Responding to the Rebellion of Nations

Well, let me, let me invite you to turn, in your Bibles this morning to Psalm 2. Psalm chapter 2, we're going to look at the entirety of this Psalm. this morning, and just as a, a lead in to what we're gonna talk about this morning from this Psalm. I wanna, start, in, Acts 24.

You don't need to turn there, but I'll just, narrate a little bit of what happens. But in Acts chapter 24, the apostle Paul found himself standing trial before a pagan ruler named Festus, who was the governor or the procurator of Judea at the time and as the proceedings of this trial, developed. Paul did not like the direction that things were going as he stood before Festus. so he evaluated his viable options and said, I appeal to Caesar.

Caesar at that time was Nero. In that moment, Paul had a choice between two pagan rulers and he used his rights as a Roman citizen to select the ruler that he believed that he had a better chance of receiving a fair trial from. Nero, as we all know, was a wicked man. Yet in this instance, Paul preferred to stand before him rather than stand before Festus.

In Paul's mind, Nero would not be unduly influenced by the Jewish enemies of the gospel. As much as Paul observed that Festus was being unduly influenced by the enemies of the gospel. So Paul chose Nero and as a result of his appeal to Caesar, Paul was taken to Rome and he stood trial before the emperor Nero. And by all accounts, Nero rendered a decision in Paul's favor and Paul was released and had a few more years thereafter.

To preach the gospel. I think I'm sharing this with you because this has been helpful for me over the last couple of weeks as I've been preparing myself to vote on Tuesday. I think there's something for us to learn from Paul's example in Acts chapter 24. at the very least, we can learn that Paul was a citizen of God's kingdom.

But he also was a citizen of Rome and being a citizen of Rome, Paul knew that he had certain rights, and he was not afraid to exercise those rights if he thought they would gain him a fair trial and enable him to continue preaching the gospel of Christ for a little bit longer. And we too in this room who have believed in Jesus are citizens of God's kingdom, and most of us in this room are also citizens of the United States. And being citizens of the United States, we have a right, and it's called the right to vote.

And being able to vote means that we actually have the right to do something a little bit similar to what Paul did in Acts 24.

We have the right to let our voice be heard regarding who it is that we would prefer to stand. Before To say it more precisely, we have the right to elect people. Who will appoint and approve the judges that we will stand before. So it's appropriate.

I think for us to follow Paul's example and exercise a right that we have as citizens of the United States in a way that fosters the appointment of better judges, for example, for us to stand before. That's how I'm framing my thoughts in this election, also thinking through other scriptures as well. I'm looking at the candidates, especially for president, and I'm asking which candidate would more likely appoint judges that I and my fellow Christians would rather stand before if we were brought to trial for preaching Christ.

I'm also asking which candidate We'll have the better team of advisors around them and implement perhaps a party platform that more closely approximates the teaching of scripture and would more likely preserve our freedoms as Christians to live out our faith for a little while longer.

And I know this is not easy and we need to be praying for each other. There's not just one path of legitimate ways of thinking through how to vote. This, week, we need to pray for each other for God's wisdom, and also, have good attitudes, even towards our fellow, believers. However, you vote on Tuesday, I encourage you to be governed by the law of love.

love for God, love for your fellow man. Ask yourself, how can I vote in a way that will do the greatest amount of good. For my fellow men, how can I vote in a way that speaks up for the unborn and any others who are oppressed and unable to speak for themselves? How can I vote in a way that affirms things that are good and righteous?

In our society. At the same time, while we do exercise this right, we do need to be very careful not to put too much confidence in the flawed people that we vote for. We are electing no Messiahs in this election. We already have our Messiah, and his name is Jesus.

And if a person that we vote for this week ends up winning, we rejoice, but we don't let our hearts put too much confidence in them. We honor them and we pray for them, but we do not let them be our Messiah. If the person we don't vote for ends up winning, we don't give way to fear either, which is very unbecoming to Christians. We take confidence in the fact that our Messiah is still in control.

