Faith Presbyterian Church - Birmingham
At Faith Presbyterian Church we are seeking to exalt Jesus Christ the King and to exhibit and extend his Kingdom through worship, community, and mission.
Faith Presbyterian Church - Birmingham
Psalm 2:1-12; The Front Door of the Psalms
Martin Wagner May 25, 2025 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL Bulletin
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This summer we are looking at a different psalm each week, and this morning we are looking at Psalm 2, which we will read here in just a moment. In 1905, albert Einstein published a paper that was called Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its energy content? It sounds like riveting reading, I know. The paper theorized that mass can be turned into energy and that even the tiniest amount of mass holds a huge amount of energy. The paper laid the foundation for a simple but profound equation that we know as E equals MC squared. Most physicists regarded Einstein's conclusion as fascinating, but little more than abstract theoretical insight. Einstein himself described the paper and its conclusions as scarcely interesting enough to even be submitted to the academy, and the paper received little attention when it was published. A few decades later, experimental physicists began to realize what they had on their hands, but it wasn't until World War II and the Manhattan Project that Einstein's equation transformed from just academic curiosity into a weapon of unprecedented destructive power. So why the physics and history lesson this morning? E equals mc squared had some meaning in 1905 when it was first published, yet no one could have imagined the literal explosive power that it would have 40 years later, in a similar way.
Speaker 1:To the original audience, psalm 2 would have spoken about Israel's great King David, the one on the throne of Israel, the Lord's anointed one. And to the original audience, this psalm would have been a reminder of God's faithfulness to His people. But the psalm gets a kind of atomic, thermonuclear energy when we read it and we interpret it in light of the coming of Christ, the true and better. David, the King who is above all kings. And so how do we interpret Psalm 2? In the immediate context, we interpret it through King David, but in the ultimate sense, we interpret it through Jesus, the true king of Zion. And so this, like so many other passages that we have in the Old Testament, we have to read on two horizons. We have to think about it in the immediate context, but also in the ultimate sense as well. And so let's read Psalm 2 this morning.
Speaker 1:Hear God's cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying Ask for me. I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell of the decree the Lord set to me. You are my son, today I have begotten. You Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them into pieces like a potter's vessel. Now therefore, o kings, be wise. Be warned, o rulers 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, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Let's pray, lord, help us now as we turn to your word, and pray that you would speak to us by your spirit, that you would make this more than just an academic exercise for us or just something that we do, but that, through the power of your spirit, that you would make this more than just an academic exercise for us or just something that we do, but that, through the power of your Spirit, that you would transform our hearts, that you would remind us again of what a great Savior we have in Jesus, and it's in his name we pray, amen. You noticed in your bulletin that both Psalm 1 and 2 were printed for us.
Speaker 1:This morning we're only going to look at Psalm 2, but it's hard for us to understand the context of Psalm 2 without the first Psalm there as well, because together, these two Psalms, they form the front door of the Psalter. For us, front doors tell you what kind of place you're going to. Imagine you're walking up to these beautiful 12-foot wooden, ornate, beautifully decorated doors. You could surmise that you're not going into a storage shed. Or imagine that you walk up to a door that is dented. The paint is peeling off and the windows are broken. You would imagine that you're not entering into this year's show house. Some churches paint their doors red. You may have been to a church like this. They paint their doors red because it symbolizes that when you enter this place you're entering through the blood, that when you're in this space you are there by and through the blood of Jesus. Doors tell you something about what the rest of the building is going to be like. In similar ways, psalm 1 and 2 are the front doors that tell us this is what the rest of the book of Psalms is going to be like. This is a preview of what's in store.
