Delighting or Denying
Psalm 2:1-6
“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." He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The LORD shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure: "Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion." "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.' " 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.”
Today we will begin looking at Psalm 2. Already as I was studying to do these chats, I begin to realize how little I really know about the Psalms and their background. It is like when we were going through Revelation, I was amazed at how I learned so much more about the book as we took time each day to look at a few verses. As I said a few days ago, I’ve read through the book of Psalms over 600 times in the past 50 years. Every day I read at least 5 Psalms. I’ve memorized hundreds of verses in the Psalms.
I have preached many messages out of the Psalms over the years. But I’ve never gone through the Psalms, in a study like this. And already I have been very blessed and excited about what we are going to learn over the next several months as we study them together with you!
The great pastor and preacher from yesteryear, Charles Spurgeon called Psalm 2, The Psalm of Messiah the Prince.” He also wrote a very large book on all the Psalms called the “Treasury of David”. It is still in print today and would be a great reference in your personal study of the Psalms.
There is an interesting contrast between the first two psalms. Psalm 1 is personal and focuses on the Law, while Ps. 2 is national and focuses on prophecy. The New Testament writers looked at the Old Testament writers in two divisions and often referred to it as the Law and the Prophets. Even Jesus referred to the Old Testament in this way in Luke 24:27, 44, calling it the “Law of Moses and the Prophets”.
We see another contrast in Psalm 1, where the people delighted and meditated on the law of God. But in Psalm 2, the people rebel and defy the law of God.
A noticeable feature in the Book of Psalms is the systematic arrangement. The first psalm presents the perfect man, the happy man. (And I believe it pictures the Lord Jesus Christ as the last Adam.) Now in contrast to the perfect man, the blessed man in Psalm 1, we see the rebellious man in Psalm 2. We can call this the Genesis section of the Book of Psalms, and the parallel is striking. Genesis begins with the perfect man, the happy man, in the Garden of Eden. But he became the rebellious man who ran away from God, was no longer seeking Him, who had no capacity for Him. Now here in Psalm 2 we find the children of Adam – mankind in their rebellion against God.
May the Lord use these studies in Psalms to motivate us to love and delight in the Lord our God more every day!
God bless!