King of kings

 September 2, 2023

The second psalm highlights a problem we all face in life when we must live in the less-than-perfect reality that we face everyday. To understand where my thoughts are going, here’s the psalm in its entirety:

“Why do the nations rage, 

And the people plot a vain thing? 

The kings of the earth set themselves, 

And the rulers take counsel together, 

Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, 

“Let us break Their bonds in pieces 

And cast away Their cords from us.” 

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; 

The Lord shall hold them in derision. 

Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, 

And distress them in His deep displeasure: 

“Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion.” 

“I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, 

‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 

Ask of Me, and I will give You 

The nations for Your inheritance, 

And the ends of the earth for Your possession. 

You shall break them with a rod of iron; 

You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ” 

Now therefore, be wise, O kings; 

Be instructed, you judges of the earth. 

Serve the Lord with fear, And rejoice with trembling. 

Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, 

And you perish in the way, 

When His wrath is kindled but a little. 

Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.”

—Psalm 2:1-12 

The psalm begins with something we are all familiar with: “Why do the nations rage?” Open up a newspaper, turn on the TV, scroll through the internet, and you’ll find instance after instance where nations, specifically the leaders of nations, are raging. No one is satisfied with their present state of affairs, so there are constant conflicts, wars, intrigue and injustice. Political posturing is the order of the day. 

Bible study is inherently grammatical. My kids used to roll their eyes when I would point this out at the dinner table, but it’s true. Here, the verb tense in this psalm is important. If you look carefully, you will notice that the earthly rulers do their plotting in the present tense (vv. 1-3). It’s what we see happening all around us on a daily basis.

But except for what God has done in the past (crowning his King, ie. bestowing authority on him), his acts are all in the future tense, things he shall do at some future time. God trumps the present action of earthly kings by himself crowning the King of kings, and promising to set things right in the future.

This is where we find ourselves in a dilemma, best illustrated by events of World War II. On D-Day, the Axis powers were effectively defeated. Many of the German generals understood this. But V-Day didn’t happen overnight. Many months of hard fighting lay ahead before the Nazi regime was finally broken and defeated. Spiritually speaking, D-Day came when Jesus died and rose again. V-Day however, still awaits us. There is much hard spiritual fighting that lies ahead. Our problem is that we aren’t content to live in D-Day. We want V-Day now. 

It’s coming, but isn’t here yet. The kings of earth don’t realize that they are already defeated, so they keep raging. But the King has been crowned, and the future is guaranteed. Keep fighing; keep looking ahead. V-Day is on the horizon!