We're going to take a little break from our exposition of John's Gospel to look at Psalm 2. In fact, as you read through John's Gospel, you get the sneaking suspicion that it's scripted. In other words, what we find in the Old Testament concerning the coming of the Son of Man is played out on the pages of the Gospel of John and Matthew, Mark, and Luke as well. And in fact, the early church, the apostolic church, prayed and cited this particular psalm in terms of Herod and Pilate and the Gentiles and the Israelites' opposition to and enmity against our Lord Jesus Christ.

So it's a very fitting psalm in light of our studies in John's Gospel. So I'll read beginning in verse 1. Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, Let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us.

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath and distress them in His deep displeasure.

Installation of the King on Zion

Yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree. The Lord has said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you.

Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. Now therefore, be wise, O kings.

Be instructed, you judges 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 when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in him.

Amen. Well, let us pray.

Opening Prayer

Our gracious God and Father, we thank You for the Lord's Day, we thank You for the blessed privilege that is ours to gather together as the people of God to worship You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We pray now for the ministry of the Holy Spirit to guide our thoughts as we consider this psalm. We see it as a prophecy concerning the blessed Savior who had come to save His people from their sins. We ask that you would help us to find great encouragement and comfort at the fact that our Savior reigns and rules over all things for the good of His church.

And as well, God, may sinners today hear the argument of the psalmist to come, to kiss the Son, to bow before Him in faith. We ask that you would forgive us for all sin and all unrighteousness and transgression. Cleanse us in that precious fount that is open for sin and uncleanness. We thank you for your goodness.

We thank you for your graciousness. We thank you for your mercy and your majesty and your glory. And we pray that you would be honored now. And we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Introduction

Well, as we look at Psalms 1 and 2, many see these two Psalms together as sort of the introduction to the entirety of the Psalter. There's certainly some overlap, and there's certainly a lot of connection going on in these first two Psalms. But specifically in terms of Psalm 2, it's four stanzas three verses each. So we're going to look at it in that particular manner.

We'll look first at the rebellion against God in verses 1 to 3, secondly the appointment of the Son of God in verses 4 to 6, thirdly the revelation of the decree of God in verses 7 to 9, And then finally, the exhortation to kiss the Son of God in verses 10 to 12. So the psalmist does not leave us on our own. He not only gives us the truth, but he calls us to respond. He calls sinners to kiss the Son.

He calls saints to marvel in the rain and in the rule of that Son. And with reference to its identification here, we see in Acts 13 that Paul the Apostle, preaching in Pisidian Antioch, calls it the Second Psalm. And it is, in fact, a psalm that David composed, but it doesn't concern David. There might be some similarities in terms of his earthly reign, but it points forward to David's greater son, that Messiah who would come forth to save his people from their sins.

Rebellion Against God (vv. 1–3)

So let's look first at the rebellion against God. Not necessarily the most happy subject, but certainly a subject that we need to appreciate if the rest of the psalm makes sense. But

Identity and Nature of the Rebels

notice the identification of the rebels, and then we'll look at the nature of the rebellion. Look at the rebels according to verse 1. Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? And I don't think that why is rhetorical.

I think David, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is musing on the reality. Why? What kind of people do you think you are as finite creatures resisting the infinite God? The God who made you, the God who created, the God who sustains you, the God who gives you life and breath and sustenance and water.

Why do people do this? Why do they mount their opposition against the living and the true God? In fact, the prophet Jeremiah asks this question in chapter 10, verse 7. Who would not fear you, O king of the nations?

For this is your rightful due. For among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like you. Revelation 15.4, John the Apostle says something very similar to Jeremiah. Who shall not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name?

For you alone are holy, for all nations shall come and worship before you, for your judgments have been manifested. Now certainly as God's people we would imitate this. Why? Why do the nations rage?

Why do the people plot a vain thing? But it's not just the people, it's not just the nations collectively, but it's also the leadership, it's the political class, it's those who have charge over God's creation. Notice in verse 2, the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together. So the kings of the earth set themselves against God Most High.

That's the issue. The psalmist here is depicting the mutiny of man against the living and the true God. So the kings of the earth, they set themselves, and then notice that the rulers, they take counsel together. And as I've mentioned, the New Testament applies this to the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember in Luke's Gospel, in chapter 23, when Pilate finds out that Jesus belonged to Herod's sort of constituency, he sends Jesus there. And you see that Herod and Pilate become friends, men that were normally or formally not friends. Luke's gospel tells us in chapter 23 at verse 12, that very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other. So whatever the differences might be in terms of political class, or in terms of rule, or in terms of government, in terms of legislation over nations, this one thing we see in common with the political class of our day.

They remain in opposition to the living and the true God. In Acts 4, 27 and 28, for truly against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. Now the apostles recognized this wasn't rogue, it wasn't renegade, it wasn't maverick, it wasn't the case that in the providence of God these men just happen to oppose the Lord Jesus Christ. No, this happens according to the sovereign plan of God, the decree of God, the controlling factor in all of the universe.

Nevertheless, we see that application of Psalm 2 in the ministry of our Lord. So as we follow Him in teaching in the temple, as we follow Him resisted and opposed by the political slash religious leadership in terms of the Sanhedrin, we are to expect that. The Old Covenant, the Old Testament prophesied a man of sorrows and one acquainted with grief. In His first coming, it wouldn't be with absolute overwhelming power to subjugate the nations.

