Somebody Else’s Mail (5)

We were looking last week at the future, earthly opposition to God and his Messiah described for us in Psalm 2. David tells us that the rulers of the nations in those days will take their stand against both, craving freedom from the moral restraints Christ’s righteous government of our world will impose upon them. The psalmist cautions them from resisting the Lord’s Anointed. But as Isaiah would later write, “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end.”

A fallen world will not want that, even if it comes packaged with all manner of millennial blessings.

Revelation tells us that at the end of Christ’s thousand-year reign, Satan will be released from the abyss and come out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, fooling them into believing that rebelling against the rule of Messiah has a chance of success. David’s caution will go unheeded.

Psalm 2:4-6 — God’s Reaction

“He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, ‘As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.’ ”

Wrath, Fury and Derision

Wrath and fury are terrifying concepts when ascribed to the Almighty. Human anger has upper limits with respect to what it can do to sate itself. The most powerful monarchs in history threw their enemies into fiery furnaces, hanged them on crosses or hurled them into the dens of lions, not fates most would willingly embrace. Awful as such a death might be, even a lingering execution takes minutes or hours, after which it is over forever, never to be experienced again. “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul,” the Lord encouraged his disciples. The wrath of men can only express itself physically, then it runs out of gas.

But Jesus didn’t finish there. He added this: “Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” God’s wrath abides.

Scripture tells us God is not mocked, but it also tells us he mocks those who array themselves against him and against his Christ. He is God, after all. Any thought of successfully opposing the one he has anointed and appointed is a ridiculous delusion. That’s a less-antiquated translation of “holds them in derision”, something the ESV apparently picked up from the KJV. The majority of modern English translations generally go with “mocks”, “scoffs” or “ridicules”. God does not think much of them.

Zion, My Holy Hill

The “Zion” on which the Lord has set his king is not the spiritual Zion of Hebrews 12 to which we have come as believers in the Lord Jesus, but rather the former Jebusite stronghold King David conquered and called by his own name. (There is that association with the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant again. Where else would the greater Son of David sit but on his ancestor’s throne?) Revelation tells us Christ, the Lamb, will stand on that mount in a coming day when he judges the beast and harvests the earth. It’s not a place in the heavens, but a geographic location in the heart of Israel. You could go and stand on that mount today, provided you don’t mind risking the occasional Iranian missile.

As I wrote in an earlier post, “Zion” is a mountain that by metonymy has come to represent to the Jewish people its temple, its city, its future and now, in geopolitics, its nation. But it represents them all in relation to this world. Once again, it’s a very Jewish concept that in this context has little or nothing to do with the Church and its hope.

Psalm 2:7-9 — The Decree

“I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ”

The Fixed Purpose of God

David expresses the fixed nature of God’s purpose several different ways. In verse 2, Christ is called the Lord’s Anointed. Wise men don’t mess with what God has called and chosen. Then in verse 6 he says, “I have set my King on Zion.” The Hebrew expression there is nāsaḵ, meaning “poured out”. The metaphor is that of a craftsman pouring out molten metal heated in a furnace. It is liquid briefly, but quickly hardens and becomes unbreakable. It sets. Likewise, the king in Zion is set.

In verse 7, he speaks of a decree. Jesus Christ has been promised the world as his own, to do with as he pleases. All the armies of the world are like pottery he may dash in pieces with ease if they choose to resist his will.

You Are My Son

The decree derives its authority from the glorious relationship between Father and Son. Psalm 2 portrays the Son coming into his inheritance. I have explained “begotten” at some length in this post. Like the expression “firstborn”, its emphasis is not on the moment of generation or on birth at all, but rather on relationship and status. Because Christ is “begotten”, he is both priest and king, a truth we also find expressed in Zechariah. “There shall be a priest on his throne, the counsel of peace shall be between them both”, which is to say these two great offices will be united in the person of the Lord Jesus.

This truth Paul preached to the Jews in a synagogue in Pisidian Antioch during his first missionary journey. His gospel was this: “We bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’ ” So then, the moment God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, his exaltation became inevitable, and we await it eagerly. It’s a fundamentally Jewish hope, but one in which all who love Jesus delight.

Verse 7 in Hebrews

Hebrews picks up this same verse from Psalm 2 and uses it to demonstrate the superiority of the Son to all the spirit beings in heaven. Rhetorically, it asks, “To which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’?” But note that every time this passage is quoted, the writers of the New Testament are speaking to Jews. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.

In Hebrews 1, we have his majesty. In Hebrews 5, he is the Great High Priest, again, on the authority of this same verse:

“No one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’ ”

This is where Gentile believers come into it. Though Hebrews addresses Christian Jews, the writer tells us our Lord’s ministry is not only for the believing remnant of Israel, but “he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him”. That’s you and me, praise the Lord. We too need a priest after the order of Melchizedek.

Of course, the priesthood aspect is not explicit in Psalm 2. The writer of Hebrews is using the Psalm not to prove Jesus is our Great High Priest, but to demonstrate that he did not exalt himself to this position. Rather, God appointed him. The reference to Melchizedek comes from Psalm 110.

Verse 9 in Revelation

We find the writers of the NT using verse 7 in Acts and Hebrews. We also find John using verse 9 of Psalm 2 three times in Revelation. First, in his letter to the church in Thyatira, we find the Lord extending the promise his Father makes to him in Psalm 2 to faithful believers:

“The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.”

That authority he refers to comes straight out of Psalm 2, and he graciously confers it on his Gentile children.

Revelation 12 mentions verse 9 in passing, picturing Israel as a woman clothed with the sun and telling us the male child to whom she gave birth (Jesus) is the “one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron”.

Finally, in Revelation 19, the rider on a white horse rides out of heaven with his armies behind him. John says he will strike down the nations with the sword of his mouth, “and he will rule them with a rod of iron”.

The Shepherd’s Rod?

Some schools of Bible interpretation read the “rod of iron” as an instrument of gentle shepherd care fulfilled in the preaching of the gospel during our present age of grace. Nothing could be further from the truth, as Psalm 2 demonstrates. You can find that question discussed further here.

Psalm 2:10-12 — A Final Word of Advice

“Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 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.”

Kiss the Son

The humble Hebrew carpenter will become the exalted king of the world. David has a final piece of advice for the self-styled rulers of the earth. If they want to prosper, they will forget all about breaking the chains of restraint by which they feel bound, and humble themselves before the Lord’s Anointed. “Kiss the Son”, he counsels them. Pay homage to the rightful king of the world.

Again, this is not a gospel text for the present day, except maybe insofar as it gives us a vision of this world’s future and Christ as its judge. David is not saying “Get saved” or “Invite Jesus into your heart.” Numerous prophetic passages in the OT assure us David’s counsel is for the rulers of the world and needs to be taken quite literally. John Walvoord has a lengthy discussion here about the millennial relationship of the nations to Israel and Christ. He includes Assyria, Egypt, Philistia, Moab, Damascus, Ethiopia, Edom or Dumah, Arabia, the city of Tyre, the Ammonites, Kedar and Hazor, and Zidon.

Wrath and Refuge

David writes that the Son’s wrath is “quickly kindled”. Statements about God and speed must all be considered relatively. The Son is responding to at least six thousand years of sinful human provocation. His grace to us over the past two millennia demonstrate that David is not describing a hot temper. Our Lord’s wrath is eminently justifiable and his vengeance graciously restrained.

The last line confirms this, ending not with threats but with a gracious promise: “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” This is as true of the Gentile nations as it is of Israel’s remnant or of God’s children in our present age. Those who are wise in the coming age will respond to Christ’s rule with humility and joy.