Psalm 2: Earthly king VS Heavenly King--and the Winner is...

When we read the Bible with one dimensional thinking, it is likely we will miss the beauty of its full meaning. When we read it with three dimensional thinking, however, we find there is so much more to glean.

The message of the Bible has three basic purposes: Historical, prophetical, and personal application. As mentioned in the first installment of this column, I pray this study will stimulate conversation, encourage questions, and challenge each of us in our personal relationship with Christ-and at the very least, shed some light on Scripture for those who are a little curious as to what the Bible has to say.

The second Psalm is one of the many examples of this three-fold ministry. There is enough information in this Psalm to keep us busy for months--and it has me. This has made it difficult for me to shrink this study down to a few minutes of reading time while trying to maintain its power. (God help me!)

The entirety of this Psalm speaks of the coming Messiah and the success of his kingdom; I encourage you to read all 12 verses to capture the flow and essence of its message. For now, our focus will be verses, 1-7. Let's read it together and then break it down into the three dimensions.

" Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and his Anointed, saying Let us break Their bonds in 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: 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." Psalm 2:1-7

HISTORICAL

King David was speaking in practical terms regarding his personal experience. He had been in the midst of wars and calamities, he understood what it meant to have other kings and kingdoms raging against him--even plotting his death. He knew that he was anointed by God to govern the people, so we can understand why David would choose the phrase, " take counsel together against the LORD and His Anointed". On the surface, these words are nothing supernatural or God-breathed. We can stop here and reasonably conclude that David was just reflecting on his life. There is much more we can learn historically by reading 1 & 2 Samuel and other Psalms. Nevertheless, I would like to spend the majority of our time together on the prophetical dimension.

PROPHETICAL

As mentioned above, we could reasonably conclude David was merely reflecting on his personal life. Nevertheless, the rest of his words give cause to wonder--what was he really saying? Did he even know?

" Saying, Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens will laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision." Vs. 3-4.

Who are the "us" and the "Their" in this passage--and how can we be sure?

We know from verse 2, that the "us" are the earthly rulers. The "Their" are the Father and the Son. Whenever the pronouns, He, Him, Their, They etc. are capitalized in Scripture, it is a given it is referring to the Heavenly Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, but this was not always the case--they were added for clarity by the translators. To be sure this is true, we need to look to the entire context of the passage that we are reading.

For example, verses 6 7 go on to reveal the very words of the Father to the Son, being spoken by King David.

Recorded in the New Testament Gospel of Matthew chapters 1-3, is the story of the birth of Jesus and the subsequent anger of King Herod. For a fresh accounting of the story, read chapters 1-3 in their entirety. For the sake of this study, read the following.

" Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all it's districts, from two years old and under according to the time which he had determined from the wise men." Matt 2:16

This was the first attempt to stop the work of the Father and Son--fulfilling verse two of Psalm 2, and also the direct fulfillment of Jeremiah the prophet which was written some 500 years prior.

The second attempt to stop the work of the Father and the Son can be found in the Gospel of Mark, the third chapter. Beginning in verse one; we have the account of Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath day. The Pharisees were infuriated, which led them to the following:

" Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him" Mark 3:6.

Very enlightening information--now back to verse 4b of Psalm 2:

" The Lord shall hold them (The earthly rulers) in derision."

This was fulfilled when Joseph was warned in a dream to flee to Egypt with Mary and the Child while at the same time, giving the wise men understanding that Herod's desire to know where the Child was-was not so he could worship, but so he could have Him killed.

No wonder the Scripture says that God sits in the heavens and laughs. Man's plotting against Him and His Anointed is truly in vain; just as David says.

Let us move on to verse seven of Psalm 2. To me, this is the most amazing part of this Psalm-- Jesus speaking through the voice of David as he writes.

" I will declare the decree: The LORD [Father] has said to Me [Jesus], You are My Son, today I have begotten You." Psalm 2:7

To be sure this is Jesus speaking, we need to read at least one proof text in the Old Testament. This is God the Father, speaking through the prophet Isaiah approximately 500 years before the fulfillment in the New Testament:

" Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He shall bring forth justice to the Gentiles." Isa. 42:1

Now we can move on to the New Testament--where we can see the fulfillment of Psalm 2 and Isaiah 42:1.

In Matthew chapter 3, we read the account of the baptism of Jesus:

"When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending upon Him like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven saying, this is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Matt. 3:16-17

What a beautiful testimony of the plan of God unfolding: starting in the Old Testament and ending in the New.

Now that we have dissected this particular passage of Scripture, we can see that there is a lot we can learn. We have only scratched the surface. I hope this has encouraged you to take the time to dig a little deeper. In closing, we have the third dimension to touch on. If you are still with me, I appreciate your taking the time to read this lengthy lesson. I hope it means it is interesting if nothing else.

PERSONAL APPLICATION

Reread this entire Psalm to recapture its flow and then consider the following questions.

1. What might you be doing to kill the work of Christ in your life?

2. What are you willing to do about it?

For those who would like further study, accept the following challenge.

Read Psalm 2:8-12; Isaiah 41-42; Hebrews 1:1-5; Gen 15:4-6 & 16:1-6; Luke 7:36-50 and Revelation 2:18-19, 26-29; --then, answer the following questions.

Nation against nation could relate to Sibling rivalry-

1. Are you experiencing family turmoil?

2. How would your situation change if you turned your "rage" into surrender to the King?

3. Is there something you could do to prevent the "bonds" from being torn to pieces between you and your loved one/s?

4. What wrath is God speaking of in verse 5 of Psalm 2?

5. What do you think verse 12 of Psalm 2 means by "kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in the way?"

Thank you again for joining me in this study, I look forward to your input. Until next time, continue to walk in balance.

© Teresa Ortiz 2008 All Rights Reserved