Psalm 2:1-12
Kiss the Son
Woodlawn Baptist Church
November 23, 2003
Introduction
A few weeks ago when we studied Psalm 1, you saw from the Scriptures that when you boil all of life down, all we are left with are the decisions we make for or against the Lord Jesus Christ. The psalmist showed us two ways in life: the way of the righteous and the way of the unrighteous, but then as we considered the righteous, again there were two choices: there are the wise, godly righteous and the unwise, ungodly righteous, or those who are saved but live like fools. In Psalm 2, the writer shows us what happens when the unrighteous are presented with the Messiah, and yet in spite of their unwise response, we’re going to see the Lord extending His hand of grace right up to the time of His return.
By way of introduction, there are three things I want to point out concerning this Psalm. First, there is some evidence in both Jewish and Christian traditions that there was a time when the second psalm was the latter portion of the first psalm. One of the evidences offered is found in the opening verse of Psalm 1, where the writer says, “Blessed is the man…” and then in the closing verse of Psalm 2, where he again says, “Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” A second evidence is offered in Acts 13:33. Look there with me at what Luke writes,
“God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.”
I understand that at one time many of the ancient manuscripts actually said the first psalm, but as the two psalms were separated and numbered it was changed to say the second psalm. It wasn’t until just a few hundred years ago that the Bible began to be numbered like we have it today; so obviously some things have had to change as the numbering of chapters and verses was introduced.
Secondly, find Acts 4:25, hold your place there and look back at Psalms 1 & 2. There is no indication here as to who the author is, though when a psalm is unsigned it is usually assumed that David is the author. We don’t have to make that assumption here, for if you’ll read Acts 4:25, you’ll see that the writer was indeed David.
“Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?”
This is an obvious quote from the psalm we’re about to study. The third thing I want to point out is that this is what we call one of the Messianic psalms, meaning that it is prophetic in nature and is written concerning the Messiah who was to come. David conveniently divides Psalm 2 into four sections. First we’ll see the people’s response to the Messiah, second we’ll see God’s response to the people, third will be Christ’s response, and then we’ll see a very wonderful invitation.
The People’s Response
Verses 1-3 say,
“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 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.”
I think that Charles Spurgeon said it best when he preached this passage. He said that “we have, in these first three verses, a description of the hatred of human nature against the Christ of God.” Of course, the obvious reference is to those men who would act so violently and personally against Christ. Go back to Acts 4 and look again with me at verse 23. Here is an incident where Peter and John have just been released from the Sanhedrin.
“And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: who by the mouth of David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.”
Here they identify the nations and people immediately under consideration: Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles and the Jews. Those were the people who conspired together to crucify the Messiah, but we all know that it was not just those people who express great hostility toward Christ. Every person who has been confronted with the gospel and turns from it responds in the same way.
Now, notice how David writes about these people. First he asks, “Why do the heathen, or the various nations rage?” You can imagine with me a sea or an ocean that is in great tumult, rolling and roaring away. That’s the image David brings to mind, this great tempest that has no rest. It just crashes and rolls and keeps building up force as it moves. “Why do the people do this? Why do they imagine a vain thing?” Don’t they realize just how futile it is to resist the Lord? He said that the kings of the earth, the rulers and people of great influence “set themselves.” This means that they take a stand against Christ. They take counsel together, or sit together in deliberation against the Lord and against His anointed.
You see, any time anyone sets himself up against Christ they are setting themselves up against God. Verse 3 says “Let us break away their bands…” and so forth. This is nothing more than sinful, rebellious man saying, “We want to be free from all restraint so we might pursue what we want.” This is man wanting to be his own god and worship God, or whom they have made to be god on their own terms. Now think about this. How many people are there out there who are trying to have a relationship with God on their own terms? “There are many roads to heaven.” Or “We’re all working to get to the same place.” Or “You call it God, they call him Buddha, others call him the Supreme Being, we call him whatever, they’re all the same.” Sinful man has always sought a way to bypass the Messiah, either by creating some form of religion to suit themselves or by rejecting any and all forms of religion, which is really just the religion of self-worship, and all of it is in direct opposition to God.
The writer sees all of this and thinks about it and asks, “Why?” The only good answer is sin. Sin always seeks to serve self and separate man from God. Sin always blinds people to the truth so they can’t see what ought to be obvious. That is the way of Satan and if we are not careful it can easily become our way.
God’s Reaction
“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 sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.”
