Why do the nations rage? This Psalm is God’s response to troubling and troubled times. Theologian A.W. Pink said, Nothing in all the vast universe can come to pass otherwise than God has eternally purposed. Here is a foundation of faith. Here is a resting place for the intellect.
Here is an anchor for the soul, both sure and steadfast. It is not blind fate, unbridled evil, man or devil, but the Lord God Almighty who is ruling the world, ruling it according to his own good pleasure and for his own eternal glory. The Psalm is written in four stanzas to answer this question of why the nations rage.
And so first we come to the first three verses, which is that the nations rebel because of war, because of power, and because of fame. We can think of the Greek god Ares and how war is central to this concept of the nations raging of evil and of anger. It’s always been part of the cultural imagination that God is angry with the world.
And the reason for this is because we’ve seen God’s wrath demonstrated against those who are wicked from the very beginning, even from the time of Noah in the ark and of the flood that is global, it’s God’s wrath against evil. But it is not God’s wrath that motivates his anger. It is indeed his holiness, because rightly understanding the centrality of God’s holiness enables us to understand why he is wrathful against nations when they choose to rebel, when they choose other gods before him.
It is the fact that they are rejecting the goodness or the blessed state from Psalm 1, and choosing instead to pursue their own path, which is only going to lead to trouble and to more wickedness in the propagation of evil, rather than choosing the good. The second thing we see is that the Lord laughs from heaven. Instead of being angry or afraid or confused or distraught, God laughs, meaning he’s in control of the situation.
Spurgeon says it this way. “While they are proposing, he has disposed the matter. Jehovah’s will is done, and man’s will frets and raves in vain. God’s anointed is appointed, and shall not be dis-appointed.” In other words, God is not deterred by the rage of men.
A famous example of an opponent of Christianity was the Roman Emperor Diocletian. He ruled 245 to 313 AD, and he was a determined enemy of Christians. He was so determined that he persecuted the church mercilessly. He even fancied that he had defeated Christianity. He struck a medal with the inscription, the name of Christianity has been extinguished. Well, he certainly was wrong.
The next thing that we see is not only that God continues to laugh from heaven at the foolishness of those who would oppose him, but the decree comes of the Son, verses seven through nine.
The Lord is and always has been the ultimate answer to the brokenness and the injustice of this world. The decree of the Son is this, that one will come who has been begotten and the nations will be his heritage. Well, clearly now, looking back on this, we can see in light of redemptive history that Jesus was the one in mind.
God the Father uses the very language of this Psalm when Jesus is baptized in the River Jordan by John: “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.”
This only begotten son of the Father has been praised as the one who would come and who would be the inheritor of the nations. This is incredible to see in the scope of redemptive history.
Well, then we come to the fourth stanza, the decree to the nations about the sun. Verses 10 through 12 says, now therefore, oh kings, be wise, be warned, oh rulers of the earth. They’re being warned about what?
The judgment that is theirs, unless they what? Kiss the Son. Psalm 85 verse 10 gives us a better picture of what this looks like. It says, steadfast love and faithfulness meet. Righteousness and peace kiss each other. In Christ, steadfast love and faithfulness indeed meet.
Righteousness and peace is found perfectly exemplified in the cross. So when it says to kiss the sun, it reminds us this Psalm that we are to trust in Christ, that we are to see the wonder of the beauty of the cross where perfect love, faithfulness, and loving kindness meet. So then what is our response to this Psalm?
First, Do not fear. No matter what opposition comes before you, war and power, whatever could happen when the nations rebel and rage. Knowing that God in the heaven laughs, we don’t have to fear ourselves of what is happening around the world. Even in times of crisis or of threat of war and violence, there is no need to fear.
Second, do not enact your own vengeance.
Since God cares deeply about righteousness, justice, holiness, faithfulness, he will not allow the righteous to perish ultimately. So it’s not up to us to enact our own vengeance or to take the matters into our own hands, rather to trust the Lord.
Finally, Take refuge in the Lord.
Trusting God works itself out when we run to him as our fortress, as our refuge. We’ll hear this again and again from David throughout the Psalms, but it is important for us to reflect on that God is the place where we run. In prayer, in our times of distress and of trouble and of warfare, where do you turn?
Is it to God, or is it to continue to worry and be anxious in the midst of your trials? Rather, let us look to God, our refuge.
Our prayer from Psalm 2 from Book of Acts, chapter 4, beginning in verse 24.
“And when they had heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who threw the mouth of our father David your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. For truly in this city, there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed throughout the name of your holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”
(Episode lightly edited from The Psalms podcast)
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