That was an earthly sort of expectation on the part of the Jews. It's an earthly expectation on the part of some in the Christian church today. But we look forward to that imposition of overwhelming force at the second coming of our Savior. So in that first coming, He had no form, no comeliness.

When we looked upon Him, there was nothing that drew our eye to Him. Again, He was a man of sorrows. He was acquainted with grief. But we know that that was the nature of His task.

We know that He was sent from heaven. for us men and for our salvation, to live for us, to die for us, and to rise again. And so when you read Psalm 2, if you're not a believer here this morning, Psalm 2 prophesies, it testifies, it gives evidence to what we find in the New Covenant. God is in the business of saving sinners. God is about saving sinners.

God is in Christ, according to Paul, reconciling the world to Himself. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Not all men without exception, but all men without distinction. As our brother prayed, as he cites Revelation 5 and 7, every tribe, every tongue, every people, every nation, So we ought not to get this idea that he came down for us men and for our salvation and it was just a handful, just a small group.

No, there is profuse grace to be had in our blessed God. Remember the apostle celebrates the riches of God's grace in Ephesians 1.7. He says, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. When we come to the end of this particular psalm, you'll see a benediction pronounced.

Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. If you're not a believer today, that's the exhortation, that's the encouragement to look unto the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Because you are part of these nations, you're part of these confederates that rage against God Most High. And notice that.

That's the target of their opposition. If the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing and the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together, if there's this kind of solidarity upon the earth, their enemy must be menacing. It must be something bad. It must be something terrible and horrific.

But it's not. It's just the opposite. It's against the Lord God Most High and His Christ. Man hates God.

So when we ask the simple question with the psalmist, why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? When we ask with Jeremiah and with John, who would not fear thee, O king of the nations? For indeed it is I do. We know why.

It's sin. It's depravity. It's wretchedness. It's rebellion.

It's transgression. It is the mutiny of man that is depicted here in verses 1 to 3. They rage against God. They rage against the Lord Christ.

They despise His rule. They despise His reign. And look at the particular nature of that rebellion. So the target is the Lord and his anointed or his Christ or his Messiah.

And then notice in verse three, let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us. This is a rejection of the law of God most high. As the people of God, we imitate David in Psalm 119, 97. Oh, how I love your law.

It is my meditation all the day. Or Jesus says in John 14, 15, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. We don't grimace against that. We don't hate that.

We hate the fact that we don't comply as we ought. But in terms of compliance, we see the utility. We see the blessedness. We see that this is what God made us to do.

Or John in 1 John 5, 3 says, for this is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. Compare the yoke of Christ in Matthew's gospel. Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden. Take my what?

My yoke upon you. Well, see, here's the fundamental problem with mankind. It's not economics, it's not ethnicity, it's not anything other than rebellion against God. You know, when you watch the news, you read the internet news, and you see all of these pundits talking about all the problems going on in the world today, you can follow it back to one filthy fountain.

Man is deceitful. His heart is wicked. He is a rebel and a transgressor against Yahweh and against his Christ. So notice this complaint, let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us.

The bonds and the cords reflect God's concern for his creatures, right? Why does he put these bonds and these cords upon the creature? to restrain them, to not harm them, to make sure they don't kill themselves. And yet man in sin wants to throw these things off. He rejects it.

He resists it. There's no desire for the law of God in the hearts of man. The nations rage and the people plot a vain thing because they don't want to pursue sexual fidelity. The nations rage and the people plot a vain thing and they're assisted by the kings and the rulers because they don't want to esteem life.

They resist God Most High at every step of the way. They engage in idolatry and in blasphemy. They don't care one bit about the Sabbath day. They're insubordinate in terms of his authority.

They're murderers. They're adulterers. They're liars. They're thieves and covetous men.

This is what marks the problem. So if somebody says, boy, the world is a mess, what do you think the problem is? Well, it's very simple. Psalm 1, Psalm 2, 1 to 3, man is in rebellion against the living and the true God.

And this whole idea that his bonds and his cords are somehow restrictive. Let me ask you, parents, do you tell your children to run around the house with scissors? Do you tell your children to lick their finger and put it in the socket? Do you tell your children, yeah, go ahead and shimmy over this fence and go play with that gorilla at the zoo?

No, of course not. You put bonds over them. You put cords on them. You want to restrict them.

If you're driving home from church today, to use an illustration from J. Adams, and you see a train off the track, wielding its way through the fields, a farmer's field, do you think that's good? Oh, no. The train needs to be on the track.

God's creatures need restraint, and God provides that, but man despises it. He rejects it. He rebels against it. And then

Rejection of God's Law and Rule

notice, not only is this a rejection of His law, but it's an attempt to escape from His rule. Let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us so that we can be free, so that we can be independent, so that we can be autonomous. A moment's reflection shows you that this has been tried in the history of the world. What do Adam and Eve do when they sin against God?

They run and try to hide in the trees that God made. How's that gonna work out? You think the God who made the trees isn't gonna see that you're hiding in the trees? Remember Achan, when he stole the loot, he coveted it, he stole it, he hid it underneath his tent.

Or what about David? David figures or reckons that he could cover adultery with a conspiracy to commit murder. The wise man Solomon says, he who hides his transgression shall not prosper. Whoever confesses and forsakes it will find mercy.

