The Angry God

I. Introduction
A. Series: Psalm 2
1. The reason we’re studying Psalm 2 during advent is because it is one of clearest and most direct messianic psalms of all (psalms which point forward to the coming of the messiah, the anointed One, the Christ).
2. Last week, we looked at the first three verses of Psalm 2, which talk about the hatred of the people of the earth toward God, and their desire to escape from His rule. Today, the second three verses.
B. But before we get into that, last week I said that Psalm 2 was part of a larger cluster of messianic prophecies which came to King David. In fact, Ps.2 is an elaboration of God’s promise to David.
1. You see, just before he died, the patriarch Jacob blessed his 12 sons. But he gave a special blessing to his son Judah, in Genesis 49:9-10. He referred to Judah as a lion’s cub, that is, as one who would grow up to be a lion. Then he explained: after his family became a nation, they would be ruled by kings which came from the tribe of Judah.
2. And then, 700 years later, David was the beginning of the fulfilment of that prophecy when he became the first king from the tribe of Judah. And as king, David conquered the city of Jerusalem, on Mt. Zion, and made it the capital city of Israel, and built his palace there.
a. Then, in 2Sam.7:12-16, God promised David that after he was gone, God would raise up David’s offspring to rule on his throne forever. And God would be a Father to Him and He would be God’s Son, And thus God would establish David’s throne forever (cf. Ps.89:3-4, 132:11).
b. The mystery of this promise was in the ‘forever.’ How can any mortal man rule on a throne forever? Thus we can tell that the one in whom this promised is fulfilled could not be a mere man.
C. And that brings us to Psalm 2, built on God’s promise to David.
1. Last week: Psalm 2:1-3 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”
2. Today’s section tells us God’s response to man’s hatred and attempts to escape. Psalm 2:4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” 7 I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” 10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
II. Explanation of Psalm 2
A. In v.1-3 all the kings and rulers of the earth are united against the Lord and his Anointed.
1. That’s a pretty impressive force. If all the most powerful men on earth were engaging in a full assault on your home, wouldn’t you be afraid?
2. But is God afraid in light of this massive force conspiring to dethrone Him?
3. In the musical Camelot, they wonder what the king is doing tonight – the night before he is to meet his new bride, his new queen. And the answer is, “He’s scared! He’s scared!”
4. So, do you wonder what God and His king are doing the night the kings and rulers of the earth are taking a stand and plotting against Him? He’s not hunkered down in the basement shuddering with fear! He’s laughing! He’s mocking them! “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.”
5. This reminds me of when Pontius Pilate who was tried to intimidate Jesus in John 19:10–11 when Jesus had refused to answer. Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.”
B. After laughing, God stands up & roars like a great lion king: “He speaks to them in his wrath, and terrifies them in his fury” (v.4-5).
1. And what does God say? He says, “I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” (Ps.2:6)
2. This was how God spoke to them in his wrath, and terrified them in his fury! He said, “I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
3. Somehow setting His promised King on Zion was an expression of His wrath and fury against rebellious mankind.
4. Strange. Jn.3:16-17 says God so loved the world that He sent His Son, and that God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved.
5. But Psalm 2 seems to be saying here that God was so angry at mankind that He sent His Son.
6. Ps.2 may seem to contradict what the NT says about the coming of Jesus, but Paul says something similar in Romans 1:16-18 when he’s talking about the gospel as the power of God for salvation and then goes on to say, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.”
7. How can the love of God and the wrath of God both be revealed in the coming of Jesus? Well, let me hold that off to the end of the sermon.
III. First, there are three important lessons I’d like to talk about from these verses.
A. The first one is about fear. After laughing, God stands up & roars: “Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury.” He is not afraid of these rebels.
1. Is.40:22 says God “sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.”
2. We need not be afraid for God’s safety. Rather, we pity those who try to stand against Him.
3. If it were merely a matter of numbers, the nations and peoples led by their kings and rulers would definitely have the upper hand. But it’s not a matter of numbers, is it? It’s not a democracy.
4. It’s an absolute monarchy. It’s a kingdom ruled by One who has all power. Even the strength with which the defiant shake their hands at God ultimately comes from Him.
