"Track 2: All Hail King Jesus! (Psalm 2)" | 5/5/2024
Psalm 2 | 5/5/24 | Will DuVal
I was saddened but not shocked last week to read the headline: “Kanye West Leaves Faith to Pursue Adult Entertainment ‘Yeezy Porn’”. Kanye said he became disillusioned with Christianity when God didn’t come through for him; quote: “There’s a lot of stuff I went through that I prayed, and I didn’t see Jesus show up”. When asked about his previous confession of faith, Kanye replied: I had to take my life back “into my own hands… I’M the god of me [now]… I am GOD.” (https://www.christianpost.com/news/kanye-west-says-he-has-issues-with-jesus-im-god.html )
The Roman Emperor Tiberius, who ruled at the time of Jesus, printed his image on the currency of the day, the denarius, and on the BACK, he inscribed the words ““Tiberius Caesar, Son of [GOD]”.
On August 21, 2019, Donald Trump tweeted: “President Trump is the greatest [leader] for… Israel in the history of the world… the Jewish people love him like the second coming of God”. Later, he paused while answering reporters’ questions to look up in the sky, and proclaim, “I am the Chosen One”. (https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/21/politics/erratic-trump-god-complex/index.html )
Just two months ago during his State of the Union address, Joe Biden promised to restore “reproductive freedom” as the law of this land. Days later, on Easter Sunday, actually, Biden proclaimed March 31 to be the “Transgender Day of Visibility”, celebrating the “fundamental freedom [of everyone] to be their true selves”. Freedom to choose your gender… to choose the death of your baby. (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/03/29/a-proclamation-on-transgender-day-of-visibility-2024/ )
When I was 11 years old and my dad left our family, I was so ANGRY at God that I’d sit at the family computer, clicking on the dirtiest links I could find, pausing occasionally to gaze upward, raise my middle fingers high into the air, and utter the dirtiest WORDS I knew, to CURSE God.
These are all examples of what Psalm 2 calls “the nations RAGING… the people PLOTTING… setting themselves [up] AGAINST the LORD… saying, “We want to be FREE!” Free to be our OWN gods, free to run our OWN lives. God: we want to be free from your Sovereign RULE. We don’t like the job that YOU’RE doing; so WE’D like the job that you’re doing! WE’D like a chance to try sitting on the throne, for a change.
But THEN Psalm 2 tells us how God RESPONDS to such open rebellion. There are FOUR stanzas here in Psalm 2, depicting 4 different SCENES in this unfolding drama of insurrection, with each episode of the action driven by 4 different SUBJECTS:
Scene 1: Sinners’ REBELLION.
Scene 2: God’s REPLY.
Scene 3: Jesus’s REIGN.
Scene 4: Our RESPONSE.
That’s your basic outline of Psalm 2. But I like the way H.B. Charles summarizes it: “Let me state the point of Psalm 2 in just two words: JESUS REIGNS. I know it may not always SEEM that way when you watch the news from evening to evening, but tonight I [bring you] news from another network in glory: that no matter how things may LOOK in the world around us, Jesus REIGNS over heaven and earth. Psalm 2 declares the unimpeachable authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
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Psalm 2 is a MESSIANIC psalm, anonymous here in the OT, but Acts 4 will later tell us it was written by King David to prophetically point us ahead 1,000 years beyond him to ANOTHER king - even GREATER than David (even greater than TRUMP!) - Psalm 2 points us to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, King JESUS! This psalm is quoted or alluded to at least 18 times in the NT, more than any other single psalm. (Wiersbe, 873)
And I’m not SAYING that makes it the most important psalm… but… I’m not saying it’s NOT.
So I invite you to STAND with me… And once again this morning, I invite you to read this psalm WITH me, together out loud. [The words will be on the screen… Bibles at the Info Bar… maybe even a few ESV Study Journals leftover?]
Hear the word of the Lord, Psalm 2:
“Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
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 burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 “As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
7 I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”
10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 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.”