So you see, this confederacy of godless men that are resisting Yahweh and his Christ need Yahweh and his Christ in order to comply with God. And that's what we see as the scene shifts.

Appointment of the Son of God (vv. 4–6)

So we move from the rebellion against God to the appointment of the Son of God in verses four to six.

God's Derision and Wrath

Notice first his wrath. That holy revulsion against that which is ungodly, that which is contrary to his perfect nature. Notice what it says in verse 4. He who sits in the heavens shall laugh.

Now, that's kind of an interesting turn of phrase, and I'm reminded, I think Shane shared it with me, Pastor Albert N. Martin was sort of trying to illustrate this. I think it was in Revelation, but it certainly fits here. If you opened up your front door and you see a line of ants on your porch, and they're in rebellion against you, they're gonna take you down.

They're gonna hurt you. They're gonna remove, they're gonna liquidate you. Are you shaken by that? Do you care about that?

What's your response? You laugh at that. You hold them in derision. The ants don't have the wherewithal.

They don't have the ability. They don't have the potential. But I would suggest those ants could take you down sooner than the creature could take down the creator. See, this response of laughter, it is paralleled in Proverbs 1.

Wisdom laughs at the calamity of men who continue to reject and rebel against God Most High. I think Spurgeon speaks well to this. He says, mark the quiet dignity of the omnipotent one. So you've got this mutiny, you've got the nations raging, you've got the people plotting a vain thing, you've got this scene on earth, and then the scene shifts up into heaven.

What do you see? You don't see a nail-biting God, you don't see a God with knees knocking, you don't see a God calling for a special counsel because I've got to be able to deal with this confederacy. No. He laughs at them.

He shall hold them in derision. Spurgeon says, mark the quiet dignity of the omnipotent one and the contempt which he pours upon the princes and their raging people. He has not taken the trouble to rise up and do battle with them. He despises them.

He knows how absurd, how irrational, how futile are their attempts against him. He therefore laughs at them. That is the appropriate response from the omnipotent God to rebel sinners who think they're going to dethrone God, who want to transgress against Him, who want to despise Him and His Christ, who's stationed at His right hand. And then notice, we see that revelation of His wrath in verse 5.

Then He shall speak to them in His wrath and distress them in His deep displeasure. It's no accident that Romans begins with the revelation of God's wrath. In a book intended to reveal the righteousness of God in chapter 3, verse 21, it starts off with the bad news. It starts off with the wrath of God.

It starts off with the wrath of God revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. This is the righteous response of a holy God to rebel sinners. You know, we think about that. Everybody wants to celebrate the love of God, and well, we should.

John defines God that way. God is love. Not God has love, God can love, God does love once in a while, but God's essence is love. He is his perfections.

All that is in God is God. But we don't ever think about his wrath. We don't think about his righteousness. We don't think about his justice.

We don't think about the reality that sinners who transgress his law are setting themselves up for a fall. Look at Psalm 1.6, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. That's the reality of living in a moral universe. Your God is holy.

Your God is righteous. Your God expresses mercy and grace in and through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But if that mercy and grace is rejected, if it is despised, if it is resisted, there is wrath. There is punishment.

There is hell. We like to celebrate and preach about heaven, but we don't typically warn about hell. But hell is the contrast to heaven. You continually despise the Son of God.

You continually resist the Son of God. You continue to join the Confederate rebels. You will be the one who suffers. That's the intention of the psalmist here, is to underscore that.

But then notice what we find in terms of the appointment of the son of God in verse six. Yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion. Think about the logic. The rebel sinners don't want Yahweh and they don't want his son.

So what's Yahweh's response? I'm gonna set my son on my holy hill. I'm gonna put my son in the position of authority and power and universal reign. I'm gonna station my son over them.

What's the implication? God knows us better than we know ourselves. We want no God, we want no Christ, so what does God do in terms of response? I'm going to set Christ over them.

It's like in 2 Timothy chapter 4. Preach the word. Convince, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. Why, Paul?

Because the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. Wouldn't it be wise if they don't want sound doctrine to then entertain them? If they don't want sound doctrine, have therapy sessions? If they don't want sound doctrine, just kind of encourage each other?

No, they don't know what they need, and we don't go based upon what they want. We go based upon God's holy will. So preach the word. Even though they don't want sound doctrine, what they desperately need is sound doctrine.

Even though they don't want Yahweh's Christ, that is what they desperately need. So even in this, we see the response of God. Yes, wrath. Yes, justice.

Yes, righteousness. But mercy. grace, loving kindness to needy sinners. The psalm that begins with this mutiny of man ends with the pronouncement of benediction upon all those who trust in him. So we might survey that David has an evangelistic thrust in view.

Yes, he's going to tell us what's wrong with the world. Yes, he's going to tell us the response of Yahweh to that world. And yes, that God has wrath, but that God is full of mercy and grace. The fact that he installs his son on that holy hill of Zion underscores that reality.

Yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion. Now, Zion there is not exclusive of everything else. I think J.A. Alexander describes it well.

Distinguished from all other hills and other places as the seat of the theocracy, the royal residence, the capital city of the Lord and of his Christ. Oftentimes in the New Testament, church is referred to as Zion. We see that in Hebrews chapter 12. You've not come to Sinai, but you've come to Zion.