We position ourselves to pray for and honor, whoever it is that comes into office, and we keep living in the gospel and giving that gospel of Jesus Christ to others. In Romans chapter one, Paul does not say your vote for president is the power of God into salvation. What he does say is that the gospel. The good news of salvation through Jesus is the power of God for salvation to everyone who is believing.

What our country needs from us more than anything else is not our vote. But our savior. And so let's keep holding high the, the name of Jesus Christ and let's keep calling people to faith in him, OK? With that, with that said, I am sure this is gonna be an amazing week.

The outcome of this election is going to be seismic no matter which way it goes down. I've probably watched too much news on Television in recent, in recent weeks and months. I've, I'm a big NFL football fan. I couldn't care less about the NFL.

I'm watching the news. I'm, I'm riveted, and I have at times felt myself becoming anxious about possible outcomes. In this election, at times I found myself worrying. That the people I'm voting against just might win this election.

At other times I found myself worrying. About the possibility that the people I'm voting for just might win. This election Go figure This will be a significant week which will likely leave us with a bag of mixed results. Some of those results might be sobering and distressing to behold.

This time next week, we might be faced with the reality of a presidential administration that proactively supports the killing of defenseless babies in the wombs of their mothers. In other ways, also, this may by all appearances turn out to be a victorious week for evil on a number of fronts. And we may find ourselves feeling disheartened. That various evil causes have triumphed and gained even more of the reins of power in our country.

And so I think today is a good day for us to look at Psalm 2 and ponder the subject of responding to the rebellion of nations. There's much in Psalm 2, I think that can give us perspective for a week such as this and a time such as this in our nation's history and even where we are globally. so I would like for us today to look at this Psalm as a part of our worship in the Psalms, series. As for who wrote Psalm 2, there's nothing above it.

In the superscription that indicates who wrote this psalm. but we're told in Acts chapter 4, verse 25 that the words of Psalm 2 came. By the Holy Spirit through the mouth of David. And so we're going to assume David's authorship of this Psalm as we work through the Psalm today.

And essentially, in this Psalm, we're going to observe four responses of David to the rebellion of the nations against Jehovah and against his Messiah that David is seeing. And the first of these responses is that David describes the rebellion. of nations. He looks upon the rebellion, and he describes the rebellion that he sees.

One of the things we're going to learn, guys, from this Psalm is that true worship is not putting our head in the sand and turning a blind eye to world events. We learn here in Psalm 2, that true worship actually entails us opening our eyes and taking an honest look at what is happening in the world and talking about what we see. This is what David does in Psalm 2. He looks honestly at what is happening in the world, and he gives an honest description of what he sees.

And David begins the Psalm with a question. He says in verse 1, why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The Hebrew word that is translated uproar speaks of the tumult of rebellion. The commotion of revolution.

He's saying, why are the nations in a rebellious uproar? David asked. He's observing as he looks at the world of his day, that the world is in revolution, and we'll see that that revolution is against God and his Messiah. He also asked a question, why are the peoples devising a vain thing?

The word that is translated devising. Here in Psalm chapter 2 verse 1 is actually the same word that is translated meditates. In Psalm chapter 1 verse 2. In Psalm 12, it is the godly man who's meditating on the law of the Lord and pondering with delight how he might live in accordance with it.

But here in Psalm 21, it is the wicked who are meditating with equal fervor against Jehovah and his ways, and David looks at it and says, why? David's not asking this question because he's worried. The spirit of this question is more along the lines of what in the world do they possibly hope to accomplish? And doing something that will ultimately prove so futile.

In fact, that's why he says, why do the peoples imagine a vain thing, an empty thing. David knows that the rebellion of the nations against God will ultimately prove vain. These rebellious people may experience some successes in the short term and do a lot of damage in the short term, but David knows that all of their strategies ultimately will prove futile. Everyone who makes war with God will ultimately lose.

That war David gets specific and he actually describes what he sees the nations doing in their rebellion against God. look what he says in verse two, he says, the kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, Let us tear their fetters apart. And cast away their chords from us. In verse one, David talks about The nations and the peoples who are raging against God.

