The Son of God

Reference

Psalm 2

The Son of God

Advent is upon us! Of the many places we could go these few weeks to reflect and rejoice over the birth of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, we’ll be turning to the Psalms. Now, there are many genres of Psalms but the one of particular importance for us as we enter into Advent this year is the royal Psalms. As the name reveals royal Psalms have a kingly tone to them; they’re filled with the language of rule and authority. So it’s not surprising that royal Psalms are also called Messianic Psalms because they point to the King to come. In fact, much of the Advent passages or birth narratives we have in the gospels have their roots back in these Psalms.

But allow me to begin with a simple thought today: we’re a gospel people are we not?[1] We know our many sins but we also know God’s mercy to sinners like us in His Son. And from being stunned by the Son’s beauty and grace, we’ve given ourselves to Him and His cause, and labor by the power of the Spirit to see His gospel move ahead in our world. But, as we look out on this world we live in and see its hatred and disdain of Jesus it’s not immediately obvious that the cause of Christ is winning and moving on ahead with power in the world. Many oppose Him. Many ridicule and mock Him. Many just want nothing to do with Him. What are we to think about this? Should we despair? Should we press on anyway? What does God think of this? Will God do anything about it? All these questions bring us to our first Psalm of Advent this year, Psalm 2.

The message of Psalm 2 is simple. God has not let rebellion and sin go unanswered. In response to the raging of the nations God has set His Son on the throne as King.

There is no author given for Psalm 2, nor is there a setting describing the events that give rise for such a Psalm. Most believe Psalm 1-2 is a two part introduction to the Psalms. Functioning like bookends Psalm 1 begins with “Blessed is the man…” while Psalm 2 ends with “Blessed are all…” The sins described in Psalm 1 are expanded as a raging against the Lord and His anointed in Psalm 2. And the righteous man of Psalm 1 who’s delight and meditation day and night on the Law of the Lord is now personified in the Son of God who rules over the nations in Psalm 2.

But Psalm 2 does have its own unique contribution. Four speeches cover these 12 verses. In v1-3 the kings of the nations speak and rage against God. In v4-6 God responds to this rebellion with His own speech. In v7-9 God’s anointed King gives His own speech. And to close, in v10-12 the Psalmist speaks in warning, inviting all rebels to true wisdom.[2]

Raging Nations (v1-3)

“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’”

v1 begins with a question. The nations aren’t just rejecting or rebelling, they’re raging against God and His king. The word describing this rage is ‘plot.’ This same word is used in Psalm 1:2 but it’s not translated ‘plot’ there it’s translated ‘meditates.’ So I think a contrast is before us. Psalm 1 says the righteous plot/meditate on the beauties of God, enjoying Him and gazing on His perfect Law. Psalm 2 says the wicked also plot/meditate on the rule of God but they rage against it. v2 says this raging isn’t confined to any one person, small group of people, or even one nation; it is global, it is of old and has long been notorious.[3] This means if you go into the remotest parts of the jungle to an unreached tribe or if you go across the street in your neighborhood you find sinners raging in their sin.[4]

But specifically, who are they raging against? The LORD and His Anointed. This is none other than God Himself and His chosen king. Why are they raging though? One reason is given in v3 where we hear the nations say, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” So its clear the nations are raging against the rule and authority of God and His king. They’d prefer to have no king over them and do whatever is right in their own eyes, they’d prefer to be autonomous, they’d prefer to be under no governing authorities, to be loosed of all that might restrain them, and in all honesty they’d prefer to be their own gods. Or we could say, they’re determined to live on their terms and will fight to ensure that they can.[5] For this cause they unite against God.

Now we usually believe unity and freedom are good things and celebrate when people come together for a common purpose. But this unity is fantastically wicked because the freedom the nations are after is freedom from God. Yet, such is man. Nothing in all creation…the air, the sea, the land, or any of the animals rebelled against God once created. Of all creation only man was made in God’s image, and ironically only man used such a high station to rage against their Creator. Ever since the fall man has been bent in this wicked direction.