Well what did God think about man’s stance against His Messiah? I want you to note how God reacts to the people’s rejection of His only begotten Son, the Chosen One of Israel. Do you see the Lord God sitting high and lifted up on His throne? He has sent Christ into the world to redeem mankind, to pay the ransom price for sin, to kill His one and only Son, and they raise themselves up against Him, against His love and grace and mercy.
He laughs at them. This is not the laugh of joy; it is not a pleasant laugh. It is a laugh of derision. The Lord scoffs at these men. We are talking about simple human beings who have set themselves against the God of the universe! Can you think of a greater demonstration of pride than that?
In the years 245 – 313 AD, the emperor Diocletian was a great enemy of Christianity. He had two medals inscribed with a message he wanted the world to read and posted them on the edge of his empire as he expanded it into Spain. The first medal said,
Diocletian Jovian Maximian Herculeus Caesares Augusti
for having extended the Roman Empire in the east and the west
and for having extinguished he name of Christians
who brought the Republic to ruin.
The second medal proclaimed,
Diocletian Jovian Maximian Herculeus Caesares Augusti
for having everywhere abolished the superstition of Christ
for having extended the worship of the gods.
As much as Diocletian hated Christianity and proclaimed that he had wiped it out, it was going strong and was getting stronger by the convert. It doesn’t matter what people say or do in opposition to God, this one thing is always true: God always does what He wants. Let me give you another example: In the year 1867, a preacher by the name of William Plumer said,
“It is easy for God to destroy his foes…Behold Pharaoh, his wise men, his hosts, and his horses plouting and plunging, and sinking like lead in the Red Sea. Here is the end of one of the greatest plots ever formed against God’s chosen. Of thirty Roman emperors, governors of provinces, and others high in office, who distinguished themselves by their zeal and bitterness in persecuting the early Christians, one became speedily deranged after some atrocious cruelty, one was slain by his own son, one became blind, the eyes of one started out of his head, one was drowned, one was strangled, one died in a miserable captivity, one fell dead in a manner that will not bear recital, one died of so loathsome a disease that several of his physicians were put to death because they could not abide the stench that filled his room, two committed suicide, a third attempted it, but had to call for help to finish the work, five were assassinated by their own people or servants, five others died in the most miserable and excruciating deaths, several of them having an untold complication of diseases, and eight were killed in battle, or after being taken prisoners. Among these was Julian the apostate. In the days of his prosperity he is said to have pointed his dagger to heaven defying the Son of God, whom he commonly called the Galilean. But when he was wounded in battle, he saw that all was over with him, and he gathered up his clotted blood, and threw it into the air, exclaiming, “Thou hast conquered, O thou Galilean.”
Sure, man can set himself against God all he wants, but when he does he ought to prepare for the worst. Even if it doesn’t come in this lifetime, there is still the judgment. God laughed a laugh of derision at these men who would stand against the Messiah, and verse 5 says that He will “speak unto them in his wrath.” What a terrible thing to fall into the hands of an angry God. “He shall vex them in his sore displeasure.” Then notice what God says in verse 6.
“Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.”
In spite of all the opposition, in spite of all that man says or does, God does what He wants to do anyway. It didn’t matter what the people did in verses 1-3, Jesus was going to be King, and He is King today! God appointed Him King: King over all the earth! Jesus is King over His enemies and is King over His saints. The Bible says He is the King of kings, whether they acknowledge Him or not, and in fact everyone will acknowledge Jesus as King one day whether they like it or not.
“God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
What a day that will be! What do you think Pilate and Herod and those Galileans and Jews are saying about Jesus today? What do you think they were saying when they stood before Jesus that moment after death and beheld Him in all His splendor? There’s no crown of thorns there now! There’s no meek and lowly Lamb on the throne today! Jesus sits at the right hand of the throne of God awaiting God’s command to come and put down His enemies. Listen to what Jesus says after He is established as King. We hear…
The King’s Declaration
Verses 7-9 say,
“I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine 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.”
Do you hear the great words of victory here over these raging heathen? In vain do people set themselves up against God, for He has declared that He has set His Son on the throne, and now the Son Himself speaks. Jesus says, “I will declare the decree…” Jesus said there were three things God the Father said to Him.
First, God said, “Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” Turn to Acts 13 again and begin reading in verse 28 with me. Usually when we think of Christ as having been begotten by God, we think of Jesus as having come from God, as in John 3:16, but in this verse, God is referring to something else. In Acts 13:28 and following we read…
“And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulcher. But God raised him from the dead: and he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.”
