Kiss the Son

Psalm 2, part 2
Kiss the Son

Introductory Thoughts


Context:

* We live in a post-Christian society, if not an Anti-Christian society.

* God’s ways are ridiculed.

* Truth is ridiculed.

* If you have standards, you are the bad guy. If you believe in morals, you are the bad guy. If you understand God to have definite, non-negotiable doctrines, you are the bad guy.

** But, the Primary meaning here is that the nations raged against the Messiah when He came, and they rose up in rebellion against Him, in the person of Pilate and the others in leadership in Judea at the time.

* We know that is a true interpretation because it is the interpretation that the Bible gives.

Acts 4:23-28

* The Rebellion of the nations—

a. The Rage of Human Rebellion— Why do the heathen rage…Rage—phruasso, froo-as'-so; to snort (as a spirited horse)

b. The Vanity of Human Rebellion—and the people imagine a vain thing?

(1) The example of Diocletian—

*** Impotence challenges omnipotence
*** Ignorance challenges omniscience
*** Subjects challenge their sovereign
*** The dying challenge the Eternal
*** The shifting sands of human frailty challenge He who changes not.
*** Darkness challenges Light
*** Lies challenge Truth
*** Hate challenges Love

c. The Leadership of the Rebellion—2 The kings of the earth –Satan’s minions

d. The Cry of the Rebellion—3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

(1) The heart of human rebellion, hating the Sovereign rule of God.

Luke 19:14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us."

(a) Man does not want to be ruled by God’s restrictions on his behavior!

(b) They want to be rid of restraints

(3) In this century, especially in the last 35 years, this has been the real cry of our society.

* Anything goes—There are no standards of morality, ethics, behavior. What a person does is their own business.

* Character does not matter

* The only wrong idea is one that restricts human freedom to do anything at all.

* Live as you choose, “different strokes for different folks…”

* Alternative lifestyles, situational ethics, sexual revolution—

e. This is what was really going on as Pilate and the Jewish religious leaders plotted and carried out the crucifixion. The rulers of this evil world—Satan’s minions—worked behind the scenes to accomplish their evil purpose.

* God’s Reaction to the Rebellion— 4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

(1) God is saying, “you have to be kidding me!”

(2) God doesn’t really find what the people are doing to be funny, but to be tragically, insanely, pathetically, stupid.

(3) There is genuine absurdity here—for weak, pitiful man to challenge God.

6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion

a. Yet—in spite of all man can do, in spite of man’s rebellion, in spite of man’s attacks on Truth and upon God’s saints, there is no stopping God.


** As Cecil B DeMille’s Pharaoh said in The Ten Commandments—“His God is God.”

Psa 2:6 "Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion."


1. God is Sovereign—7 I will declare the decree:

a. The Sovereignty of God—a central doctrine of the Bible

Psa 115:3 "But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases."

Psa 135:6 "Whatever the LORD pleases He does, In heaven and in earth, In the seas and in all deep places."

Rom 9:20 "But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?""

Dan 4:34-35 "… His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom is from generation to generation. 35 All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, "What have You done?""

b. God both can and may do whatever He wants to do, whenever He wants to do it, (as long as it does not violate His own Word and Promise), and there is no standard nor any court by which we may judge Him.

(1) The “fairness” doctrine—

(2) The “love as we see it” doctrine

(3) The “God wouldn’t do that” doctrine

(4) The “God has done all He can do” heresy

c. The people of our world and our nation worship a tiny “god” who is not the God of the Bible.

(1) I recently saw a poster in Lourdes Hospital:

“God is like Winnie the Pooh, Big and Cuddly.”

(2) What a travesty, what a lie, what an abomination! Whoever wrote that does not know God!

(3) Some People think they are God, or that God is a lot like them—

Psa 50:21 "….. You thought that I was altogether like you;

Num 23:19 ""God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?"

(4) Some people, even professing Christians, think that God is limited in His knowledge and/or power—

Dan 2:20-23 "Daniel answered and said: "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, For wisdom and might are His. 21 And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding. 22 He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him.