Speaker 1:Psalm 1 describes the blessed man. The blessed man, psalm 1 says, is one who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of scoffers. His life is like a tree planted by streams of water. In all he does, he prospers. In Psalm 1, this blessed man is described, but he's never named. But he is revealed to us in Psalm 2. The blessed man of Psalm 1 is the Lord's anointed that we read about in verse 2. The word that's used for anointed is the same word that we use for Messiah or Christ. The front doors of Psalm 1 and 2 are about the blessed man, the Messiah, the Son of God. They are Jesus-shaped doors, if you will. And so if the front doors of the Psalms are about Jesus, what does that tell us about the rest of the house of Psalms that we will look at this summer? It tells us that they're about Jesus as well, that you and I can't understand the Psalms if we don't understand Jesus.
Speaker 1:St Augustine once wrote Christ is the singer of the Psalms. Christ is both the subject of the Psalms and he is the voice of the Psalms. When we sing the Psalms, we join our voices with His praying back, his words in faith to the Father, not just this morning, but the whole summer as we look at the Psalms, we will sing the Psalms together with our Savior, and one of the key ways we know that Psalm 1 and 2 are intended to be read together is how they begin and end. You notice, at the beginning of Psalm 1, the first line is Blessed is the man, and Psalm 2 ends with Blessed are all who take refuge in Him. And sandwiched between that beginning and end is a description of the blessed life. Is a description of the blessed life. What does it mean to live a happy and joyful and meaningful life? Psalm 1 shows us the kind of life that is blessed. Psalm 2 tells us who the one is that brings that blessing into our life.
Speaker 1:Psalm 2 is arranged in four stanzas, each of us helping to answer that core question that we all have how is it that we find joy in meaning and purpose and satisfaction in life? And since you showed up for worship on Memorial Day weekend, you get a bonus sermon point today. Usually there are three points and we have four points today. Some may argue that it should be a two-point sermon if you come on a holiday weekend, but I'm not going to argue with you, but there will be four points to the sermon today. So the four points this morning verses 1 to 3, we see a universal rebellion. In verse 4, we have a sovereign response. In verses 5 to 9, we have a surprising solution, and then in verses 10 to 12, there is a gracious invitation for us. So, first, a universal rebellion. What is humanity's answer? How does all of humanity answer the question of what is the good life? In short, since the Garden of Eden, humanity's universal response to that question is that happiness and joy are found as far away from the rule and reign of God as possible.
Speaker 1:This psalm begins the nations rage in the people's plot and vein. That word plot is the same word that is used in Psalm 1-2 as the word meditate in Psalm 1-2 as the word meditate. And so the picture you get is that the kings of the earth are meditating on how to throw off the rule and reign of God. Rather than meditating on the Word of God, as the blessed man does in Psalm 1, they're meditating on how to rebel against God. They do this because they don't want His control. They think that freedom and happiness can be found by bursting and casting away the cords of God's control and reign in their life.
Speaker 1:It could be easy for us to read this and to wag our finger at those around us that we think this is talking about. But what I want us to see is that we are not innocent bystanders in this rebellion. We can be just like the rulers and nations shaking our fists at God's authority. These verses are about us. They are about our sin and our insurrection. We don't want the cords of God's rule and reign either. In a way, psalm 2 is not just a geopolitical statement. It is a mirror for the people of God to see our own rebellion.
Speaker 1:Psalm 2 tells us that we too have set ourselves against the Lord's anointed. And that can be easy to see when you and I are living in outright sin. Easy for us to say well, they are trying to throw off the rule and reign of God. But what's not as easy to see is how we can rebel against God, not in our badness, but in our goodness. We try to live in such a way as though we don't actually need a Savior. We try to live such morally upright lives that we can sidestep any real need we have for Jesus.
Speaker 1:The writer Flannery O'Connor once wrote the best way to avoid Jesus is to avoid sin. The best way to avoid Jesus is to avoid sin. Our self-righteousness can be just as dangerous as our overt sin, because our self-righteousness, it distracts us, it blinds us to our need for grace. What verses 1 to 3 show us is that, apart from the grace of Christ, that all of us are rebels, that we all rage, we all plot, we all set ourselves against the rule and reign of God. It's not just them out there. There are parts of our own hearts that have sought to find the good and blessed life by trying anything apart from the rule of God. But perhaps that's where you are this morning. Perhaps you are running as far away from the rule of God, but perhaps that's where you are this morning. Perhaps you are running as far away from the rule of God as you can. What I simply want to do is to hold up a mirror to all of us and ask you how is that going? How is that rebellion going? Has the rebellion and independence you are seeking, has it brought the satisfaction and joy that you thought it would? No, so, in light of our universal rebellion, we have a sovereign response in verse 4.