And so what it underscores is the authority of King Jesus Christ at the right hand of God most high to execute not only the wrath of God upon these rebel sinners, but to execute mercy and kindness and grace upon those who by grace look to him in faith. Blessed are all those who put their trust in him.

Revelation of the Decree (vv. 7–9)

Now that brings us to the third scene, the third stanza. Notice it's the revelation of the decree of God. This is the third speaker that we have here. Notice we've got David speaking to us in verses 1 to 4.

We have Yahweh speaking to us in verse 6. But intriguingly, in verses 7 to 9, we have a third speaker. We have another one. We know who that is, and we'll see that in more detail.

But again, Alexander says, as the first stanza, 1 to 3, closes with the words of the insurgents, and the second, verses 4 to 6, with the words of the Lord, so the third, verses 7 to 9, contains the language of the king described in the preceding verse, announcing with his own lips the law or constitution of his kingdom. So God's response is to laugh, God's response is to hold them in derision, God's response is the revelation of His wrath, but then God's response is the installation of His Son. I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion. That King, set by the Father on the holy hill of Zion, is now going to come and talk to us.

And He indicates for us, or He describes divine dialogue. If you want the technical terminology to this, it's called prosopological exegesis. Prosopon is the Greek word for person. And you find this in the Old Testament.

You find the Father and the Son speaking to one another. You find revelation from the Son about the Father, and it's given to us. We're the standers by that sort of get to peer in and see behind the scenes. So God the Father announces the installation of this king, and now this king steps up in verses 7 to 9 to reveal to us the decree behind it.

Why is this happening? Is this haphazard? Is this plan B? Is this plan C?

Is this just the best possible opportunity at this time? No, everything that is has been determined by our sovereign God. Listen to Spurgeon concerning this. He says, So verses 7 to 9 is the Son revealing to us this decree.

Notice, I will declare the decree. He's letting us in. What happened? Between the Father and the Son that brings light to bear upon this mutiny of man and their rescue by this King.

I will declare the decree. The Lord has said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you.

The Covenant of Redemption

I think this is a reference to what we call the covenant of redemption. The reality that the father gave to the son, a great multitude that no man can number. The son was then obligated to take on our humanity for whatever is not assumed is not redeemed. He lives for us, he dies for us, and he's raised again for us.

Christ is not first and foremost an example. Christ is a substitutionary curse-bearer. Christ is an accomplisher of righteousness. Christ does everything we stand in need of.

And so Christ, as I said, pulls back the veil and gives us this revelation concerning what the Father and the Son intend about the salvation of His elect. and say, notice what we have, the relation of the son to the father, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Turn back to the book of 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel chapter 7, the Davidic covenant promises a son of God who will build the house of God. Second Samuel chapter seven, you remember the scene. David is sitting in his palace.

David is musing on his victories. David is rejoicing in his wealth. And then he says, I dwell in a house, a palace made with cedar and God lives in a tent. So David wants to build a house for the Lord.

And of course he's discouraged from doing that. He's a man of war. He's got to set the stage for that man of peace, Solomon, to come in and to build that house for God. And that's what God tells him.

I'm not going to have you build a house for me, David, but rather I'm going to build a house out of you. A dynasty, a succession of kings, and that king that comes from your loins is then going to build me a house. So notice in 2 Samuel 7, 7 at verse 12, when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seat after you, who will come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

I will be his father and he shall be my son. Quoted in the book of Hebrews at chapter one, verse five, applied to the son to show his superiority, his super dignity, his excellence over those old covenant norms. But here specifically, we have this son of God that will build a house for God. It should remind us, if you've been with us any time, you've heard me make this connection, Matthew chapter 16.

Who do men say that I, the son of man, am? Of course, the disciples give various answers about the things that were in vogue about this Jesus of Nazareth. And then Jesus presses them, the disciple group, but who do you say that I am? What does Simon Peter say?

Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And then Jesus says, well, good for you, you've stumbled on this truth. No, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood did not reveal this, but my Father who is in heaven. And then he says, you are Peter, and on this rock I will do what?

I will build my church. We have a Son of God tasked with building the house of God realized in David's greater Son. So when we go back to Psalm 2, we see lots of biblical data sort of being pulled together in this wonderful depiction of the Messiah's reign. So I will declare the decree.

The Lord has said to me, you are my son, today I have begotten you. As we've moved through John's gospel, we know that the only begotten Son is the Son not by creation, not by adoption, but by nature. He's only begotten. No one has seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father has declared Him.

We see this language applied to Jesus, the only begotten. We see in the creedal history of the church, this is how you distinguish the persons of the Godhead. The Father is unbegotten, the Son is begotten, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. This maintains the distinction between the three persons of our triune God.

But with reference to this particular text, you are my son, today I have begotten you, Paul quotes this in Acts 13.33 and applies it to the resurrection. So which is it? Resurrection or the eternal generation of the Son? I think it's both.

You know how Matthew Henry does that? You'll read Matthew Henry, you want answers, and he'll give you the two or three options, and then he doesn't tell you which one he takes. Or sometimes you say, it's both. That's what I'm doing right now.

