prophesied. You can see that in Luke 24:47. Isaiah told us about that in Isaiah 2. It happened in Acts 2. And what is the church? It is the eternal kingdom of Christ that will sweep away all the nations of this world. Daniel 2:44, “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. Kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms. It shall stand forever.” That’s the church, the eternal kingdom of Christ. Established in Acts 2, it’s the immovable kingdom of Hebrews 12:28-29. The church is the holy hill of Zion. The eternal kingdom of the eternal King it will stand forever and sweep away all the kingdoms of this earth.

“Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion.” That is God’s answer to the raging heathen. That was God’s answer to them in David’s day it is still God’s answer to them in our day. In fact that short statement is the answer to everything. The heathen are raging what’s the answer? “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” The world is a mess what’s the answer “yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” I don’t understand why the wicked are prospering what’s the answer “yet have I set my king upon the holy hill of Zion.” There’s pain and there’s death in this world what’s the answer “yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” That’s what Paul told the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 1:20, “For all the promises of God find their yes in Him, in Christ. That is why it is through Him that we utter our Amen to God for His glory.” Whatever the problem, Jesus is the answer. It is only through Christ and only through the Word of Christ that God is speaking today. And his eternal kingdom, the Lord’s Church.

But of course Jesus is not king over only the righteous. Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, Matthew 28:18. Jesus is King of Kings, 1 Timothy 6:15, which means he’s everybody’s king. It is crucial to understand this. I do not obey Christ to make him my king or to make him my Lord I obey Christ because he is already my king and already my Lord that’s why I obey him the only question is whether I am his faithful subject or his rebellious subject but all the world is subject to Christ he is king of kings and Lord of Lords so far we’ve heard from the heathen and we’ve heard from God the Father.

In the third section of Psalm 2 we hear from God the Son, from the Anointed, from the Messiah, from the Christ. Verse 7, “I will declare the decree the Lord has said unto me, ‘Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I shall give the heathen for inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession thou shalt break them with a rod of iron thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’” We hear Jesus’s response starting in verse 7 and what we find is that Jesus responds by quoting God the Father. What we see in verses 7-9 is an example of what Jesus told us in John 12:49, “For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment what to say and what to speak.” And this is an example for us to follow as well. When the world is raging against us, the very best thing we can do is to quote the Word of God. Now I’m not telling you that’s going to keep them from raging. I think it’s going to turn the dial up on the rage, but that’s the very best thing we can do. And perhaps whenever the raging world takes a head count as they do so often today and then declare that up is down and that right is wrong and that light is dark, we should respond simply by quoting Romans 3:4, “Let God be true but every man a liar.” God’s Word is truth, not subject to the vote man.

What is the first thing that God the Father says to God the Son in verse 7? “Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.” And here like a second tremendous and powerful wave from the sea, we have a second statement from God that leaves the heathen speechless. “Thou art my son, this day have I begotten forgotten thee.” If you highlight verses in your Bible and you haven’t highlighted verses six and seven in Psalm 2, then you might not as you might as well not be highlighting anything in those two verses. We find the entire plan of God. This short statement from Psalm 2:7 is referred to 10 times in the New Testament. Twice in Matthew, twice in Mark, twice in Luke, once in John, once in Acts, twice in Hebrews. As we did with verse six, let’s look at this statement in verse seven, piece by piece. First, we have the phrase, “Thou art my son.” This is the third time God has used that word “my” in these verses. My King, my Holy Hill, my son. The anointed in Psalm 2 is not just a king, he is God’s son. This is the only appearance of the word son as a messianic title in the Psalms, but in the New Testament we see it over and over again, many times quoting this very verse in Psalm 2. Jesus the Christ, the Messiah is the son of God. The son of God. That word son tells us volumes about Jesus, about his relation with God the Father. What does it mean that Jesus is the Son of God? We could look at that question all day, but I think the best answer we could ever possibly give is the answer Jesus gave in John 17. What does it mean to be the Son of God? John 17:1-6, “Father, the hour has come. glorify your son, that the son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” That’s what it means for Jesus the Christ to be the Son of the Living God.

Second, we have the phrase “this day thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” What day is that? The New Testament tells us we don’t have to choose only a single day. I think it certainly includes the day of Christ’s birth as well as his baptism, his transfiguration, where God once again said, “Thou art my Son.” But Acts 13:33 tells us that this day in verse 7 also includes the day of Christ’s resurrection. As Romans 1:4 reminds us, Christ was declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead. Hebrews 5:5 tells us this day also includes the day of Christ’s ascension and the day of his enthronement. When he the kingdom from God the Father. You know that great day of Christ’s ascension is described in Acts chapter 1 from the perspective of those on earth seeing Christ go up into heaven. But you know what? That’s not the only description of that great day we find in the Bible. We also find a description of that great day from the perspective of those in heaven as Christ ascended and we find that in Daniel chapter 7:13-14. “I saw in the night visions and behold one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed.” That is Christ sending into heaven, being given the kingdom by his Father, kingdom that was established in Acts chapter two.

Third, we have the phrase, “Have I begotten thee?” Thou art my son this day, have I begotten thee? What does that mean? Well, again, it wouldn’t be possible for us to completely exhaust the meaning of that phrase, but we can discern here its central meaning, and that is that God the Father has a special and unique relationship with God the Son. The anointed King in Psalm 2 is completely unlike any other King. Only to Christ does God say, “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” That is, only to Christ does God say, “You are my Son, I am your Father.” Yes, in speaking to David in 2 Samuel 7:14 God said “I will be his father and he shall be my son” but even there the reference was to the Messiah how do we know that because Hebrews 1:5 quotes that very verse from 2 Samuel along with Psalm 2 says they both apply to Christ. Jesus has a special and unique relationship with God the Father that no one else ever had will ever have or could ever have that’s what verse 7 is telling us.

