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[0:00] Well, church, once again, we welcome Scott Bashur back. Now, this time we've got a double treat because Heidi, his wife, has accompanied him this morning.

[0:10] ! So, Scott, you have to introduce us to your lovely wife if she's not too embarrassed to do that before you open up the word and teach us. But Scott has blessed us two previous, not the immediate previous, but the last couple of Sundays in this month.

[0:23] So, Matt's blessed us in preaching as well. So, we continue to learn and be taught Scripture. And so, I hope you're eagerly looking forward to seeing what God's going to teach you this morning through Scott's teaching.

[0:39] So, brother, come on up. It's our privilege to have you here this morning. You come up here. I'm ready. Thank you, Greg. And it is a pleasure to be back with you.

[0:51] I think now this is happening, what, every other week it's been. I think it's sort of been. And it is a pleasure to have my wife, Heidi. Would you stand, sweetheart, so everyone can see you? Normally, you know, I get asked to speak at a number of churches.

[1:05] And if I take my family everywhere, they don't have any continuity. And they keep hearing me say things they've said before. But it worked out well for her to come today. And I'm glad for that.

[1:17] This past week has been our anniversary. We've been married 19 years. And so thankful for the Lord's grace and for her following me back to the East Coast.

[1:28] I grew up thinking, I grew up in Maryland, and we made fun of Californians. And I used to say, I will never marry a Californian. Definitely not a valley girl.

[1:38] But the Lord knew what he was doing. Well, I'm opening up my Bible to Psalm 2.

[1:50] And I invite you to do the same. And before we get into our, well, I introduced the message in a more proper way. I want to talk about this strange handout that I gave you. You'll notice that it opens backwards.

[2:02] And that's because I'm a Hebrew professor. And, you know, you go the opposite direction. It's just for formatting's sake, I thought it worked better this way. So you can take notes on this if you like. On the other side of it, there's a couple things.

[2:14] One of them is the text I'm reading today from the Legacy Standard Version. I don't normally, I normally preach from the New American Standard. But I like the way, what Legacy Standard does in the Psalms often.

[2:27] And so I've provided that text for you there. And I do encourage you to have your Bible with you as there are some other passages we'll hear from as well. And then there's this chart that I'm not going to refer to this during the message.

[2:38] This is just a study resource, a visual outline chart for your own reference for later on. Well, as we get into, I have to say some more introductory things about it.

[2:50] Of course, we're coming up on a holiday. And in a way, this message is not really a holiday message. But it is a message about people rejoicing in Messiah and rejecting Messiah.

[3:02] And that's something we think about as we come up into the Easter season. And we're not that far away from another holiday that we had. And I would guess that in a crowd this size, some of you received some clothing item at Christmas that didn't quite fit.

[3:20] And you remember what it was like as a kid when you would get shoes or things like that. And there was always the hope that you could one day grow into them. And eventually that you could make it yours.

[3:31] Well, today we're in a psalm that stitches together a glorious description of God's anointed one. It's a psalm that is, according to the book of Acts, is written by David.

[3:44] Speaking of God's great power and blessing on his anointed ruler. Now, some have thought that maybe Psalm 2 was about David or Solomon.

[3:55] And there are parts of it that seem like it could fit onto them. But the further you go into the psalm, the more you realize this is too big for them.

[4:06] Psalm 2, we are presented with the King of Israel, who's really the King of all the world. And we know from the New Testament what his name is.

[4:18] It is our Lord Jesus Christ. Our study today I've entitled, Kiss the Son. And I'm going to make reference on a couple occasions to things within the handout.

[4:30] But in a moment we're going to read the text. And before we do that, I want you to think about this statement. And as we read the text, see how this stands out. David urges the world to cease its striving against the Lord and to embrace the joyful rule of his anointed Son.

[4:53] Now, I'm going to begin reading from Psalm 2. If you want to follow the same version, you can use your handout or feel free to use whatever Bible you have in your lap. The text reads, Why do the nations rage and the peoples meditate on a vain thing?

[5:12] The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers take counsel together against Yahweh and against his anointed, saying, Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us.

[5:29] He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord mocks them. Then he speaks to them in his anger and terrifies them in his fury, saying, But as for me, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain.