I think it's both. And I think the warrant for that is Romans 1, 3 to 4. Concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. When Paul applies Psalm 27 to the resurrection of Jesus in Acts 13, Paul explains in Romans 1 how he does that. the only begotten Son of God, that one who is God from God, light from light, true God from true God, took on our humanity.

And when he died in our stead, when he died in our place, when he was placed in that tomb, he rose again from the dead, and that declared that he was in fact the Son of God with power. So back to Psalm 2,

The Father's Pleasure in the Son

notice we not only have the relation of the Son to the Father, but notice the pleasure of the Father in the Son. I said it was a dialogue. Jesus is rehearsing the decree. Jesus is telling us what happened in terms of the Father and the Son.

Notice, ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. I think it's a legitimate application preaching say through Ephesians 1 or Philippians 2 to see how the Father responds to the ministry of our Lord Jesus and then exhort the people of God to do likewise. In other words, the father is well-pleased with the son at the very baptism of Christ. This is my beloved son in whom I am well-pleased.

And then on the Mount of Transfiguration, same thing is repeated, and then hear him. Well, the father was so pleased with the work of the son that he exalted him to the right hand of the father. He gave him a name that is above every name. He gave him universal sovereignty and empire.

He gave him that dominion. He gave him absolute unfettered authority. And that is precisely what is highlighted here. So ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession.

It's one of the parts of the covenant of redemption. The father gives a miserable lot of sinners to the son, the son covenants to go and rescue them, and as a reward, as a blessing, as the signal of exaltation, what does the father do? He raises him from the dead, he stations him at his right hand, and he gives him that absolute authority as the messianic king. It is a wonderful thing.

Our brother read one of the servant songs at the outset of worship in Isaiah 42. There's another one in Isaiah 49, verse six. It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be my salvation in the ends of the earth.

What's the father saying? I'm gonna give you this band of sinners, but it's not gonna be confined to the lost tribes of Jacob. You're so glorious, so awesome, so wondrous, so majestic, and so blessed. I'm gonna give you as a light to the Gentiles as well.

Isaiah 53, another servant song, verses 10 and 11. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. The father bruises the son. He was delivered up by lawless hands according to the predetermined plan of God Almighty.

So Isaiah can say, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. So you not only have this unique relation between the son to the father, but you have the father's delight in the son. You have the father's approval of the son, the father's approbation of the son, the fact that he is well pleased in the son, to the point where he says, ask of me and I will give you the nations.

Ask of me and I will give you the uttermost parts of the earth. This is why in Revelation 5 and 7, we get men from every tribe, every tongue, every people, every nation. This is why in Matthew 28, Jesus says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and do what?

Make disciples of the tribes of Jacob, No, make disciples of all the nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And then teach them to observe all that I have commanded you, and know that I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So Jesus does that because the Father had given him the nations.

The Father had given him the earth. You see that promise to Abraham, Genesis 12, Genesis 13, Genesis 15, Genesis 17, Genesis 22. You see it moved on to Isaac and to Jacob. What does it concern?

It concerns the seed of Abraham who would bring blessing to the earth, who would bring blessing to the world. Genesis 13 specifically, Abraham is told to go out, look north, look south, look east, look west. What's he seeing? Is he just seeing the confines of Israel?

Is he just seeing that ancient piece of dirt? No, according to Paul in Romans 4.13, he received the promise that he would inherit the world. It is the worldwide mission of the church that we are engaged in. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.

This isn't confined to the New Testament. We see the Old Testament tap roots. We see it all the way back to Genesis chapter 9 and the Oracle of Noah. that Jephthah would find comfort in the tents of Shem. Yeah, there would be that Gentile inclusion in the covenant of grace.

You see that in Ephesians 2 and 3. We've been rehearsing that in our evening services. So back to verse 8, ask of me, I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. Now brethren, in terms of our tasks, our responsibility, our duty, we're just supposed to go.

We're not supposed to question, oh, but Lord, the nations don't seem pleasant. The nations don't seem like they're receptive. The nations don't seem to want that. Again, it's not what the nations want, it's what God says they need.

And so the church today simply needs to be obedient relative to the Great Commission. We need to make much of preaching Christ and Him crucified. We need to make much of teaching the people of God what they're supposed to do as His people. We're to encourage that shining as lights in a crooked and perverse generation, and encourage that holding forth the word of truth.

We have the absolute authority of Jesus Christ calling upon the church not to entertain men, not to be a social place, not to simply be another club in a city, but to be that body in which evangelism and calling sinners to repentance and faith is one of the primary emphases. And of course, the worship of God on the part of the people of God is another primary emphasis. There's no at-odds here. It's not an either-or.

We get to do both-and. preach justification by faith to needy sinners, and preach sanctification by the Spirit to the people of God who have been conquered, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you even to the end of the age." So when we ask the question, what's our job as the church? Be faithful. What's our job as the church in light of government encroachment? Well, it's still Be faithful.

What's our job in light of the fact that the church doesn't always want to do what the church is supposed to do? Be faithful. Steadfast. Persevering.

Fighting. Going forward. And fighting, I'm not suggesting C4 vests in the local bank so we can send everybody to the other side. That's not what I mean.

Spiritual fighting. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They're not C4 vests. They're not AR-15s.

But they are mighty for the pulling down of strongholds and taking every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ our Lord. So when it comes to the church's mission, the Lord Christ has said to go and make disciples of all the nations. Well, why would he say that? Because of this decree, ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession.