Speaker 1:One of the joys of being a dad is the chance to do all the annoying things that my dad did to me and I get to do them to my sons. I can remember as a young kid wanting to challenge my dad to an arm wrestling match, wanting to challenge my dad to an arm wrestling match. And so we would lock hands and he would say go. And I would grimace and grunt and I would try my hardest this time, thinking it was going to be different, and his arm wouldn't even move, it wouldn't budge even a little bit. And he would look over at me calmly and smile and he would say well, just let me know when you're going to start and it'll be fine, just let me know when you're going to start. And I would get so frustrated by my dad not even acknowledging my effort. It was infuriatingly hilarious. It was the perfect dad thing to do in a situation like that and something that I have enjoyed passing on to my kids.
Speaker 1:But you get that kind of picture in verse 4. God, the one who sits in the heavens, is just laughing. That's all the rebellion that you've got All the kings and all the powers and all the dominions. They are grimacing, they're trying their hardest and God in heaven is looking down saying just let me know when you're really going to start the rebellion. All the rebellion in the world will not thwart the plan of God. He's not laughing in the heavens in a way that minimizes what it means to rebel against a holy and righteous God, or he's not laughing in a way that mocks or diminishes those made in his image. He laughs because of the irony that is playing out. The kings and the nations and all of humanity, we think that our rebellion is going to trump God's plan, that we will break free. And God laughs in the certainty of one who knows how the story ends. His plan is not going to be derailed by rebellion. What we see is God's plan is actually fulfilled, not apart from man's rebellion, but actually through our rebellion and sin. But God's laughter is not the end of the story. That leads us to his surprising solution.
Speaker 1:Our third point that we see in verses 5 to 9. First, in verses 5 to 6, god responds to the world's defiance and rebellion. What's stunning to me in verses 5 and 6 is not what he says, but actually what he could have said. God would have been no less just, no less holy, no less righteous if verses 5 and 6 had read something like this, then he will speak to them in His wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying depart from me. If independence is what you want and you can have it, you will receive the just reward for everything you have done. God would have been completely just to have said that to us, but he doesn't say that.
Speaker 1:What is God's response to our rebellion? He says as for me, I've set my king on my holy hill. God's response to humanity's rebellion is to say I have a king who is going to put everything right. I have made a covenant with my people and I am so committed to the promises that I have made to my people that my fury and my wrath will not fall upon them, but it will fall upon my king. My king is going to wear a crown, but it will be a crown of thorns. This is God's surprising solution to human rebellion. It is not a sword, but a son. He does not declare judgment, but rather he declares that his king is going to be the one on the throne. This king will allow himself to be broken like the potter's vessel.
Speaker 1:At the cross, jesus experienced the fury and the wrath that verse 5 describes not as judgment against him, but as judgment for what you and I have done. And then, in verse 7, the king speaks. The second person of the Trinity is echoing the words of the first person of the Trinity you are my son and today I have begotten you. This is not the only time that we hear words like this in the Scriptures, god the Father saying these words of God the Son. We see them at Jesus' baptism. We also hear them at the Mount of Transfiguration. These words are a public announcement of Jesus' divine sonship and his kingship.
Speaker 1:But we don't just see the announcement of the king, we also see the mission of the king. We also see the mission of the king. Look at verse 8. Ask of me and I will give the nations to you. All the ends of the earth is your possession. The irony is that the very nations who, in verse 1, were raging against the Lord will be his possession one day. The king is not just coming to save individuals. The king comes to claim the entire world, to bring every square inch of the world under his dominion and rule. The mission of Jesus is that all of the nations of the world would belong to him, that at the name of Jesus every knee would bow. Every tongue in heaven and on earth would declare that Jesus is Lord of all.