In verse two, it focuses on the kings of the earth and the rulers who are fighting against God. It's one thing guys, for the common people. To rebel against God in his ways. It's another level of scary when the kings, And rulers who have power are using that power to rebel against God and His ways because they have political power, they have military power, and they can mobilize the masses as they see fit in their war against God.

They can do a lot of damage in the short term. And David sees what these powerful people are doing in the world of his day. And he describes them as doing two things. Number 1, they're taking their stand, and number 2, they're taking counsel together against Jehovah.

And against his anointed. They're united in this. The Hebrew word that is translated anointed is the Hebrew word meshiach. Which is where we get our word Messiah from.

The word Messiah literally means anointed one, speaking of an anointed king. In the Greek Septuagint translation of Psalm 2, the Greek word used to translate Mashiach is the word Christos. Which is why we see the word Christ all throughout the New Testament in reference to Jesus. Christos is the Greek word that means anointed one, and it's the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word meshiach.

Whenever you see Christ in the New Testament, you can just replace it almost with the word Messiah or anointed King. And that's basically what Christ means. In verse two, David says here that the kings and the rulers of the earth are taking their stand and taking counsel against Jehovah and against his Messiah, and their strategy is this, verse 3, they say, let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us. Notice the words they use to describe life under Jehovah.

And his anointed Messiah, they use the words fetters and cords. The Hebrew word translated fetters speaks of shackles and chains. And the word translated cord speaks of ropes that bind. This is stunning to us to hear this vocabulary describing life under Jehovah.

But this is how the wicked view life under Jehovah God and His Christ. In truth, we know life under Jehovah and His Messiah is truest freedom. But the wicked call it a life of fetters and cords. The truth of the matter is there are no fetters and cords that Jehovah and his Messiah bind their followers with none.

But part of how the enemies of God wage war against God is by the vocabulary they use to describe things. Their choice of words is strategic. They know that if they can use trigger words like fetters and cords, they can frame the debate and influence others to follow them in their war against Jehovah God. So they look at God's ways, and they call them fetters and cords, when in fact, there are no fetters and cords.

Such people will also look at the good. That Jehovah calls us to. to do, and they will call those good things evil. They will look at truth speaking and call it bigotry and hate speech.

They look at the Bible's teaching on sexuality, and they call it insensitivity and discrimination and repression. And they will say to others, let us tear apart this insensitivity. And cast away this bigotry and hate speech and repression from us. Guys, that's how the wicked roll.

It's how they use language and it's simply one of the ways that they go about their strategy of leading others to cast off Jehovah in his ways. Be wise to this. And David sees the wicked rulers of his day doing exactly this thing. Taking counsel against Jehovah and his Messiah to cast off their ways.

And how does David Respond to what he sees. Does he freak out? Does he lose heart? Absolutely not.

He proclaims essentially the futility of their efforts with his why question. And also by slapping the label vein. Empty on it. Where does David get this confidence from?

He gets it from what we see him doing next in verses 4 to 6. We see that David is looking at Jehovah. As Jehovah looks down on these rebellious peoples, and David sees and describes how Jehovah responds to this rebellion of the nations. And this leads us to David's second response to the rebellion of nations and that is he describes Jehovah's response.

To the rebellion of nations. He observes it and describes what he sees. As Jehovah himself responds, To the rebellion of nations. And what David does here, again guys, teaches us another lesson about true worship, and that is that true worship entails Looking at Jehovah, not just looking at the world.

Let's say it another way. Psalm 2 teaches us that when we look at the world, and we should, we need to make sure that we include God in our view. I may spend 40 hours this coming week. Watching the news and studying current, national and world events.

But if my view of those events does not include God in my scope of vision, Then I'm not really seeing the events of this coming week the way they ought to be seen. So David looks at the world, but he looks at the world in a way that also includes Jehovah in his line of sight. And what he sees as he looks upon Jehovah may surprise you. Look at what he sees, verse 4, he who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them.