But then notice, we see that wrath element again in verse 9. You shall break them with a rod of iron, you shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. Turn back to Exodus chapter 34. Exodus chapter 34.

We have that wonderful scene where Moses asks to see the glory of God Almighty. He does that in chapter 33 at verse 18. He said, please show me your glory. Then God says in verse 19, I will make all my goodness pass before you.

Interesting. Wherein lies the glory of God? Certainly it's in his wrath, it's in his justice, it's in his righteousness, but It's in His goodness, and He says that. But He said, you cannot see my face, for no man shall see me and live.

And the Lord said, here is a place by me and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be while my glory passes by that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and I will cover you with my hand while I pass by. Then I will take away my hand and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. So then we skip to the revelation of God's glory, look at 34.5.

Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood within there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed. Again, this is a demonstration, a manifestation, a revelation of His glory slash goodness. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and truth.

Just so you know, this is the Old Testament. This is the book of Exodus. Lots of people think that the Old Testament is only filled with blood and wrath and fury and destruction. Look at the grace, look at the mercy, look at the patience, look at the goodness of God in terms of the revelation of His glory.

So backing up just one more time, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving. Notice the three terms here, iniquity and transgression and sin. That is beautiful. He doesn't come to save us from some of our sins, but he will save his people from their sins.

And then notice, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but then by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation. I say this simply to say that God is not a pushover. There is grace. There is mercy.

There is the installation of the Son of God at the right hand of God, wherein sinners can come for forgiveness and a righteousness that will avail with God. But again, God's not a pushover. The stability of the moral order depends on God's justice and righteousness. When you get to the book of Revelation, what happens in that New Jerusalem?

The people of God are there. The people of God are basking in the glory of God. The people of God are there. They don't need sun and moon because the Lamb is its light.

But who's outside? It's the cowardly, it's the idolater, it's the murderer, it's the abominable. They're in the lake that burns with fire. Why?

Because a truly righteous place is only consummate when all the wicked is cast out. Never forget the moral government of our sovereign God. There is grace, there is mercy, but the son has an iron rod by which he shatters rebel nations. I think that should serve to encourage the people of God.

We don't rejoice necessarily in the demise of our fellows, but we do rejoice in the execution of God's justice. We rejoice in the execution of God's righteousness. Remember, 2 Thessalonians 1, the apostle says, it's right with God to afflict those who have afflicted you. In other words, the righteous justice of God Most High is as wonderful to embrace as is His love and His mercy and His long-suffering and His forgiveness.

But in Psalm 2.9, we see that the response to the Confederate nations is the judgment of our blessed Savior. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. That phrase comes out in Revelation 2, Revelation 12, and then again in Revelation chapter 19.

Told you before, Revelation isn't a book of dark foreboding and sorrow and misery. It's about Christ as King. So it seems legitimate and appropriate for the Apostle John to reach back to Psalm 2-7 and to apply that to the reigning Christ at the right hand of the Father. There are confederate nations in the book of Revelation, Revelation 13, the beast from the sea, the beast from the land.

What's gonna happen to them? Are they gonna overtake the world? No, the son of God, who's got the iron rod of God, is going to smash them and dash them into pieces. Davis, I think, summarizes this decree well.

He says, the appointed king, verse seven, with worldwide sway, verse eight, to be established an overwhelming force, verse nine. That is the decree that is controlling history. And we may not see that, we may not see Confederate nations dashed down by the power of Jesus Christ, but we have the promise of God Most High that it's going to obtain. We have the promise of God Most High that it is going to happen.

In the early church, in the New Testament era, what was the most quoted or alluded to Psalm? It was Psalm 110.1. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. Now brethren, we cite that and we reflect upon that basic truth that, you know, the early church was sort of animated by that promise that Yahweh said to my Lord Jesus, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.

What was going on in the Roman Empire? Oh, it was just righteous and everybody loved each other and everybody cared for one another and they tended to one another. It was bloody. It was horrific.

We bemoan abortion today. It was practiced in the Roman Empire. You take a girl baby out and throw it on the trash heap. If the dog's got it, the dog's got it.

If a guy came and took her away to make her a sex slave, the guy took her away and made her a sex slave. There was an abandonment of the Sixth Commandment. There was an abandonment of the Seventh Commandment. You think our age is the first age that has seen this kind of promiscuity?

That has seen this kind of perversion? That has seen this kind of lawlessness and wickedness? No! They saw it in the early Roman Empire.

They saw it, the believers. And nevertheless, Yahweh said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. See, brethren, we've lost something in terms of the kingly office of our blessed Savior. We need him as a prophet to speak to us because we're ignorant.

We need him as a priest to die for us because we're wretched. But we need him as a king to rule over us, to defend us, to guide us, to protect us, and not to lose sight of the fact that he has all authority in heaven and on earth. And He will dash those nations down like a potter's vessel.

Exhortation to Kiss the Son (vv. 10–12)

And then that brings us to the exhortation to kiss the Son of God. I love the writers of the Bible. They don't just throw out this doctrine and say, okay, let's go home now or let's go have our coffee. There's buns up in the fellowship hall.

Let's enjoy. That's not what they do. They get practical. that they get real, that they bring it to bear upon the hearer. And notice that David is just like that.