And Jesus tells us more in verse 8 again by quoting God the Father, “Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 28:18, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” It’s the same thing that Paul told us in Colossians 1:16-18, “For by him were all things created that are in heaven that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him he is before all things and by him all things consist he is the head of the body the church who is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in all things he might have preeminence.” Jesus is king of kings and Lord of Lords that means he is above all things he possesses all things.

And Jesus continues quoting God the Father in verse 9, “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” That verse is quoted three times in the book of Revelation. First we find it in the letters to the seven churches. Revelation 2:26, “He that over cometh and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power over over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter shall be broken to shivers, even as I received of my father,” Jesus says. From that verse, we learn that those in the kingdom of Christ will reign with Christ. Romans 5:17 tells us the same thing. Revelation 20:4 tells us the same thing. We reign with Christ. Psalm 2:9 is also quoted in Revelation 12 and Revelation 19. Revelation 12:5, “And she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up into God and to his throne.” And Revelation 19:15-16, “And out of his mouth shall go a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, he shall rule them with a rod of iron. He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of the Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” That’s Jesus Christ.

Why is the imagery of the rod of iron quoted three times in the book of Revelation? Perhaps it’s because I believe that book deals with the greatest threat the church ever faced, the mighty Roman Empire, a threat that appeared when the church was in its infancy. The message of Revelation is the same as the message of Psalm 2, and that God’s people will be victorious. Our King on the holy hill of Zion, he has all authority and all power. He rules with a rod of iron. Rome doesn’t stand a chance and neither does any other kingdom of this world. Why? Because God has set his king on the holy hill of Zion. We sing about it. Oh victory in Jesus my Savior forever. He bought sought me and bought me with his redeeming blood. And another song, faith is the victory, faith is the victory, oh glorious victory that overcomes the world. That is the message of Psalm 2. The heathen can rage all they want to. It matters not to God, it matters not to the plans of God, it matters not to Christ. Matters not to the word of Christ, it matters not to the church of Christ. Victory is ours and we, the faithful people of God, reign in life with our victorious king.

The fourth and final section of Psalm 2 gives us God’s final word to these heathen kings who are raging against him and plotting against the anointed. And again, God does not respond here as we might imagine he would. Instead, God’s final word to the heathen here is the same as God’s final word to mankind today. God’s final word is the gospel of Christ. That’s how Psalm 2 comes to an end. Verse 10. “Be wise now therefore, O you kings, be instructed ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” The kings and the judges and the heathen who were raging against God in the opening verses of Psalm 2 are in the closing verses exhorted to be wise and to be instructed. They are invited to serve the Lord with fear and to rejoice with trembling. Paul would later allude to the same verse in describing our own role in obeying the gospel. Philippians 2:12, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Are we trembling with fear? No. Psalm 2:11 tells us we serve God with fear. We rejoice with trembling. We’re trembling because of the good news, not because of the bad news.

The raging heathen are invited to kiss the sun. That’s a sign of respect. It’s a sign of repentance. It’s a sign of greeting. It’s a sign of reconciliation. It’s the kiss of the father to the prodigal. The only other path is given here as well, and that is to experience the wrath of the Lamb and to perish from the way. So what do we see in these closing verses of Psalm 2? What we see is the love of God for a lost and rebellious world. What we see is a door left open for the heathen from their evil ways and to instead embrace God in Christ, the ways of God. What we see in these closing verses of Psalm 2 is the gospel of Christ.

You know we’ve looked at Psalm 2 in the Old Testament, but did you know there’s a Psalm 2 in the New Testament? We all know it. John 3:16. “God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son, whosoever believeth in him should not perish, have everlasting life.” In that one verse lies the entirety of Psalm 2. We see in both Psalm 2 and John 3:16, God’s love for the world despite the rebellion of the world. We see in both Psalm 2 and John 3:16 the gift of God’s Son, “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” We see in both Psalm 2 and John 3:16 the only begotten Son, “Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee.” We see in both Psalm 2 and John 3:16 the great invitation, “Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with tremble.” And we see in both Psalm 2 and John 3:16 the only other path, “Ye perish from the way.” “God so loved the world. He gave his only begotten son. Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, have everlasting life.” That is the message of Psalm 2. And the result for those who turn to God? Psalm 2 ends with a beautiful beatitude. “Blessed are all who put their trust in Him.” You know at the beginning of Psalm 2 there were some people there and for opening verses that seemed to believe that Mike makes right, but at the end of Psalm 2 we find the truth. Right makes Mike. True blessing and true happiness come only to those who put their trust in God.

Psalm 2 ends with an invitation and that invitation is yours this morning. In Psalm 2 we have seen the problem, our rebellion against God. We have seen the solution, Jesus the King, and we’ve seen the path back to God to serve God, to trust in God, and to come to Christ. How does someone do that? You must hear the gospel, you must hear the good news, and you’re hearing that today here. You must believe the good news and have belief and trust, faith in God. You must repent of your sins and turn to God. You must confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Son of God. You must be baptized for the remission of your sins, to wash away your sin, then you must remain faithful unto death to receive the crown of life. That is the only path that will take you from the rage in verse 1 to the blessedness in verse 12. If we can help in any way, please come while we stand and while we sing.