Notice here that Jehovah is sitting. Where is he sitting? He's sitting on his throne and some translations like the NIV bring that out and nothing the nations are doing have succeeded in removing him from being seated on his throne. And that's almost all we need to see, right?

The nation's rage and foment and revolution against God, yet God is still seated on his throne. No matter what happens in the election this coming Tuesday, no matter how much evil may triumph, we already know that on Wednesday morning, we can look up into the heavens and see Jehovah still seated on his throne. David is looking at Jehovah. Above the noise and the tumult of revolution.

And he sees that Jehovah is seated on his throne looking down at this rebellion of nations. But David notices that God is doing something while seated on his throne, and he describes what he sees. And is God wringing his hands in worry? Is he flustered and fretting?

Not at all. Verse 4, David tells us that he who sits in the heavens laughs. Apparently the efforts of the mightiest rulers on Earth combining their forces. Against God are so puny as to be laughable to Jehovah.

Verse 4 also tells us that the Lord scoffs at them. We're not used to thinking of God in this way, but this is what the text says, and we have to deal with it. God scoffs at the rulers of the earth as they try to make war against him. Interestingly, Psalm 11 tells us that there are those who are scoffers against God.

We learn here in Psalm 2 that God scoffs at the scoffers. We're told this also in Proverbs chapter 3 verse 34, where Solomon says, the Lord mocks the mockers. But is gracious to the humble. This is an amazing picture of God here in Psalm 2, as one writer says, this vision of a laughing, mocking heavenly Lord is a message of unheard of prophetic force.

Imagine seeing all the nations of the world combining their forces and gathering all of their might in unity to make war against Jehovah. To us, that would be intimidating to see. But then we look at Jehovah seated on his throne, looking down upon it all, and we see that he's laughing. At the bloated arrogance of the wicked when in fact they're so small.

They're nothing in comparison to him. And according to this passage, God scoffs. And mocks. At what he sees.

I don't know what he says when he scoffs and mocks, but Maybe last June, June of last year, the angels of heaven might have heard God say the Supreme Court just made a decision. Contrary to my ways? Oh no. I could have handled a lesser court, but not the Supreme Court.

I don't know what he says as he mocks and scoffs and laughs. At the arrogance of the wicked who rise up and make war against him. As Solomon says in Proverbs 3:34 and here, as Psalm 2 affirms, God mocks the mockers, God laughs with derision and actually scoffs at those who rise up against him. But just a tip.

For all of you. When God is laughing and scoffing like this, that's not the time to stick around and enjoy the humor. That's actually your cue to run for a bunker somewhere. Because such laughter from God is the prelude to his wrath.

In fact, his laughter and mockery is the leading edge of his wrath that is on its way. Verse 5 tells us what God does next. The passage says then. The idea is in good time, at the right time, he will speak to them in his anger and terrify them in his fury.

Notice the words there, anger, terrify, and fury, and all of that is coming from God. God, there's no way around this, is a God of wrath. And he is a God of wrath, precisely because he is a God of love. God loves righteousness, and he loves his Messiah so much that he feels a righteous fury against all those who make war against his Messiah and reject his righteousness.

Don't think for a minute that God's wrath is the opposite of God's love. God's holy wrath. is actually an expression of how much he loves his son. And loves Righteousness.

A God without wrath is actually a God who loves nothing. And no one And how much God loves his son and how much he loves righteousness by observing his wrath against those who make war against his son. And those who reject his righteousness. And according to verse 5 here, there's a day coming when Jehovah.

will speak in wrath against those who rebel against him and view his righteousness. His righteous ways, his fetters and cords, and when he speaks, he will point to his anointed Christ, saying, but as for me, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain. Jehovah responds to the rebellion of nations by pointing to Jesus Christ, the true Messiah. And he says, this is the King that I have installed Jesus Christ.

There's been an election, an election that has taken place by an electorate of one. And that's me. And my vote is Jesus Christ, Jehovah says, and that means he wins the election. Rebel against him all you want, but he is the king that I have installed upon Zion, my holy mountain in Jerusalem.

