Psalm 2

A Timely Introduction

There is a lot of online noise right now about a thing called *Christian Nationalism* - Its hard to fully outline the debate as the term means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. It began as a term of derision, has been defined several different ways by several different proponents and defined rather differently by its detractors. What's immediately relevant as we consider Psalm 2 is the assumptions underlying much stated opposition to *Christian Nationalism* and frankly some wrong-headed assumptions that undergirds much Christian thinking in our own day. That is the assumption of neutrality - that its possible, whether we're talking about politics or social issues or economics or theology or morality. There is a terrible lie that things can be good and righteous, bad and unrighteous, or religiously neutral - things that don't have much of anything to do with God. Much of what has shaped our modern Christianity has been built on a myth that the Bible dispels completely and this Psalm destroys -namely that anything in this world or our lives is neutral, is not decisively under the authority of Jesus Christ. How that all works is what makes some of the *Christian Nationalism* debate interesting - whether one uses the term or not. What no Christian should be unsure of is what is entailed in the confession that Jesus is Lord - which is the basic confession of the Christian Faith. Let's look now at Psalm 2 and let it reshape our understanding of well, everything....

Psalm 2
Why do the heathen nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of 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."
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."
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 to pieces like a potter's vessel."
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.

1 - Seeing the Whole Psalm

This Psalm raises a question with a whole accounting of history and our present day inside of it. Here are nations - not just individuals, but whole cultures plotting, raging against their service to God and his King. And they find some sense of unity in this rebellion - taking counsel together. The Psalmist asks why they do this - this vain thing. Here is the regular pattern in history - the peoples, the cultures, the nations conspire to cast off the rule of Christ over them. The Psalm is built on an idea central to the whole of Scripture - God is the world's king. He rules over all the nations of the earth. He is not merely Lord and King to particular individuals who choose a particular religious identity. His claims are total - over every tongue, tribe and nation. But his reign is embodied. The Psalm points to a historic fulfillment in the reign of Jesus the Messiah over those nations. They are given to him as a possession. But at the heart of this text is an antithesis - the antithesis as it plays out across history and among the nations of the earth. All peoples are subject to God and his law and these peoples conspire together to be free of God and his law.

But the Psalm also moves historically. The nations rage, God laughs and then establishes his king in Zion. The nations are given to him to conquer and then the nations are exhorted. This is the whole of history compressed into a handful of verses. Christ has come, Christ has died, Christ has risen, and Christ has been exalted to the right hand of the Father where he reigns over all the nations of the earth - All authority in heaven and earth has been given to him and his witnesses have been sent to all the nations to baptize them - to bring them to confess that Jesus is Lord and to bow the knee to this king.

2 - Observations of the Psalm

- All the nations are conspiring against God and against his king - billions of dollars, the full weight of the media and military all put to use by the most worldly minds available to them. They seek to corrupt, to undermine, to persecute, to ostracize and to put to death God, his king and his people. What is God's reaction? Laughter. Superimpose this Psalm onto the hill of Golgotha and the crucifixion of Jesus. The Supreme Political power of Jesus' day conspires together with the religious might of Jerusalem - to put to death God's king to escape his rule. What do we hear from God at this moment? We hear a sound we could hardly expect: We hear laughter. God laughs in the face of all of it. He holds all these impressive powers in derision. He is no respecter of man's pompousness.

- Fear is a non-negotiable aspect of faithful Christian believing. We delight in the Son, but we also tremble before the Son. We serve and rejoice in the Son, but we also fear the Son. Christianity does not turn us into casual worshippers. Faith in Christ brings us to the brink of weighty glory and holiness and teaches us to rejoice in it.

- God's answer to the rebellion of the nations is to reassert his authority and the authority that belongs to Christ. Christ reigns over all the nations. He laughs at their insolence and puts his king right in the midst of those rebellious nations.

- The Psalm ends with a promise and a warning. The promise is to Christ - all the ends of the earth will belong to him, the rebellion of the nations will be dashed to pieces. Rulers who refuse to acknowledge his authority, to believe his authority to submit to his authority will be dashed to pieces. The warning is to those same rulers - that they must do three things: 1) Serve the Lord with gladness, 2) Kiss the Son - showing reverence and affection, and 3) take refuge in God. Here is the gospel in reverse: We take refuge in God - turning to him, seeking God's mercy - we kiss the Son, we love the Son, we honor the Son and then 3) Serve the Son gladly. Here is no embittered servitude, but happy submission to God.

- Notice the responses of the repentant - the Psalmist puts together things we have a hard time holding together: Rejoicing and trembling. Affection and submission. The worship of the Lord grants a fullness of life and experience that cannot be reduced to one emotional experience. It is joy, refuge, fear, service, worship all together.

3 - Applying and Praying the Psalm

- Do not underestimate the hostility of the world around us to the rule of God.

- Do not underestimate the authority of Jesus over the world.

- Take hope in the view of God as he beholds the nations' blasphemies - Our world looks insane, gathered together in rebellion against God. God is not worried. God is not frustrated by the nations. God laughs at their insolence. He does not view them as a viable threat to his authority. Do not be afraid.

- Do not underestimate the promises of God for the world- more particularly his promise of the world for Jesus. The Scriptures do not tell us that God intends to save a few folks from the nations to heaven. They declare - this Psalm declares that the nations belong to God now and that every ruler in rebellion against him will be cast down and all the nations will belong to Jesus.

- Hear the good news: God opposes the proud, but shows mercy to all those who take refuge in him. Confess and believe that Jesus is Lord. Kiss the Son. Love the Son. Delight in the Son. Finally, serve the Son - obey his commands with gladness. And learn to laugh - to laugh with your Father who laughs in the face of all who stand against him.