[5:52] I will surely tell of the decree of Yahweh. He said to me, You are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will surely give the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession.

[6:09] You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall shatter them like a potter's vessel. So now, O kings, show insight.

[6:23] Take warning, O judges of the earth. Serve Yahweh with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he become angry, and you perish in the way.

[6:37] For his wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in him. The Lord add blessing to the reading, and now to the preaching of his word.

[6:54] This psalm does not have a header that says, By David, but as I mentioned before, there's a very ancient tradition that indicates that David composed it.

[7:05] In fact, that is affirmed to us in the New Testament in Acts 4.25, when Peter says, By the mouth of David said, and then he quotes Psalm 2. David would have written this psalm sometime after the Davidic covenant had been revealed to him in 2 Samuel 7, which would have been about seven years into his reign, somewhere around the year 1003 B.C.

[7:31] There are four different voices that are heard in this psalm. And here, I encourage you to take your hand out and open it to that side that says the different voices in Psalm 2.

[7:44] There's four different speakers. The psalm opens with the psalmist, David himself speaking, and before long, he quotes the enemies of the Lord.

[7:57] And then David speaks again, and then he quotes Yahweh speaking. And Yahweh speaks of his Messiah. And then Messiah speaks, and quotes what Yahweh said to him.

[8:10] And then the psalm ends, the last three verses, with David speaking, speaking words of counsel to the peoples of the world to receive the Messiah that the Lord has anointed.

[8:25] This is beautifully written Hebrew poetry. Some of it is lost in translation, but much of it is still evident even within our English versions. It's a passage that opens up with rage and outrage but it ends with submission and peace.

[8:46] It's a psalm that divides up into four equal quarters of three verses each. And I'm going to combine some of those together in some movements of thought. Now, because this is such an important psalm, I have an extra introduction.

[9:02] So let me show you how I'm going to work that in. Point number one is going to be some more talk about this psalm. The psalm's profound significance. And then when we come to point two, we'll start moving through those movements of the psalm itself.

[9:16] We'll see the world's perpetual rebellion and then how the psalm ends by speaking about the Lord's invincible dominion. Now, the psalm's profound significance.

[9:27] This is, if you're keeping track, introduction number two. This is such an important passage. There are some passages like this that have to be talked about a little bit before you talk your way through them.

[9:40] So here's an overview for you as to why this psalm is so important. One reason is it is of profound theological importance. There's a whole lot that I could say about that today, but I want to get into the psalm itself.

[9:56] So I'm going to reduce it to two. The first is that it is a messianic prophecy. Now, if you were here a couple weeks ago, I took us through Psalm 1, the beginning of the psalms, and here we are, Psalm number 2.

[10:10] In Psalm number 2, we already have a reference to the Messiah. Now, there are many scholars, even Bible-believing scholars, who don't think that Psalm 2 is a direct prophecy about the Christ.

[10:24] They theorize that maybe this was a coronation hymn, maybe something written for Solomon's enthronement, or maybe it was a battle hymn they would sing before they would go out to war, thinking about how the Lord was with them.

[10:38] Now, honestly, we don't know how this psalm might have been used in Hebrew worship in ancient days. They might well have used it for those kinds of things. But it also, at the same time, however they may have used it, it expresses a longing for things which were not seen in their own days.

[10:58] Christ fulfills this passage in the ultimate sense. There are some psalms which cast a pattern that the Messiah fulfills. But this psalm is more of a prophecy that he fulfills.

[11:13] The rabbis of ancient days were correct to say that Psalm 2 is, in fact, a messianic prophecy. The New Testament frequently alludes to this passage and applies it, usually, to Christ.

[11:28] Revelation 2, and 12, and 19 referred to it. Acts 13, verse 33. Listen to this one. God has fulfilled this promise to our children and that he raised up Jesus as it is also written in the second psalm.

[11:45] You are my son. Today I have begotten you. There are at least 15 times that the New Testament cites this passage and it always applies it to Christ or, an occasion, to Christ's people.

[12:03] So this is a messianic prophecy and also this is a passage that has what I believe is millennial fulfillment. Millennial fulfillment. There is a scene of victory in verses 8 and 9 that was never anywhere near realized by David and Solomon even at their highest point.

