Wednesday, June 21, 2023 PM

Sunnyside Baptist Church

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You all naturally got quiet on your own. We'll go ahead and get started. If we would, if you would bow with me and we'll begin with prayer.

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Father, we praise you that you have communicated to us clearly and richly, that all of your word is beneficial and it should be the first thing on our minds.

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Christ being the center of your word, him being the purpose and the end, we acknowledge him as the one that we read this book, the lens that we read this book through.

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We are so very thankful for the time that we get to study together, fellowship with one another, eat together, and discuss our king with one another.

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It's in his name that we pray and ask this time be fruitful. For your name's sake, amen. So we'll begin by reading

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Psalm 2 again. Since it is such a short psalm, we have the benefit of reading it each time that we're going to come together.

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Psalm 2, beginning in verse 1. And if you don't have a

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Bible, it's on the front sheet of the handout I gave you. Not in a very readable structure, but we'll come to that.

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Psalm 2. 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

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Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us.

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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.

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Yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree.

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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.

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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.

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Now, therefore, be wise, O kings. Be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the

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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.

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Blessed are all those who put their trust in him. Previously, we compared and considered the titles or the headings above your specific versions of Psalm 2 and each of your translations,

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Coronation of the Son, Triumph of the Messiah, The Reign of the Lord's Anointed are a few that were mentioned previously.

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There were a few more that I don't remember and I didn't go back to look and see what everybody said, but those were just a few of them that I can remember off the top of my head.

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But I posited that we might also properly title this psalm, The Comedy of the

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Son, as it encapsulates the entire story told within the text. Whereas the other ones focus on a very specific point of the text or the central idea, which is good, but it's still narrow and it fails to signal the kind of story that we're being told in the text.

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Or rather, to be sang. I claim that the psalm was a high comedy due to its consistency with the high comedies coming from the

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Greek and Roman traditions, where kings, judges, and leaders were criticized in a narrative filled with jokes, mistakes, and buffoonery.

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But there is a key difference which I believe makes this high comedy the quintessential high comedy.

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The key difference is the mixture of tragedy within the comedy, which makes the story more memorable and believable and true.

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And when I say tragedy, I don't mean to say that there's something wrong on the part of God's plan for the wicked and their rebelliousness.

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Because it's not wrong, it's not ill -timed, it's not unjustified. Only that the destruction of another image bearer, from our point of view, is tragic, especially when we consider that that image bearer's suffering has only begun.

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In this way, David, led by the Holy Spirit, bested the Greeks, and the Lord fulfilled the comedy in Christ.

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Understanding the type of story we are in magnifies and beautifies it. Understanding the structure of said story should give us a greater appreciation for the beauty of the biblical narrative and each individual text.

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Now, today we're going to focus on the structure of Psalm 2 and the insights to be gained, if there are any.

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But before we discuss the handouts, know that there are many ways of structuring

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Psalm 2. And I'm sure there are structures inherent within the original Hebrew. But I've decided to take the

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English text and break the Psalm up into two mirror sets of six verses, where changes of voice, action, and multiple points of view are allowing us to better understand the dialogue between those characters, their postures toward one another, and the prominence given to some voices over others.

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So let us consider the handout real fast. We're going to kind of, I'll explain what

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I've done here. As a whole, we're going to consider it before we go into particulars.

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You'll recognize on the front page that the configuration I've chosen, it does not lend to easy reading.

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But it is for slower consideration and for communication of a central point or a central idea within the psalm, which

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I believe is the grand point being made in the psalm or in the narrative of this comedy.

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If you would flip to the back, I've listed the characters that I have found within the text in order of their appearance, as well as the change of voices and the point of view in each verse, starting with A and going down through F, and then the mirror side of that,

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F through A. So let's consider the structure, shall we? What we have here,

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A, B, C, D, E, F, and the reverse of that, F through A, is what is known as a chiasm or chiastic structure, which is found in loads of Hebrew poetry.

