Psalm 2:1-12

This morning [Anzac Day, 25 April 2004] I rose long before dawn and, with Michael and Samuel, my two oldest children, attended the Anzac Dawn Ceremony in Martin Place, in the heart of Sydney. This is our regular annual practice.

I do not go to glorify war. I go to remember the high cost of peace, to reflect on the human values Australians share that are worth defending, to honour the memory of those who made the supreme sacrifice for their country, to recall that I am part of a great nation and a vibrant community. And I am pleased to observe the strong Christian character of the Dawn Service in a generally pluralist culture. Then, over breakfast, I watch the sun rise over Sydney Harbour, and I am filled with quiet gratitude to God.

But war – and all forms of armed conflict – is a terrible business that stirs up the worst in human nature just as it moves many to rise to their best.

On 15 September 2001, four days after those memorable terrorist attacks on the United States, The Sydney Morning Herald’s political cartoonist published a revealing and chastening cartoon. The captions to Nicholson’s four frames read: “We’re clever enough to fly people all over the world, to trade commodities and money all around the globe, to show live news by satellite or talk to anyone anywhere by cellular phone, but we’re not clever enough to get people to talk to their neighbours.”

It is true – whether the conflict is local or global, interpersonal or international. People don’t get on with their families, their neighbours, their colleagues. It occurs on the largest scale too – we all know how the nations plot and rage against each other.

Rage and conspiracy

That is how Psalm 2 begins: “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?” (v 1). But their rage and conspiracy is not primarily against competing nations but against God. It is essentially a spiritual conflict.

The historical setting for this psalm is ambiguous: it can relate to various times and places, and to the whole world of people in opposition to God and his chosen agent (v 2b).

For Christians, especially in the light of the demise of ancient Israel and the declaration of Acts 4:25-28, there is a special sense of outrage at what the nations are doing because they are effectively resisting the authority of Jesus Christ, and rejecting allegiance to him.

The natural desire of the nations seems to be to cast off all restraints imposed by God. They do not want to acknowledge his sovereignty. They do not want to accept his Lordship. And so they conspire among themselves (v 3).

A God’s eye view

Verses 4-6 show God’s response to the nations. They have misunderstood his character and power. “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision” (v 4). The scene has shifted from earth to heaven, and from the rebellious voices of the nations to the regal voice of God. He knows their motives. He knows their little plans. He knows their destiny.

God is not taken by surprise, or unsettled, by political developments, or technological change, or so-called enlightenment on earth. He has a great plan, and he implements it. The Lord reigns.

Verses 5 and 6 reveal that God’s sovereign plan centres on his “anointed,” his Son, to whom he has given authority to rule the nations. Verse 6 is the centre of the Psalm: verses 1-5 anticipate the revelation of the Lord’s anointed, and verses 7-12 expound it.

It is a bit late for the nations to shake their fists at God, and think of ways by which they might ignore him, or outwit him, or avoid his judgment. God has already determined who will rule, and with what authority, and for what final purpose. And I suppose this message applies also to the leaders of the great multinational corporations that exercise such power and influence in our world today.

“Beware!” says the Lord. “Take note of my Word. If you are foolish enough to oppose me, beware my wrath. Beware my fury. Beware my laugh. Beware my Son!” (see v 7).

Enter the Son

Verses 7-9 record the words of God’s Son – and they are majestic words. Verse 7 has echoes in the revelations from heaven at the baptism and transfiguration of Jesus (Mt 3:17; 17:5; 2 Pet 1:17; cf Isa 42:1; Heb 1:5).

The Psalmist is looking to distant lands, and to the distant future, in verses 8-9. These verses reveal that Jesus possesses the power and authority to give the nations to those who dare to claim allegiance to him. God’s sovereignty extends throughout the earth (cf Ps 72:8-11), and God may use his power to achieve righteousness in place of wickedness, and peace in place of war, and stability in place of chaos. Through the grace and sovereignty of God, the church of Jesus Christ shares in the kingdom of God, and participates in its global reach.

The use of various references to Psalm 2:8-9 in significant contexts in Revelation (namely 1:5, 2:27, 12:5 and 19:15) demonstrates this. This is in dramatic contrast to the ambitious plans and aggressive tactics of the godless nations, which are in vain, and which come to nothing.

But verse 8 emphasises that the church shares in and participates in God’s rule for a particular purpose. Our God is a mission-minded God, and our churches are intended to be missional churches, and followers of Jesus are expected to be missionary-disciples! Referring to verse 8, James Montgomery Boice writes:

Here is the great missionary challenge of the church. It is for us, the grateful subjects of Jesus’ divine kingdom, to make his name known among the nations, until every ear shall hear and every knee shall bow … Our assignment is … to proclaim the rule of King Jesus.

The wisdom of surrender to God

In the final section of the psalm (verses 10-12), the narrator’s voice returns, with advice, a warning and a promise. To those who rebel, the challenge is to be wise and to be warned. The call is to “serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” They are to “kiss the Son” – that is, to express loyal submission, to know and experience the wisdom of surrender to God’s will and God’s word and God’s way. This is their only hope.

But this is what so many prominent leaders will not do. It is also what many ordinary people like you and me will not do. In our own petty ways, we rage and plot against God and his Son – and it is all pointless.

Better by far to do what God’s word encourages us to do: to trust in God and confirm our allegiance with the only ultimate sovereign power in the universe. “Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (v 12; cf Ps 1:1-2). As Augustus Montague Toplady put it in that famous hymn:

Rock of Ages, cleft for me Let me hide myself in thee Let the water and the blood From thy riven side which flowed Be of sin the double cure Cleanse me from its guilt and power.

Or as Baptist pastor and author John Piper puts it,

when you hope in God you show that he is strong and you are weak; that he is rich and you are poor; that he is full and you are empty. When you hope in God you show that you are the one who has needs, not God (Psalm 50:10-15; 71:4-6, 14). You are the patient, he is the doctor. You are the thirsty deer in the forest, he is the overflowing spring. You are the lost sheep, he is the good shepherd.

Our God is a good God. He is just, merciful, loving, patient and gracious. What the nations perceive as bondage is actually security. What they view as slavery is uncommon freedom. What they see as terror is happiness. What they understand to be darkness and death is in fact light and life. The same can be true for individuals. So be wise, be warned, and trust in the trustworthy promises of the sovereign and saving God! There is wisdom in surrender on the battlefield, and there is wisdom in surrender to God.

Earlier this month, General Peter Cosgrove, Head of our Defence Force, said, “I think that this growing support for Anzac Day is more than mere sentiment. Anzac Day has moved from being a day commemorating an event. It is now a national occasion to celebrate our unique ‘Australianness.’ It provides a focus for those qualities we admire in our fellow Australian – mateship, compassion, courage, and good-humoured resilience.”

Today on Anzac Day, we celebrate these qualities (and other similar qualities), and we reflect on the many sacrifices that bring us peace and democracy in place of conflict and tyranny.

Let us also reflect on the salvation we enjoy through Jesus Christ, and let us rejoice in the peace and stability he gives us, and let us celebrate the great worth of trusting in the sovereign God revealed to us in the Bible – and in the person of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, our Saviour.

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E150 Copyright (c) 2004 Rod Benson. Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2001). To talk with Rod about this message, email > MACQUARIE CENTRE 2113 AUSTRALIA. To subscribe, email in the subject. To unsubscribe, type “unsubscribe-riverbank” in the subject.