[This is the word of the Lord… Seated…]
PARAPHRASE:
They scheme and scream in vain,
Those who oppose the Lord.
From tiny thrones they would depose
The Ruler of all worlds?
“Not MY King!”, they chant.
But God just sits and laughs.
“My Anointed One - he reigns and comes
To execute my wrath.”
To inherit and judge the nations,
As King of Kings, the Chosen One.
Yet not just reign, but die in shame
Though God’s begotten Son.
Not just to execute but to endure
God’s righteous war on sin.
That rebel kings who’d kiss His ring
Might be spared and be forgiven.
So listen up, you mutineers,
Self-rulers, be thee warned:
Jesus reigns, trust in his name
And find refuge from God’s scorn.
#1- The first of the four scenes we witness here is the proud REJECTING God. (1-3)
“The kings of the earth set themselves [up] against the Lord and against his Anointed”.
3 parties here we need to IDENTIFY, if we’re going to rightly interpret this psalm. But remember I told you LAST week in our introduction to the Psalms: EVERY psalm can really be interpreted in 3 ways: historically, personally, and Christocentrically.
The historical interpretation asks, “What did this psalm mean FOR THEM - the original author and audience, 3,000 years ago?”
The personal interpretation asks, “What does it mean TO US - today?”
And the Christocentric reading asks, “What does it mean IN CHRIST - how does this psalm find its ultimate fulfillment in the person and work of JESUS?”
So looking back at v2 now through the historical lens, scholars point out that there were LITERAL “kings of the earth” in the 10th c. BC - the Philistines, the Moabites, the Syrians - who were rising up, “taking counsel together” as this unholy ALLIANCE against YAHWEH, the covenant God of Israel, and against the LEADER of God’s people, “his ANOINTED,” King DAVID. God had “anointed” David, specially chosen him to RULE OVER Israel, as KING.
But what about the PERSONAL interpretation? God’s word is “profitable for teaching US, reproving US, correcting US, training US in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16) - so how do we read OURSELVES into Psalm 2? And while we’re at it, because Psalm 2 IS a messianic psalm, let’s consider the Christocentric question as well: how do we read JESUS into this psalm? And the answer is: quite EASILY.
Because the Hebrew word for “Anointed” is mashiach, from which we get our English word MESSIAH. The Greek translation is christos, or in English: CHRIST.
Now, do you know anyone who goes by the name, the TITLE, of “MESSIAH”... “CHRIST”?
HERE’s what we need to recognize, friends:
WE are the “kings of the earth” who rage and plot, who scheme and scream against King JESUS, God’s “Anointed”.
Now, you might not THINK of yourself as a “king”... a “queen”... and to be sure, we sit on TINY thrones INDEED. But isn’t that exactly what we are presuming to do, every time we SIN? Every time we REJECT God’s rightful authority over us, and insist instead on our OWN way, in stubborn defiance of Him?
Polly texted me one day this past week: “Bo just had an EPIC meltdown that all but SHUT DOWN this Goodwill store.” Apparently while they were waiting in the “Returns” line, Bo spotted a toy all the way at the back of the store that he just had to have, and when Polly told him “No”, this is what he does now: he THROWS himself to the ground, back ARCHED, arms and legs FLAILING, and he SCREECHES at the top of his lungs; sounds like a tortured pterodactyl.
But I wonder how often YOU AND I must sound like that to GOD. When like Kanye, like ME as an 11 year old, we don’t get what we want, so we throw a TEMPER tantrum: “Let us BURST the Lord’s BONDS apart”. The Hebrew word means YOKE, the thing you put over a farm animal to make sure it’s plowing in the right direction. The image is a stubborn mule, a JACKass, hee-hawing and KICKING, bucking against its bonds.
Likewise, those who REBEL against God strive to “cast away” his “CORDS” - they think of God’s Law NOT as a good gift that he graciously gives us to help GUIDE and properly ORDER our lives, but rather, as chains of SLAVERY.
