The King Above All Kings - Pastor Tom Loghry
**We experienced some audio issues during the service so the recording quality was unfortunately diminished**
In Psalm 2, we see prophecy of Christ’s reign and evidence of his sovereignty.
Transcript:
You see, there must always be some authority. In the secular vacuum, man becomes God. We make the rules, no one else. Very literally, this is a human conspiracy against the rule of king Jesus. Who among our politicians serves as though they must be prepared to answer to Jesus Christ? It seems to be few and far between. We lack this example from our political leaders, which influences our own attitudes as well as our expectations of our leaders, and so we go further and further away from fearing God. He's rendered irrelevant, a Sunday sideshow before football, a private matter of no public concern. Even the pagan kings of millennia past, who defied the one true God in pursuing false gods, still lived in fear of appeasing their demonic deities. Religion was a matter of national security. Religion as a matter of national security.
We can hear the politicians laughing.
But who will have the last laugh?
We see who will have that last laugh in Psalm two as we turn there and begin with verses one through three. David writes, he says, why? Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.
See, even in David's time, he observes how it is the tendency of human rulers to seek to overthrow the rule of God and His anointed. Now his anointed would be this king from the line of David.
There's an uprising that's taking place on the globe, not merely among the general populace, which that's true, but especially among world leaders, the desires to break the chains and throw off their shackles. You see, the desire of these rulers is that they themselves would be God, that they would sit on the throne.
And what we see here is just an echo of the pattern that was set by Satan and his own rebellion against God, a rebellion which led to the fall of the third of the angels. Now, David says they're conspiring in vain though, all their ideas of overthrowing God are going to come to naught. And we hear God's voice explicitly in the following verses, we go on to verses four through nine. Says, the one enthroned in heaven laughs; The Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, I have installed my king on Zion, my Holy Mountain. I'll proclaim the Lord's decree: he said to me, you are my son; today I have become your father. Ask, me and I'll make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You'll break them with a rod of iron; you'll dash them to pieces like pottery.
You see, the Lord hears and sees everything that the rulers of this earth are trying to do, and he laughs at them. He scoffs at them. It's like toddlers trying to take on Mike Tyson, it's a joke. And yet it's also a serious matter that warrants his rebuke, that calls for his wrath. Because while they are trying to overthrow the rule of the Lord, God is quite clear. Verse six, he says, I have installed my king on Zion, my Holy Mountain. Period. End of sentence. The Lord's anointed shall, shall rule.
Now, this one who was to rule, this king, again, is one from the line of David. David says that you received the Lord's decree, verses seven through nine says, this is what I heard from the Lord says, you are my son; today I become your father. Ask me, and I'll make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You'll break them with a rod of iron, you'll dash them to pieces like pottery.
Now, David received this word, but clearly David could not fulfill this decree given by the Lord because he died.
The ends of the earth did not become his personal possession. He did not break all the nations with the rod of iron and dash into pieces like pottery. He, he had, he knew some success, he knew some glory during the time of his reign, but nothing coming close to this. So it's not talking about David. It must be talking about someone else of his line, of the line of David. And what we see as we go into the New Testament is that in fact it is Jesus Christ, who is of the tribe of Judah, of the line of David, who fulfills this prophecy, and the Apostles make reference to Psalm two in this regard in Acts four. We were in Acts four, we were in the Book of Acts, not, not too long ago.
You might recall there when the early church was enduring some, some persecution, they were recalling how God sovereignly superintended everything that transpired with Christ's crucifixion, and they can see the handiwork of God cause they know Psalm two. In Acts four, verse 24 through 28 says when they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. Sovereign Lord, they said, you made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our Father David. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.
Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. So yes, we might say generally that is the case, that we look at at the rulers of this world and we see, yes, they're all engaged in this conspiracy against God.
They prefer their own rule rather than the rule of God, the rule of Christ. But very specifically, we see that Herod and Pontius Pilate definitively fulfilled this word, that they conspired against God's anointed Jesus Christ, and so on the whole Jesus is the one that Psalm two is ultimately talking about here.
