Kiss the Son

I. Introduction
A. We’re spending the four Sundays before Christmas on Psalm 2 this year because it is one of clearest OT passages pointing forward to the coming of Jesus the Christ/Messiah.
B. Though I will read the entire psalm, we are focusing this morning on the final section, v.10-12.
1. And, as I read Psalm 2, notice that this final ‘application’ section begins with a “Now, therefore.”
2. It is also the only one of the four sections which doesn’t include a quote.
a. In the first section (1-3) the kings and rulers of the earth say, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”
b. In the second section (4-6) God responds to them, saying, 6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
c. In the third section (7-9) the Messiah Himself quotes what God has said to Him, “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.’ ”
3. And now the fourth section (10-12) begins with, “Now, therefore” referring to all which has been said in this conversation between human being, God and God’s Messiah in the first three sections.
C. Psalm 2:1 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.” 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.
D. Before we dive into this final section, let’s review some of what we’ve learned already.
1. Psalm 2, written by King David (Acts 4:25), is closely related to God’s messianic promise to David in 2Sam.7, so let’s review that.
a. When David was king, he built a palace for himself in Jerusalem. Then he felt bad that he had built a house for himself without building a house for God, for up until this time, the only dwelling place for God had been the tabernacle, which, of course, was merely a tent.
b. David began making preparations to build a temple for God but was interrupted by the prophet Nathan. God had spoken to Nathan to tell him that David must not go forward with his plans to build God a temple.
c. Nathan went on to tell David that God would raise up one of his sons to build the temple. Now, that all made perfect sense. David’s son Solomon became king after David’s death and built a glorious temple for the Lord.
d. Even God’s promise that He would be a father to David’s promised son (2Samuel 7:14) didn’t necessarily mean that David’s son could not be a mere man, for at times this kind of thing is said of mere mortals in Scripture.
e. But there was one more thing about God’s promise to David through Nathan which went beyond this. God said that this promised son of David would rule on David’s throne forever. Once Jesus came, the meaning of all this became clear. But at the time they didn’t have the tools to grasp what that meant.
f. But to speak to this mystery, at some point God also gave David Psalm 2. Psalm 2 revealed that this promised messiah was much more than a mere human.
(1) He was not only David’s son, He was God’s Son — not only LIKE a son, but He would be God’s begotten Son (Ps.2:7).
(2) And somehow He dwelt in heaven with God.
(3) And He was to be not only the king of Israel, but the king of all the nations on earth.
2. However, there was one dimension of Christ’s coming which Psalm 2 did not include, a dimension which wasn’t revealed until 300 years later, through the prophet Isaiah.
a. Isaiah reaffirmed and enlarged what 2Sam.7 & Ps.2 had said about this promised son of David / Messiah. E.g. Is.9:6-7 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, & his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”
b. But Isaiah also talked about the promised One as a tender servant (Isaiah 42:1-3) and as a man of sorrows, pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities (Isaiah 52:14–53:10).
3. Sadly, while the people of Israel paid attention to Psalm 2, they did not pay enough attention to these prophecies of Isaiah. This is why they expected a messiah who would bring political deliverance to Israel from Rome through force, but were not prepared for a Messiah who would suffer as a means of redeeming and conquering.
a. — Thus, the students of the stern warnings of Psalm 2 were confused by Jesus. Even John the Baptist was confused as he rotted in prison while Jesus went around healing people and delivering them from demons – Mt.11:2-3. John was thinking about the Psalm 2 Messiah who would speak in his wrath, and terrify in his fury, who would break the nations with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel, and whose wrath is quickly kindled. But Jesus pointed him to Is.61:1-3 instead. He said, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.” – Matthew 11:4-5; cf. Luke 4:18.
II. As we now approach this final section of Ps.2, v.10-12, I’d like to focus this morning on four things:
A. God’s stern warning:
1. 10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the LORD with fear... 12 lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.
2. We may be hesitant to say it, but the Bible is very clear: God is going to take vengeance on those who refuse Him. “Serve the LORD...lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.” And there are plenty of similar warnings elsewhere (e.g. Prov.1:24-33).
