Book of Psalms - Psa. 2, Vs. 3 (07/03/2022)

Psalm 2 and the Question of the Lord and His Anointed

Okay, we ready? Good morning. How's everybody this morning? Good. All right. So we are going to pick up where we left off last week. Psalm chapter two. We got through the first two verses last week. And this week, I hope to get through at least two more.

We're going to do a little backtracking to give us some context. So we're going to go look at 1 Chronicles 17. A question I had when we finished up last week, I can hear myself over here. I might get you to fix that for me.

One of the questions I had for us at the end was, who's the Lord and who's his anointed? So we'll be looking at that primarily today. But just to recap what we did last week briefly to kind of get us on track.

The verse or the chapter started with a question, we asked who asked that question. And after searching through Acts chapter four, we find that God's asking the question through the mouth of David. So David does indeed write the psalm.

And God's asking the question, why do the heathen rage? He doesn't look, he's not looking for an answer necessarily, but he's asking the question because he wants us to contemplate it. Why are the heathen raging?

The kings who set themselves and the rulers who take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, who were the kings and who were the rulers. The kings were just that, kings, those in charge of nations.

So we see that the nations are raging, the people are imagining a vain thing that tells us that what they're imagining will not come to bear. It will be fruitless, meaningless. So it's empty. And that's supposed to comfort us because we don't like the idea of the people raging and imagining a vain thing.

The kings are coming together. The rulers were the influential people, weighty people, judicious people, people of influence who come together. They unionize in this common goal. It's a choice to set themselves against something.

Unlike Cain, who was talking with the Lord and said that the Lord had changed his position and it was more than he could bear. He felt like God was making the choice for him. In this chapter, we see that man at least feels like he's making the choice himself.

So he is setting it last week with who is the Lord and who is his anointed. Who are they talking about here? What's this chapter telling us? So that's our first question of the day. Any ideas? Set themselves.

Rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. And so the question is, who is the Lord and who is his anointed? Okay. Perhaps the prophets. All right. Any other? Nathan has told David, do all that is in your heart that seemeth good.

This is because Nathan in that moment is thinking that sounds like a great idea, but he makes the mistake of not consulting the Lord first. So then later that evening, perhaps, or, or a day or so sometime right after that, the Lord comes to Nathan and says, tell David, no, you're not building my house.

Okay. So now Nathan is going to have to go back and tell David, but I want you to notice what God tells Nathan to say to David. He says, shall not build me on a house to dwell in. I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel unto this day, but have gone from tent to tent and from one tabernacle to another.

Where so ever I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word to any of the judges of Israel. When I commanded to feed my peoples saying, why have you not built me in house of cedars? Now, therefore, thus shalt thou say unto my servant, David, thus sayeth the Lord of hosts.

Sorry. So let's break down what he just said. And then we'll get to the thing he says next. Basically he said, it's interesting that you want to build me a house. And up until this point, no one has actually said, build God a house.

That's very important to understand because what I want us to see is the relationship between David's loving relationship. David is after God's own heart. And he's had many roles. He's been the shepherd boy.

He's been the King. He's been the warrior. He's been the fugitive. He's also been a sinner. So he's had many roles in his life, but throughout all those roles, he has never lost a love for the Lord. He may not have always yielded to that love, but he has always had his mind to the Lord to some degree.

I mean, when you're sinning, you don't necessarily have your mind set on the Lord, but even in that time, the Lord had his mind set to David, maybe a good way to say it. So then David has been through lots of seasons in his life and he's reflecting on the seasons of his life.

He's very thankful for everything that God's done for him. And he is experiencing this extreme thankfulness and it makes him say, I want to do something for God. So he tells the Lord, I'm going to build you a house.

And God says, that sounds really cool because I've talked about this in the past, but ultimately he's going to tell him, no, you're not building me a house. Let's see what he says next to David through the prophet Nathan.

Now, therefore, thus shalt thou say unto my servant, David, thus sayeth the Lord of hosts. I took thee from the sheep coat, even from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be ruler over my people Israel.

And I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked. And I have cut off all thine enemies from before thee and have made thee a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth. Also, I will ordain a place for my people Israel and will plant them and they shall dwell in their place and shall be moved no more.

Neither shall the children of wickedness waste them anymore as at the beginning. And since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, moreover, I will subdue all thine enemies. Furthermore, tell thee that the Lord will build thee a house.

So here's God, he actually likes what David has said, even though he's not going to let him do it. He likes, he likes the thought and he likes it so much. He says, okay, that's great, but you're not doing this for me.

In fact, I'm going to do it for you. He flips the table on him. He says, you're not going to build me a house. I'm going to build you a house. And then he goes on to describe what the house is going to be like.