And when we think about Jesus, we have to ask, well, who is he? We said that, yes, he's the son of David. He's the son of Mary. He's not the son of Joseph by the flesh, though, because he was miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit within Mary's womb. He is the son of God and he's preexisting, that is his existence didn't, existence didn't begin at his conception as is the case with all of us. He existed before then, the Apostle John in John 1:1-2 testifies. It says in the beginning was the word, and the word standing in place here for Jesus. In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning. The Son of God is eternally pre, preexisting. There was never a time in which the son was not, but there was a time when his human existence began, and so when we see that it says in verses, in verse seven, you are my son; today, I become your father. We're sure that what's being referred to here is, is not Jesus's existence on the whole, he's always existing. He's, he's eternal. The person of the son is eternal. However, it's also not referring to the time of his birth as you might think, rather, instead it's talking about Jesus' resurrection, which may seem curious to you, but it'll become clear as we go along.
This interpretation is not something I've come up with for my own, but just by looking at scripture, scripture interpreting scripture, we find in Acts and in Romans how this is, why it is understood to be meant in Psalm two, that it's referring to Jesus' Resurrection. In Acts 13, verse 32 through 33 says, we tell you the good news: what God promised our ancestors he's fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm, you are my son; today I have become your father. And we look at what Paul says in Romans one. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God, the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scripture regarding his son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the spirit of holiness, was appointed the son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. You see what we have occurring at the time of Christ's resurrection is this great revealing of who Jesus truly is. Why was Jesus crucified? Think about that. Why was Jesus crucified? Jesus crucified, not cause he was a nice guy, and Pontius Pilate and Herod and all the Jews were a bunch of meanies, although they kind of were, but it was because he claimed to be the son of God. They understood what he was saying in his preaching and his teaching that he was making that sort of claim, and so they crucified him for that. Now, if he stayed dead, it would seem that they were right and he was not, in fact, the son of God. But if he's claimed to be the son of God and they crucify him, and then he is raised from the dead, well that would seem to certainly verify his claims, wouldn't it?
It would reveal that he is in fact the son of God, that he is the true king, the promised Messiah. When we look to the epistle to the Hebrews, we see a lot of this come, coming together in terms of Jesus' identity and and how he is truly, in fact, fulfilling Psalm two here. It says, in the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times in various ways, but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in Heaven.
So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son; today I become your father? Or again, I'll be his father, and he'll be my son? And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, let all God's angels worship him.
So it's interesting here in Hebrews, we see both the fact that Jesus is preexistent, God's firstborn come into the world, and yet there's also this sense of, of Jesus' status being realized. It's being revealed by everything that transpires here on Earth. It's being revealed to the world so that it is seen that he is truly the son of God.
And because of that, because he's divine, he's worthy of worship as, as God. You see this anticipated in Daniel seven verses 13 through 14. Jesus, very often in his ministry refers to himself as the son of man and, and yes, as a testimony to his humanity, but it's also a testimony to this prophecy. It says in my vision at night, I looked and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.
He approached the ancient of of days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. So, of course, Daniel's writing after the time of David here.
It's not talking about David. You must be talking about someone else of the line of David cause this promise coincides. But it's one who's worthy of being worshiped. Now, if you know your, your Bible, especially the Old Testament, you do not worship human beings. You do not worship false gods. You only worship the one true God.
And so this can only mean that this one who's the son of man is Son of God, God come to us in the flesh. And so very rightly, the ends of the earth would belong to him because he is truly the king of kings and his rule is manifest in a rod of iron. You call it a scepter of of iron. He's going to break the rebellion.
He's going to destroy them like you would just crush pottery. And we see reference to this made in the book of Revelation. I'm not gonna read every single verse here, but it's just interesting seeing Revelation two or Revelation 12. Revelation 17. Revelation 19, repeated references made back to Psalm two.
And it's all, and it's also interesting that in Revelation 2 there's this indication that we're going to share the rule and reign of the Son. The short of it is this, is that this coup against God, against the one true king is going to be crushed.