He'd be a great preacher in the apostolic church. He does the same thing. He highlights the depravity of man, he highlights the sovereignty of God, and then he calls upon depraved man to come to that God through faith in Jesus Christ. So notice what David says.

He addresses the audience in verse 10. We started off with the nations raging and the people plotting a vain thing, the kings of the earth setting themselves, and the rulers taking counsel together. So who does David address? He doesn't shun the political.

He doesn't say, well, I can't make this application because if I do, then I'll be reprimanded. No, he addresses those kings that rule in the nations around him. Notice, now, therefore, be wise, O kings. What does that imply?

It implies that they're not wise. It implies that they're filled with folly. It implies that to resist God and his Christ is not some sign of academic brilliance. It's not some sign of autonomous excellence.

It's a sign that you're dumb. It's a sign that you're foolish. It's a sign that you've got bigger problems than you ever even imagined. You need to be wise.

This could be applicable even to non-kings, non-rulers, could be applicable to children, could be applicable to young people, could be applicable to all of us. Be wise. Why would you live the way that you're living when you know that its end is death and destruction? Why would you live the way that you're living when you know the end is the wrath and fury of God?

Westminster Shorter Catechism asks the question, what does every sin deserve? Every sin deserves God's wrath and curse, both in this life and that which is to come. That's as clear as clear can be. And if you know that and you understand that, and yet you live in light of, you know, I just want to do my own thing.

I don't want Jesus. I don't want religion. I'm only here because my parents make me. I'm only here because my wife or my husband makes me.

I'm only here because that's what I'm sort of supposed to do culturally. I'm only here for those reasons. You need to be wise. And I think what's implied here is repentance.

Stop the foolish thinking where you stand opposed to Yahweh and to Christ. You need to listen to King David. You need to listen to the Apostle Paul. You need to listen to those people who, by grace, have tasted and seen that the Lord is good.

When you consider King David as he issues, as it were, this evangelistic appeal, understand that he wasn't a guy that was raised in Sunday school and he was blemish-free. He wasn't raised in such a way that he had no knowledge of sin, that he was just this spotless, pure fellow that, in the grand scheme of things, yes, it is wise to side with God. Later in Psalm 32, he'll rejoice in the fact of being one to whom the Lord has not imputed iniquity. He knew sin, but he also knew grace.

Newton said, I'm a great sinner, but I have a great Savior. I don't think Newton was original in that thought. I think David had that thought. I think David codifies that thought.

So when he tells you to be wise, he knows what he's talking about. When your parents tell you to be wise, they know what they're talking about. When your converted spouse tells you, unconverted spouse, to be wise, they know what they're talking about. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace.

By grace we have tasted and seen that He is good. By grace He has taught our hearts to fear. So David says to be wise, get rid of the folly, turn your back on that godless pseudo-wisdom. So he says, now therefore be wise, O kings, be instructed, you judges of the earth.

And then he gives this exhortation, verse 11, serve Yahweh with fear and rejoice with trembling. Curious phrase, isn't it? The serve, again, I think has to do with repentance. We're going to see faith, justification by faith, specifically highlighted in verse 12.

What's the other side of the coin of faith? It's repentance. We believingly repent and we repentingly believe. So he's highlighting those evangelical graces that are given by God.

But he says specifically, now, therefore be wise, O kings, be instructed, you judges of the earth, serve Yahweh with fear and rejoice with trembling. So don't oppose Yahweh. Don't hold your fist up against Him and His Christ. Don't say, no, God.

I love the gloss that Edwards gives on Psalm 14. The fool says in his heart, no, God. We just take that as your garden variety expression of atheism. Edwards says, no.

He says in his heart, no, God. He wants to cast off the bonds. He wants to cast off the cords. He wants to try to hide.

He has no concern for the law of God. He has no concern for the providence of God. He wants to run from Him. But with reference to this, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.

Those two things are consistent in the people of God, aren't they? When we come into the presence of God, there ought to be reverence. There ought to be fear. We're not dealing with a fellow.

We're not dealing with a creature. We're not dealing with a better version of ourselves. We're dealing with the Most High. There ought to be fear.

There ought to be reverence. There ought to be that respect paid to God Most High. And that is perfectly consistent with joy. In Matthew 28, the women run from the empty tomb with fear and joy.

In Acts 9.31, we get a summary statement concerning the churches in a particular region. I think it was Judea. They continued in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. See, if we don't have that fear, we're treating God incorrectly.

If we don't have that joy, we're not saved. Because if we come before this God, we're happy. Right? I hope there's an expectation for this afternoon when we meet our brethren from Surrey, and we have preaching, and we have fellowship, and we're in the presence of God.

We're in the household of God. We're celebrating the pillar and ground of the truth. There's fear, there's joy, there's happiness. Spurgeon says there must ever be a holy fear mixed with the Christian's joy.

This is a sacred compound yielding a sweet smell, and we must see to it that we burn no other upon the altar. Fear without joy is torment, and joy without holy fear would be presumption. And he's right, bang on, absolutely spot on. And I'm gonna lean on Spurgeon for verse 12.

I don't think you can do better in terms of verse 12. There is a command, there is an argument, and there is a benediction.