We see these words fulfilled in the first coming of Christ. Jesus was rejected by the Jews and he was thrown out like garbage to be crucified. But God raised him from the dead, validating his approval of his chosen Messiah. We will also see God affirm Jesus Christ again in the book of Revelation, in a future day, the nations will follow the anti-Christ, who is the Messiah of their choosing, and they will make war against Jehovah and his Christ.

And Jehovah will dispatch his Christ to come to earth and slaughter the anti-Christ. And those who followed the anti-Christ in making war against God. And Jesus will establish, Jehovah will establish Jesus Christ. Upon his holy hill in Jerusalem to reign over the world in that future day.

So far in Psalm 2, David has delivered two responses to the rebellion of the nations. He has described the rebellion that he sees. He's also observed and described Jehovah's response to their rebellion. But David does not just see Jehovah.

When he looks up into heaven, he doesn't just see Jehovah speaking here, he also sees the Messiah himself speaking to the rebel nations. And this brings us to the third response of David. To the rebellion of nations. And that is he describes the Messiah's response.

To the rebellion of nations. Commentators will tell you that Jehovah is speaking in verses 4 through 6 and that the Messiah is speaking in verses 7 through 9. And when the Messiah speaks, what does he say in response to this rebellion of nations? The Messiah speaks and says verse 7.

I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord. In other words, I will tell of the decree of Jehovah. He said to me, You are my son. And today I have begotten you.

To understand this passage, we have to understand that the title Son or Son of God was a royal title. In the ancient culture of Israel and not just in Israel, but in the surrounding nations, kings were viewed as sons of God. It was one of the names given to them, and a king's birthday as a son of God was his coronation day when he was anointed and crowned king. And in the most far-reaching sense, we know that David here is speaking prophetically about Jesus Christ in this verse.

And we know this from Acts chapter 13 verse 33, where the apostle Paul says, listen to this, God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that he raised up Jesus. In other words, from the dead. As it is also written in the 2nd Psalm, you are my son. Today I have begotten you.

From Paul's language in Acts chapter 13 verse 33, we know that the statement in Psalm 2 is ultimately talking about Jesus, and we also know that Jesus' coronation day. When he was declared the Son of God. was his resurrection day when he was raised from the dead. This is why the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 1:4 that Jesus was declared the Son of God through the resurrection from the dead.

Jesus' physical resurrection from the dead is the ultimate declaration of God that Jesus is the royal Son of God, the anointed Messiah established. By God to rule over the nations. In verse 8, the Messiah continues speaking to the rebellious nations, and he tells them something else that Jehovah said to him on his coronation day. He tells these rebellious leaders that Jehovah said to him, ask of me, and I will surely give the nations as your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as your possession.

Imagine God saying this to Jesus, guys, on the day of his resurrection. Raising him from the dead and saying to Jesus, ask anything of me. And it's yours. All of the nations to the very ends of the earth, they're yours for the asking.

And Jesus here is responding to the rebel nations, and he's saying to them, Jehovah has told me that the nations are mine for the asking, and he's given me the nations as my inheritance, and he's given me the farthest reaches of the earth as my possession. And guys, this is exactly why in Matthew chapter 28. That Jesus could say to his disciples, after his resurrection, all authority has been given to me. In heaven And on earth, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.

To the farthest reaches of the earth. why? Because it's his all the way to the remotest part of the earth. What this means is that Jesus Christ by virtue of his resurrection from the dead, is right now the Lord and the possessor of all nations.

Whether the nations now recognize him as such or not. It also means that when God ascended Jesus to his own right hand after his resurrection, God was not sidelining Jesus on the bench until some later time. It means that he was installing Jesus. At the highest position of authority and power over all of heaven and earth.

This means that Jesus is in control of world events right now. Nothing is happening apart from his sovereign allowance. He is only allowing things to happen, good or evil, that serve his purposes and serve to move human history toward the day when he will come. To take the nations for himself and establish his rule over them.