[12:23] The Davidic covenant that Nathan the prophet revealed to David in 2 Samuel 7 never said anything to him about ruling all the world. It talked about him making his name great and that he would prosper him and that his line would never be cut off.

[12:40] But here is something more. The ends of the earth, as verse 8 says. Verse 6 speaks about Messiah being enthroned on Zion, on Mount Zion, that is Jerusalem.

[12:54] It's not a reference here to the heavenly rule of Messiah but to an earthly rule. And then again verses 8 and 9 foresee something that had never been said before to David or to Solomon.

[13:08] Something which Old Testament prophets latched onto. You see it in other passages. Would you flip forward with me please to Psalm 98, verse 9. Keep your place here in Psalm 2 and flip ahead to Psalm 98, verse 9.

[13:33] Looking back at the previous, back to verse 7. Let the sea roar as well as its fullness. Let the world and those who dwell in it, let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy before Yahweh, for He is coming to judge the earth.

[13:50] He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity. Here is an expectation of a coming expression of God's kingdom that would rule over all the earth.

[14:05] It's the same vision that Isaiah the prophet has in Isaiah 40, verse 5, when he says, then the glory of Yahweh will be revealed and all flesh will see it together.

[14:18] For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken. This is a significant part of prophecy in the Old Testament and the New Testament affirms it. It's what Revelation 11, verse 15 spells out very clearly.

[14:33] It says, there were loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ and He will reign forever and ever.

[14:47] That is what our psalm, that vision, ties in. Our psalm ties into that vision. This is a psalm that encourages us also about our future in Christ.

[15:01] You know, we have a future of reigning with our Lord Jesus. And would you turn with me to Revelation chapter 2? This is one of the letters to the seven churches.

[15:15] Revelation chapter 2. Jesus here speaking in verses 26 and 27 to the struggling church at Thyatira.

[15:30] Verse 26 of Revelation 2. So here's a prophecy about Christ, but there's some sense in which Christ's people will share in His reign.

[16:05] It's as the Apostle Paul puts it in 2 Timothy 2 verse 12, if we endure, we shall also reign with Him. And I can't tell you exactly what that looks like, what the political nature of that will be, but it is part of the blessed hope that our Lord Jesus is coming again to make all wrongs right.

[16:27] and He shall reign in a kingdom of righteousness like this world has never seen. So this is a passage of great theological importance as a Messianic prophecy with millennial fulfillment, but it's not only about the future.

[16:45] This is a passage with spiritual richness. I want you to think for a moment about how Psalm 2 has a special position within the book of Psalms.

[16:57] We're told that David wrote this psalm, but you must know this was not the first or second psalm that David ever wrote. The book of Psalms is not arranged in chronological order.

[17:09] It's not like a diary. It's a collection. It's like a hymn book. And things are arranged somewhat by topic or there's other systems of arrangement that work within it. At some point, I think near the end of the Old Testament period when the last psalms were completed, some of them are clearly written after the exile from Babylon.

[17:28] At some point, the Holy Spirit worked upon a compiler or compilers to arrange the psalms into the order in which they have. And they put Psalm 1 where it is to introduce the psalms talking about a godly man who meditates on the law of the Lord.

[17:44] And then right after that, they put Psalm 2, a prophecy which looks forward to the coming reign of Messiah. Messiah who is the ultimate godly man who does the will of God.

[17:57] Those two psalms have some things in common. I'm going to jog your memory about what we talked about a couple weeks ago. Both of those psalms talk about meditation. Remember Psalm 1, verse 2, but his delight is in the law of Yahweh and in his law he meditates day and night.

[18:14] Well, look here at Psalm 2, verse 2, verse 1, the way that Legacy Standard version have it. Why do the nations rage and the peoples meditate on a vain thing?

[18:27] Same Hebrew word. Both of the psalms discuss a righteous man versus the many wicked. Psalm 1 opens with the blessing. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.

[18:42] It opens with a blessing and Psalm 2 ends with a blessing. Look at the end of Psalm 2. How blessed are all who take refuge in him.

