By Bunni Pounds

*This blog is part of our weekly, virtual Bible Study through the book of Psalms. For information on how to participate, please visit this page.

“Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
 ‘Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.’” (verse 1-3)

The nations rage. Everyone always asks WHY. Why can’t we just have peace? 

In the midst of increasing violence throughout the earth – riots in Portland, protests in the streets that have many times turned to vandalism, and now our United States Capitol ransacked – people on the right and the left want the same thing – PEACE.

As humankind - we want calm, unity, and harmony, but we experience quite the opposite here on earth. All nations experience this. No government is perfect. No one is exempt from feeling the strain occurring throughout the nations of the earth. 

Why do leaders, rulers, and kings have to be so selfish - we ask? The Scripture here reminds us that “the people” are caught up in vanity and the kings and rulers respond to those “vain things” by setting themselves up higher, staying together, and then turning against the Lord and ultimate wisdom. 

I have seen it repeatedly with politicians who grow tired of hearing the voices of people who are at times misguided or misinformed – so they shut them out. Sometimes the people are the ones speaking truth, but they are still not heard. The leaders isolate. They only speak amongst themselves, and their hearts are hardened. They end up breaking off the cords of reason. They look for wisdom in the wrong places. 

For the people they need to examine their hearts and make sure they are not just pursuing vanity – excessive pride or futility. And the leaders need to examine their hearts and determine if they are responding in the proper way to the people who they are called to serve – regardless many times of their quick judgments. 

The question for us today is how does God respond to this? Is He surprised by all of this chaos? 

“He who sits in the heavens shall laugh…” (verse 4)

He laughs. It is not a superficial emotion – but verse 4 says “The Lord shall hold them in derision.”

Derision is defined as ridicule or mockery – contempt, scorn, scoffing.

God is sitting high above them – above the fray. In a way He is removed from their vanity and lack of wisdom and is seated in a higher place, but He knows something that they might not understand. He has set His ruler in place – His Son who will ultimately judge and break all of their systems. (verse 6)

This eternal truth of His exalted Son and ultimate eternal ruler is why He laughs, and this is a perspective that should give us all great peace and joy. 

“I will declare the decree:
The Lord has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
 Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’” (verses 7-9)

This is a beautiful Messianic prophetic passage in the Old Testament of Father God lifting up and giving everything to His Son – Jesus. It is also a passage that can be properly used as a promise to us as we go – as His ambassadors into the nations to bring the gospel. 

Remember the proclamation of the Father from heaven when Jesus was getting baptized in the river Jordan by John – “And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”(Matthew 3:17)

Even in Acts 13 – Paul preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles from this passage – making it truly clear to everyone listening that Jesus’ life was prophesied about in the Law and the Prophets and that Psalm 2 was fulfilled when Jesus was raised from the dead and glorified. (Acts 13:32-34)

In the book of Revelation, we see the fulfillment of Jesus’ inheritance being fulfilled as the redeemed sing a song around the throne. Such a beautiful passage of the end of the age and the power of His blood to redeem us as individuals but also people from every nation. 

“And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
 And have made us kings and priests to our God;
And we shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9-10)

I love that Jesus is the ultimate ruler of the nations. He is KING! The God Man with ultimate wisdom, truth, justice, mercy, love, and forgiveness is the King of the whole earth. In the midst of the nations’ raging even during this year – this should give us, as believers, a lot of peace. 

Now how are the kings of the earth going to respond to this ultimate reality? 

“Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.” (verses 10-12)

It says “Now therefore”. Because of the truth spelled out that the Son of God is the ultimate king and ruler of the world, the kings of the earth have only one choice if they don’t want to come into judgment – “serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son...”

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10). 

When as a leader we realize that we are ultimately not in control – what do we do? We should yield to the more powerful leader.

If we discover that someone has been put in as our superior on a job, we have to yield, respect, and obey, right? We don’t have much of a choice if we want to keep our job. 

This is where the kings of the earth are. They must yield!

Either they “kiss the Son” now or in eternity, but they will “kiss the Son”. All of us will.

“For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.” (Romans 14:11)

Whether we are serving as a government leader, a church leader, an ordinary person trying to find their way through life, or a young person trying to find wisdom in a messed-up world - know this: JESUS is King.  

If we run to Him now in our daily lives - we will find wisdom, truth, joy and peace for this life and the life to come. 

I know I would rather “kiss the Son” now rather than later. I want to know Him intimately, give Him reverence, and join Him in asking the Father for the nations of the earth as His inheritance. There is really nothing else to live for. Everything else is a “vain thing”.

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