Speaker 1:And what we see in this psalm is that you and I find joy and fulfillment in life as we submit to the King and as we participate and join in his mission. That is the good life. Simply, that is the life that is blessed. But how do we get that life? How is it that we participate in that life? And that brings us to our fourth point, in verses 10 to 12, where we encounter a gracious invitation. This invitation is a merciful call that extends to everyone on earth.
Speaker 1:Verse 10 begins with a warning to the very kings and rulers who were trying to break free from God's authorities. Is therefore O kings, be wise, be warned, o rulers of the earth. Notice the tone here. This is not the voice of condemnation that you or I might have or that we might expect. Instead, it is the voice of a patient father offering one more attempt, one more offer of reconciliation. The words that grabbed my attention this week as I was studying this passage were the last two words of this psalm, the words in him, small words, but they hold the key to understanding this entire passage.
Speaker 1:Psalm 2 ends by calling us to take refuge in the Son, in him, and that phrase in him ought to ring a bell for us, because in him or in Christ is the phrase that the New Testament uses throughout to describe the entirety of what it means to be a Christian, to be united to Christ. You can barely read a page in the New Testament without seeing that in Him or in Christ. It's not just about us believing things about Jesus, it's about being found in Him. Things about Jesus. It's about being found in Him. The blessed life, the joyful, happy life that we all want, is found when we take refuge in the King. But let me give you an illustration that I adapted from something I read recently that will help us to understand this.
Speaker 1:What I want you to do is to imagine that you are at LaGuardia Airport, you're at a gate and you're waiting to get on a plane that's going to take you back to Birmingham, and so the question before you is simple what relationship do you need to have to the plane that is at the gate in order to get back to Birmingham? Would it help you if you were positioned under the plane? Would it help you to acknowledge that the plane is the supreme authority in all manners related to flight and aviation. Certainly, the plane is powerful, it's impressive, it's a beautiful machine that can fly, it's amazing. But being beneath the plane doesn't get you to Birmingham. What if you were inspired by the plane? Would that get you home? You could stand at the gate and you could watch your flight take off and you could say that's amazing. One day, I too will take to the skies and I will fly my way back to Birmingham. How incredible, how inspiring. Inspiration is wonderful, but inspiration won't get you to Birmingham. Perhaps you could follow after the plane. After all, if the plane is headed to Birmingham, logic tells us that if you follow the plane, you'll get to Birmingham. But we all know how that ends, don't we? It ends with you being exhausted at the end of the runway and your plane disappearing into the clouds. The relationship you need isn't to be under the plane, it isn't to be inspired by the plane. It isn't to be inspired by the plane or even following behind the plane. You need to be in the plane, because if you are inside the plane, the question of did you make it to Birmingham is answered by a second question Did the plane make it to Birmingham, Because if the plane made it to Birmingham and you're in the plane, then you made it to Birmingham.
Speaker 1:This is a picture of the gospel for us. Our salvation does not depend on our performance under Christ. Our salvation does not depend upon our inspiration about Christ or our ability to follow after Christ. It depends entirely, 100%, on us being in Christ. When we are united to Him by faith, his victory becomes our victory. His righteousness becomes our righteousness. His destination is now our destination. To be in Christ is to be one who is carried along. It is to rest in His strength and in His merit, and not your own. It is to be held fast even when you are feeling weak and confused and you are failing In Christ. You and I are not striving to earn a place. We already have one. You are secure, you're seated on the plane and you are headed for home, where he is preparing a place for you even now.
Speaker 1:But this is where the psalm's warning becomes deeply urgent for us, because the opposite is also true. There is refuge in Him, but what that means is that there is no refuge outside of Him. In the chaos of our anxious age, we are constantly looking to so many other things to give us shelter. We want everything around us to give us a sense of safety and control and peace. We run to our political affiliations. We're convinced that if the right person is in power, then everything will be okay. But election cycles come and go, political promises get broken and what we see is that no earthly king or ruler can provide what the king in Psalm 2 promises to give us.