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And what it allows us to do and why it's structured this way is to bring us to the center of the text or to a central point in the text that highlights, in this case, verses six and seven, the way

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I've laid it out. And it also will, when we figure out the central point, it gives us an understanding of why the other texts are matched with one another,

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A, B, C, D, E, F, and following. So on the back side of your handout, with your characters, nations, people, kings, rulers, the

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Lord, his anointed, the Son, and it's being narrated by the author David and the Holy Spirit.

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We have our characters laid out, and who is going to be speaking, spoken about, or spoken to, or acted against, or acted toward in the text.

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And I'm realizing now, as I look at the sheet, that I didn't speak to my secretary beforehand because I needed to make changes on A, B, and C.

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Because in those texts, we have David and the Holy Spirit working together as the ones speaking, though nations and people, kings and rulers, kings and rulers, those are the ones acting in those specific verses.

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But we have David and the Holy Spirit speaking to the

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Lord about kings and nations in verses one, two, and three.

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And the specific actions that they're committing or that they are working against the

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Lord, whether they're plotting, setting themselves up, or counseling together, or conspiring to break bonds and cast away the

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Lord's cords. Similarly, on the bottom end of the chiasm, we return to David and the

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Holy Spirit being the ones who are addressing, or being the ones speaking.

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But now, they are speaking to kings and rulers, and nations, and peoples. And they are speaking to them in response to their actions that they've given above.

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They're plotting, they're counseling together, and their breaking of bonds are addressed in how they should be responding to the

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Son later on in the text. And at the core, we have the

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Lord and the Son speaking and exchanging back and forth what they are doing, or how they respond to the kings and nations, and what the

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Lord does for the Son. And what he is going to do as a prophetic voice later in the text.

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So let's look at the front again, if we would. And we understand that the central idea leading to the center there is represented by the letter

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F, in verses six and seven. The central idea, I believe, to this Psalm is the

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Lord setting his king on the holy hill of Zion. And then the

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Son, right after that, we have a change of voice in verse seven. But he is repeating, in a sense, the same idea.

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I will declare the decree. The Lord has said to me, you are my son, today I have begotten you.

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And in this, we have the Lord showing us what he has done through Jesus in the incarnation.

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And who he has to set up as his king on Zion. This being the central idea, we now have a response from the

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Lord to the kings and nations, but indirectly. What does he do after we see him, after we have a report of what the nations and the kings are doing?

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How does the Lord respond? He responds by holding them in derision. He responds by speaking to them in his wrath and distressing them, and in his deep displeasure.

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But who does he address and what subject does he address? Does he address them and what they've done wrong? No. He starts talking about Jesus.

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He starts talking about his son immediately. Now, that may be kind of strange, because when my son messes up, whenever he starts rebelling,

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I address the exact issue. I address what he's done, the heart that he's done it with.

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But the Lord goes right to Jesus. He makes a beeline for the one that all this is about.

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And then he says to his son, ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance.

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Now, he's not saying ask of me question mark. It sounds more like a commandment, right?

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Ask of me. Do you think that Jesus would ignore that command? No, he's not going to ignore that command, and he didn't.

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And in this, this is a response to those who believe, the kings of the earth who believe that the nations and the ends of the earth are their inheritance, are their possessions.

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That's a response to that type of an attitude. But he's giving it to his son, you see.

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And in a very indirect way, he has put them in their place. And again, he addresses his son, you shall break them with a rod of iron.

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You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. And he's talking about those nations that he inherits.

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Do we have another example in the text of the word break being used up at the top?

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Right, let us break their bonds into pieces and cast away their cords. That's another response from the

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Lord about that very action they were conspiring to commit against their

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Lord, against the Lord himself, Yahweh. And now we have after this core here of what

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Christ, what the Lord has done by setting his king on Zion, and then what

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Christ is being given and he is meant to do. We have

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David and the Holy Spirit again addressing. Now this time, they're not addressing questions or they're not speaking in a narrative form about what other image bearers are doing against the

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Lord. They're addressing these image bearers directly now. They are now telling them in an instructive fashion to be wise, be instructed, serve the

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Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Now that is in direct contradiction to how they were acting before.

