Study Notes

Psalm 2:1-12

Introduction

You'll notice that many of the Psalms have titles and authors attached to them. Psalm 3, for example, says "A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son."

But Psalm 2 has no byline. Who wrote it? David wrote it. How do we know? Is it by looking at the handwriting on the manuscript? Is it by textual analysis, examining word usage and the poetic meter? Actually, it is by reading the New Testament.

In Acts 4, Peter and John were arrested for preaching in the name of Jesus. They were threatened and finally let go.

Acts 4:23-26 And when they had been released, they went to their own {companions,} and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard {this,} they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, "O Lord, it is Thou who DIDST MAKE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM, who by the Holy Spirit, {through} the mouth of our father David Thy servant, didst say, WHY DID THE GENTILES RAGE, AND THE PEOPLES DEVISE FUTILE THINGS? 'THE KINGS OF THE EARTH TOOK THEIR STAND, AND THE RULERS WERE GATHERED TOGETHER AGAINST THE LORD, AND AGAINST HIS CHRIST.'

This is how we know that David wrote Psalm 2.

2:1-3 The Nations In An Uproar Against The Lord

Reading this psalm, it's as if it were written this year. The nations are in an uproar against God. The people devise a vain thing against the Lord. The kings and rulers of this earth take their stand against Jesus Christ.

Then, as now, mankind is trying to refute their accountability to God, the earth's creation by God, the very existence of God.

The Bible is banned, public prayer and Christian symbols become illegal, evolution becomes the official truth, and all references to God are strictly forbidden. Truly, the nations are raging against the Lord.

2:4 God Laughs

I have a picture in my mind of who Jesus is and what He must have been like. The man who played Jesus in the Visual Bible presentation of Matthew was, I believe, as close as any human will ever get in portraying the earthly nature and persona of Jesus. His love for people was written on his face, he constantly touched those he spoke to, he laughed and connected and embraced people.

That being said, it is amazing that in all the Scriptures, there is no other verse that refers to the Lord laughing. The Lord laughs at the ridiculous picture of men who oppose Him.

I heard Frank Peretti once teaching about the New Age concept of humans believing that they are God. He described Shirley Maclaine on the beach with her spiritual guru encouraging her to shout into the sky, "I AM GOD! I AM GOD!" Then, he switched the camera up to heaven, as God laughingly said, "Gabriel, Michael, you've gotta come see this!" And as they peer over the clouds, there is the tiniest speck on this little blue marble saying minutely in a flea's voice, "i am god! i am god!"

2:5-9 The King Upon Zion

In response to Shirley's little voice, and all who claim that God is not truly God, He will speak to them in His anger. I have been re-reading the book of Revelation this week, and cannot even put into words the terror that God will put in man's heart as His fury is poured out upon the earth during the Great Tribulation. At the end of those seven years, Jesus Christ will come down conquering, and then He will rule and reign on this earth for a thousand years. He will sit upon Mount Zion and rule the nations with a rod of iron (Rev. 2:27; 12:5; 19:15).

2:10-12 Worship The Lord Or Else

It's not too late for Sadaam Hussein. It's not too late for Yeltsin, Clinton, or Prince Charles. God has been so merciful, waiting for the rulers of this earth to come to repentance, to worship the Lord, to take refuge in Him.

2Pet. 3:9-12 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!

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