3. Does this seem a little heavy-handed? I mean, who does He think He is, God? Yes, actually.
a. We have to realize Who we’re dealing with here.
b. This isn’t Santa Claus. God is merciful, but He is no softie.
c. If someone has the impression that it’s OK with Jesus if you’re not really into Him as long as you’re a good person otherwise, you need to know that there isn’t one shred of that in the Bible.
d. “Serve the Lord with fear, kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.”
e. God is not willing to share His throne with anyone. He is the King, and ALL must bow. And those who refuse to bow will experience terror beyond anything known on this earth.
4. You can protest. You can argue. You can shake your fist at the heavens. A lot of folks do that.
a. But, if you do that, you’re dishonoring the judge. And only fools dishonor the very one who will judge them.
b. The issue isn’t whether we like the way God talks here. The issue is, Are we going to listen?
c. If an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-wise King threatens you with eternal destruction, you don’t complain about His presentation. That’s the point of the “Be wise” part.
5. Be wise! – Does it really make sense to fight against the Almighty One?
a. Does it make sense to struggle against the One who laughs at the combined forces of all nations?
b. Does it make sense to oppose the One who controls everything in the universe! A line in Francis Thompson’s famous poem, “The Hound of Heaven” says, “All things betrayeth thee, who betrayeth Me.” Turn against God and everything in the universe turns against you.
c. And yet that’s exactly what many do. It is the epitome of foolishness.
B. Rejoice with trembling – 11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
1. The first part of v.11, “Serve the LORD with fear,” might be understood as the way a slave might act towards a master.
2. But we are not talking about tyranny here, though Satan to convince people that God is a tyrant.
3. But the second half of v.11 says, “rejoice with trembling.” That’s not tyranny.
4. You see, this warning is actually extraordinarily gracious, an expression of God’s love. He could just smash people for their rebellion, for setting themselves against the Lord (v.2), for wanting to burst His bonds & cast away His cords (3).
a. But instead He warns them, invites them, offers them an opportunity to escape the coming wrath.
5. God wants our fear – anything else is just foolishness. But He also wants our delight. He wants us to see that He is the greatest Treasure of all, and then to rejoice in receiving that Treasure!
6. Rejoicing with trembling may be a rare experience in life, but it definitely happens:
a. standing at the Grand Canyon,
b. seeing earth from space,
c. seeing a waterspout from a safe distance,
d. walking on the moon.
7. One of the things I most enjoy about winter is having a fire in the fireplace. And I think this is why: it’s both fearsome and delightful at the same time.
8. Rejoicing with trembling is a concept the world is growing leery of. They don’t like the idea that it can be healthy to have fear and trembling toward someone.
a. E.g. good parents whose children delight in their love but also respect their authority.
b. The friendly police officer who people enjoy having around, but are also on their best behavior.
c. And therefore, the concept of healthy fear & trembling is fading in our society, it seems to me.
9. C.S. Lewis does a masterful job of illustrating rejoicing with trembling in his Narnia Chronicles with the great lion Aslan, who made the earth shake with his roar and yet in whose mane his friends could bury themselves when they were broken hearted or elated to see him.
10. Read the gospels, see how Jesus related to His disciples. You’ll understand rejoicing with trembling. E.g. the disciples rescued from the storm but still fearing (Mark 4:35-41 a great windstorm arose, and the waves started breaking into the boat, so the boat was filling. Jesus was asleep in the stern. So they woke him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are perishing?” And he rebuked the wind, “Peace! Be still!” And there was a great calm. And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
a. That’s rejoicing with trembling!
C. The call to kiss God’s Son: 12a Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.
1. A major piece of the conclusion of this magnificent psalm is a call to kiss God’s Son.
2. It’s not a call to believe He exists, it’s not even a call to believe what He says, though those things are implied. It’s not merely a call to do good things, or to keep His rules. And God’s not looking for someone who merely yields to Him.
3. He’s looking for a kiss. He’s looking for someone who will get intimate with Him. He’s looking for a close, personal relationship.
4. Think about kisses.
a. Kisses aren’t something we give a lot of. The Son of God is asking for more than a polite greeting or a tip of the hat.
b. Kissing requires closeness and always involves risk. The Son of God isn’t asking for something casual or easy. We can’t just throw kisses at Jesus. You can throw kisses & remain from far away.