[18:54] There's a beautiful intentionality in wedding these two psalms together. They both serve as an introduction to the rest of the Psalter. Psalm 2 is what we would call a royal psalm, but it also has woven into it words of wisdom calling people to follow after God's Christ just as Psalm 1 is also a wisdom psalm.

[19:19] Both of them give guidance on how to inherit the blessings which the psalms celebrate and to encourage people to meditate on God's instruction and also to know that God's blessing comes from submitting to his kingdom plan.

[19:35] There's a special position here which speaks of the spiritual richness and I think there is also something of a prophetic paradigm. Now I've said before that I believe Psalm 2 is primarily a word of prophecy about a coming king not about David or Solomon.

[19:54] But that doesn't mean that it has relevance only for the future. This passage is prophetic but it also does suggest some sort of a paradigm or pattern that can be evidenced even before the end of the age.

[20:08] David and the Hebrew people of Old Testament times could have surely seen principles of this psalm at work in their own day. You know in fact when you begin reading Psalm 2 and you're thinking okay the Messiah the anointed one is that David?

[20:24] Is it Solomon? And as you're reading well it could be it could be it could until you get to verse 8 and like oh oh not about him but so much of it could fit about them in fact would you flip forward to Psalm 3 you don't have to go far Psalm 3 and look with me at verse 0 and by that I mean the heading which in the Hebrew Bible is the beginning of verse 1 it says a psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son King David had to leave Jerusalem because Absalom declared himself king he rose up against the Lord and his Christ and said we will not have him rule over us so even in the experience of David David knew what it was like to have kings rise up against him and reject his authority even his own son did it and so in that sense there is something of a paradigm here you see rejecting the Lord's reign and the Lord's rulers has really been an ongoing thing it was true in the earthly days of our Lord Jesus now here we are this is Palm Sunday this is a day where we remember how throngs of people celebrated his coming into Jerusalem but as you keep reading you realize not everybody was so thrilled in fact when Peter is preaching in Acts chapter 4 verses 25 to 28 when he says that David wrote

[22:00] Psalm 2 he applies that Psalm to the suffering of Jesus under Pilate and King Herod and the Gentiles and even the Jewish people they were among those who rose up against the Lord and his Messiah where do we as modern Christians fit into a Psalm like this now in one sense we don't because it's not talking about us but if we were to think who who am I most like in the Psalm are you and I like the nations which rage against God and his Christ are you and I like David who is a righteous commentator who sees how things really are are you and I in some way like the Messiah who rules and the answer to that question is that in some ways all of those parallels have relevance to us certainly before we were saved the New Testament tells us that we were enemies of God estranged from him and if our flesh was given full reign we might well in fact say the kinds of things that the enemy said in verses 1 and 2 but grace has changed us and taught us to love

[23:28] Christ and his plan and in that sense we've become more like David who came to see how things really are and there's even a sense in which we see a little bit of our own experience we see some of Messiah's experience in ourselves he was one who was rejected and yet was chosen and isn't it true that you as God's people you sometimes find yourself being rejected and yet are certain that you are chosen and that you will win in fact as we read in Revelation a moment ago we will reign with him so all the parties in this psalm we have some kind of resonance with depending on which part of our spiritual life we might be thinking about well now I need to get to preaching and we come to the psalm itself and I want us to consider the first two segments of the psalm which speak of and I'm using this paradigmatic language now the world's perpetual rebellion rebellion is described in verses 1-3 as the revolt of the world and these verses are written in the style of a complaint or a lament as David considers the hostility that he is aware of it and it's expressed firstly with rebellious thinking in verses 1-2 look with me again at the text why do the nations rage and the peoples meditate on a vain thing the kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against

[25:16] Yahweh and against his anointed why David asks and this is not David this is not David sort of in sorrow why this is this is an expression of disgust why on earth would they do such a thing and that's because rebellion against God really is a ridiculous thing you really think you're going to win is that really how that works and yet so many people are addicted to it addicted to rebellion and don't even know it certainly not the depths of it the language in these couple verses is something like that of a vision I don't know that this is a video of some future conference of world powers conspiring together but this is describing how men of power resist God's authority the focus here is on rebellious rulers but you know even in our world there are plenty of people with influence that is not authoritative not governmental influence who resent the idea of God having a kingdom that rules things it's not just people in politics but some in education in media in the arts entertainment each with their own sphere of influence many resisting the idea that God has a say the determining say in what ought to be and in all fairness we've all made outside of

