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The Messiah’s Speech – CCD

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INTRODUCTION

The first two Psalms form a sort of introduction to the Psalter. Where Psalm 1 introduces us to the contrast between the blessed life of walking with God and the miserable life of walking with the scoffers and evildoers, Psalm 2 presents an eschatological vision. The first Psalm tells us how to live in the here and now, and the second Psalm goes on to lay before us the glorious future under the global reign of the Messiah.

THE TEXT

1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, [saying], 3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. 5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. 6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. 7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou [art] my Son; this day have I begotten thee. 8 Ask of me, and I shall give [thee] the heathen [for] thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth [for] thy possession. 9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. 10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. 11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish [from] the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed [are] all they that put their trust in him.

Psalms 2:1-12

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

This Psalm pits mankind’s word against the Word of God’s Messiah. This song opens with the question which often confronts God’s people (v1). Why do the goyim rage? Why do the people have brains full of daydreams? Earth’s kings & rulers have called a war-council to determine what to do about Yahweh & the one He has Anointed (v2); they issue the results of their council: “let us overthrow the Almighty (v3).”

How does God respond to this challenge? He laughs (v4). Then He replies with the Word of His wrath (v5). What judgement shall these rebels bring forth upon themselves? How will He vex them? Despite their raging, despite their protests, despite their vanity, His anointed King shall reign from Zion (v6).

The Messiah then speaks. He reveals to the nations God’s decree. This Christ is Yahweh’s begotten Son (v7; Cf. 2 Sam. 7:14). This Sonship comes with the right to ask of the Most High for an inheritance of nations (v8, Cf. 1 Kg. 3:5, ); the Anointed Son might shepherd the nations firmly to either obedience or damnation (v9). He has every right to crush the nations into powder. But He holds out wisdom to the kings of the nations (v10). Obey His imperatives. Serve Yahweh with joyful reverence (v11). Kiss His Son in humble love, and so His lawful wrath might be removed (v12). This done, all the covenant blessings of Eden & Sinai held out in Psalm 1 are offered to these nations by trusting in the Christ of Yahweh.

 

AN APOSTOLIC FAVORITE

At the Apostolic Psalm-sings this second Psalm was likely a crowd favorite. It is one of the most cited Psalms in the NT. After Peter and John’s examination before the Chief Priests, after healing the lame man, the early Christians lift up a prayer with one accord. This congregational prayer quotes this Psalm and applies it to Herod, Pilate, and the threatening of the chief priests and elders (Cf. Acts 4:24-31). The wicked opposition to Christ had been foretold by David’s Psalm, and this emboldens the early church to stand courageous even in the face of the threatenings of those same rulers. A sort of second Pentecost takes place at the offering of this prayer.

Verse 7 is cited three times, once in Acts13:33; and twice in Hebrews (1:5 & 5:5). In Acts the thrust is that Christ’s resurrection was a new birth which affirmed that Jesus was indeed the Son of God, and therefore the heir of all the earth. While Hebrews asserts that Jesus total ministry was a proof of His Sonship, and thus a better ministry than the Angels or Aaron. Luke also records two moments where the Father declares the Sonship of the Christ, at Jesus’ baptism and at the transfiguration (Lk. 3:22, 9:35). Jesus baptism, an anointing of sorts, is immediately followed by the temptation in the wilderness, where one of Satan’s temptations was offering Jesus all the nations (Cf. Ps. 2:8).

Finally, verses 8-9 are either alluded to or directly cited by John as He describes the just wrath of the Lamb upon unbelieving Israel (Rev. 2:26,27; 12:5; 19:15). John saw the judgement on Jerusalem as an example of how the Ascended Christ was fulfilling His calling to break the nations and rule them with an iron scepter.

THE MESSIAH’S WISDOM

It should be plainly seen that the way God vexes rebel kings, the way He subdues raging nations, is by the Word. The Father sent the Word, in the Flesh, and now that Word issues His Word to the nations.

Jesus offers true wisdom, not just for kings & rulers, but for all mankind. He is depicted as a Shepherd King alike to David. The LXX translates “breaks” the nations as rule/shepherd the nations. The Good Shepherd is not a pushover. He will shepherd the nations to adhere to His commandments. It is apparent that for the Apostles, they viewed this Psalm as being fulfilled in Christ’s ascension. 

This means that as the body of the Anointed our proclamation of the Word is an outworking of the Good Shepherd’s commission to us to teach and disciple the nations. This Psalm inspired great missionary movements, going to all the ends of the earth to serve the Shepherd King in gathering His flock from every nation. So, what are the missionaries, according to Psalm 2, tasked with teaching the nations? To come near to Christ. To learn the wisdom of this better Solomon. To rejoice while trembling.

THE INEVITABLE

Christ reigns from Zion. This is not a far off dream. This is not a description of some day in eternity. The kings & rulers sought to thwart the coronation of Christ Jesus by slaying Him, but by His resurrection He displayed that God’s eternal purpose was not derailed. Christ arose from the grave. So not even death can stop the inevitable reign of Christ over all nations and distant isles.

This brings a great deal of implications for all spheres of human life. If Christ is the King of all nations, He is reigning over them now, He is shepherding them now. All of His commands pertain to all people from all nations. His commands to husbands to cherish their wives as they do their own body is not confined merely to Christian husbands. Parenting is not a clinical or medical proposition, for Christ commands fathers and mothers to raise their children in the nurture of the Lord; for parents to refuse to do so is to bring down the fierce wrath of the Lamb upon themselves. And what of a nation that doesn’t wince at aborting their offspring en masse?