This means that Jesus is right now the sovereign Lord over all of the nations from Iraq. To the United States. And don't let anybody deceive you. Those who right now Many in this room Those who right now recognize Jesus as the Lord of all the nations and follow Him.

They are on the right side of history. In verse 9, the Messiah continues to speak and informs the nations that Jehovah. has also said to him, Verse 9, you shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall shatter them like earthenware.

Clearly Jehovah here is giving his Messiah full rights to all the nations, and he's giving rights to his Christ, His Messiah. To do whatever is needful to squash any rebellion and assert his righteous rule. And guys, Jesus will do exactly that when he returns to earth at his second coming. Keep in mind that this is how the Messiah responds to the rebellion of the nations against him.

This is how Jesus responds right now as he sees the nations in revolt against him. He's not intimidated. By their rebellion. He doesn't offer to step down as Messiah because the polls show that his favorability numbers.

Aren't very high anymore. No. He sees the rebellion of nations and he dismisses the opinion of the world altogether. And simply quotes from the words of Jehovah.

His heavenly Father and says, here's what Jehovah has said to me. I hear what you're saying, but here's what Jehovah has said to me. Here's what he's promised me, and I am laying claim to all that Jehovah has decreed is mine. He's given me the right even to shatter any of this rebellion and establish my rule, and I aim to do that.

In fact, the language of this verse in Psalm 2 finds its fulfillment. Most fully in Revelation 1915. You can write that reference down. Revelation 19:15, when Christ returns at his second coming, we're told that from his mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it he may smite the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron.

And the expression rule them with a rod of iron is a quotation. From the Greek translation. Of Psalm 29. Teaching us that the full fulfillment of Psalm 2 will happen at the second coming of Christ.

We actually when you read Psalm 2 and read the words of the Messiah here, you're actually looking into the future. At what he will say in that future day. When he returns at his 2nd coming. David is looking at the rebellious uproar of nations as they make war against Jehovah and his Messiah.

He responds by describing the rebellion that he sees. He responds by observing Jehovah's response to the rebellion. And by observing the Messiah's response and describing the Messiah's response as well, which we have just seen. And now in the final verses of Psalm 2, David delivers his own response to the rebellion of nations which brings us to our fourth point.

If Jehovah and His Messiah are not intimidated by the rebellion of nations, then neither is David. And in the final verses of the Psalm, we see David's 4th response and that is he delivers a message. To the rebellious nations, he delivers a message. He wants to preach and herald a message to the rebel nations.

And guys, before we look at this message, I want to make the point that we learn in these verses yet another vital lesson about the nature of true worship. And that is that true worship entails our direct engagement with the world. In verse 1011 and 12, we actually see David speaking to rulers and judges of nations and calling upon them to wise up and pay homage to the Messiah. And he's doing that in a song of worship.

And we learned from David's example that worship is not about disengaging from the world and talking only to God in the privacy of our prayer closets or in our Christian worship services. It includes that. But Psalm 2 teaches us that worship also entails us going out into the world and even into the halls of power. And engaging rulers and judges and kings with the truth of who Jesus is, and calling upon them to pay homage to the one true King Jesus.

This means that when you're witnessing to somebody and calling upon them to believe in Jesus, you are engaging in worship. You are worshiping just as truly as David is worshiping here in Psalm 2, verses 10 through 12 when he's doing exactly that. Let's look at what he says here quickly. David, first of all, speaks to the kings and judges of the earth and tells them to wise up.

He says, now therefore, O king, show discernment, take warning. Oh judges of the earth. He then gives them counsel as to what to do with regard to Jehovah God. In verse 11, he says, worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling.

The word that is translated worship means to serve. To serve As someone who's owned by a master. That's the idea of this term. David is calling upon these rulers to know their place before God.

God is God, they are not. God is King, and they are to live as his subjects. They are to worship and serve Jehovah and live a life that is fully imbued with that spirit of worship to him. David also calls upon the rulers to worship the Lord with reverence, literally with fear.