[26:57] Christ we have all made war plans and set battle lines against God sadly some people excel at it what a terrible thing to be excellent at rebelling against God they foment against God's plan this word meditate is used in verse 1 again the same word used back in Psalm 1 but here it's not calm reflection of delight it's rage they devise their own plans that is they have their own ideas on how the world ought to be run they have their own thoughts about what is right and what is wrong they might even draft manifestos and scheme cultural revolution but in the end their vision for the way things ought to be their alternate vision is vain and useless because in the end the plans of fallen men will fall as well they organize their own leadership these nations and peoples have leaders

[28:01] David would be of course in his own day would be mindful of the people of Moab and Ammon and Philistia each with their own rulers with their own agendas who resented Israel coming into a place of power in the land resenting the idea that Yahweh had appointed someone to rule over these places during the millennial kingdom there will still be some resentment which will grow leading to a final ultimate battle verse 2 says that all of this fomenting is against two persons Yahweh and his Messiah his anointed one now any king of Israel could be designated as a Messiah Messiah simply means anointed one maybe you could think of them as a Messiah with a small m the Hebrew language doesn't have small and uppercase letters but maybe that helps us to think about this and as you read these opening verses again you think well is David talking about the hostility that he faces from the

[29:10] Moabites the Ammonites and the Philistines or the Solomon is this his experience and in a sense that all fits until you get to verse 8 and then all of these words are like Saul's armor it's just too big for David verse 3 speaks about the ungodly revolution that they intend this is the words of the enemies let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us they view God's government as slavery fetters this is a yoke that's put around the neck of captives who might be marched off to where they're going to be held the cords are the chains or ropes that attach to those yokes as they go and transport this is their perception of God's reign that God's reign is slavery they view his control as imprisonment what they don't understand is that these chains and fetters these are things they forged with their own sins what they really want is to be out from under God's moral leadership

[30:27] God's kingdom plan is not about enslaving the world but it is true nonetheless that his moral leadership his righteous plan does put a restraint on sinful activity and some will think of any restraint on what they think to be good and right to be slavery Jesus revealed that this was the sentiments of his own day you know the worst rejection that Jesus faced was not from the Romans who performed the execution of him it was from his own people I mean Luke 19 verse 14 in the height of the Passion Week you have a group of mostly leaders of the Jewish people who say to Pilate we will not have this man rule over us it's the same spirit as verse 3 and the human condition hasn't really changed our sinful self wants independence it wants autonomy and sadly there are even people who want to paper over this with a kind of lordless

[31:46] Christianity as well they want to think that they can buy a ticket for heaven and still at the same time purchase all the merchandise of hell this is all a kind of ungodly revolution well look with me now in verses 4 to 6 which talks about the response of the lord to this rebellion the first response of the lord and you see it in verse 4 is derision he who sits in the heavens laughs the lord mocks them okay now first notably god sits this is not sitting in indifference or disinterest it's not like the tired father who's unplugged from everything who's sitting in his lazy boy rocking away while the house is in utter mayhem and he doesn't do anything it's not that he is sitting here because he is enthroned would you notice please the text here it doesn't say

[32:59] Yahweh mocks them but the lord it's not the word the divine name for God this is the title the sovereign mocks them you could translate this he who sits enthroned in the heavens laughs I'm going to share with you a picture in a moment that comes from the ancient near east which will tie in with the passage that Greg read at the beginning of our text today this is a piece of art from the ancient near east it comes from a wall of a tomb in Egypt this is a picture of a young pharaoh he's sitting on the lap of his governess he's too young to reign in his own stead yet it's believed that this is tutmos the third the pharaoh of the exodus and under his feet and you can see it zoomed in on the right side are nine traditional enemies of the Egyptians who are posed under his feet it's a graphic way of demonstrating the supremacy of the pharaoh over the nations round about them this is probably the kind of image that psalm 110 has in mind when

