In Psalm 2, one of the things we have is an interesting “God’s-eye view” perspective of humanity, especially in terms of cultures, governments, and geo-political events. In the first verse, we see that the nations of the world are “raging.” Their primary issue is an unwillingness to live under God’s authority: “Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast their cords away from us.” But this is not only an unwillingness to live under God’s authority, it is also expressed as unwillingness to be under Christ, referred to in verse 2 as God’s “Anointed.” Of course, God is not threatened by their declarations: He “laughs” (verse 4!) and declares, “I have set my king on my holy hill in Zion.” Issue settled.
The nations are given to this king as His rightful inheritance (verse 8) and the former rulers of the nations are instructed to “Kiss the Son”–in other words, show submission and loyalty, fast.
But something else occurred to me recently as I thought through this psalm. The King who is set in Zion, the Anointed, the Son who we all must kiss, the authority that can not (and will not) be resisted, is not some usurping dictator or palace-child monarch. He is the Man of Sorrow, the Humble One, who washed our feet and carried our sins to the cross.
Has He not earned our allegiance?
To rage against Him is to rage against grace and truth and self-sacrificing love. It is to rage against our only hope, all that will fix the world, and our very life itself.
God is not impressed.