Psalm 2: Bound and Determined and in the Principal’s Office

Presented to Swift Current Corps, 09 January 2010

By Captain Michael Ramsay

Christmas is an exiting time around The Salvation Army. This year was no exception: we provided around 230 families with Christmas hampers. We had nearly 200 friends at the corps for dinner. Our community of less than 17 000 people here raised more than $153 000 for our community and family services. We had a nice Christmas Eve and an intimate Boxing Day service. There are many wonderful testimonies and interesting things that happen around The Salvation Army at Christmas time. I want to share with you one story:

It’s Hamper Day everything is going well – we have so many volunteers helping from the community, it is great. I think it gets better every year as we become that much more efficient. In the morning I receive a phone call: someone is asking if he can register for a hamper that day. I explain to him that not only do we not register people for hampers on pick-up day but that the deadline for registering was three weeks ago. He is way too late. (I really do not believe in rewarding bad behaviour; if I start making too many exceptions than soon everyone will just try to drop-by and get a hamper and this will make it impossible to properly help those who are in a legitimate need. It will ruin it for everybody) I tell this person that he is WAY too late. He is persistent. He tells me that he was speaking to John earlier in the week. He tells me he has health issues. He tells me this. He tells me that. He is like the persistent widow in the parable of that name (Luke 18:1-8). He is so persistent that eventually I do give in and tell him he can come later in the day – after the others have gone through and after he goes through the full registration process with John over the telephone, of course, which he does. This man is bound and determined to get something today.

Later in the day, when his time comes, he still has to wait to be dealt with. Laurie, who is taking tickets, calls me to the door. I come when I can. She rightly holds him up because this man doesn’t have a ticket and his name isn’t on the list – remember he just registered in the morning by phone, which isn’t typically allowed but he is bound and determined to get something today. As I am speaking with he and Laurie, another one of our volunteers (Cortney) pulls me aside and asks me to have a coffee with this fellow while we process the others. We have our coffee while we wait; he registered late, it makes sense that he has to wait. We talk. This fellow has spent some time on Vancouver’s DTES; my wife and I were urban missionaries there for a while. We are chatting about this and that and how he is bound and determined to get something this day – well, he does get something that day: the police show up and he gets… arrested; he is bound - and it is determined that he will stay in the cells that day and the next and the next.

What happened? One of our volunteers saw him and identified him as a man whom they suspect defrauded their business. If he had not been so persistent on the phone about his hamper then he never would have got what was apparently coming to him that day. He seemed to want his hamper so much that when he was arrested I offered to keep it for him until he gets out. I went to visit him in the cells a couple of times. He is in Regina now. He has a three-month sentence. We have actually gotten to know each other a little bit through the process. I look forward to getting to know him better when he returns from Regina.

Today we are going to look at Psalm 2. Like our friend was bound and determined to get what was coming to him, Psalm 2 speaks about what the king hopes is bound to come to him during his reign. First, I want to review a little bit.[1] Can anyone tell me what a psalm is? A psalm is a poem, a song, a hymn, etc. The book of Psalms is a collection of hymns and songs written by different people; in this way it is not unlike our Songbook (or a hymnal). Psalms, in the form that we have now, was probably pulled together from other Psalm-books for worship in the newly rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem[2] the same way we traditionally have used songbooks in worship in The Salvation Army.[3] Psalms is one of the most quoted books not only in the New Testament but also in sectarian Jewish writing from Qumran (cf. Matt 3:17, 17:5; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22; Acts 13:33; Revelation 1:5, 2:27, 4:2, 6:17, 12:5, 19:5; cf. Romans 1:4).[4]  Psalm 2 may have at one time been combined with Psalm 1 as an introduction to this whole psalm-book.[5]

Now as Psalms is one of the most quoted books in the New Testament, Psalm 2, that we are looking at today, is one of the most quoted psalms in the New Testament (cf. Matt 3:17, 17:5; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22; Acts 13:33; Revelation 1:5, 2:27, 4:2, 6:17, 12:5, 19:5; cf. Romans 1:4).[6] It is also the perfect Messianic psalm. It relates obviously and miraculously to Jesus as the Christ and to the glorious New Covenant (cf. Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hebrews 8).[7]  Psalm 2 was almost certainly originally composed as a coronation psalm. Who can tell me what a coronation is? It is the ceremony when a king or queen is crowned, when they are officially made king or queen. This psalm may have been composed for one of the last kings of Judah before the fall of Jerusalem when country of Judah and Solomon’s Temple was completely, utterly and finally destroyed.[8]