In light of this, David says that these world leaders should take notice of this reality. Wrapping up in verses 10 through 12. Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. Kiss his son, or he'll be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
The rulers of the earth are called to be wise, to be warned because all their plotting is in vain. The king will not be denied his rule. They should instead serve the Lord with fear and celebrate the rule of king Jesus rather than begrudging his rule. You see, all those in political authority are supposed to function as servants of God.
Paul talks about this in Romans 13, commending how we should submit to the governing authorities as God's servants. But kind of along the way, we see this point made about who they're supposed to be. It says, for the one in authority is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They're God's servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.
So while we should submit to the governing authorities, they are supposed to submit to God, they're to submit to King Jesus, they should kiss the son.
Jesus says in John 5: 23, whoever does not honor the son, does not honor the father who sent him. And if they do not honor Jesus Christ, their end will ultimately be destruction.
But that not, but that is not the case for those who would take refuge in him, who would respect Jesus as King. And we're reminded of the reality of Christ's Kingdom in John 18: 33, 36- 37, which he gives us before Pontius Pilate. Now here, Jesus says that his kingdom is not of this world. But the very same moment we are seeing the reality of Jesus' Kingdom. Then Pilate went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, are you the king of the Jews? Picking up from verse 36 says, my kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place. You are a king, then! said Pilate. Jesus answered, you say that I am a king. In fact, the reaason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.
Jesus' kingdom is not from this world, but is nonetheless a very real kingdom. And in fact, we should say that it is more real than the, than the kingdoms, the regimes, the government of this world, it's greater than all of 'em. It transcends them and encompasses them, so that all should divert to Jesus Christ. Jesus is not one among many, he is the one above all.
Few people can call themselves world leaders. Not many serve in such positions of authority, but Psalm 2 nonetheless, is speaking to all of us. To the majority, we who are out of power, Psalm two reassures us that even the mighty and the powerful must answer to God, that they are mere servants in the presence of the great high King, Jesus. We are reminded that our security is not found in pledging our fealty to these political actors, trading our souls for the delusions of strength and grandeur they may offer in exchange.
We have one Lord, we have one king, and his name is Jesus Christ- it is only with respect to his will, in accordance with his standards and ways, that we submit to any of these other rulers who are mere subordinates to him.
For people such as ourselves who live in a democratic republic, Psalm two also reminds us that we should seek to elect leaders who genuinely fear the Lord. So many only want to use Jesus for political gain and we must be discerning. For as much as they say, we must discern whether what they say matches up with their actions. Now, sometimes, I would say usually, we can only do the best we can, because we can, we struggle, honestly, to find any leaders who genuinely fear the Lord as they should. And so amidst such brokenness, we should show each other grace as we struggle to discern what is best.
But make no mistake, there is no question that it would be best for every world leader to recognize Christ as king and to serve in their roles in light of that reality. We should pray for this and call for it. And again, not that they would put on some show of religion to pacify us but that from the heart our leaders would fear Christ as king. Where this does not happen, such leaders inevitably take up causes in opposition to Christ, even if they do some good in other regards. This defiance is no small thing- they believe in a world that is not subject to Christ's authority. If Christ is not the authority, then who is? In the place of Christ, they make themselves the king of kings, in the place of the Son of God, they make themselves God. But for all their pretension, he will break them with a rod of iron and will dash them to pieces like pottery. Christ will not be denied his throne. In the end, they're nothing but a sad, miserable joke that will suffer the wrath of God.
But we are not they. We are those who kiss the son and pay homage to him as our king. We take refuge in him and are called bless. So it is for all who do so.
Dear Father, we thank you for not abandoning us to the rulers of this earth.
So often, father, their ways are not your ways, and it's not unusual for us to suffer because of the injustice that, that they allowed to continue. Father, we pray that these rulers would recognize Christ as king. Father, we thank you that in fact Jesus Christ is king and that this rebellion against you will be overthrown, that your kingdom will be revealed completely on Earth on the day of Christ's return.
And then until that day, father, we have confidence in Christ's greater authority. Father, help us to live in fear of Christ that we may encourage others, especially our leaders, to do likewise. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and Savior and king. Amen.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we continue our series Summer in the Psalms. It's our joy to welcome you into our community
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)