[34:14] Yahweh says to the sovereign one to the master sit at my feet until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet maybe this is the same imagery that the nations feel like they're under in verse three and if so I mean how foolish it is for people in a spot like that to plot anything so I mean look at the response back here in verse four God laughs because it's absurd now this is not maniacal laughter this is a laughter of amazement I mean what a foolish futile thing they're doing the world you see is very much like a chain dog that barks and growls but all it can do is run around in circles so the Lord responds with derision and he also responds in verses five and six with a declaration verse five says then he speaks to them in his anger and terrifies them in his fury saying but as for me

[35:31] I have installed my king upon Zion my holy mountain for the first time Yahweh speaks in verse three the king spoke against Yahweh and now he speaks in response he doesn't speak with a mindless rage like they did but he does speak with a holy fury and God's speech shows that he is not at all worn down by man's rebellion God never gives up his righteous standards or his plan just because people don't like it he is never ever ever going to capitulate in fact if anything he just tightens his grip in the sixth verse God's response to their rebellion is to reassert his kingdom plan by authenticating the appointment of a king God's kingdom plan is not up for referendum it's never going to be on a ballot he has chosen his plan he has chosen his king and that's that the choice you see is how you will relate to him as his enemy or his subject the capital of

[36:57] God's kingdom on earth here is referred to as Zion this was the probably a Canaanite name when David conquered Zion Zion I think is a Canaanite word that means fortress and he took over that Jebusite citadel and expanded it into the capital city and moved the ark of the covenant there and made it the religious capital this place that God had from long ago chosen and just as kings of Jerusalem reigned from Mount Zion so our Lord Jesus when he returns in the fullness of his glory will come back to Mount Zion and that will be the capital of all the!

[37:34] world and it won't be accomplished by any political maneuvers like anything we see today yes Jesus is enthroned in heaven now he is in session with his father but he has not yet been enthroned on earth if anything the expression of God's kingdom on the earth right now is in what some theologians have called a mystery form where you and I are like advanced representatives of the kingdom which is to!

[38:02] God sending his son into the world the first time was part of God's way of saying the world is mine I will redeem it I will claim it and in the second coming of Christ he comes with the title deed to the earth look with me now in the latter half of the psalm which speaks about the Lord's invincible dominion verses 7 8 and 9 are the next movement it's about God's establishment of his king and there is a word of presentation in the beginning of verse 7 there's a change in speaker here it's only obvious as you keep reading that the voice of verse 6 is not the same as verse 7 I will surely!

[38:58] I'm sorry I will surely tell of the decree of Yahweh Messiah is speaking he speaks of Yahweh as someone separate from himself this is part of the trinitarian distinction of father and son he rejoices how Yahweh has anointed him as king the setting that's being spoken of here is something like a day of royal anointing or a day of coronation a decree has been made a legal pronouncement of enthronement in the ancient world it was customary when a new king came to the throne that there would be a monument inscribed declaring that by divine right this royal character had come up to the throne and here Messiah is reading the endorsement of heaven for him to reign there's a presentation and that includes words of adoption in the middle of verse 7 he said to me you are my son today

[40:05] I have begotten you interesting talk now let me back up to say that any time a new king came onto the throne in Zion they were in a sense adopted as God's son on earth and I want you to turn now to 2 Samuel chapter 7 this is the passage where the Davidic covenant is revealed by Nathan the prophet and this very kind of language is used to describe David and particularly his offspring the next one on the throne of course would be the next legitimate one on the throne would be Solomon would you look with me 2 Samuel 7 verse 14 in fact one way back up to verse 12 2

[41:07] Samuel chapter 7 verse 12 when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers I will raise up one of your seed after you who will come forth from your own body and I will establish his kingdom he shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever I will be a father to him and he will be a son to me that's the language of adoption now the next phrase helps you understand that this isn't speaking specifically of Christ because it says when he commits iniquity I will reprove him with the rod of men and the strikes from the sons of men but my loving kindness shall not be removed from him as I removed it from Saul whom I removed from before you and your house and your kingdom shall endure before me forever your throne shall be established forever now of course God's kingdom plan will have many twists and turns the kingdom will come to a point in the days of