And we flip over to the New Testament now and we realize these arrogant rebels are actually RIGHT about ONE thing: Jesus DOES call us to a life of SLAVERY, to be “slaves of RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Rom 6:19) as we humbly and subserviently follow HIM. He said, “No SLAVE is above his MASTER.” And that’s what Jesus IS; that’s what it MEANS to call him “LORD”, kurios: “Jesus- I am the DOULOS, SLAVE, and YOU are my kurios, my Master.”
But here’s why that’s such GOOD news for us, friends: because Jesus is a GOOD Master. The Bible says we’re ALL serving SOMEONE. Most people serve THEMSELVES. They want to be “lord” of their OWN lives. They are “slaves of SIN”, self-centeredness. The great 19th c. author George McDonald observed that the central conviction of HELL is this: “I am my own!” That the singular unifying principle of Hell (and of Hell on EARTH too, mind you) is the willful INSISTENCE that “I am my OWN”. My own BOSS. My own LORD. My own GOD.
Some serve MAMMON, the god of materialism, money, “stuff”.
Others serve the god of “WORK” - they are slaves to their productivity, their accolades, their importance and value to the company.
Still others serve the god of FAMILY, and they allow their identity and self-worth to be assigned to them by those closest to them in the home. After all, “Nothing’s more important than FAMILY,” they say.
But JESUS says, ““If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, [in comparison to ME, and the approval and identity and worth he finds in ME] he cannot be my disciple.” (Lk 14:26)
But those who DO come to Jesus discover pretty quickly how much BETTER a Master he is than ANY of those other options.
Mammon will ALWAYS leave you wanting more. So to the various gods of ADDICTION - alcohol, food, gambling, gaming, sex, social media - you’ll NEVER get enough, of ANY of them.
There’s always more WORK to do, another rung to climb in the corporate ladder.
And your FAMILY will inevitably and repeatedly let you DOWN; FAIL to give you that validation and appreciation you are so desperately seeking.
But friends, JESUS invites us to “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you REST.”
Jesus invites us to “Take my yoke upon you, [quit trying to BREAK it, and instead, TAKE it…] and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy,” he says, “and my burden is light””
EVERYONE’s got a yoke, a burden; there’s a hidden COST to serving your job, your family, your SELF. But Jesus says, “When you learn what it means to truly follow me… the more you get to know me, as your Master, the more you realize that SERVING me is actually FREEING.” It’s actually the ONLY path to TRUE freedom. Paradoxically, Jesus says, “the harder you CHASE after me, the more REST you will find. I’m the ONLY thing you can never get enough of, and yet that leaves you not feeling EMPTY, but SATISFIED.
He’s a Good King, WORTH serving.
Don’t BE like the rebellious “kings of the earth” who REJECT the Lord in their pride. Who like TODDLERS, throw TEMPER tantrums of DEFIANCE.
That’s been the story of humanity all along, though, hasn’t it?
From Adam & Eve’s revolt in the Garden…
To the builders of the Tower of Babel who “counseled together” and “plotted in vain” to try and make it all the way up to heaven to usurp God’s throne…
To Israel HERSELF, God’s own people, who demanded a king like all the other nations, thus REJECTING GOD as their King, and paying for it DEARLY for centuries, as human imposters, PSEUDO-kings led them astray…
So much so that when the REAL King came back to RESCUE them, they CRUCIFIED him!...
And we know how the story ENDS too: that even when Christ RETURNS in glory, with all the HOST of heavenly armies, and the utter FUTILITY of opposing him is put on full, vivid and VIOLENT display, even THEN, according to Revelation 16, “the kings of the whole world [will] assemble themselves for battle [AGAINST God]… at the place… called Armageddon” (14-16).
And UNTIL that day, the rebellion continues.
“God- who are YOU to tell ME who to SLEEP with?
To tell ME what GENDER I am?
To tell ME what to do with MY body - “MY body, MY choice” - what to do with MY BABY… what to do with MY money, MY time, MY passions, MY LIFE… God, who do you think you ARE?!”
