Psalm 2:1-3
And God Laughed
Today, our church is recognizing the 243rd celebration of our
nation’s independence. We have been blessed to be born in the
greatest nation of this planet’s history at what has been the
most comfortable and luxurious time in this nation’s history. If God
never gave you and me another blessing of any kind, to be privileged
to live in this country is a greater blessing than most of the human
race will ever know.
However, this nation, like all other nations, is following a
pre-described path. It is a path that was prophesied in the Psalm 2.
I. \\#Psalm 2:1-3\\ The Path
A. A Confederacy Is Formed. Notice the four groups who are
joining together.
Psalm 2:1 Why do the HEATHEN rage, and the
PEOPLE imagine 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,
1. \\#Psalm 2:1\\ The HEATHEN - The heathen are those who,
for whatever their reason, don’t worship God.
a. Let me be quick to point out that not all people deny
God because they chose to do so.
(1) Some deny God because they do not know any
better.
(2) Some have never been told that God exists or who
the real God is.
(3) That is why our church supports missions.
(4) Missions is not about constraining someone to
trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.
(5) Missions is about giving every human being the
knowledge so that they can make an intelligent
choice about Jesus.
Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on him in
whom they have not believed? and how shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard? and
how shall they hear without a preacher?
b. But also included in the group of God-deniers would be
those who have heard and belligerently refused God.
(1) There are more of that kind running around in
America today than ever before.
(2) These are those who deny God’s existence,
the authenticity of God’s Word,
and God’s place as Master of their life.
(3) Some not only don’t believe but can be quite
contentious about it.
2. \\#Psalm 2:1\\ The PEOPLE
a. Since they are mentioned as a different group than the
heathen, I am supposing the PEOPLE are not
specifically a part of the heathen group.
a. From what I am seeing today as this passage is
being fulfilled, I would say the PEOPLE refers
to the religious people of our world.
b. It is an amazing thing that religious people are
as bad or worse at tearing down the things of God
than heathen people are!
c. A Pew Research Center Poll released in May, 2019,
showed the following:
Among people who are religiously unaffiliated, a solid majority have
supported same-sex marriage since 2004. Today, 79% of religious
“nones” say same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.
BUT about two-thirds of white mainline Protestants (66%) now support
same-sex marriage, as do a similar share of Catholics (61%).
Support for same-sex marriage among white evangelical Protestants
remains lower than it is among other religious groups. However, the
share of white evangelical Protestants who support same-sex marriage
has grown from 11% in 2004 to 29% today.
About four-in-ten of those who attend religious services at least
once a week (39%) favor same-sex marriage, compared with 66% who
attend once or twice a month or a few times a year, and
three-quarters who say they seldom or never attend.
https://www.pewforum.org/fact-sheet/changing-attitudes-on-gay-
marriage/
d. So, in league with the God-deniers are the
religious people.
(1) I suppose some of the "religious people" are
genuinely saved who were just never taught
to believe the Bible.
(2) However by far the majority of them would be
the worshippers who bow down before ANYTHING
and EVERYTHING in an attempt to satisfy the
misguided but God-given desire to find God.
3. \\#2\\ The KINGS OF THIS EARTH
a. The third faction in this confederacy are the world
rulers.
b. Before World War I, there were very few rulers that
played on the global field. Men like Caesar,
Alexander the Great, and Genghis Khan would fall into
that group.
c. But since World War I, many have risen to be important
global players: Adolph Hitler, Winston Churchill,
Joseph Stalin, most every US President since that
time, and many others.
d. These have been a sort of "king of the earth."
e. I think this phrase is a reference to these kinds of
men (and so, no doubt, women).
4. The RULERS
a. Like the word PEOPLE comprise those not covered by
the HEATHEN, so the world RULERS comprise those not
covered by the phrase, KINGS OF THE EARTH.
b. These would be all of the other lesser leaders from
every country and in all different branches of
government.
c. In America is would be Congress members, our governors,
our mayors, our council members. People whose name
you might recognize if you lived in their locality
but then again, maybe not.
5. Notice that ALL of these people have come together, all
of them.
a. Since all of these have come together, we might want
to look at who is left out.
b. Those left out are infinitely smaller in number than
those who gathered together.
c. Again note:
a. The heathen and the religious came together.
b. The important world leaders and the not-so-well-
known common leaders are come together.
d. Who is left?
a. Just the truly saved and Biblically knowledgeable.
b. Those who really know the Savior and have really
read and believed their Bibles.
c. I believe I am one of those not in that large
group.
d. I hope you are one not in that large group.
e. Get what Psalm 2 has prophesied.
a. It has prophesied today.
b. A time when the whole world, from the
international leaders to the local leaders, from
those who are against God to those who claim to
know God, would join together for a common
purpose.
f. What has brought this group together?
B. \\#1-2\\ Actions Have Begun
1. This notion has not only united their group, but it
stirred emotions within them.
a. \\#1\\ The HEATHEN have been ENRAGED.
(1) That means they are violently angry.
