Why are nations turbulent,
And peoples murmur a vain thing?
Kings of the earth set themselves,
And rulers consult together,
Against Yahweh
And against His anointed:
“Let us break their bonds
And throw off of us their ropes!”
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
My Lord scoffs at them!
Then he speaks to them in his wrath
And in His burning anger He TERRIFIES them:
“I myself have installed my king
On Zion, my holy mountain.”
I will declare the statute:
Yahweh said to me,
“My son you are;
I myself, today, have begotten you.
Ask of me and I will make nations your inheritance
And your possession the ends of the earth.
You will rule them with an iron scepter,
Like a potter’s vessel you will smash them.”
And now, kings, be wise;
Be warned judges of earth.
Serve Yahweh with fear
And exult with trembling.
Kiss the son lest he be angry
And you perish in the way,
For his wrath will quickly burn.
Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.
Psalm 2 translated by John Barach (TERRIFIES in caps mine)
God is maligned and marginalized in many quarters in our world today. But since He is at the top, He deals with folks (read judges) from the top down (for our purposes here) as well. He addresses today’s world leaders and rulers, letting them know that by His Spirit and His Law/Word, He has established His Son and his Son’s people, (read Christians and Christianity) to administrate a common grace for all peoples of the earth. But many of the world leaders are saying, ‘we don’t want Christ and His Christianity or Christians telling us what to do (we don’t exactly, but HE DOES) and putting the binders of God’s Word on us (we don’t but HE DOES). We reject (and are willing to kill and killing) Christianity and Christians if they won’t keep their mouth shut and do life our way’!
God laughs at them and let’s them know He has established HIS King, (started in Israel but is His Church today). They have been granted temporary power to further His King’s reign AND FOR NO OTHER REASON! God is saying to these two bit dreamer usurpers as He laughs, ‘You’re not serious, you think you have any REAL power? Give me a break!’
Now THE King addresses the psalmist, and indirectly the rest of us of, ‘Here is what God has laid out (His Law/Word) for all of us: David (really Jesus), you are my son (Son) and today I am letting all (the believers and unbelievers alike) see that you (David/Jesus –and for our purposes – you and I) have been given the following promise from THE King: Ask me and I will make NATIONS your inheritance and your possession to the ends of the earth. So we might well wonder, ‘what do we do with these nations You have given us for an inheritance, King Yahweh?’ And of course we have our answer right on the heels of God’s declaration regarding our inheritance: ‘rule them with an iron scepter, like a potter’s vessel you will smash them.’
Okay, now I get it, being a sports fan at heart. When you give us control over these lowly heathen, it’s smash mouth hard guy time. Is that it? Not so much. Of Faith, Hope and Love the greatest is Love. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds…
No, our primary (vessel smashing) weapons are worship and prayer and over all that is a very hard to do but necessary, self-sacrificing Love. It’s comparatively easy to pray a prayer of imprecation like we hear David so in Psalms: ‘Kick their butt Lord!’ (and we need to at times too)
So in spite of my feelings for those who hate my King and His people, I pray for world leaders/kings. So ‘wise up kings and world leaders,’ our psalm goes on. Serve the one true King with fear and trembling. Kiss, adore, adorate, and otherwise BOW DOWN to the Son, Jesus Christ, ‘lest He be angry and wipe you out (more ways than you could even begin to count) BECAUSE ONCE HIS PATIENCE IS ENDED, His anger will go over the top of all registers and eat you up. And last but not least, “Blessed are all those who take refuge in Him”