And God’s ANSWER comes in v4, with scene #2- where God REBUKES the proud. (4-6)
Who does God think he IS? Well, for starters, v4, he’s the One who “sits in the HEAVENS”. God is the One for whom the entire EARTH serves as a mere FOOTSTOOL; we’re his OTTOMAN.
Isaiah 40 declares “Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted [BY God] as dust on the scales…
All the nations are as nothing before [God], they are accounted by him as less than nothing…
[God] sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers…
[he] brings princes to nothing,
and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.” (vv15-23)
So if THAT’S the kind of God we’re REBELLING against, when we sin, then how do you expect he’s gonna RESPOND? V4 TELLS us:
“He who sits in the heavens… WORRIES”. God sees our raging and our plotting and our rising up against Him in revolt and he… PANICS. He PACES the throneroom of Heaven, wringing his hands, trying to figure out how to ensure that we don’t THWART his plans.
No. What does v4 say? “God sits in heaven and he… LAUGHS.” God gets a good LAUGH, out of our ridiculous ATTEMPTS at rebellion. Because it’s laugh-ABLE, isn’t it? Trying to OPPOSE the Almighty Creator and Sustainer of the UNIVERSE?! An 11 year old boy shouting obscenities at THAT kind of God. A rapper who’d be lucky if he lived another 50 years, or have ANYONE who even remembered his name 50 years after THAT… A President, ostensibly the most powerful man on the PLANET today, yet who will no doubt be a mere FOOTNOTE in the annals of history when it’s all said and done, and yet he would redefine MORALITY for us, rewrite God’s moral LAW?
God LAUGHS. “the Lord holds them in derision”. Ridicule. Mockery.
But that’s not ALL he does. V5: “Then [AFTER he’s had a good laugh,] God will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury”.
And what does he SAY? WHY is God so ANGRY? He declares, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion”. God says, “I’ve given you the GREATEST King IMAGINABLE - the “Good Shepherd”, who looks on you with “compassion”, who would leave the 99 to seek you out when you’re LOST, who is “gentle and lowly in heart”, “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness… forgiving iniquity” - I’ve given you JESUS! MY Son, who laid down HIS life to forgive YOUR sin, and not only that, but who mercifully offers AS your king, to lead you OUT of your bondage to sin and INTO newness of life in Him - REAL freedom.
And yet, God speaks in wrath and fury because we have, MOST of us in the human race, most of the TIME, we’ve REJECTED God’s Anointed King.
Do we have even the faintest idea just how ARROGANT and how FOOLISH that is?
Imagine you were BLIND and trapped in an unfamiliar BUILDING that was on FIRE, and you had NO IDEA how to get out. When all of a sudden you feel a pair of HANDS on your shoulders, and hear a voice reassuring you: “Don’t worry; I know the way OUT. I will LEAD you.”
Can you imagine replying, “Now WAIT a minute there, buddy; who put YOU in charge?”
God says, “I did. I put him in charge. He’s MY King, MY Anointed One, my SON! And I sent him into the FIRE to RESCUE you; how DARE you DEFY him!” That’s not just LAUGHABLE, it’s not just SAD; it is downright INFURIATING. Hebrews 10 points out, “Anyone who set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy… How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant… For [God] said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (28-31).
God REBUKES - He doesn’t just laugh, he doesn’t just lament; God LAMBASTES and LAYS WASTE to the proud, “how shall [they] escape if [they] neglect such a great salvation”, such a great SAVIOR and King (Heb 2:3)?
But here’s the GOOD news now, friends: #3) Jesus RULES over us. (7-9)
Jesus came to do FOUR things, specifically, in regard to his kingship (he of course did lots of OTHER wonderful things in his time on earth - he healed people, he fed them, he loved them when no one else would) but when it comes to his REIGN as KING, Psalm 2, Jesus did 4 things:
1) First, He PROCLAIMED God’s Kingdom. v7: “I will tell of the decree”. At the beginning of his ministry, Mark 1 says, “Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand [it’s HERE!]; repent and believe”. Time’s UP, no more WAITING, Israel: your Psalm 2, messianic, “Anointed” KING is here, Jesus said.