“Thou art my Son, this day – what day? We are told specifically it was the day that God raised Jesus from the dead. Colossians 1:18 says that Jesus is the “firstborn from the dead.” Now, why would Jesus mention this thing to these enemies of His? Because it is in the resurrection of Christ that there is victory! Had Jesus not risen from the grave then the whole world is right and we are all fools, but He was raised, He did conquer death, hell and the grave, and today Jesus is alive and well and can rightfully be King.
The second thing Jesus mentioned is found in verse 8. God the Father said to Jesus, “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” Jesus is firmly established as the King, and the King will have His kingdom, both the people and all the earth. I want you to especially notice the subjects of the kingdom: the heathen. Who does God promise to Jesus but the very people who have conspired against Him? And do you know what is really amazing about this whole thing? Those are the very people Jesus wants! Do you know what that says to me? You and I get all worked up about people who are hostile to Christ. They shut a door in our face or don’t want to hear the message. They did the same to Jesus, but they did it because they didn’t know better! Listen, if Jesus loves these people who hated Him enough to crucify Him and wants to save them, then that ought to tell us something about the work we have before us. Here is the great missionary challenge for the Lord’s churches! He wants those people!
The third thing that God declared to Jesus is found in verse 9, “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” It is a sad reality that most of the people and nations of the earth are not going to respond with favor to Christ. The Bible assures us of a day when the Lord Jesus is going to return to this earth to destroy the nations and rule and reign with a rod of iron. Daniel spoke of the stone that was cut out of the mountain that destroyed the nations of the earth, grinding them into such fine powder that they blew away, leaving no trace of having been around. That is what lies in store for the wicked, for the heathen, for all who take their stand against the Messiah.
Now watch this: in our Psalm, we have a narrator, the Holy Spirit if you will, who has shown us the actions of the heathen and how God the Father responded to them. Then he pointed out the Lord Jesus sitting on the throne as King of kings and King of all creation making His declaration, recounting for us the things said to Him by His Father. Now, after all has been said and done, all who have never responded with favor to the King are offered…
A Wonderful Invitation
Read verses 10-12:
Be wise now therefore, O ye 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.”
So what does the Spirit say? He addresses the kings and judges of the earth, those in leadership, those influential and powerful men who have no need of a Savior, who are filled with pride and egos that are larger than themselves, men whose hearts are wicked and filled with sin, but men just like you and me. They are told to be wise, be instructed. In other words, use some sound reasoning here and consider what you’re doing. Isn’t that always the Lord’s invitation? “Come, and let us reason together…” says the Lord. If people would just realize what they were doing and who they were rejecting; if they could just see that they have set themselves against God, against One who is far mightier and wiser and higher than them all and realize the vanity of it, perhaps then they would serve and rejoice.
“Kiss the Son” they are told. There are many kisses in the Bible, but here is the kiss of a simple servant bowing at the feet of his king, kissing his hand in grateful, loving submission and recognition of his supremacy. If they will not kiss the Son, then they will perish and experience His wrath.
Conclusion
Think with me for just a moment about the vast difference between a man who has gladly bowed in the presence of Christ and “kissed Him,” and the man who has set himself in opposition to Him, putting himself in the precarious position of experiencing the wrath and judgment of God. These are two completely opposite ends of the spectrum, but they both started in the same place: with a decision.
As I prepared this message and thought about those of you who would be hearing it, I realize that most of you, if not all of you have called on the name of Jesus for salvation. He is your King and Master and Messiah. But can you, as a saved person set yourself against Christ? I’ve never met a Christian who hasn’t at some point in their life. You experience times and seasons in your life when you do set yourself against your Lord. They may be times of great pain and difficulty, times of loss and suffering, or times of distress and sorrow. They may be times when Jesus calls on you to do something you don’t want to do, to give up something you don’t want to give up, to sacrifice something that costs you too much. We all go through those seasons of life, but you don’t have to set yourself against the One who loves you when you do. Kiss the Son, yield your life to Him, and gladly bow in His presence acknowledging that He can and will do what He wants regardless of our responses to Him.
I like that last verse, “Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” He is your place of refuge, let’s give Him the honor that is due His name tonight.
Boice, James Montgomery. Psalms Volume 1: Psalms 1-41 (Baker Book House: Grand Rapids, MI) 1994 p. 24
Plumer, William S. as quoted by Charles Spurgeon http://www.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps002.htm