5. Some argue that kiss here means submission. And that may be a part of this. But even in those times in the Bible when kissing implies submission, kissing didn’t MERELY mean submission.
a. It meant affectionate & enthusiastic acceptance of someone’s authority over you: like Samuel kissing Saul when he anointed him in 1Sam.10:1, like, in speaking to Elijah in 1Kg.19:18, God referred to the 7000 folks who had not worshiped Baal as the mouths which had not kissed Baal.
b. There are also plenty of examples of people in authority kissing those under them (e.g. 2Sam. 15:5, 19:40, 20:9; Ruth 1:14), so thinking of kissing as mere submission is not adequate. It meant giving one’s heart, not just giving one’s obedience or allegiance – like Catholics kissing the pope.
6. We can’t kiss God. There is no place in the Scripture where it talks about kissing God the Father. But you can kiss God’s Son, Jesus. That’s what’s so amazing about Christmas. He came in the flesh! He came as one of us!
a. We heard Him, we saw Him with our eyes, we touched Him with our hands, says John in his first epistle (1John 1:1). This life was made manifest, so we can have fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. – 1John 1:1-3
b. And notice the connection between Father & Son! You can’t accept God & reject His Son. You want God? Then kiss His Son! If you won’t kiss the Son, you’ve made yourself God’s enemy (John 5:23; Matt.10:40).
7. Friends, we need to do a lot more kissing – of the Son!
a. This is deeper than obedience. This is deeper than surrender. This is deeper than belief. This is intimate. This is personal. This is affectionate.
b. He’s not looking for acquaintances. He’s looking for a bride. He’s looking for a lover.
D. 12b Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
1. The psalm ends with this: “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
2. What does God require of us? To find refuge in Him!
3. This is the third surprise in this stern warning. In the midst of “Be warned, O rulers...Serve the LORD with fear...lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.” is “rejoice with trembling, kiss the Son, and take refuge in Him.”
4. Refuge implies danger, scary danger. And it implies that we find protection and safety in Someone who loves us. A refuge from what? What’s the danger here we need refuge from?
a. The only thing the psalm talks about as fearsome is God Himself. Exactly! He’s the threat, and He’s also the refuge from the threat! He gives refuge from His wrath, which is our great danger.
5. How does He do this? How has He become our refuge from the wrath of God?
a. That’s what the cross is all about! On the cross Christ bore the wrath of God as the substitute for those who receive Him and love him and trust Him.
b. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (1Peter 2:24-25)
6. Blessed are all who take refuge in him! Blessed are all who flee to Christ’s cross as their safety from the righteous wrath of God!
III. Let’s take this personally — for God is speaking to us here.
A. Beloved, be wise and be warned. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 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.
B. God’s Son offers us forgiveness and grace if we will come to Him and embrace Him and link up with Him. If not, we will perish – eternally.
1. We must decide: Do we want God to your friend or your enemy?
2. There’s no middle ground and there’s no ‘None of the Above’ option.
3. Some people are desperate to find a middle ground. They are willing to give Jesus a peck outwardly, but in their hearts to hold him at a distance.
a. But this is a false kissing of the Son, when someone is kissing on the outside but not on the inside. Inside they might even be despising the person while kissing them on the outside.
b. This sometimes happens in marriage. It happens in families. It happens on TV.
c. It also happens in the Bible. We see it in Judas, who kissed Jesus to betray Him (Mark 14:44).
d. But that was a false kiss, a pretend kiss. Judas did not love Jesus in his heart.
4. So, we’re back to the point. There are only two options: spit on Him, or kiss Him.
a. Most spit, so if you’re looking for popularity, that’s the way to go.
5. But this choice will make or break your life.
a. Either you will build on the Rock, or the Rock will crush you (Matt.21:42-44).
6. The Son of God makes a great friend, but a terrible enemy.
C. You know, there is no more blessed thing than to hear God say, “Come to Me, My love.”
1. And there is no more horrific thing than to hear God say, “Depart from Me, I never knew you. I am against you.”