(Editor's Note: The following is the third of a 4 blog series commemorating Advent)
Although it is certainly not the earliest of the messianic prophecies in Scripture, the second Psalm (Psalm 2:1-12) seems to function as the hub of the wheel of all messianic prophecies. There are at least 50 passages in the Bible that are connected to it in addition to the five direct references to it in the New Testament.
The Apostle Paul interpreted “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you’” (2:7) to be a reference to Christ’s resurrection (Acts 13:32-33). The Apostle John’s vision of the Second Coming is strongly aligned with the language of the second Psalm (see below):
- Psalm 2:2 - Revelation 19:19
- Psalm 2:5 - Revelation 19:15; 21
- Psalm 2:9 - Revelation 19:15
The author of Hebrews cites Psalm 2:7 in demonstrating the superiority of Jesus to any and all angels (Hebrews 1:5). Psalm 2 truly is the engine that drives all messianic prophecies.
It seems to have it all. It has David as its author (Acts 4:23-28), national conflict, global conflict, resurrection, Second Coming, sonship, victory, and even God’s perspective on those who think to oppose Him! (Atheists are considered fools [see Psalm 14:1 & 53:1]. The derision God has in 2:4 is aimed at those who hate Him and oppose His will and Son).
It is vital to read carefully what it is that the God-haters are saying and plotting against:
“Let us burst their [the Lord and His Anointed] bonds apart and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:3).
“Bonds” and “cords” are indicative of restriction and confinement. These are those who despise the moral law of Scripture when it clashes with their wants and desires. They redefine sin, reinterpret God’s Word, and reassure themselves that the behavior they engage in is just fine with God. They think they have effectively cut the cord to holiness in the name of going all-in on “love.” They are wrong and God holds them in derision.
The last three years in American politics have borne this out, hasn’t it? The last presidential election had far more to do with bursting the bonds and cords of God’s design and will than it had to do with Trump and Clinton. The Russia hoax, Mueller, the Kavanaugh hearings, and impeachment are only superficially about the president and the last election. At its bottom, it’s all about casting off the great shadow of God’s perfect holiness. “He who sits in the heavens laughs…”
The great takeaway from Psalm 2 is this: no one can thwart the plan or the will of God and His Anointed One. You cannot do it because you don’t like it. You cannot do it by redefining Scripture. You cannot even do it by murdering the Son! And just because you convince yourself that you have effectively reimagined and reinterpreted God’s Word and will (breaking those bonds and cords) doesn’t mean God has to adopt your “progressive” view. The most fearful warning in Scripture comes at the end of the Sermon on the Mount:
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’ (Matthew 7:21-23).
Psalm 2 has some advice to those of any time when it comes to breaking free from biblical morality:
be wise; be warned…Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling (v. 11).
For all the futility espoused by the God-haters, the derision God holds them in, the power and authority invested in the Son to “break them with a rod of iron,” and the warnings to “Serve the Lord with fear” there is an astounding promise offered in the Psalm’s final sentence:
Blessed are all who take refuge in him [the Son].
Everything God is and has is invested in His Son. There is no getting around it. There is no subverting it. There is no changing it. And in Matthew 12:30 Jesus made it crystal clear that He fully understood and embraced it.
Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
God-haters and even many churchgoers seem to believe that Jesus is easily manipulated, pacifistic, accommodating, modern, effeminate, and meek. He wouldn’t even think of saying “No” to anything that would make people feel good about themselves. However, like all other messianic prophecies concerning Jesus, Psalm 2 is true. And if truth is important to you then heed these words well:
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled (2:12).