Indeed, the scope of Christ’s jurisdiction is both global and personal. He is Lord of all, and He is Lord of you. There are two options, and only two, be Shepherded by the Shepherd who laid down His life for the flock, or be dashed to pieces by the Potter who can dispose of malformed vessels as He sees fit. What you can’t do is ignore this Anointed One which God the Father has enthroned in Zion. Here, in the gathering of the saints, Christ reigns, Christ feeds us, Christ Shepherds us, and sends us forth to bring all nations to enjoy the promised blessing of trusting in Him.

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Joy is Normal (Troy)

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The Text: Psalm 32

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The Blessed Life (CCD)

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Introduction

Most folks seek their happiness through subjective whims. “Do what makes you happy” is the motto of man without Christ. But true happiness, true blessedness, isn’t found in the utilitarian’s hedonism. The first Psalm sets the blessed life before us, inviting us out of our own maze of searching for joy, into the straight path of righteousness leading to eternal blessedness.

The Text

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”

Psalms 1:1-6

Summary of the Text

In this Psalm which forms the preface for the entire Psalter we have set before us a fork in the road, with one path leading to covenantal blessedness the other leading to covenantal misery & curses. This Psalm has two mountains in it, on one side is the Mount of Blessedness (vv1-3) and on the other the Mount of Judgement (vv4-6).

The blessed man is identified by what he doesn’t do. He doesn’t slow down to match pace with the aimless wanderings of ungodly counselors (v1); he doesn’t station himself where he knows he will brush shoulders with sinners; he doesn’t nestle down into the couch of scoffers (v1). Rather, he delights in Yahweh’s Law, and makes it his muse evening & morning (v2). This sort of man can be likened to a tall & flourishing tree which has been planted–by Another’s hand–in an Edenic garden (Cf. Gen. 2:8-10); this tree of the Lord’s planting will be fruitful, it will flourish, and it will be faithful (v3).

But emphatically, it is not so with the ungodly (v4). They are like the useless chaff which is fanned into the fire (v4). At the day of judgement, these ungodly ones will not stand, nor can they masquerade any longer in the congregation of the righteous (v5). While the Lord continually knows the way of the righteous, all the ways in which the ungodly have charted for themselves will come to a fearful end (v6).

Slow-Burn Apostasy

God’s people, both corporately and individually, are continually presented with the temptation to a slow-burn apostasy. Each day you are faced with choices to either grow & flourish in righteousness, or to slowly but surely deteriorate into the lifelessness of sin. This life of the blessed man is set forth as a refusal to go along, slow down, or capitulate to the counsel, habits, or scorn of the ungodly. Think of Solomon’s simple admonition: “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not (Pro. 1:10).”

In our current moment, many who have grown up in the church have demonstrated that they’ve kept their ear open to the whisperings of the ungodly counsel. They’ve kept looking out of the corner of their eye to make sure they don’t stand out as unfashionable in their manner of life or their way of thinking. The word “deconstruction” has been used to put a respectable sheen on a trajectory of apostasy. Rather than delighting in the law of the Lord, many Christians have sought to rework the fundamentals of their faith––trimming here, nipping there––in order that it might not stand out so much from the pattern of the world.

Notice how someone who “deconstructs” tends to end up with a worldview that is not offensive at all to the worldly way of thinking, living, or doing. This is what Paul warns us of in 2 Corinthians 6:14, there is no fellowship between blessings & curses. All too frequently, saints listen to the counsel of the ungodly which leads them to partially participating in the ways of sinners, which eventually (without repentance) lands them in the gutter of mocking God’s Word.

Delighting in the Word

Notice that the thing that delineates the blessed from the ungodly is their posture towards Yahweh’s Law. The blessed man is marked out by his delight in the Lord’s Law. Whenever God has been pleased to send a revival, it always is marked by a great delight in searching out the Scriptures (2 Ki. 22, Acts 17:11, ad fontes, Nadere Reformatie). This is why you must read and sing and study and muse upon the Word of God daily.

Think of a time when you’ve been outwitted by someone who you perceived to be more knowledgeable than you on the topic. If you’ve contented yourself with settling for ignorance, snake-oil salesmen will easily dupe you. But if you delight in the Word and obey the Word, you will never be moved (Cf. Ps 15). 

False doctrine (i.e. ungodly counsel) always leads to false living (i.e. the scorner’s seat). But it should be noted that the scoffing from the scorners is done in order to cover up the shame of their guilt. Anything but an apocalypse. The Word cuts us open, the Word is light for the path, the Word is bread from heaven, the Word is a sword to battle error, a fire to purge the gold of dross.

If you are diligent to hear & heed the Word, you will not be left shamefaced at the judgement. And this Word declares to you that there is none Righteous. The Word declares that this blessing comes to you not by your doing, but as a gracious gift of God’s covenant mercies

The Tree of the Lord

It shouldn’t escape our notice that in this Psalm God plants a tree of life in a fertile, well-watered garden. This is the inner sap of the life of blessing. God has planted a tree. This tree is Christ.

You will be thwarted in your efforts to live a holy life and avoid the ways of the ungodly if you do not first see that it is only by being grafted into the vine of Christ whereby you may bear this fruit. It is by covenantal union with Christ that you are planted in the damp forest of God’s blessing. But the fearful warning is that by refusing to hear God’s Word that salvation is by Christ alone, you will come, in the end, to find yourself as nothing by chaff. Nothing but fuel for the fire. Nothing but a dry branch that must be pruned.

The Psalter begins with this Psalm which sets before us blessings and curses, life and death, Christ or chaos. There are only two paths: a desert wasteland of endless searching for fleeting pleasures or the fruitful tree of the Lord watered by Living Waters (Is. 44:1-6).

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