5. God’s not afraid, and this means we need not be afraid, even in the face of scary forces/times.
6. When Herod the Great came after the baby Jesus it looked like a mighty power versus a tiny and vulnerable child. But Joseph & Mary weren’t actually the ones who needed to be afraid. Rather, Herod the Great needed to be afraid of Jesus the greater, Jesus the far Greater.
a. Herod did get something right, though. He knew that the little baby Jesus was the biggest threat to His reign and stature. To most folks, the baby Jesus looked like a helpless little infant. Why would a mighty king fear a little baby? It looked like Herod’s kingdom dwarfed the little child, but the fact is, that little child made Herod, and all the rest of the world’s kings, look like a speck of dust.
b. Near the end of The Last Battle, Queen Lucy says: “In our world too, a Stable once had something inside it that was bigger than the whole world.”
7. And this is so important for us to grasp in these days when we are experiencing such antagonism toward God in our society. It’s scary. But God is not shaken.
8. As believers, we need to participate in God’s confidence in the face of His antagonists.
9. We don’t need to be afraid of the oppressors/tyrants of the world – or the oppressors and tyrants in our own lives, if we have any.
10. God is much bigger than all His adversaries, so we can look danger in the face & not shrink back.
11. It’s doesn’t mean they can’t hurt us. after all, they put Jesus on a cross. But remember what Jesus said to Pilate, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” – Matthew 26:53
B. The second lesson is about the Messiah.
1. The messianic prophecies which were given to David and through David – including Psalm 2 – painted a picture of a fierce, roaring king, a lion of Judah, a mighty warrior who would dash nations to pieces like you might smash clay pots with an iron rod.
2. After reading about how the messiah will be set up as an expression of God’s anger, and how He will break the nations with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel, is it any wonder why so many Jews expected the Messiah to come very differently than the way Jesus came? Is it any wonder that many expected Him to come in anger, especially toward the peoples and nations, which to them meant the Gentiles, and in their land, primarily meant the Romans, who were ruling over them?
3. It had been 600 years since they were a kingdom, 600 years since they had their own king, 600 years since they’d been conquered by Babylon, 600 years of living under foreign powers: Babylon, then Persia, then Greece, and now Rome. But God had promised David that one of his descendants would rule on his throne again, that a shoot would grow up out of the stump of Jesse (David’s father), and become a great tree. Or, as in Daniel’s prophecy, a little stone which would grow up and crush the great statue representing these four great kingdoms.
4. Now listen to this psalm through the ears of a first century Jew who lived under the cruel thumb of Rome and was filled with messianic expectation: “The kings and rulers of the earth set themselves against the LORD and against his Anointed. But He who sits in the heavens will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill (which was, of course, the location of David’s palace and throne)...I will make the nations [his] heritage, and the ends of the earth [his] possession. [He] shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
5. It sounds like the coming of the messiah was going to be an expression of God’s anger toward the Gentiles, and that it was going to involve the reestablishment of David’s throne and its prominence.
6. If Psalm 2 and prophecies like it were all you had to govern your expectations about what the messiah would be like, you would expect an all-powerful leader who would smash Rome and any other enemies of His people and take control. And that’s what most of them expected.
7. But when Jesus came with an approach quite different than that, they were startled.
a. Even John the Baptist was confused. The very one who was called to declare His coming as the promised messiah sent a message to Jesus from prison asking, “Are you the One?” (Mt.11:3)
b. And after the resurrection, the disciples were still clinging to this kind of hope, and asked Jesus, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” – Acts 1:6
8. But the fact is, Psalm 2 and the other promises to David WEREN’T all they had to govern their expectations about what the messiah would be like. 300 years after David, Isaiah prophesied much about the coming messiah. And some of it painted a very different picture. VERY different.
a. Isaiah 42:1-3 “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights... 2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; 3 a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench.”
b. Isaiah 52:14–53:10 “His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind...2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed...7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth...9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief.”
9. So, they were given two very different pictures of the same promised messiah. What were they supposed to do with that? Was He going to be a lion, or was He going to be a lamb?
a. For us, it’s easy. The Reality has come, so we can understand how both pictures fit together.
b. We have Revelation 5:5–6, where the apostle John is told to look at the Lion of the tribe of Judah. And he looks and he sees a Lamb standing, as though slain.