Let’s take a moment and picture the possible coronation scene together: this psalm may have been read out in four parts by the King and three groups of people much like we heard the different people reading it today - near the end of the coronation ceremony, probably just after the king is crowned right when he is being presented to those present.[9] The people speaking at the ceremony certainly represented different groups. XXX read Psalm 2:1-3: they presented the arrogant words of foreign leaders. AAA read Psalm 2:4-6: here the psalmist presents the Lord’s response to the world’s political leaders. I read Psalm 2:7-9: this text would have been read by the new king as he accepted his commission; and Psalm 2:10ff that MMM read is a warning for the nations to submit to God’s choice for his vassal.[10] This psalm is meant to have a powerful impact on the newly bound, the newly covenanted king and on his people, as to how God’s will might be determined in his reign.

Let us look at this quickly, section by section. First AAA’s section representing the foreign leaders, Psalm 2:1-3 (NIV):

 ¹ Why do the nations conspire
   and the peoples plot in vain (AV: murmur murderously)?
² The kings of the earth rise up
   and the rulers band together
   against the LORD and against his anointed, saying,
³ “Let us break their chains
   and throw off their shackles.”

We know that throughout most of Israel and Judah’s history, they are surrounded by hostile nations.[11] God even eventually uses these nations to conquer and occupy Palestine and to put an end to the nations of Israel and Judah (Cf. for ex. 2 Kings 24-25; 2 Chronicles 36; Ezra 1; Isaiah 39, 45; Jeremiah; Amos 3:2). This psalm was probably written just before Judah was to begin its long history of exile and of successive military occupation. This psalm however wasn’t probably added to the psalm-book we talked about earlier until much later, when Palestine was still occupied but the exiles -with the blessing of the then regional superpower- the king of Persia, were returning to the occupied territories. So the redactor, the editor, the compilers of the psalm-book realize that this psalm refers not to a present regent  - because there isn’t one when the psalm-book is pulled together – this psalm looks to a future Messiah.

Today it is now about 2500 years since the psalm-book was compiled and about half a century after it was compiled we know this Messiah did actually come. Jesus came but sometimes today it looks like the nations of the earth have forgotten this – even we who should know better: many of the world powers since Christ who as Psalm 1:1 in the AV says ‘murmur murderously’, many of the superpowers who commit the brutal crimes against humanity that only superpowers can really get away with, many of the people today and throughout history who have committed all these offences against Christ and against the world once upon a time these nations professed Christ (cf. Matthew 7, 25:31ff).[12] Just look at the ways our English-speaking countries of today are warring against Christ: invading countries with weapons of violence for Mammon (Capitalism) and Pride (Democracy) instead of with the Gospel of Christ for the Prince of Peace and the Kingdom of God (Isaiah 9:6; Ephesians 6:15); our English-speaking nations it seems are fighting hard against the gospel in the name of free speech (I cringe when I hear this term because of this) to make pornography available to any and all who can find it on-line. Even though OTHER countries (such as China, for one example) are actively protecting their citizens from pornography, our politicians and media condemn China for this; we –who once were a Christian country - are actively promoting this so called ‘free speech’.[13] As we all know too we are removing prayer and scripture from our public institutions across this country and even more than that: in Canada legislation passed by elected politicians can see the Bible classified as hate literature in this country.[14] (It appears that for some ‘free-speachers’ pornography is okay but the Bible is not!) The sins of the foreign kings from antiquity and from our text today seem to be the sins of Canada and the rest of the English-speaking Empire today. Our country seems to be bound and determined to get what is coming to us and it looks like – just like our friend on hamper day - we will! And it may not be what we want. Canada and England were once dedicated to God but now even the faithful seem to be bound by the shackles of the secularists.

This brings us to our second section of the psalm, Verses 4-6. This is the LORD’s response to these shackles that the world tries to put on His followers:

 ⁴ The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
   the Lord scoffs at them.
⁵ He rebukes them in his anger
   and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
⁶ “I have installed my king
   on Zion, my holy mountain.”

God when necessary justly punished those whom He used to correct His people. God has raised up many powers and He has also rebuked many in his anger, terrified them in His wrath and allowed them to fall. If they reject God and His servants, He will reject them. If we reject God’s grace and are bound and determined to get what we think we deserve, then like we said and like our friend on hamper day, we will indeed be bound, arrested and He will determine what we deserve (cf. TSA d. 9, 11).