We see this still today. The gospel might at first look very appealing to guilt ridden sinners, to know the pardoning grace of God and the free gift of righteousness? ‘I’ll take that!’ many say. But upon a deeper look, many turn away because even though Jesus will welcome us as we are, warts and all, He doesn’t leave as we are. He isn’t called a King for nothing. He commands, He orders, He governs, and He rules over His subjects. Many reject Christ for this, because they get a sense of His regal authority, and think it an unbearable burden. But for those who are redeemed, His yoke is easy and His burden is light, it is to us what wings are to a bird.

Here at the end of v3 we can say this…if the conflict between the kings of the earth versus the Lord and His Anointed was only a matter of numbers, we’d have no hope, because two alone can’t take on the world. But take hope! There are none like these two! We see this more in the next stanza.

A Laughing Lord (v4-6)

“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.”

The Speaker changes now, and this time it’s God Himself. How does God respond to the nations raging against Him and His chosen king? Take joy in this Church…God isn’t fretting, God isn’t worried, and God isn’t anxious. No, He laughs. The only place in the entire Bible where God is said to laugh is right here in Psalm 2:4, where the camera moves up from the riot on earth to the peace of heaven.[6] God laughs because to rage against Him is like a fly attacking an elephant, or a man trying to steal the sun from the heavens.[7] Notice God doesn’t even stand? “He who sits in the heavens laughs…”

There’s joy in this, there’s rest in this Church. In all that disquiets and disturbs us, in all that alarms us, causes us worry and fear, we need only to look up and see Him who sits so securely on His throne that He laughs at all who attempt to remove Him or bring harm on His people!

But observe that God does more than just laugh, He speaks back to the nations that rage against Him, and His words bring terror. What does He say? Despite all the raging, what the nations we’re seeking to prevent, God has done. “As for me, I have set My King on Zion, My holy hill.” God laughs against the nations raging because He has enthroned His King on Mt. Zion, His holy hill. God’s confidence here is worth mentioning. One author put it like this, at best Zion “…is a modest mountain on the crest of which sits a modest fortified town, the capital of a rather small kingdom, surrounded by vast empires. Yet, the Psalmist boldly imagines it as God’s chosen city, divinely endorsed to be queen of the nations and the splendor of mankind.”[8] Why does Zion figure so prominently here? The glory of the place is all about the Person in view, the King God has chosen. Who is He? What is He like? What is His relation to God? All this and more we see in the next stanza.

A Proclaiming Son (v7-9)

“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.’”

Here we’re introduced to another new speaker as this stanza begins. We’ve heard the nations, we’ve heard God, now we hear God’s chosen King. What does He say? He speaks of what God spoke to Him. Specifically of three things: His identity, His activity, and His authority. And as we’ll see, these words in v7-9 are so large and so grand that they fit David or any other Israelite king about as well as NFL shoulder pads fit a fifth grader.[9] Conclusion? These words only properly apply to one King, the Lord Jesus Christ.

His Identity, “‘You are My Son; today I have begotten you.” God’s chosen king is said here to be God’s Son. But note that we then see this king became God’s Son not but adoption or by creation, no, but by an act of begetting. Meaning the Son of God has an unparalleled relationship to God the Father. He not only comes from God, He not only represents God, He not only has the life of God within Him, He has ever been with God, and He is God Himself. Two cautions here.[10] First, the language of begetting does not teach a kind of birth, or a kind of adoption, as if God the Father at one time created or adopted God the Son. Rather it speaks of eternal generation, that the Son has ever and always been the Son of the Father. And second, that it speaks of the Father begetting the Son ‘today’ doesn’t teach of a time when God began to relate this way to the Son, for God is outside of time. So today means ‘the present’ to God because all of time is entirely present to God.

His Activity, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” The rule of God’s Son will be a global rule, and the work of God’s Son will be a global work. Just as a son inherits from his father, so too Jesus Christ the Son of God will inherit the nations as His gospel brings joy to the world as believers from every nation, tribe, people, and language come in. This is why Jesus speaks of the Father giving Him or gifting Him a people many times throughout the gospels (John 6:37).

His Authority, “You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” The scepter of a king usually symbolizes rule and authority but the scepter of Christ the King becomes a two fold tool, used to judge His enemies while saving His people.

This third stanza then, teaches us that King Jesus will succeed in spreading His rule and reign across the world, through His gospel, despite the nations raging against Him. What does all this lead to?

