Psalm 2 - God's Choice for Messiah and King

0:04 Welcome to Through the Bible with Pastor Paul from Life Bible Ministry. Journey from Genesis to Revelation as Pastor Paul guides you through every verse, leading you to a deeper understanding of the scriptures that will strengthen your faith and transform your life. Now, let's get started with today's teaching as we open God's Word together.

0:28 Psalm chapter 2 as we move on. Psalm 2 is a royal, or what we call a messianic psalm. And it does not identify the author, but Acts chapter 4 attributes it to David. The psalm begins with a question that goes like this in verse 1. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? And you could tell when you read this that the psalmist is genuinely mystified by this question. I mean, stop and think about it for a minute. What reason do the nations have to rage against God? What what what what is he done that they should be raging against him? Here's another question.

1:09 What benefit is there to raging against God and Yet, you know, they do it anyway, and they've been doing it since the beginning of time. I don't know if you Like I said, I haven't I don't really watch the news all that much anymore, but I actually heard about And maybe you did two comments that were made publicly by the Filipino president very derogatory comments about God.

1:34 He called God stupid. This is the president of the Philippines, and he challenged the people of his country that he would resign if someone could prove to him that God existed. The way I found out about this, I actually got onto the news and corroborated it, but the reason I found out is someone from the Philippines wrote me and was really wounded in their heart. this believer wrote and was really hurt by the statements that their president made. But this is the kind of stuff that's been going on for a long time. It will continue, I assume, until Jesus returns.

2:15 Why do the nations rage? By the way, the nations, that just typically refers to the ungodly nations. But it's also going to talk about the leadership of those nations here as well. In fact, it specifically does in verse two. Look at that verse in your Bible. It says, the kings of the earth set themselves and their rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. Isn't that an interesting statement for the Psalms? By the way, this is why we call this a messianic Psalm.

2:48 And we'll talk about why we know it's messianic. But it refers right here to the Lord's anointed. And you might be interested to know that the word anointed in the Hebrew is mashiach, which is messiah. So the kings of the earth take their stand against the Lord and against his messiah. And what do they say? Saying verse 3. Let us burst or your Bible may say break their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. The language here is that of wanting to be free from any constraints of belief in God or the moral restrictions that come with it. By the way, when you're talking to somebody who doesn't want to believe in God and you can kind of tell that when you're talking to them. They don't want

3:39 to believe in God and that's why they're arguing with you. They'll talk about all the reasons why they don't want to believe in God except the real one. The real reason is because they do not want to be constrained morally by the righteous requirements of a God who might possibly hold them accountable for their actions. And so this is that language, let us burst their bonds or let us break their bonds, let us break out from any kind of a a God -centered thought process or looking at his word as if it's something we need to follow, that sort of thing. Do you remember the lyrics to Imagine by John Lennon?

4:22 This is a popular song, incredibly popular song, still sung today. I hear it sung a lot. One of the lyrics says, imagine there's no heaven. It's easy if you try. No hell below us. Above us only sky and then this line imagine all the people living for today And you know, it's the refrain of the world live for today for tomorrow you die Tomorrow you're dead and there's no remembrance.

4:53 There's no consciousness. There's nothingness So you might as well live for today the Bible tells us to live for eternity And to put our hope in the promises of God, but of course the refrain that we hear in songs like that and so many other say, let's break free from this antiquated idea that there's this God, you know, that we somehow are accountable to. Let's break free from that. Let's just imagine for a moment that we're free. Well, you know, it's been said that when a man is free to believe, you know, to not believe in God, he then is open to believe anything.

5:32 He literally becomes open subject to believe anything. And we're seeing that today. So what's God's response to man's rebellion here, wanting to be free from God? Verse 4 says, He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. Now, when it says God laughs, this is not an arrogant, boastful, prideful kind of laugh. It's God's response to their confused ideas about how far their power stems. And it goes on saying in verse 5, then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, as for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. Now this is great. This is where it really gets good. Because what God is saying here is he's saying just about the time man thinks he's in charge and he says, we're

6:26 going to break free. Which, by the way, is a fallacy anyway because there is no freedom apart from God. God comes along and he says actually I've chosen my own king and In fact, I've installed him to rule over all mankind And I want you to notice where his throne is Did you catch that it's on Zion my holy hill and this is a clear reference to Jerusalem What's interesting about that statement is this is a prophecy which speaks of the return of Christ and the establishing of his throne in Jerusalem on Zion where he will rule this earth for a period of 1 ,000 years which we call the millennium or the millennial kingdom. It'll be a time of unprecedented justice and righteousness and peace on the earth because

7:21 Jesus will be ruling and reigning there. Now next, in verse 7, The voice or the person speaking in the psalm changes and this is actually the anointed one now speaking and He's speaking the words of God the father now listen to this verse 7 He says I will tell of the decree The Lord said to me you are my son Today I have begotten you now remember. This is Jesus speaking about God the Father and he's quoting God the Father and the decree that God the Father gave him.

7:59 What was the decree? The decree was, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Now what's interesting about that statement? Well this is an important reminder for us that Jesus, listen and this is very important you guys, Jesus became the begotten of the Father at a point in history, at a point in time. It says, today I have begotten you. Right? We know that Jesus wasn't always the begotten of the Father. The Bible tells us in the book of John chapter 1 that in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. He was with God in the beginning and so forth. And it goes on to then say in John chapter 1, the Word became flesh, right? Became flesh and dwelt among us. What happened when he became flesh? He was

8:47 begotten of the Father. There was a point in time where the Holy Spirit moved upon Mary. She conceived through the Holy Spirit. And at that time, Jesus was the begotten of the Father. But he wasn't always that way from the beginning. And this is an important reminder. So these are things that we look at and we understand. Here's the son, even before it took place, saying, you are my son, quoting the Father. Today I have begotten you. The son goes on to quote the Father in verse 8. This is beautiful. He says ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession you'll remember Satan tried to offer him that same thing when Jesus was on the earth it says he took him

9:30 to the highest point on the earth and he could see all the glorious splendor of the kingdoms of the earth and Satan said I'll give these to you for I am able to give them to whoever I wish because Satan had temporary rulership as the prince of the power of the air or the prince of this world And of course, Jesus turned him down because these things had already been offered him. These things had already been offered by the Father. The Father said, just ask, and I will make the nations your inheritance. Verse 9. Look at this. This is great. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Now, if this sounds like familiar language to you, that's because it is.

10:13 And what's interesting about this is not only do we read this statement elsewhere in the Bible, it's actually, get this, quoted by Jesus in the book of Revelation, where he attributes it to something the Father told him. It's in his letter to the church of Thyatira. And let me put it on the screen for you. It goes like this. From Revelation chapter 2, to him who overcomes, does my will to the end I will give authority over the nations look at he will rule them with an iron scepter he will dash them to pieces like pottery just as I have received authority from my father right here's what what's Jesus saying He says to the one who overcomes, you're going to rule with me just as I was given authority

11:02 to rule by my father. By this quotation, he's pointing back to Psalm chapter 2 and saying, that's about me. That's how we know this is a Messianic Psalm. Jesus confirmed it for us in the book of Revelation. We could probably see enough confirmation just by looking at it anyway, but Jesus, it's a slam dunk. When he quotes, Psalm chapter 2, and what the Father said to him, and says, This I will give also to those who overcome in my name. Now, in the last few verses of the chapter, the speaker changes once again. Now we go from the anointed one to a different voice, and this is the voice of counsel that comes from the Lord that issues forth in a warning.

11:52 Listen to this, verse 10. Now therefore, O Kings, be wise, be warned, O rulers of the earth. I wonder if the President of the Philippines is listening. Be warned, he says, be wise. And that's a word to all world rulers. Verse 11, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. He's talking there about an attitude of respect. and reverence and awe, not the kind of ridiculous comments that come out of many world leaders' mouths. Verse 12 goes on to say, kiss the son.

12:36 And that speaks of a kiss of submission, right? Kiss the son lest he be angry. That's why, by the way, what Judas did was such a horrible thing when he kissed him in the garden, kissed Jesus in the garden. feigning that idea of just that love and submission and stuff, and it was actually betrayal. But this is telling you and I, kiss the son lest he be angry, and you perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled. And then this wonderful promise to end the chapter, blessed are all who take refuge in him. And here, what we're reading in these last few verses is an exhortation to kings and presidents. and prime ministers and leaders of all kind, judges, to fear the Lord, humble yourself, and fear God,

13:34 and again, submit to Him, that kiss of submission. You know, it's as amazing as it sounds, sometimes we forget, sometimes we forget that believing God and trusting in God is the most sane and reasonable thing a person can do and It's actually unreasonable to believe otherwise And by the same token, you know To to for those who go so far as to defy God and even speak boastfully against him, you know, like Some world leaders do is about the most foolish thing a person can do. I mean God's listening And I want you to see again, the Psalm ends with this simple, wonderful promise. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.

14:29 And you know, this is exactly what we're doing when we believe the gospel. When we accept what Jesus did for us on the cross, we are taking refuge in Him. Our refuge is in Him. We are literally sheltering in refuge, in Him. Okay? And there is a blessed condition for all of us who do that. And that promise is extended to any who would choose to place their trust in Jesus Christ.

14:59 It's a blessedness to all who put their faith and hope in Him, ultimately. And that's where we stop for tonight. In the Psalms, we'll pick it up in chapter 3 next time. For the complete library of Pastor Paul's teaching and full transcripts, visit lifebibleministry .com. We hope today's teaching has encouraged and inspired you. We look forward to you joining us again as we continue our journey through the scriptures.