I think it's important for us to take note that God refocuses David and his desires on who's really doing the work. I know you want to do work for me, and that's a good thing. But ultimately, this is about me doing work for you.

This is me doing something for you, David, which is a powerful concept. If you think about it, the creator of the universe is doing something for a mortal man, but he's doing it. And he says, this is what's going to happen.

I'm going to build you a house. You're not going to build me a house. All right. So he goes on to describe what he means by building a house. And here's what he says. And it shall come to pass when thy days be expired, that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons, and I will establish his kingdom.

He shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. This is a really important concept because until now, there have not been kings for Israel in a lineage, in a family line. It's basically been there's a king, and then there's a different king.

All right. God is saying your family is going to rule. It's not just you. You're going to have a king that comes from you. Now, question for you guys, who is the king it's talking about? All right. So pop says Solomon, or actually Jesus in the long run.

That's actually a pretty perfect answer because if you look at how this plays out, it kind of means both. He fulfills this prophecy with Solomon, and it's like a near fulfillment. And then there's this far fulfillment that happens with the son of God, Jesus.

But I want you to notice that both answers to a degree are correct. Here's what he says. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. And I will not take my mercy away from him as I took it from him that was before thee.

Who's he talking about there? Yes. So God took the throne from Saul. And that's what he's saying to David. He's saying, I'm not going to do this to the next king. I'm not going to take my mercy away from your seed like I did with Saul.

I took it away from him. I won't be doing that with your family. He then says, of course, he says that I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me. So who does that sound like it's talking about?

That part sounds like... So you just walked in, right? But he's talking to David, and he's telling David that I will give you a king from your own seed, just to catch up there. So I will give you a king from your own seed.

So your own family is going to continue to rule. And I believe the lineage of David ruled for like 500 years, something like that. He says, I'm going to let your family rule. And he says, this king that I'm going to establish his throne, he says, he will be a son to me, and I will be a father to him.

Now, how does that sound like? It sounds like Jesus, right? What's interesting is that it is talking about Solomon, but it's foreshadowing Jesus. All of this points to Jesus. That's the whole point of it.

The whole idea is that Jesus is going to rule. David may not know this at this time, right? He's hearing from the Lord that one of my kids is going to rule. Now that could be his immediate children, and it is.

Solomon does end up ruling. But it could also be taken to mean generations from now. One of my children, many, many generations from now, which ultimately will be Jesus. He says, I will be a father. I will be his father, and he shall be my son, and I will not take my mercy away from him as I took it from him that was before thee at Saul.

But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forevermore. That begins to sound more like Jesus, doesn't it? According to all these words and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.

So he has told David that you are going to have this amazing thing happen to you. You wanted to build a house for the Lord. You don't get to. I'm sure that's a little bit of a bummer for David, right?

He's delivering bad news in a sense, but he delivers it in the most gracious way. He says, no, you don't get to do this, but God's going to do it for you. And here's what it looks like. It's a forever thing.

It's a lasting covenant. It cannot be taken away. This is often referred to as the Davidic covenant. So it is a very powerful promise from the Lord. Now, that is what has just occurred around the time that scholars believe that Psalm chapter 2 is written, okay?

So I want you to think about David, who's had many enemies in his life. He's had to shed a lot of blood, which ultimately we find out later in Chronicles is the reason why God says, no, you're not going to build it.

I want a peaceable king to build my tabernacle. And Solomon was that. He was a very peaceable king. So David has experienced a lot of trouble in his life. He's experienced a lot of war, a lot of conflict, but he has also just been given this amazing covenant from the Lord which means now just think of how thankful he must be that he doesn't have to worry that his family is going to be overthrown, right?

Now he's being told our family is going to be on the throne from age into age practically, right? Like we're talking a long, long time, hundreds of years. So he's very thankful. He's overwhelmed that I wanted to build a house for God, but instead he's going to build a house for me.

And that's when he supposedly writes the Psalm. So let's go back to Psalm chapter two now. And with that in mind, let's look at, let's, let's read Psalm chapter two. We won't do the whole chapter, but we'll just go back to what he's talking about.

Psalm two verse one, why do the heathen rage in the people imagine of anything yet? Remember we talked about this is God asking the question, but in David's mind, he's probably asking the question when he's pinning this, the Kings of earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed.

Who does David think the anointed is in this passage? Who does it feel like to him? It feels like himself. It feels like himself, but is it really him? Let's go back to Acts chapter four and beginning in verse verse 23 is what we looked at last time.

Just to remind you of the backstory, this is after Peter and John were released by the Sanhedrin after healing a man in front of thousands and Sanhedrin had threatened them. But could do nothing to them ultimately.

So they, they were released and they're reporting this to the disciples and everyone starts praising the Lord for this. And this is where we find out that David wrote Psalm chapter two. It says, who by the mouth of David, thy servant, David, these are the people talking to God by the mouth of thy servant.

