Will The Real Jesus Please Stand Up? Series

Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?

Psalm 2

Introduction

We have discussed the history of the Bible, we have looked at the role of women in the church, and last week we reflected on what Jesus actually said about Himself. I want to read one final quote from Dan Brown’s book then wrap this series up: “Many scholars claim that the early church literally stole Jesus from his original followers, hijacking his human message, shrouding it in an impenetrable cloak of divinity and using it to expand their power…”

I would like to do something a little different this morning; I want to spend our time looking at an Old Testament passage about Jesus instead of a New Testament passage.

Psalm 2 is what we would call a messianic Psalm. A messianic Psalm is simply a Psalm that prophetically speaks of the coming Messiah whom we know as Jesus. There are five key Psalms that are classified as messianic: Psalm 2; 22; 45; 72; 110. Psalm 2 is the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament and the reason we are spending some time in it this morning is because there are four things we learn about Jesus from this Psalm, the first is…

JESUS IS HATED BY THE NATIONS (vv. 1-3)

“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."

Some critics of the Bible have assumed that this passage is about King David. The reason they assume this is because they can’t get past the possibility that something that was written many years before Christ could possibly be written about Him. The only problem with assigning this passage with someone like David is that Psalm 2 is speaking about a King whose reign will be over all the kings of the earth and it will be eternal. Last I checked King David is still in his grave.

The only way to really understand this Psalm is that we understand that it expresses the rebellious nature of the human heart against God. The nations are antagonistic against God because they despise His Son. C.H. Spurgeon put it this way: “We have, in these first three verses, a description of the hatred of the human nature against the Christ of God.”

We should not be surprised at this because this is the way it has always been. The early church reflected on these verses after the apostles Peter and John were released by the same religious council that had Jesus crucified; when Peter and John joined up with some of their friends and shared all that had happened. This is what they prayed:

“Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, "’ Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? 26 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’- 27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” Acts 4:24-28

The nations set themselves against Christ because the human heart is wicked and far from God! This animosity will continue until the end of the age when Christ comes again; Seeing what that day will bring, the Apostle John writes, “And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him [that’s Jesus] who was sitting on the horse and against his army [that’s us]” (Rev. 19:19).

But not only do we see in this Psalm that Jesus is hated by the nations, we also see…

JESUS IS THE KING OF KINGS (vv. 4-6)

“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 do we see God cowering in a corner of the universe because of the nation’s hatred for Him? Is he easily overthrown? Was Jesus a moral teacher who fell victim to the wrath of an angry mob? At the very root of sin is the desire to renounce the sovereign rule of God for the purpose of placing one’s own will on the throne.

This desire is illustrated by the emperor Diocletian (A.D. 245-313), who erected two monuments in Spain proclaiming: