Psalm 2 is a Messianic psalm; in my opinion, there's no mistaking that:
Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and against his anointed, saying,
'Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.'
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
'As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.'
I will tell of the decree:
The LORD said to me, "You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."
Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Immediately I am struck with the greatness, the utter superiority and sovereignty of God. No one is remotely like Him, and no one can stand before Him in defiance (!). History is rife with men of hubris who sought to further satan's kingdom rather than serve God, actively dedication their lives to anti-Christian purposes (Karl Marx, Adam Wieshaupt, Adolf Hitler, and Aleister Crowley leap to mind). But what is God's response to those who plot against His Kingdom? Laughter. Derision. And wrath.
I believe God laughs (in scorn, obviously) at the very idea of weak creatures, made of dust, seeking to subvert an omniscient, omnipotent Creator. As Jesus said,
Matt 5:33-37
"Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one."
We don't have the power to create and destroy, to know and to judge, to understand and to love the way God does. Any of those things that we can do are because we are made in His image, and in His gracious love He made us a little like Him. So I can paint or draw a sunrise, but I cannot make the sun rise.
Psalm 8:3-5
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
Job 38:3-5a
Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
And, of course, this is a Messianic psalm. Jesus is the "Anointed One" of whom David was a type. It is Jesus Christ who is the only begotten Son of God, whom God Himself has placed at His right hand.
I believe that one day the nations of the world will gather against the Christ in an unprecedented way:
Rev 16:12-16
The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. ("Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!") And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
This psalm helps me remember that God is my sovereign, all-knowing, all-powerful King who is in control of the past, present and future.
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