[42:13] Jeremiah where it looks like it's cut down and gone but the prophets foresee that though the kingdom like a tree is cut down that it will one day sprout again from what Isaiah calls the root of Jesse the branch will come so in fact the prophecy stays alive but even in days of past the kings of Jerusalem were thought of in some sense as God's son a royal anointing a royal adoption would take place now I want you to think about King David when David came up into power there were three different times that he was recognized as king or king to be you had Samuel anointed him when he was a teenager and then when he comes to the throne at Hebron the people of Judah come and anoint him as king and then three chapters later 2

[43:14] Samuel 5 all of the tribes come together and anoint him as king it's like he was declared to be king on numerous occasions I want you to think about the life of our Lord Jesus Jesus' adoption his royal adoption was something that was celebrated repeatedly in the days of his flesh at his conception it was announced that he would be Messiah at his birth heaven was singing this was the Messiah at his baptism at his transfiguration at his resurrection Psalm 2 verse 7 is often cited in parts in those events of our Lord Jesus there are several times in the gospels where God the father mounts his cloudy pulpit and takes as his text this is my beloved son listen to him Jesus entire earthly ministry was the today of verse 7 here in

[44:21] Psalm 2 Jesus Christ super fulfills these words of sonship he is a son of God in a way that David and Solomon never could be because of his eternal relation with the father look with me in verses 8 and 9 which speak of promise more about God's establishment of his king now Messiah begins to quote what Yahweh God says to him so you have a quote within a quote and this is what Yahweh said to his son ask of me and I will surely give the nations as your inheritance and the ends of the earth as your possession you shall break them with a rod of iron you shall shatter them like a potter's vessel unparalleled inheritance!

[45:19] is spoken of here not just the land of Israel the land promised to Abraham and his descendants forever not just the people of Israel but all the nations of the earth I mean this goes far beyond anything that had been David in the Davidic covenant this is why the language of these verses can only be fulfilled by Christ himself now verse 9 indicates that when the time comes for this to be claimed there will be resistance even as there has been resistance to God's plan all along but in the end there will be no doubt about who will win I mean look at the description of Messiah his strength here he wields a scepter of iron and notice how the world is described the world's strength is like clay pots all the rebellious plans of the world bolstered by all their military might you put together the greatest armaments the world has ever seen you put them all together and at the end it's all just like ka-chink now these are these are some verses that trouble a lot of people they like the meek and mild depictions of

[46:49] Jesus particularly in his first coming but these a couple years ago my wife and I went to the Disney concert hall in LA they had a messiah sing along and we were way up high almost had to bring our own oxygen masks but I remember as we're singing through these librettos which is the handel's messiah is entirely phrases of scripture that's set to music very masterful he even tries to musically interpret the words by having the pitches and rate match what's being talked about but there are passages like Psalm 2 almost all of Psalm 2 is in it and I remember thinking to myself what are these people thinking about what they're hearing what they're saying and there were a few occasions where the conductor would pause and of course you can't sing the whole thing you'll fry your voice and he said we're going to skip some of these less pleasant parts and get on to the ones that we all but you know knowing that

[48:02] Christ is judge is just as important as knowing that he is savior now I want to be clear these verses here about our Lord's victory this is not a manifesto for Christian action this is not a Christian call to arms this is not impetus for us to overtake the positions of power in the world the new testament makes clear that our battle here and now is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces in the heavenlies which works itself out into the lives of people there is a battle that we're engaged in but it's not like this this is a battle which King Jesus will win by himself!

[48:55] he will come one day if I can use the line of an old hymn in the south one day he's going to trample out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored but he will tread that wine press alone he will win it all with the word of his mouth so in light of that look how the psalm ends God's ultimatum to the nations in verses 10 to 12 David begins to speak again and he concludes this powerful prophetic psalm with words of application firstly there is a call to attention in verse 10 so now oh kings show insight take warning oh judges of the earth now think about this back in verses 1 and 2 they have taken counsel together against the