The kings of Judah and Israel clung to a promise of security that God has promised for His people (cf. Genesis 15; Genesis 17:11; Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 5:32, 33; 2 Samuel 7; 23:5; 1 Chronicles 17; Psalms 89:3, 28-29; 93; 110:4; Hebrews 7-13). It seems however, that while they were doing this they became through their disobedience, as the prophet Hosea says, ‘not My people’ (Hosea 1:9). The chosen people neglected the environment of the Promised Land (Leviticus 24, 2 Chronicles 36), they neglected the marginalized and they rejected God (Cf. for example Exodus 23:6,11, Leviticus 19:10,15, 23:22, 27:8, Deuteronomy 15:7, 15:11, 24:12-15, 1 Samuel 2:8, Psalms 22:26, 34:6, 35:10, 82:3, Isaiah 61:1, Ezekiel 16:49, 18:12, 22:29, Amos 2:7, 4:1, 5:11-12, 8:4-6, Zechariah 7:10...). God will not be mocked. Judah was overrun and Palestine was occupied militarily and then half a millennium later Christ came to offer freedom to the world from our self-imposed shackles.

But we seem to have forgotten this here today: we don’t need to be bound by the shackles of the world (cf. 2 Corinthians 13; Colossians 1:28; Hebrews 11,12; 1 Peter 1:15, cf. also Leviticus 11:44,45; 19:2; 20:7). Christ has come already but we seem to be determined to make the same mistakes on this side of the cross that people did on the other side of the cross. Instead of living up to our responsibilities in Christ’s proleptic kingdom here on earth, we –like the chosen people of the Old Testament – we also neglect the environment, we also neglect the marginalized, and from the examples we looked at before – wars for money and power, promoting free speech in favour of pornography but denying it in re-electing MPs who vote for legislation that can classify the Bible hate literature – we in Canada now, even on this side of the cross, are acting very poorly; we seem to be acting like a child who is deservedly about to be sent to the principal’s office for a stern rebuke (Psalm 2:5).

Anyone here ever spend some time in the principal’s office? I spent some time in the principal’s office (not very much actually). My Grade 7 principal had the loudest voice in the world, I am sure. When we were caught for doing something wrong and we were waiting outside his office in the hall until he took the time to loudly rebuke us, it was actually terrifying. Our whole nation today seems to be like this child sitting on a bench in the hallway waiting to be berated by God, our principal, for not listening to the Bible and for not listening to our other teachers. This should be terrifying.

This brings us to our next section. The response of the Lord’s vassal king when he hears all this, Psalm 2:7-9:

7 I will proclaim the LORD’s decree:

He said to me, “You are my son;
   today I have become your father.
8 Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance,
   the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You will break them with a rod of iron;
   you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

We recognize these words don’t we – verse 7 - “You are my son; today I have become your father.” We recognize these words don’t we? They are part of the Good News of the Gospel of Christ. They are quoted directly by the preacher to the Hebrews in Hebrews 1:5. They also remind us of Jesus’ baptism when the Holy Spirit descends from Heaven upon Jesus and God says “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17; Luke 3:22). This is the good news that nations of the earth are Jesus’ inheritance and so long as we follow Him we will be okay (cf. Genesis 3:2). We know the ‘Parable of the Sheep and the Goats’ from Matthew 25:31ff – all the nations are before Christ when he returns (Matthew 25:32). Those of us that serve him now will continue to serve him then (Matthew 25:34). We will receive our reward that has been prepared for us since the beginning of the world (Matthew 25:34).  We don’t need to be shacked by sin, we don’t need to be bound and have it determined that we will be cast outside to where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:46; cf. TSA d. 10, 11). Instead of trying to be like a rebellious republic breaking away from the Kingdom of God and shackling ourselves to sin, we should instead just turn our eyes towards Jesus and then we will live. Jesus is the Messiah in all the socio-political, religious-spiritual, contemporary, eschatological aspects of that term. Jesus is the Christ and He is coming back, therefore verses 10-12:

 ¹⁰ Therefore, you kings, be wise;
   be warned, you rulers of the earth.
¹¹ Serve the LORD with fear
   and celebrate his rule with trembling.
¹² Kiss his son, or he will 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.