An Invitation Extended (v10-12)

“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.”

This final stanza breaks the pattern we’ve grown accustomed to. There is another change of speaker here, but it’s not a new speaker, it’s the Psalmist of the first stanza speaking again to close it out.[11] And he closes with an invitation to the kings of the nations to be wise, to be instructed, to be corrected, and warned of great danger. Though the wicked will think judgment is far away and distant, v12 reminds us it will be a sudden thing.

Because of all that’s been said they shouldn’t rage, they should serve the LORD in fear with a holy mixture of rejoicing with trembling. Like servants of old kissed the feet or the ring of their king, so too, the call here is to kiss the Son, not like Judas –in phony betrayal, but sincerely, to make one’s loyalty and allegiance known, to submit to Him, to bow to His reign over you, to yield your will to His, and to obey His laws. The message is clear: no one in all the world can find refuge from Christ the King, in fact, refuge is only found in this King.[12]

Conclusion:

So Psalm 2 shows us true wisdom, the nature of sin, the reason why men oppose and rage against God. But it also shows us how the Church shouldn’t ever fear because it’s a small and easy thing for God to defeat His foes. In Him then, we’re assured of victory to come though all else around announces the opposite. The good news of Psalm 2 is that God doesn’t greet the rebellion of the nations with indifference or injury, no. God’s reign and rule might be contested, but the outcome is certain! His Son shall reign forevermore.[13] And in His rule His people are ever secure.

The original audience of Psalm 2 would’ve interpreted all of this in reference to their king, to David and his sons. But more is in view as we trace this through down throughout the ages. When it came to David’s sons and Israel’s king’s the grand factor that contributed to their demise was their own sin and failure. So, God’s prophets consistently promised the advent, or the coming of a King like David but greater than David who would truly live up to God’s Law. We know who this is. We see something of Him even in the words used here. The word ‘Anointed’ in v2 is the Hebrew word meshiach and when it was put into Greek it was translated it as christos. This is where we get the words Messiah and Christ. In this light perhaps we can understand why so many New Testament authors used Psalm 2 to describe Jesus as God’s true King. Hebrews 1 and Hebrews 5 use Psalm 2 to define Jesus’ greatness over the angels and OT priests. Paul preached from Psalm 2 in Acts 13 speaking about the resurrection. And Peter’s sermon in Acts 4 uses Psalm 2 to explain why the early Church was being so severely persecuted.

They all knew what we need to know: to rage against Christ the King will bring great ruin, but to yield to Christ the King will bring great blessing and joy.

Do you get the Christmas tone to Psalm 2? When the angels showed up over the shepherds and sang “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among man” they weren’t only singing about a little baby. Yes He was a baby at that time, but He was a King, the King over all kings, He was Christ the Lord! The promised Ruler spoken about in Psalm 2. And ultimately Psalm 2 reaches to Christmas and beyond. Christ has come, He is ruling and reigning, until His second coming, His second advent, when He will break the nations with His rod of iron, as He welcomes His global Church to Himself.[14]

This Christmas announcement makes a great demand of us. It pushes us to choose. Will we go the way of the nations, raging against God in our sin, demand to be free from His authority, and free to live in our sins as we see fit? Or will we bow the knee the Christ the King?

As we begin Advent this year, of all that fills our lives during this season, may this truth resound within us: no one in all the world can find refuge from Christ the King, in fact, refuge is only found in this King.

[1] James A. Johnston, The Psalms: Rejoice, the LORD IS KING (Vol. 1) – Preaching the Word Commentary (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway) 33-34.

[2] Roger E. Van Harn & Brent Strawn, Psalms for the Preaching and Worship: A Lectionary Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2009) 56.

[3] William S. Plumer, Psalms (Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Banner of Truth Trust, reprint 2016) 39.

[4] Johnston, 35.

[5] Christopher Ash, The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary (Wheaton IL: Crossway, 2024) 20.

[6] Ash, The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary, 21.

[7] Plumer, 41.

[8] Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible: The Writings (New York, New York: Norton, 2019) 29.

[9] Johnston, 35.

[10] Augustine, Expositions of the Psalms, vol. 1 (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2000) 73.

[11] Van Harn & Strawn, 57.

[12] Ash, The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary, 28.