10. Just as Jesus is God and man, He is also lion and lamb.
a. And we know now that the messiah comes not once but twice: His first coming is characterized by gentleness and grace and compassion, but His second coming will involve wrath and judgment (e.g. Revelation 6:15–17 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”).
11. For many Christians, Jesus is a lamb but not a lion.
a. Meek, mild, never angry, never putting His foot down. They love the story of the woman caught in adultery, but they are very uncomfortable with the story of Jesus cleansing the temple.
12. For others, Jesus is a lion but not a lamb. He is fierce and powerful. He stills the storm and He commands demons at will. The story of the cleansing of the temple is their favorite story, but they don’t have much time for His meekness, or His mercy as in the story of the woman caught in adultery, or for His compassion as in the story of the raising up of the son of the widow of Nain.
13. There is an important lesson here about tensions in the Bible – and the Bible frequently presents us with tensions. There’s a right way to handle them, and there’s a wrong way.
a. The right way to handle tensions in the Bible is to accept that we’re meant to live in the tension, that God wants us to carefully preserve both sides of the tension, and refuse to abandon either.
b. But that’s uncomfortable. And the tendency of the flesh – the wrong way to handle tensions – is to cling to the side of the tension we are most comfortable with and ignore or dismiss the other.
14. The key is, “Not my will but Yours be done,” which is not a statement merely of surrender. It’s a request: “If my will is not in line with Your will, Lord, then I don’t want MY will to be done! I want YOUR will to be done. If my request is not in line with Your will, please don’t give me what I request. I want Your will most of all.” If this is not my passion, I fall prey to my own ambitions.
15. Is your Jesus a lion or a lamb? He’d better be both or He’s not the real Jesus!
C. The third and final lesson is about the coronation of the king.
1. God says in v.6, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
2. But we haven’t talked about HOW God set His King on Mount Zion, and WHEN it happened.
a. Was it at His conception? Well, when Gabriel came to Mary saying, “You will conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:31-33) it certainly focused the fulfillment of the promise-about-David’s-son upon Jesus. But Jesus hadn’t been conceived yet.
b. At His birth? Well, that’s certainly when He was recognized as the promised son of David, born in the town of David’s birth, but He wasn’t on Mt. Zion & there was no special sign of his kingship.
c. Could it have been at His baptism, when He was anointed with the HS and when God spoke out of heaven, “You are my Son.” (Mark 1:11 and Luke 3:22), quoting Psalm 2:7? That was certainly an important moment, but it happened at the Jordan, not in Jerusalem on Mt. Zion.
3. When was Jesus coronated as God’s king on Zion?
a. Well, there was a time when Jesus was in Jerusalem, when He had actually entered the city being hailed as the son of David (Mt.21:51) and King of Israel (John 12:54), when a royal robe was put on Him (Mt.27:28), as well as a crown (Mt.27:29), and He was lifted up on Zion – with a sign placed above Him on the cross which read, “Jesus, King of the Jews” (Mt.27:37, John 19:19). And bystanders cried out, “Truly, this is the Son of God!” (Mt.27:54, Mk.15:39), as if they’d just been reading Ps.2.
4. God has a king. And He has set that king up to reign over His people and ultimately over all the nations of the earth. But that king gained His dominion by dying on a cross.
5. So, how can the love of God and the wrath of God both be revealed in the coming of Jesus?
a. The love of God was shown in that Jesus came as a man and died for us on the cross.
b. The wrath of God toward sin was shown in the coming of Jesus in that God’s wrath was poured out upon Him on the cross. God’s wrath toward sin was so great that His own Son had to die!
6. We see Jesus as king on Mt. Sinai in Revelation 14:1-4 “Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads...4 It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb.”
7. You see, Jesus was lifted up on Mt. Zion, but as a result of what He did, He has been joined by those who are His children, His people. Heb.12:22-24 tells us, “You have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.”
8. God has set His King on Zion, and then He welcomes His people to come as well, where He will reign forever and ever.