The Command, Argument, and Benediction

Notice the command, kiss the son lest he be angry. Well, kiss the son, that's the command. What's that suggest? Well, there's passages in the Old Testament that sort of bring together this kissing with worship.

You see it with reference to idols. I've got 7,000 knees who haven't bowed to Baal or kissed him, 1 Kings chapter 19. You see a similar use of people kissing their idols in Hosea chapter 13. You see it as a sign of respect and subjugation in 1 Samuel chapter 10 and verse 1.

So you've got this, you know, serve the Lord with fear, this be wise, this repentance, but you've got this submission, this faith, this justification by faith alone. Kiss the son. It doesn't mean you take a plane up into heaven and you plant a big one on his cheek. It means to bow to him, to confess him as Lord.

It is to see him as altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. It is to see him as the righteous servant of God most high who saves his people from their sins. So that's the command, kiss the son. Notice the argument again.

He always does this. This concept of wrath, this concept of judgment. We need to make sure gospel preaching today is not devoid of that reality. We don't want to terrify people into the kingdom of God.

As long as they go into the kingdom of God, I'm not sure they care how they got there. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of life. As Bronkel says, there's a lot of different ways that sinners come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some are wooed by love.

Some are terrified by the concept of the wrath of God. So do we not go angling with that bait from time to time? Of course we do! especially with proud, arrogant men that are in a confederacy against God. You need to understand that this current path, in the language of Solomon, leads to destruction.

The way of the transgressor is hard. The way of the treacherous is hard. The way of the unfaithful is hard. It doesn't benefit you to not be wise.

It doesn't benefit you to be foolish. So notice, the command, kiss the son, the argument, lest he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. And then the benediction, blessed are all those who put their trust in him. Turn to Romans 10, we're just about done.

Romans chapter 10, where you see a similar concept. Blessed are all those who put their trust in him. Look at chapter 10 in Romans at verse 9, that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

For the scripture says, whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. Isn't that what David says to the rebel kings and the rebel judges surrounding Israel in that context? Blessed are all those who put their trust in him. Brethren, it's been well said that our people die well.

Christians die well. That doesn't mean they don't get cancer, it doesn't mean they don't get bullets in the head, it doesn't mean they don't get hit by Mack trucks, but it does mean they die well in terms of anticipation, in terms of understanding what their future is. And whatever life they may have lived, with all the hardship, with all the woe, with all the affliction, with all the difficulty, you ask that dying saint in that 11th hour, do you ever regret having come to the Lord Jesus Christ? You know what you're not going to hear?

Oh yeah, what a mess it made of my life, what ruination it brought to me, what horrible things I suffered. No, the people of God die well because their Savior died for them and was raised again and is going to receive them unto himself when they pass from physical death into life. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. For the scripture says, whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.

Goes on, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, for the believer, I hope you're encouraged at a survey of the righteous reign of the Son of God.

He's got absolute authority. He has absolute control. He knows what the rebellion of man is. He knows what the nation's raging is.

He knows the plotting of vain things. He knows that he is the target of their opposition. He's got this. He's in control.

He's over all things to the church, according to Ephesians 1.23. So for the people of God, marvel afresh at the divine Son. The close sort of connection between Father and Son here underscore the divinity of the Savior. The eternal generation of the Son indicates the divinity of the Savior.

Yes, He was man, but He was divine. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So Christian, be encouraged.

Christian, march faithfully unto Zion. March faithfully and perseveringly in spite of the confederacy of man that opposes our God. He's got it, he's in control, and he is effecting his purposes in this world. And for the non-Christian, listen once again to David kiss the sun. kiss him, believe on him, look to him in faith.

Whoever calls on the name of the Lord, Romans 10, shall be saved. Be wise, be instructed, and come to the blessed Savior.

Closing Prayer

Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the clarity of Psalm 2. We see it fleshed out in the pages of the New Testament.

We see it in the Gospel of John. We see this mutiny. We see this rebellion. We see this rejection.

But we see the purpose of God being fulfilled. We see the other sheep, not of this foal. We see the supremacy of our blessed Savior. God, may these things go forth today all over the earth, and may your Spirit attend, and may you save, and may you sanctify and strengthen.

And we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, you can turn in your hymn books to 568. We'll stand and sing the doxology of praise to our triune God. ♪ Dearly loved ♪ ♪ Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts ♪ ♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Amen. Lord, go with us now. Bless us. Cause your face to shine upon us and keep us by your grace and for your glory.

And we pray this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Well, please be seated for a brief time of meditation.

Scripture References

• Genesis 9; 12; 13; 15; 17; 22
• Exodus 33:18; 34:5
• 1 Samuel 10:1
• 2 Samuel 7:12
• 1 Kings 19
• Psalm 1:6; 2; 14:1; 32; 110:1; 119:97
• Proverbs 1
• Isaiah 42; 49:6; 53:10-11
• Jeremiah 10:7
• Hosea 13
• Matthew 11:28; 16; 28:18-20
• Luke 23:12
• John 14:15
• Acts 4:27-28; 9:31; 13:33
• Romans 1:3-4; 1:18; 3:21; 4:13; 10:9-13
• Ephesians 1:7; 1:23; 2; 3
• 2 Timothy 4:2
• Hebrews 1:5; 12
• 1 John 5:3
• 2 Thessalonians 1
• Revelation 2; 5; 7; 12; 13; 15:4; 19