2) Second, Jesus not only proclaimed, but he actually USHERED IN God’s Kingdom; Jesus BROUGHT God’s Kingdom from HEAVEN down to EARTH. V7 says Jesus was sent with a MESSAGE and a MISSION: “The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.”
Now, the message part is obvious: this is God the Father declaring of Jesus the Son, that he is “BEGOTTEN”. We know Jesus is eternally begotten of the Father, within the Trinity, the triune Godhead; Jesus is begotten NOT made. You and I were MADE. The rocks and trees were MADE. But Jesus is begotten because he is of the very same nature and SUBSTANCE as the Father, “in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily”, Colossians 2:9 says.
But in what sense do we see Christ’s MISSION here, to USHER IN God’s Kingdom on earth? Well for that, we have to look at how the NEW Testament understands and references verse 7. The NT quotes this verse in THREE places, and each sheds a different light on Christ’s MISSION to usher in God’s Kingdom.
First, in Hebrews 5, we read “Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him,
“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”;
…And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 being designated by God a high priest” (vv5, 10) So Hebrews 5 understands Psalm 2:7 as prophesying Jesus’ CRUCIFIXION, his priestly intercession on our behalf, to become the source of our eternal salvation, by forgiving all of our sins on the cross.
But THEN, we flip over to Acts 13 and hear the apostle PAUL proclaim to the Jews at Antioch: “we bring you the good news that what God promised to our fathers, 33 this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,
“‘You are my Son,
today I have begotten you.’” (13:32-33)
So according to PAUL, Jesus’ DESIGNATION as God’s begotten Son, and his CORONATION as God’s anointed KING, it may have BEGUN on the cross, but to FULFILL the promise of Psalm 2, God RAISED Jesus from the DEAD.
But THEN, we flip BACK over to Hebrews again, chapter ONE, where we read that “After making purification for sins, [Jesus] sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, [God the Father] having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
5 For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”?” (1:3-5)
Now we’ve got Psalm 2 recited at Jesus’ heavenly HOMECOMING, his INAUGURATION ceremony, as he sits down back on his throne in HEAVEN.
So crucifixion, resurrection, AND ascension - they are ALL in view here in Psalm 2; this is how Jesus REIGNS over us, as God’s long-awaited KING: He DIED for our sin, to bring us from darkness to light, to transfer us from the Kingdom of THIS world (where SIN and Satan and Hell reign supreme) to HIS Kingdom of grace and hope and LIFE - eternal life - instead, as our crucified, SAVIOR King.
But he didn’t STAY dead; on the third day, Christ ROSE from the dead to conquer not just the PENALTY of sin and death but its POWER as well, as our RISEN, LIVING King.
And then 40 days later Jesus RETURNED to heaven, to reign sovereign over ALL the earth again, but sent US his HOLY SPIRIT, to reign specifically in the hearts and lives of those who belong to Him, as we now crucify OUR flesh and LIVE unto the Spirit, TRUSTING Jesus to LEAD us in righteousness as our Indwelling, Shepherd King.
Friends, this is the GOSPEL, the good news that Jesus came not just to PROCLAIM the Kingdom, and not just to USHER it IN, but to actually INVITE US in as well. That’s v8 here, the THIRD way in which Jesus reigns over us as King: He INHERITS us (“the nations” are his “heritage”), he OWNS us (“the earth” is his “possession”); WHY? Because Jesus has ADOPTED us. We now rightfully BELONG to him.
Philippians 2 celebrates this, when it reminds us of the gospel - Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension to glory - but then declares the UPSHOT of this good news, for US; it says “Christ Jesus… though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,[b] 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,[c] being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus [here it is:] every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (2:6-11).
