Mensa Otabil - The Rock of Your Defense
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We’re starting a study of Psalm 2, the second Psalm, and we’ll do a verse-by-verse study of the Psalm. So, we start with verse one: «Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing?» Psalm 2 is what is called a royal Psalm or a Messianic Psalm. It was a Psalm that was used at the coronation of kings, especially the kings in the line of David. In the New Testament, it is quoted quite often in relation to Jesus Christ.
So, the Psalm opens with two questions. The first is: Why do the nations rage? The second question is: Why are the people plotting a vain thing? Both questions address anger and rebellion against someone that God is blessing or someone that God has anointed-the Lord’s anointed. In the face of God’s anointing, especially in the coronation of a king, there will always be people who are angry, enraged, plotting, and opposing what God is doing. That is what the Psalm is addressing.
When God has established His will, and there are people who are planning against it, they are enraged and very upset. Because this Psalm is a Messianic Psalm, it points to Jesus Christ, and it goes beyond Jesus to also talk about the Church of Jesus Christ and the Christian believer. So, we can refer to this Psalm in relation to three kinds of people: those who oppose Christ, which include spiritual powers and their earthly collaborators; those who oppose the Church of Jesus Christ, which include both governmental and non-governmental power systems; and those who oppose Christians, which include unbelievers and sometimes immature believers.
These are the people who are enraged. Our world strangely produces people who go into a frenzy, who go into a rage, when God decides to honor someone, and they just can’t accept the sovereignty of God. They can’t accept the grace of God; they can’t accept the favor of God. In this passage, those who are enraged are called the nations; other translations say the heathen, which refers to the other nations outside of Israel who are godless.
So, we can say that the nations, or the heathen, refer to godless people. Godless people can be unbelievers; unfortunately, there are also believers who are godless because they refuse to allow Christ to be the center of their lives and let their own emotions and preferences drive them. They go into a big rage when God is blessing someone.
If you feel as though people are raging against you, angry that God has blessed you, there is fury because of what God is doing in your life. This Psalm will probably speak to you. And if you are one of those people who are always enraged because someone is doing well, this Psalm is for you, too. I hope that by the time we are through with this Psalm, we’ll sort ourselves out in the light of God’s word.
So, why do the heathen rage? We’ll find out a bit about it tomorrow and in the days to come. God is able to perfect His will even if people are angry because people’s anger cannot overturn God’s grace. Let’s pray. Say with me: «Heavenly Father, thank You that You make the plot of the violent useless; You are the rock of my defense. In Jesus' name, amen.»