The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom, Solomon says, and that's what David is calling upon his These, these rulers to do. By the way, as we go through this, this is a great way to pray for whoever becomes president, whoever comes to office this week. Make these what you pray for, that they will show discernment, that they will take warning, that they will become worshippers of Jehovah and have the fear of the Lord that governs their life and the decisions that they make.

David then calls upon these rulers and judges to rejoice in Jehovah, rather than chafing under Jehovah and viewing his ways as fetters and cords.

David is saying rejoice in Him. There's so much to rejoice in this God. And he also tells them to rejoice with trembling. Meaning that their joy in Jehovah should be mixed with a holy awe over the awesome power and the awesome greatness of Almighty God.

Rather than being infatuated with their own power and with their own greatness, they should be struck by the awareness of how small they are and how great and how holy God is. David then gives them counsel regarding what they should do with Jehovah's Messiah. In verse 12, he says, do homage to the sun. The literal Hebrew reads, kiss the sun.

Giving us the picture of kissing the ring. Or kissing the feet of the son who reigns as king. This is what somebody does when they recognize someone as their own king. And David is calling upon these rulers and judges to do that, to recognize Jesus Christ, the Messiah as their king.

Speaking to his audience of rulers and judges, David says, kiss the son that he not become angry. And you perish in the way, for his wrath may soon be kindled. This is an ultimatum. And David is saying, you either pay homage to the sun or you perish as a result of the sun's wrath.

Don't mess with the sun. He's saying And normally, guys, we're, we're accustomed to thinking of the wrath of God. But we're not really used to thinking of the wrath of Jesus. But the wrath of Jesus, the wrath of the Messiah is right here in plain language.

The son is wrathful against all those who refuse to pay homage to him, and his wrath will bring about their perishing. And it's not just the Old Testament that tells us that. In Revelation chapter 6 verse 16, we're told that there is coming a day when the wrath of Christ is going to be poured out upon the earth in a series of awful judgments. And we're told that people In that future day will say to the mountains and to the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

And in Revelation 19:15, the apostle John tells us, That when Jesus returns at his second coming, he will tread the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. In that future day when the wrath of Christ is being unleashed upon the earth, the enemies of Christ, they will hate him more than ever and blaspheme his name, but they will know that this wrath is coming from him. And there's no mountain they can find that's big enough to hide them from the wrath of the lamb.

Here in Psalm 2, David is instructing the peoples of the world to recognize that Jehovah's Messiah has wrath against those who rebel against Him.

But David also wants him to realize that the Messiah stands ready to show mercy and to receive any who would seek refuge in Him. And this is why he ends the song with this beatitude, basically, verse 12, he says, how blessed are all who take refuge in him. I love this. Take refuge in him.

Take refuge in him from what? From his wrath. Those fleeing to Christ and taking refuge in Him. are finding refuge from the very wrath of the one that they are seeking refuge in.

This means that the only place to find refuge from the wrath of the sun. is in the sun. The only place to go to escape the wrath of Jesus is to Jesus himself. He is the only one who can save you from his wrath.

If you come to him, he will happily take you in and you will be blessed to find refuge in him. So what do we do with this? How do we use Psalm 2 in our present circumstances today? We actually get a hint, and we can be so grateful for this, of how to use Psalm 2 from Acts chapter 4, where we see the early Christians making use of this Psalm.

And using the psalm as a lens through which they process the events of their day. The Jewish religious leadership had imprisoned Peter and John for the first time ever and then they called Peter and John before the council and threatened them and told them to stop speaking in the name of Jesus. So Peter and John end up hearing that, responding to that, but then they return to their Christian brothers and sisters and tell them, here's what just happened to us. We were thrown in prison and We've been threatened and told to stop speaking in the name of Jesus.

And everyone now hears Peter and John, all the Christians, and they realize that the winds are shifting. And that persecution is starting and that things are only likely to get more difficult from here. And how do they respond? Do they start freaking out?

Do they look back At the good old days, when people treated them with more respect, and they weren't being persecuted. Now, here's what they do. Long story short, Acts chapter 4 verse 24, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, oh Lord, it is you who by the mouth or by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our Father David, your servant said, and now they quote from Psalm 2. Verse 1 and 2 saying, why did the nations' rage?

