Why Do The Nations Rage?

Why do the Nations Rage?

Text: Psalm 2

I hope everyone had a joyful and blessed Independence Day and that you were able to celebrate the freedom that was won for us by our Nation’s Founders. And I know it’s a few days past Independence Day, but I do want to tie in my sermon with that this morning… So, we’re not in John’s Gospel today… instead, we’re going to be looking at Psalm 2. If you’d go ahead and turn there and follow along as I read that Psalm, we’ll get right into it.

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So, there’s this vast conspiracy against God… I’m not making that up – God says it right here in His Word. And it’s all the worlds forces – Courts, governments, academic and educational institutions, the entertainment industry, the world’s military forces, organizations, centers, forums, and clubs – and even ordinary, every-day, run-of-the-mill people… All are plotting a coup’ against the Sovereign King of Creation. Some openly, some privately, but all have allied themselves against the Lord and His Anointed (that’s Jesus Christ). They oppose His authority; they reject His law; and they challenge His right to determine what is good, and moral, what is right and wrong.

And in order to assert their own autonomy, they will go so far as to embrace irrational philosophies, and affrim wicked, twisted moral standards, attack the foundations of an orderly society, attack the gender roles created by God Himself when He made Adam and Eve; they’ll identify as whatever they please, and even re-define marriage by court order – and all of this is done for one reason.

Because the sinful heart hates God.

Now isn’t it interesting that Psalm 2 sounds just like our world today?

The word there for “nations” is the word “Goyim” and that’s what it literally means – “Nation”, but it refers to the people who don’t know God. People who are not believers. And they rage against God. They set themselves against God and His Word, and His authority. They plot vain things, and want to be free from God and God’s Moral Law. That’s what we see in these first three verses.

So this is a Psalm for our time… really for all time… All of human history is marked by this. Rebellion against God.

Now before we dig much further into this, I want to explain to you that this… Psalm 2, is what’s called a Messianic Psalm. That means that it makes prophetic references to Jesus. This particular Psalm is quoted at least 7 times in the New Testament, and when that’s done, it’s always in reference to Christ. So the meaning is clear to us who have the full revelation of God’s Word – RIGHT? We have the completed canon of Scripture, both the Old and the New Testament.

Now King David wrote this, and it’s initial meaning would refer to him – as he established his throne in Jerusalem. When that happened, the people of Israel celebrated, but the nations all around Israel were enraged. So like I said, initially it could be applied to David. But we, having the New Testament – we see the full picture here. It wasn’t just talking about David – it’s talking about Jesus.

ALL OF SCRIPTURE POINTS TO CHRIST!

And so the primary meaning of this Psalm is Messianic. And we can even see that in verse 2… “the rulers take counsel against the Lord, and against His Anointed”… We see that again in verse 7.

Now, those first three verses of our text are describing for us the sinful hatred of unbelieving humanity against God’s authority. They hate God. They hate His Son, the Messiah, the Anointed One, and this hatred eventually leads to outright rage. Fury! Irrational anger! I don’t know if you’ve ever seen an unbeliever express this kind of rage before – but I have. On more than one occasion. They become totally irrational and unreasonable. You might think “TDS” is bad… well this is worse. They rage against God, and they rage at God, and are enraged by God and His Word, and His objective moral standard of right and wrong, good and evil. And verse 1 goes on and says, “they plot in vain.”

Now this is very similar to Paul’s language in Romans 1… Romans 1:21 “For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened”. He says, that these people who did not honor God, or give thanks to God, became FUTILE (or vain) in their thinking. Again, that’s talking about people being irrational, illogical, minds darkened by sin.

So both David, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and Paul, again by inspiration of the Holy Spirit are describing the fallen state of all humanity. That’s every one of us, before we were saved by the grace of God through faith in Christ. In Romans 3:9-12 Paul writes, “… all – both Jews and Greeks are under sin, as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’”