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:
Dicletian Jovian Mazimian Herculeus Caesares Augsti
for having extended the Roman Empire in the east and the west
and for having extinguished the name of Christians
who brought the Republic to ruin
and
Dicletian Jovian Mazimian Herculeus Caesares Augusti
for having everywhere abolished the superstition of Christ
for having extended the worship of the gods.
Or consider the famous atheist, Fredrick Nietzsche’s little diatribe titled God is Dead, which echos this same sentiment:
“How shall we console ourselves, the most murderous of all murderers? The holiest and the mightiest that the world has hitherto possessed, has bled to death under our knife - who will wipe the blood from us? With what water could we cleanse ourselves? What lustrums, what sacred games shall we have to devise? Is not the magnitude of this deed too great for us? Shall we not ourselves have to become Gods, merely to seem worthy of it?”
Can mere human beings dethrone God or draw Him down a dark alley for the purpose of murdering Him? As one pastor put it, “If God is dead, where is His coroner, who is so equated with the diseased that they can identify the body, and why have I not been notified for I’m a member of the family.”
God laughs at such foolishness; God is not dead, for how can the author of life be subject to death? The kings stand with clenched fists towards heaven but there is a day coming when they will all cower in fear, for there is only One King who is God’s equal and that is the Son of God whom God Himself will set on His holy hill, and that King is Jesus Christ. There is coming a day when the Diocletian’s, and the Kim Jong-il’s of North Korea, the Robert Mugabe’s of Zimbabwe and the Hu Jinatao’s of China, and the Dan Brown’s of the world will bow their knee to King Jesus.
Jesus is King of kings, and as King the third thing we learn from this Psalm is…
JESUS IS THE JUDGE OF ALL THE PEOPLES (vv. 7-9)
“I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
Not only is Jesus the King of kings, but He is also Judge over all people! Throughout the ministry of Christ, God affirmed that Jesus was and is indeed the Messiah and promised King. At Jesus’ baptism, God spoke concerning His Son by quoting part of this Psalm when He said, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22; cf. Matt. 3:17; Mark 1:11); this verse is repeated several times throughout the New Testament: particularly in Matthew 17:5 at the transfiguration (see also Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35), in Acts 13:33, and in Hebrews 1:5 concerning the deity of Jesus Christ.
The author of Hebrews uses Psalm 2:7 to make His point that Jesus is Lord, but he also makes the point that even though He is Lord, there are many who still resist His Lordship, this is why we read in Hebrews 2:8, “Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.” We do not see everything in subjection to Christ, but the great commission is about Christ using His Church to extend His reign by making His name known among the nations. As James Mongomery Boice commented, “It is for us, the grateful subjects of Jesus’ divine kingdom, to make his name known among the nations, until every ear shall hear and every knee shall bow.”
There is coming a day, when Christ will return! He is coming back! Things might seem bleak, with every rotation of our planet we human beings demonstrate just how wicked we can be, but things will not always be that way. On one of the darkest days of history when Christ stood before the Sanhedrin, the religious leaders, intent on killing Jesus, demanded from Him an answer concerning who He claimed to be: “In the name of God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” So how did Jesus answer? He answered by telling them, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matt. 26:63ff.).
Jesus basically said to them, “you might not see it now, but you just wait… I am coming back and it won’t be pretty!” The religious leaders knew exactly what Jesus was saying, He told them He was the guy Daniel 7:13-14 spoke of:
“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed”.
That is why the Psalmist sings, “I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psalm 2:9). What will that day look like? It will be terrible! We get a sneak peek into the day in Revelation 19:11-21,
“Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. 20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. 21 And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.”
Not only will Jesus come as King to rule with His iron scepter, but He will come to judge the living and the dead. In Daniel 12 and Revelation 20:11-15, we learn that some will rise to everlasting life, and others to shame and everlasting contempt. On that day all who are forgiven and all who are condemned will at the name of Jesus bow to Him and confess that He indeed is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:10-11).
This is our message as His holy subjects to a people whose hearts are far from Him, but that’s not all there is, look at vv. 10-12…
JESUS IS A REFUGE TO ALL WHO SEEK HIM (vv. 10-12)
“Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
Here’s the application… there are four warnings for the rulers of the nations: 1) be warned, 2) be wise, 3) serve the LORD with fear, and 4) rejoice with trembling. Why? Because Jesus is the King of kings and will judge the peoples of the nations. So what ought to be the response to such a person? Verse 12 tells us, “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.”
So what in the world does kissing the Son have to do with anything that has been said? Kissing was a sign of reverence and submission (see 1 Sam.10:1; 1 Kings 19:18); this Psalm is encouraging its readers to lay aside their arrogance or God’s wrath would culminate in their destruction. Arrogance towards God is the way of everlasting condemnation.
What does this arrogance look like? It is shaped from an unresponsive heart towards God. This arrogance takes on many shapes and sizes; it can look very pious or very irreligious, it can look very promiscuous or very chaste, it can look like a lot of things because this arrogance comes from the heartbeat of one’s own soul.
I fear for those who have grown up in church who’s hearts are far from God. I fear for those who as Jesus said, “clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside are full of greed and self-indulgence…” I fear for those who, “are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.” Jesus said,
“Not everyone who says to me, ’Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ’Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ’I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”
If that is you, I beg you to Kiss the Son, come to Him humbly and obediently to find true salvation, true forgiveness, true mercy.
There will be many on the Day of Judgment who will face condemnation and everlasting shame in hell because their arrogance kept them from coming to the Son who is the King. Make sure that you are not among them. God is not only a God of wrath, but He is also a God of grace and mercy. He put His Son on the cross to bear our sins and our punishment so that you and I can be forgiven; so that we can escape condemnation and become the children of God.
When we read the appeal to the nations to kiss the Son, we read the appeal for all to come to Christ and kiss his nail scared hands and feet by believing He died for our sins and that He rose from the grave. This is how we seek refuge in Him and this is why the Psalmist closes,
“Happy are those who seek refuge in Him.” Permit me to close with something I read from John Piper’s book, Future Grace,
“We do not earn or merit anything by taking refuge in God. Hiding in something makes no contribution to the hiding place. All it does is show that we regard ourselves as helpless and the hiding place as a place of rescue. The condition we must meet to have this grace is not a meritorious one; it is the condition of desperation and acknowledged weakness and need. Destitution does not demand or deserve; it pleads for mercy and looks for grace.”
Jesus, as King, came on this planet to die so that we might be forgiven. He is coming again to judge the living and the dead. The Jesus whom we worship is not the Jesus of Dan Brown, He is the Christ of the Bible!
I hope that you have found these past four weeks helpful. If anything, I hope that you have been reminded of just how amazing Jesus Christ really is.
Kiss the son that you might find refuge in Him!