And the peoples devised feudal things. The kings of Earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ. Isn't that amazing? Faced with this challenging situation in their own day, faced with an uncertain future, these early Christians find perspective for themselves in Psalm 2.

They view what the Sanhedrin is doing as a modern day version of what David saw and described in Psalm 2, and they know the Sanhedrin's plans to squash the testimony of Christ. is going to prove vain, futile. They already know. What the Sanhedri's trying to do, it's so vain, and it's not gonna work.

How do they know this? Because their efforts against Christ. The enemies of Christ, their efforts against him have already proven futile. These Christians say in their prayer to the Lord, for truly, Lord, in the city, there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur.

These early Christians in this moment of vulnerability and uncertainty, they think back. To Herod and Pilate, two rulers and kings, basically, and the Gentiles and the people of Israel, and they think about how all four of these entities came against Jehovah's anointed. It was all of them against Jesus. And they killed him.

But all of that was undone because God raised him from the dead. And in killing him, they were merely doing whatever God's hand and God's purpose had predestined to occur. God's purpose was that the Messiah would die and then be raised so that through his shed blood, he would bring salvation to the world. So all of the actions of Pilate and Herod and the Jews and Gentiles was in vain in the fullest sense of the term.

Their efforts to kill Christ were vain, because he's now alive again. And their actions are doubly vain in the sense that their wicked actions actually ended up being used by God to achieve his purposes of bringing salvation to sinners through the shed blood of Jesus. These early Christians are pondering all this on the threshold of persecution. And they're so filled with confidence that they just have two requests to make to God.

They say to God, and now Lord, take note of their threats. And grant that your bond servants may speak your word with all confidence. And did God answer their prayer? Verse 31 tells us they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness, the same boldness that David is speaking with in Psalm 2, verse 1011 and 12.

Let me close with this. Guys, regardless of who our rulers are, And our judges are, regardless of how things unfold this week, regardless of how things unfold in our nation's future, regardless of the strategies and the apparent successes of the wicked, regardless of the persecution that might come our way in the days and years to come, we can know for certain that the following things are true. That God is on his throne. And his Messiah will one day come to earth and rule over all the nations, which means that all of us who believe in Him are on the right side of history.

We can know that all efforts that anyone makes against God are futile. And will ultimately only serve to further his purposes of bringing About his Messiah's reign upon the earth. And we can also know for certain from the example set here in Psalm 2 that we should be about the business of preaching Christ and doing so with confidence. And we should use Psalms like Psalm 2 to give us the perspective we need.

To have the confidence that we need to have. To speak with boldness and call upon others to pay homage to Jesus Christ and find refuge in him. If you're here today and you've never found refuge. In Jesus.

I pray that you would run to him this morning and believe in him and call upon his name. And experience the blessedness enjoyed by those who find refuge. In him. Let's pray together Lord, we thank you that we can not only look into your word and see the things that we find here today, but we thank you that your word actually serves as a lens through which we can rightly see the world of our day.

And Lord, as we look at the events that will That are transpiring and will in the days to come. Help us to include you in our view, and your Messiah in our view. That we might see things as we ought to see them, give us a holy boldness and a readiness that whatever the circumstances, whatever comes our way, that we're ready. To boldly speak in the name of Jesus, because we know we're on the right side of history.

We pray for our nation, Lord, that You would look upon us with your mercy, that You would give us wisdom. To vote wisely and to To exercise love in the voting booth, seeking to love our fellow men and how we cast our votes. Give us wisdom because this is difficult. This dual citizenship thing, Lord, is, is hard.

We need your wisdom and we need grace. But we thank you that above it all, you are on your throne. And in total control. And it is in you that we find our confidence.

That protects us from fear. And the confidence that gives us the boldness to preach Jesus. We thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to give of our offerings to you, receive. These funds, Lord, and do much with every penny that is given for the glory.

Of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. In whose name we pray and all God's people said, Amen.