Speaker 1:We chase success and reputation. We curate our online image, hoping that will make us secure. We craft the perfect Instagram story. We accumulate likes and followers, hoping that digital validation will somehow make us feel worthy. But what happens when the algorithm changes? What happens when the comments turn cruel and critical?
Speaker 1:We seek refuge in relationships and we place an unbearable weight of expectations for security and identity on our spouses and on our friends and our children, weight and expectations that no human can bear. We retreat into distractions to numb out, to bury our fears, to avoid our deep sense of meaninglessness. But our phones can't bear the weight to be our refuge. We attach to entertainment, to substances and to overwork to avoid the terrifying reality that you and I are not in control. But here's the truth. Every one of those refuges will fail us, political systems will shift, economies will crash, accomplishments will fade, people will disappoint us and our bodies will break down. And only one refuge will stand firm Jesus Christ, the Son whom God has enthroned on His holy hill.
Speaker 1:But maybe you're thinking you don't know what I've done. I have shaken my fist at God for years. I have made so many choices in life that have hurt others and I have made a mess of my life and I have destroyed relationships. I'm filled with shame. I'm tired and anxious and empty. Surely this invitation doesn't extend to someone like me, but that's exactly why this psalm is such good news for us. Look again at verse 12. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him. It doesn't say blessed are all the good ones who take refuge in Him. Blessed are all of those who haven't messed up a lot in life, but blessed are all who take refuge in Him. Everyone who looks to Christ is safe in Him. The point is not what you have done or haven't done. The point is who you were looking to for refuge. The invitation still stands. Kiss the son, bow in love and trust to the one who gave his life for rebels like you and me.
Speaker 1:Some of you may have experienced loss that makes it hard for you to believe that God could actually be good. You've buried loved ones, you've received a devastating diagnosis that has changed your life. You have watched your marriage crumble and your life is just a mess right now. And when we talk about God's sovereignty and God's kingship, part of you might think well, if he's really in control, you ought to look at my life, because it doesn't seem like he's in control in my life. If God is sovereign, why does my life look the way it looks right now?
Speaker 1:I can't answer all of those questions this morning, but I can tell you this that the King of Psalm 2 is not ruling the earth from a distant throne. He is not untouched by human suffering. He entered our pain. This king knows what it is like to feel abandoned and to suffer unjustly and to face death. And when you take refuge in Jesus, you are not running to someone who doesn't understand. You're running to someone who has walked through the valley with you and someone who promises to be with you in your suffering and pain. But here's what I want you to see is that the King just didn't visit us in our suffering. Our King has conquered suffering for us. The same hands that were pierced on the cross are the hands that now hold you as His child.
Speaker 1:The voice that cried my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Is the same voice that now says I will never leave you or forsake you. The nations may rage, the foundations of the world may tremble, your own foundations of life may feel like they are crumbling beneath you, but there is one foundation that cannot be moved, and so, this morning, I'm simply asking you this will you take refuge in Jesus? Will you let the King who bore your sorrows carry your burdens? Today, this week, week, when you feel that familiar anxiety and discomfort rising, instead of reaching for your phone to scroll away the discomfort, can you say Jesus, I take refuge in you.
Speaker 1:When shame whispers that you are not enough, or that you've done too much, or that you are defective in some fundamental way, can you speak back to that and say I am in Christ and His righteousness belongs to me. When you're tempted to find your identity in others' approval, can you look and say I have the approval of Jesus. I have the only approval that really matters, the only approval that can't be taken away from me. And so the question for us all is will you take refuge in Jesus today? Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Let's pray, lord, now take this word that we have heard, and we pray that you would multiply it in your hands. Lord, some of us are hurting and tired, and I pray that you would enable us to take refuge in your Son and that we would find that he is a kind Savior who welcomes sinners, and so we pray that you would bless us and, by your Spirit, work that which is pleasing in your sight. We pray it in Jesus' name, amen.