"Why do the peoples plot in vain?" Psalm 2:1
1 Why do the nations conspire
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers gather together
against the LORD
and against his Anointed One.
3 "Let us break their chains," they say,
"and throw off their fetters."
4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
5 Then he rebukes them in his anger
and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
6 "I have installed my King
on Zion, my holy hill."
7 I will proclaim the decree of the LORD :
He said to me, "You are my Son ;
today I have become your Father.
8 Ask of me,
and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You will rule them with an iron scepter;
you will dash them to pieces like pottery."
10 Therefore, you kings, be wise;
be warned, you rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry
and you be destroyed in your way,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
The King sits upon the throne of a conquered heart
Men, by nature think too highly of themselves. Independence feeds the ego that will eventually destroy us. God desires relationship, and in that context He trains His children to trust Him. At some point God must confront us with a choice for holiness. If we lack the will to surrender to it, anger steps into the void. The psalmist states that men rage against the Lord in their folly. They actually think that they can outsmart God! Banded together with enough nations throwing their zeal and energy against God, somehow together they dream that their force will be enough to break the yoke of slavery.
We either surrender, or risk God’s ultimate judgment.
Twenty years ago I pled with God to take all of me without reservation to become His slave. What I discovered was that God, rather than being a taskmaster invited me to His dinner table. I accepted his invitation, drawn by His irresistible love, to voluntarily give my life to Him. I discovered that if love draws us, then it will be love that will heal and sustain us on the way.
In verse 4 God observes the best that nations can muster, and He actually laughs! Who but God could make light of an alliance assembled against Him? The one who created their rulers, and who breathed life into them, can just as easily and without effort snuff out their existence. And he does stiffen their backs a little, by speaking thunderous oratory, rolling like a storm in His anger towards such pride and indolence.
The Psalmist steps back from the vision of execution to summon his heart again toward the true King. He speaks for God when he says that he has installed, or consecrated His King upon His holy mountain. This psalm breathes prophecy about the coming Messiah. Who else can conquer the heart? God’s holiness occupies the theme of the Old Testament, but One is coming that will call God His Father. He will conquer not only nations, but also the hearts of men. Inside the prophetic utterance is the answer for everyone’s greatest need. We must, like God has done, install the King upon the throne of our own hearts. To consecrate means to completely give one self over to another. We must make Jesus Lord of our lives, or risk the same condition of the nations who rage against the Lord’s anointed. God will not hold back His fury forever. Someday, we all must stand before His holy presence and give an account of our heart’s desires and life’s ambitions. What will He see on that day?
Little attention is given today toward the God of fury. In verses 8-9 we see that God can crush nations like a clay pot. What stops this just punishment? None of us are righteous, all have sinned. Only the blood of the One spoken of here. His death has given our future wings to fly beyond our natural senses and live in the presence of God.
“Show discernment O nations”...a message more relevant today perhaps than when it was written. The Psalmist warns that God’s wrath will soon be kindled. Yet what a tremendous hope He ends with: “How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”
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