We must kiss the Son of God, Verse 12. We must celebrate Christ’s rule, Verse 11. We must – like John exhorted us last week through his homiletical exegesis of Psalm 95 – we must shout out our praises to the Lord. We must not be afraid to be a fool for the gospel of Christ (cf. Romans 1:16-17, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, Isaiah 29:14). This foolishness for the gospel of Christ –again reminiscent of John’s encouragement last week for us to call out to God – this foolishness is the wisdom we are called to display in Psalm 2:10. In our world today that has gone so far astray, the hostile, wealthy, secular, goat nations are like a schoolyard bully who upon hearing us say something nice about Principal Jesus comes up to us, bound and determined to beat us up unless we follow this secular bully in defying Principal Christ by breaking a window of Salvation or some other such thing. It may seem wise in that moment to do what the bully wants - to submit to his authority to save a beating but it isn’t. Principal Jesus is coming. If we defy Jesus by breaking this metaphorical window (or in any other way) just before the Principal Jesus comes what will He do when He rounds the corner and His eyes meet ours? If we reject Jesus’ authority then we will rightly receive the same penalty as the bully who encourages us to break the window (Matthew 10:33; cf. TSA d. 9, 11). Make no mistake, Principal Jesus is right around the corner (Revelation 3:11; 11:14; 22:7,12,20). He is coming back soon, so rather than disobey him like the hostile nations in Psalm 2 and apparently like our nation today we here all need to do the opposite. We need to yell at the top of our lungs, like John told us last week. We need to yell out, ‘Principal Jesus, I’m on your side’. And then when He comes around that corner and gives that bully what that bully is bound and determined to get, when He gives him what is coming to him; as we faithfully seek Principal Jesus’ refuge, we will experience the full blessing of His protection: we will be delivered from the bully, we will be delivered from all temptation and we will be delivered from all harm. Jesus will deliver us. Then for us for all eternity, everything will be okay. Verse 12 of our text today says, ‘blessed are those who take refuge in the Lord’. He is the Messiah; he is the Christ and He is coming back and He is coming back soon!

Let us pray.

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[1] Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Psalm 1:1-2:Which one of these things is not like the other things?' Presented to the Swift Current Corps 07 November 2010. Available on-line at http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2010/11/psalm-11-2which-one-of-these-things-is.html

[2] Steven Shawn Tuell, 'Psalm 1' in Interpretation Issue 63 no. 3 (July 2009), p 278

[3] John H. Stek, ‘Psalms: Introduction’, (NIV Study Bible: Zondervan: Grand Rapids Michigan, 2002), 777 and Derek Kidner, ‘Psalms 1-72: An Introduction and Commentary’, Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1973 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 15), S. 21

[4] Peter C. Craigie, 'Psalms 1-50', 2^nd  ed. (WBC 19: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 2004), 45.

[5] Steven Shawn Tuell, 'Psalm 1' in Interpretation Issue 63 no. 3 (July 2009), p 278. Cf. Willem A. VanGemeren, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Psalms/Exposition of Psalms/BOOK I: Psalms 1-41/Psalm 1: God's Blessing on the Godly, Book Version: 4.0.2. Cf. also Peter C. Craige, Psalms 1-50, p. 59 and William H. Brownlee "Psalms 1-2 as a Coronation Liturgy," Biblica 52 [1971]: 321-36.

[6] Willem A. VanGemeren, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Psalms/Exposition of Psalms/BOOK I: Psalms 1-41/Psalm 2: The Messianic King, Book Version: 4.0.2

[7] Peter C. Craigie, 'Psalms 1-50', 2^nd  ed. (WBC 19: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 2004), 68.

[8] But cf. William H. Brownlee, "Psalms 1-2 as a Coronation Liturgy," Biblica 52 [1971]: 321-36.

[9] But cf. J.H. Eaton, ‘Kingship and Psalms’ in SBT: Second series no. 32. (London: SCM Press; 1976), 111.

[10] Peter C. Craige, 'Psalms 1-50', 2^nd  ed. (WBC 19: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 2004), 65.

[11] Cf. John Riches, “Matthew for the Church's year,” The Expository Times, Vol. 122, no. 2, eds.  Paul Foster, Alison Jack, John Riches, Karen Wenell, (London: Sage Publications, November 2010): 75.

[12] That being said many more people have been killed by the secularist wars since the 18^th Century than in all other conflicts combined throughout history, i.e.: French Revolution, Reign of Terror, US Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, Nazi Holocaust, WWII, Stalinist purges, Mau’s great leap forward, etc.

[13] Cf. EDWARD WONG and ASHLEE VANCE, "China Intent on Requiring Internet Censor Software," The New York Times, Internet Edition (June 18, 2009). available on line at www.nytimes.com/2009/06/19/business/global/19censor.html : A version of this article appeared in print on June 19, 2009, on page A10 of the New York edition.

[14] Cf. Catholic World News Brief, “CANADIAN COURT AGREES THAT BIBLE IS HATE LITERATURE,” EWTN: Global Catholic News Network, (February 11, 2003), available on-line at www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=33759