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If you look at A and A, why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing?

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The response to that, David and the Holy Spirit say, instead of raging, kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way.

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Now in B in verse 2 and B verse 11, the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together.

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They don't plan on serving anybody but themselves, but we come down to verse 11, serve the

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Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. In direct response to how they have been acting from the beginning.

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And then verse 3 and verse 10, both highlighted by C, against the

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Lord and against his anointed, they say, let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us.

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Would that be wise? No. And then they are going to be instructed by David and the

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Holy Spirit again. Now therefore be wise, O kings, be instructed, you judges of the earth. Now we talked about the central idea of this text, and I believe the central idea is an is that determines the oughts for kings, rulers, peoples, and nations.

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Now it's not explicitly stated, but what do you think, what's the central is that is in verses 6 and 7 that we can find in the text that should determine what these kings ought to do in future?

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If you're not following me, please ask questions. Right, he is the king, right?

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Even though it doesn't say Jesus is king, that's the central is. Now therefore, since Jesus is king, you ought to behave in this way.

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You ought to posture towards the king in this way. Kissing him, serving him, being wise and being instructed by him.

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That way you may yourself be a wise judge and a wise ruler as well. Now I know that was probably pretty short there and that's okay, but you don't want to pour over structure all day long anyways.

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But it is a vital part to the text, especially the poetry within the Bible. And you may not be very interested in structure that can be found in the text, and it should not be the very first thing that you consider when we read the word of God.

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But it is an attribute of the text that reveals the beauty of both the language and the story. And in this way, we know that the

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Lord loves us or is being loving to us in this way. Structure gives us clarity.

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Structure communicates the importance of the voices, the action, and the points in the narrative.

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Structure reveals much of the logic behind giving certain bits of information at specific points within the comedy.

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Because we all know that the secret to comedy is timing. The Lord times all things perfectly, does he not?

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Now, I probably started through way too much of that. So if there are any questions, considerations, or criticisms of the way

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I've discussed the structure, or even the way that I have it structured, do we have any of that now?

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The voice is smooth. And as you're reading, you hear

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David before the Lord, the mess of his world in verses one through three.

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Yes. And then he reverses the mess.

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Yes. And then we come back to David and the voice. Right, yes.

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That was the adjustment you wanted to make on A through C? Yeah, A through C, I actually wanted to have David and the

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Holy Spirit book ending, A through C on the top and on the bottom. And he is addressing, like you said, the mess, which are the nations, people, kings, and rulers.

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They are the mess themselves. And they're the ones that are being spoken about acting in that text. But he is the narrator being led along by the

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Holy Spirit at both the front and the bottom end. And of course, he's the narration throughout.

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But the voice in the middle is given to the Lord. And it's given to the Lord in direct quotation.

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And we can see that in double quotation when we get to the son, right? So the Messiah is in double quotation. And this is in the

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English, obviously, not the Hebrew. But the Lord gets, Yahweh gets verses four through six, and how he responds to one, two, and three.

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Right, because the son reveals the father, right? And what we have here is the father making that one declarative statement.

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And then from there, the son, who is being given this by the father, gets to basically exegete what the father has given to him in his being begotten, his inheriting the nations and the ends of the earth for his possession, but also his responsibility as judge and as the one who is the ruler over all the kings and the nations.

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That the nations, they're trying to fight against God and against his

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Christ. But at the end, they're called to an amen.

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So the son amens the father, and then all the nations are said, you better amen the son. As well, correct.

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And maybe that's one of the things that, this has a lot of eschatological significance for everybody across the board, no matter your position.

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And then maybe one of the things that we can agree upon, whether we are understanding of the coming of the kingdom, be now or in the future, is that the central is gives an aunt to these specific spheres of authority in this world.

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Right, and I know sometimes that can be tricky, depending upon what camp you come from.

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But I think this song makes it quite clear that it is for the aunt.

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Any other questions? I didn't actually study literature.

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I have a journalism degree, but I do love to consume and study literature in my own spare time.

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Yes. Okay, so Ryan, can you come and take prayer requests, please?