[50:02] Lord and now David calls them to take counsel from him there is an eternally better way to relate to God and his kingdom plan I don't know that David expected any Gentiles in his day and age to read Psalm 2 I doubt it would have made their top 10 song list maybe it's like the way that prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah would write prophecies against Babylon and against Assyria knowing that very few of them would ever read it but these words at a minimum clarify things for God's people and yet there are legitimate words for anyone who has ears to hear a call to attention followed by a summons to submit serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling kiss the son lest he become angry and you perish in the way for his wrath may soon be kindled there are three commands that are given in these two verses serve rejoice kiss the better way to relating to God is loving submission this is not what's called for here is not a loveless unbelieving subjugation but a relationship of reverence and love and faith yes there's fear and trembling that's linked with joy but that's nothing new to us as believers you know we are to work out our salvation in fear and trembling we live with a godly fear of the

[51:50] Lord this is a good recipe for Christian devotion fear with joy reverent reveling in the goodness of God's reign and look at that third command you see at the beginning of verse 12 kiss the son this is a kiss of respect in ancient days a kiss like this would be made on the foot or maybe the hand or even the shoulder in fact when Samuel anoints Saul to be king in 1st Samuel 10 verse 1 Samuel took a flask of oil poured it on his head kissed him and said has not Yahweh anointed you a ruler over his inheritance a kiss of love what a great alternative this is to wrath a loving relationship now we must not mistake this as just a mere option a consideration perhaps you want to relate to God this way because there is a warning in the middle of verse 12 isn't there his wrath may soon be kindled and what that means is it only takes a moment for judgment to take its effect no one should ever think they are sneaking by with anything the Messiah is a righteous and mighty judge he is able to stop sinners instantly and permanently it's like the way

[53:36] Psalm 1 ends Yahweh knows the way of righteous ones but the way of wicked ones will perish now there's something very unique about this expression kiss the sun the word for sun is not the same word that is used back in verse 7 back in verse 7 he said to me you are my son and that is the normal Hebrew word ben you hear ben and names like benjamin that son of the right hand and so forth ben but the word here in verse 12 is not Hebrew it's Aramaic it's the word bar now why why would David do that I will mention that there are a few

[54:38] Aramaic words that are sprinkled throughout this poem this poem that involves the nations you see Aramaic was the dominant language in this time in the ancient Near East most of the peoples around would if they had to converse on an international level would converse in Aramaic son and isn't it interesting that David chooses the international word for son you see this son is not just the king of Israel this is the son that all the world needs to come recognize as the anointed one the one to whom loyalty and love is due what a great alternative to wrath a loving relationship with Messiah the psalm ends with a promise of peace at the end of verse 12 how blessed are all who take refuge in him oh isn't it wonderful we come up for air here there's blessing in the end that's what the goal of this kingdom plan of God is blessing and all who take refuge in him who lovingly submit and entrust themselves to him find blessing the psalm has been full of warnings but look how it ends with hope sinners need not experience wrath from Messiah they can find salvation in him instead by believing and receiving and rejoicing in God's

[56:26] Christ there is a blessing and a peace and refuge in Christ and refuge is so much better than rebellion this is a psalm that has been full of hard words harsh words but the psalm is not just an indictment it is also an invitation David is urging the world to cease its striving against the Lord and to embrace the joyful rule of his anointed son this psalm began with a flash of rage and it ends with a flash of grace and that grace we know shines most brightly in the gospel of our Lord Jesus you see there is good news for rebels who repent there is good news for blasphemers who believe there is good news for sinners who seek and even before King

[57:31]  Jesus comes in his fullness to rule and reign you can find a place in his kingdom now to pass as Paul says from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son to find in Jesus forgiveness and eternal refuge would you bow with me please in prayer as we conclude father as we read this psalm about your son we see his supreme kingship and your great kingdom plan and our place as loving servants who find a saving refuge in the king we pray lord that many people before your son's coming would find saving refuge in christ be pleased lord to use us as ambassadors of king jesus may we represent him well and may we speak rightly of him and frequently of him and his call for all to receive salvation through faith in his blood and lord we pray for the leaders of our world even of our own nation our region that they might humbly submit to christ and forsake their own vain glorious grandeur and any sinful schemes that they might have the joy of submitting to king jesus and as we think of all these things help us to pray more and more expectantly even so come lord jesus and until he comes grant us grace that we might trust him worship him rejoice in him and submit to him we ask it in the good name of jesus christ amen