(2) They are so angry that in \\#2\\ they PLOT or
CONSPIRE together.
b. The PEOPLE have IMAGINED A VAIN THING.
(1) A vain thing is an UNTRUE or FALSE thing.
(2) Isn’t it sad when religious people think they
know better than the Bible?
c. The KINGS OF THE EARTH have SET THEMSELVES.
(1) To set oneself means to position oneself.
(2) The idea here is that they have deceived
themselves into thinking they are more powerful
than they really are.
d. The RULERS have even TAKEN COUNSEL TOGETHER.
(1) To "take counsel together" means they are joining
forces to accomplish a goal.
(2) While typically every local municipality only
wants to promote itself, this verse is
prophesying a time when they will all work
together for some common goal.
(3) That actually sounds pretty good until we see
what they are working together to accomplish.
2. What is this group wanting to do?
C. \\#2-3\\ A Decision Has Been Made
Psalm 2:2 (They) …take counsel together,
against the LORD, and against his anointed,
saying,
3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast
away their cords from us.
1. They are moving against the Lord and against His anointed.
2. The anointed One is Jesus.
3. This group—the heathen and the religious, the world
players and the local leaders—to attempt to overthrow God
and God’s Christ!
4. You and I are living to see this prophecy literally
fulfilled.
a. I know that every generation has thought they were
seeing the fulfillment of these kinds of prophecies.
b. All I can say it that you and I really are.
c. One of the things that I believe assure us that we are
living in the last times is the fact that the evils
which among us are not just localized.
(1) We no longer have just one community or city or
even one nation or cluster of nations who are
banding together under the flag of evil and
wickedness.
(2) Literally, it is the whole world banding
together—just like Psalm 2 prophesied.
(3) This has never happened before.
(4) Even in world wars, the alignments of nations
were mostly evenly split, but today, the whole
world— including America—is unified in its
desire to overthrow God.
5. The Psalmist puts it, they want to "break God’s bands" and
to "cast away God’s cords."
a. The bands and cords are a reference to God’s laws and
commandments.
b. Some see God’s laws as bands and cords to bind and
restrict them.
c. In truth, God’s commands are not denials of mankind’s
fun but protection against mankind’s demise.
d. Regardless, mankind is throwing them off.
II. \\#Psalm 2:4-9\\ God’s Reaction
A. \\#4\\ God will laugh at them.
Psalm 2:4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall
laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
1. What is God doing in heaven right now? He is laughing.
2. God is laughing at the puny, peep-squeaks of the combined
human race who think they are bigger and know more than
Him.
a. God is not worried. God is not frightened. God is
not surprised.
b. God never set boundaries for mankind because He needed
protection from us. God set the boundaries because
we needed protection from sin and from Him.
B. \\#5\\ God will speak wrath to them.
Psalm 2:5 Then shall he speak unto them in his
wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
1. When God speaks, the world moves.
2. If God is speaking wrath, destruction is following.
3. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but God will.
C. \\#6\\ God will set His King upon the holy hill of Zion.
1. The King of the world will be His Son.
Psalm 2:7 I will declare the decree: the LORD
hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have
I begotten thee.
2. What God just said is when you see this prophecy come to
pass, God will shortly be setting His Son upon the throne
to rule!
a. The King of the whole world is not a man but God’s
Son.
b. He is well prophesied:
(1) Jesus will return to this earth in power! (See
the end of Revelation 19 and the beginning of
Revelation 20.
(2) \\#Psalm 2:6\\ He will set His throne in Zion,
Jerusalem.
Psalm 2:6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy
hill of Zion.
(3) \\#8-9\\ When that happens, God will give to His
Son absolute power, and He will deal with the
world.
Psalm 2:8 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) Both the heathen and the earth are His to
do with as He pleases.
(b) That would be fearful if this King were a
man with carnal ambitions but since this
is Jesus, and I have no fear.
II. \\#Psalm 2:10-12\\ God’s Counsel
Psalm 2:10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings:
be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
A. \\#10\\ Be wise - Start seeing things as God sees them because
what man sees is just a temporary illusion.
B. Be instructed.
1. Listen and learn
2. Being a know-it-all is not just a youthful affliction.
Psalm 2:11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice
with trembling.
C. \\#11\\ Serve the Lord
1. The words FEAR and TREMBLING are also used.
2. Be afraid of the Lord.
3. The days of the Lamb of God are over. It is the Lion of
Israel who will sit upon the throne.
D. Rejoice
Psalm 2:12 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.
E. \\#12\\ Kiss the Son
1. A kiss is a sign of love, of adoration, of respect.
2. Romans 13:7 - Give honour to whom honour is due.
a. Jesus Christ is God and the King of the whole world.
b. He is not GOING TO BE. HE IS.
c. You and I had better be on the winning team.
Some very important decisions are and will be made between now and
the time Jesus returns to set up His kingdom. Before Revelation 19
comes (Jesus comes to set up His throne); Revelation 4 comes (Jesus
comes for His people). I pray we would all make the right decision,
no matter what it may cost in this life.er what it may cost in this life.
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