Friends: do you realize that there is a WAR raging all around us? Good vs. Evil, God & His Anointed vs. Satan & the Axis of Evil he has formed with the “kings of the earth” who want the throne for THEMSELVES. But this is NOT AT ALL a fair FIGHT! God LAUGHS at our little tantrums. And he PROMISES that one day EVERY knee will bow - God will endure our rebellion NO LONGER, his patience will run OUT, the war will be OVER, we’ll all put down our WEAPONS, EVERY knee will BOW and what will determine the rest of your ETERNITY is what UNIFORM you are WEARING on that day. Everyone on the battlefield, on THAT day, will bend the knee. But some will do it in JOYFUL submission, cuz we TRIED opposing God, we TRIED fighting AGAINST him, and we saw how well THAT worked for us. So we SURRENDERED, and gladly laid down our weapons and accepted his gracious invitation to cross enemy lines, and join the ALLIED force, HIS Kingdom, HIS army.
But OTHERS will look down on that fateful day and find themselves still wearing the WRONG uniform. And they will STILL bend the knee to King Jesus, but NOT in joyful submission, but rather, in bitter DEFEAT. And thus, in fearful expectation of what comes next. As Jesus “breaks them with a rod of iron
and dashes them in pieces like a cheap piece of POTTERY”.
Because that’s the FOURTH thing Jesus does as King: he PROCLAIMED the kingdom, BROUGHT the Kingdom, he now RULES the Kingdom for all who belong to Him, but Jesus also JUDGES the Kingdom for all who refuse and REJECT Him.
“how then shall we escape if we neglect [and REFUSE] such a great salvation?” in our stubborn pride, our foolish and futile rebellion.
So how SHOULD we respond? We’ve seen the REBELLION of the proud, the REPLY of God, the REIGN of his SON, Jesus; now how are we called to RESPOND to Christ’s Kingship?
In SEVEN ways, now in vv10-12, but I can sum them all up for you thusly: #4) We RELINQUISH LORDSHIP to Jesus. (10-12)
How do we do that? Seven steps, quickly:
Be WISE. v10 says “Be WISE, O Kings” - THINK! Take a look down, at which UNIFORM you’re wearing, and consider the obvious OUTCOME of this BATTLE: you vs. God, who do YOU think is gonna win in the end? So…
Be WARNED. “Be warned, O rulers of the earth”. If you are HEARING God’s word this morning, then it’s not too LATE for you to switch SIDES! To lay down your weapon and TURN from your sin to follow JESUS instead. That’s #3…
Be submissive. V11: “Serve the LORD with FEAR”. Recognize who you’re FIGHTING here, and SUBMIT to him. GIVE UP! SURRENDER! You’re gonna do it eventually ANYWAY, but if you do it NOW, before the battle is OVER, then you can surrender JOYFULLY. That’s #4…
Be joyful. “Rejoice with trembling”. We still tremble. Cuz he’s still GOD. But when he’s YOUR Commanding Officer, you can REJOICE.
Be devoted. “KISS the Son”. That’s a sign of affection. But did you know the Greek word for “worship” - proskuneo - literally means to “come toward to KISS” (Williams, Psalms, 38). God is inviting us this morning to come to Jesus in humble devotion, in WORSHIP, and KISS the Son.
As Donald Williams puts it: “To surrender to Christ, to rejoice in His presence, and to kiss Him in an act of [devotion AND] submission, means that the rebellion is over. Apart from this, there is only His anger, wrath, and our perishing. If He does not ride into our hearts on a donkey, He WILL ride down our hearts on a white [war horse].” Just check Revelation ch19.
But since Jesus HASN’T returned yet, he HASN’T called you before his throne yet, in JUDGMENT, while there is still breath in your lungs this morning, he calls you…
To Be trusting. V12: “Take refuge in Him”. “Rock of Ages CLEFT for me / Let me HIDE myself in thee”. Because JESUS BORE ALL of God’s righteous wrath against sin IN our place FOR us on the cross, we can now take REFUGE in HIM. And when we DO so, here is his PROMISE: we will…
Be BLESSED - Psalm 2 ends in the same place Psalm 1 BEGAN, same word: “happy”. You wanna be HAPPY? Delight in God’s WORD, and SURRENDER to God’s SON, in humble, reliant FAITH.