An exposition of Psalm 2. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, January 1, 2012.
Intro:
I’m the youngest of three boys – that means I might as well have had a target painted on my shirt – a big bull’s eye right here! I was teased without mercy. I was the constant butt of ridicule. My brothers and all their friends used to call me Carbondale Fats. Once a neighbor overheard me singing to myself in the backyard. Of course he told everybody so the chant became, “Hey Carbondale, sing us a little ditty.” Add to the mixture that I was, to put it kindly, gullible as a kid. Whether it was the perfect stooge to take on a snipe hunt or the idiot child eating hot peppers all afternoon as my oldest brother assured me each time – “This one’s not hot like those others.”
A kid can only take so much. I used to lie awake at night dreaming about how I could get even. I plotted and planned how I would get everyone. Some days they would set me off and I would fly into them with a rage. My brother would hold me at arms length and laugh while I wore myself out. A scene not unlike the one described by the Psalmist in Psalm 2.
Text: Psalm 2:1-12
The book of Psalms is a collection of songs – expressing the hopes, dreams and faith of the people of God.
Actually our one book is a collection of five books!
1-41
42-72
73-89
90-106
107-150
Throughout the Psalms we find the full range of emotions.
There is joy and fear; heartache and rejoicing; anger and comfort – it’s all there.
The Psalms are “real”; there is an earthiness about them.
This is where we live.
Perhaps that is why so many of us are drawn to them.
There has been some disagreement among OT scholars as to whether Psalm 2 is a Messianic Psalm. A Psalm that speaks of Messiah. Modern scholarship tends to say this is a Psalm is a “coronation psalm.” One that deals with the coronation of an earthly king. One who sits on the throne of David. Perhaps David himself or one of his descendants. I’m convinced that there is compelling evidence that it is in fact a Messianic Psalm dealing with the reign of the Lord Jesus – “God’s Anointed.”
Scholars will point to similarities in 2 Samuel 7:5-16.
The similarities with this passage are found in the last section from 11-16.
Scholars agree the focus of this section is on the Messiah – the ultimate fulfillment of this promise.
Not to mention that the NT explicitly connects this passage with the Lord Jesus.
At his baptism – Mt. 3:17; Mk. 1:11; Lk. 3:32
Acts 4:24-27; 13:32-33
Hebrews 1:5; 5:5
Rev. 1:5; 2:27; 11:16-18; 12:5
There is also some evidence among various Rabbis and in the early Greek manuscripts of the Psalms that Psalm 1 & 2 were once considered 1 Psalm! Begins (1:1) and ends (2:12) with blessing. The rebellion of the nations against God is the outgrowth of walking, standing and sitting. That God’s Anointed is the perfect fulfillment of the “blessed believer.”
Reading this from the perspective of a Messianic Psalm we discover that:
Thesis: The righteous reign of Christ seals the fate of the wicked while offering hope to the repentant.
There are three things I want you to note in the development of this Psalm.
- The wicked arrogantly plot to overthrow God’s Sovereign rule. (2:1-3)
- The Sovereign Lord dismisses the vain plots of the wicked and declares the reign of His Anointed. (2:4-9)
- The Sovereign God graciously warns the wicked and offers hope to the repentant. (2:10-12)