(5) Some people think that God’s power is too limited to help them, but the problem is in them, not in God—

Isa 59:1-2 "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear."

d. The problem is that the world really hates God and all He stands for.

(1) The world is now, and shall be, in rebellion against the Holy God of the Bible, until God consummates all things.

(2) Men want their sin, but heaven too. Men want their independence, but they want God to be there for them. Men love their Godlessness, but they want the benefits of God’s blessings—you cannot have it both ways!


2. God’s Sovereign Decree, in the face of man’s rebellion

a. Remember what the Kings have said…

Psa 2:1-5 "Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, 3 "Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us."

b. Remember God’s reaction to this silly, pathetic, desperate, rebellion of man.

4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The LORD shall hold them in derision. 5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure:"

c. But God declares the decree!

(1) The kings meet, have summits, make their proposals, lay their plans, but God simply decrees.

(2) The kings of the earth make great show of their determination to be free of God—but God simply decrees.

d. How this flies in the face of the Godless world’s view of God:

3. What is the decree of God concerning Christ? the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. 8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. 9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

a. Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee

(1) There are several possibilities and speculations as to the meaning of this phrase, but I think the two most likely are: this was spoken to Christ on the day of His birth in flesh, or this was the congratulatory greeting given by the Father to the Son upon His resurrection. I believe it was the latter.

Col 1:18 "And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence."

Rev 1:5 "and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,"

(2) The Father congratulates His Son on His triumphant working of redemption through His life, death, burial, and resurrection.

** Read Hebrews Chapter 1

b. As a result, the following promise is given: 8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. 9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

(1) The millennial Kingdom is part and parcel of this promise.

(2) Verse 8 sees a partial fulfillment in the salvation of people from all nations

(3) But the iron and unquestioned rule of Christ over the nations of the Earth takes place in the Millennial Kingdom.

(a) After the Millennial Kingdom, the earth ceases to exist.

Rev 21:1 "Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
(b) And in the New Heavens and the New Earth, the character of the rule is not the iron rule, but the gentle rule of those who are in full agreement with the King.

* Rev 21:23-22:4

4. The Message to the Kings and Judges of the Earth.—10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. 11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him."

a. Since this psalm has a more than one fulfillment, a near and a far, I believe this warning can be taken universally to the kings then, the kings now, and the kings in the future, and for that matter, to every human being.

b. Be Wise, Be Teachable—10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

c. Serve God with reverence and rejoicing—this is not just a call to obedience, but to faith, for only the saved truly fear and rejoice in the Presence of God—11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

5. One Instruction, Three Warnings, and a Blessing—12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.

a. One Instruction—Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.

(1) This is not a request!

Acts 17:30-31 ""Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 "because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.""

(2) Kiss the Son—draw near to Him, pay homage to Him, Love Him, Believe in Him, Serve Him!

(3) You will one day bow the knee to Him, how much better to kiss Him in this life.

b. The First Warning—Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.

(1) Jesus Angry?

** Rev 6:16-17!!

(2) This is not the Hollywood version of Jesus, this is not the liberal version of Jesus, but this is the Jesus of the Bible!

(3) ** 2 Th 1:3-8—a day of vengeance is coming, and it is the vengeance wrought by the Hand of the Lamb of God!

c. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.

(1) Just as in Pilgrim’s Progress, there were those who were walking in the way, but they were not of the Way.

(2) The wrath of the Lamb will make the nations who rejected Him perish! His anger is not temporary, nor will it be muted by any device sinful man may employ.

d. The Third Warning—Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.

(1) What will be the last straw?

(2) What action of yours will be the last bit of rope that God gives you?

(3) When will the patience of the Almighty expire?

e. The Blessed Promise—Blessed are all they that put their trust in him."

(1) Blessed—the only blessing in the universe which is of eternal significance.

(2) All—the blessing is for all who believe—

Acts 2:39 ""For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.""

(3) Trust in Him—

(a) Do not trust in any other

(b) Trust, not just assent, not just blank belief.

(c) Trust in Him!