David has said, why did the heathen rage in the people? Imagine vain things. The Kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. Isn't it interesting that it says that next it says for of a truth against thy holy child, Jesus, whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together.

So who is it really talking about? David in that moment might feel like this is talking about him. And in a sense it is, but that's because David is a type or a picture that points to Jesus points to the Christ.

There's a place elsewhere where David is considered God's firstborn. God actually calls him his firstborn. It's not his only begotten like Jesus, but it's different, but he's a type or a picture of becoming Messiah.

Yes. Yes. Well, and I'm glad you said that Ben, Ben says that it sounds like the entire lineage was anointed, not just David, not just Solomon and not even just Jesus, but the entire lineage. It makes it sound like that whole lineage is anointed.

And I think that would be correct to say and at least in kingship. And I think this is why it would be correct to say, now we have to understand this is not the same kind of anointing that Christ had, right?

He, they, it does not mean that all of these Kings and David's lineage are the Messiah, right? They should all point to the Messiah. They may or may not, right? But the David definitely is a type or picture pointing to the Messiah.

Solomon in many respects is a type or picture that points to the, to the Messiah who will bring peace ultimately. But none of them are Jesus. And this is ultimately about Jesus. We have to remember that this is a messianic Psalm that we're reading.

But we have three groups of people to talk about. We have the author, which ultimately is Jesus or the Holy Spirit, right? Jesus is the word and the word became flesh and dwelt among men. So we know that, that all the scriptures point to Jesus because they are of Jesus, right?

It's his words. So we have the author of Psalm chapter two. He's truly the anointed one. We have the penman of Psalm chapter two. That's David, the King. Then we also have the readers. That's those of us who are reading Psalm chapter two.

So here's what I want to do real quick. We've just seen in Acts chapter four that Jesus Christ is the anointed one. That's who this is really truly talking about. We can all agree on that. Yes. All right.

So let's look at David, the King. Now go to Psalm 89 and we'll be in verse, I believe 20 is where it starts. I have found David, my servant. Who is likely talking here? The Lord, right? I have found David, my servant.

With my holy oil have I anointed him. So David truly is one of the anointed, right? And so it's not wrong for David to think that this is about him. He may not even fully understand the forward implications of this.

He may not fully understand that it's actually about Jesus, but he is a man after God's own heart. So as a type or picture and as a truly anointed one, this tells us that he is anointed. We see that it's okay for David to write this as if it's about him.

We know that it's not. And he probably understood that this is really about God and what he's doing for him. God is building me a house and he's reveling in the fact that God is building me a house. It's the heathen were raging against him and they were raging against me, his anointed, but it's all in the vein.

So he's writing about this. Here's what else it says in Psalms 89. It says with my holy oil, have I anointed him with whom my hand shall be established. Mine arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not exact upon him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him.

And I will beat down his foes before his face and plague them that hate him. But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him. And in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand also in the sea and his right hand in the rivers.

He shall cry unto me, thou art my father, my God. Interesting. So David sees God as his father. And the rock of my salvation. And I will make him my firstborn higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him forevermore.

And my covenant shall stand fast with him. He goes on to say in the same Psalm 89, his seed also will I make to endure forever and his throne as the days of heaven. So what we see is this Psalm chapter two, it is all about Jesus, but it is also in a sense of promise to David, I'm building you.

I'm sorry, not Psalm chapter two, Chronicles 17. David is being exalted by the Lord. God has always loved David's humility. And we know that from scripture tells us, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord.

He shall lift you up. David has done this, especially after sinning. He has had a broken heart, uh, because of his sin and God just lifts him up and exalts him. So here he is. He's, he's been told you are a son to me and you are my anointed one.

And I am going to build a house for you and it's going to endure forever. Why? Well, it's going to start with one of your own kids, Solomon, but it's going to be built forever and ever because ultimately it comes through who this chapter is really about.

And that's Jesus Christ. Um, so we can, we can see Psalm chapter two as ultimately being about Jesus, but it really is also in a sense about David, but it really is also in a sense about someone else.

So go to second Corinthians one versus 20 through 22 second Corinthians one for all the promises is the verse starting in verse 20 for all the promises of God in him are yay and in him. Amen. Under the glory of God by us, who is us believers.

This is Paul talking to the believers of the church Corinth right now, he, which, which establishes us with, with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God who's anointed believers. We are anointed. How are we anointed with the blood of Christ?

So who is it really ultimately about? It's about Jesus. We aren't the anointed, but we are anointed. The anointed is Jesus. Now he, which established with us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts, the spirit.

We are sealed and anointed by the Holy spirit in Jesus Christ. The word anointed in Psalm chapter two is a word that means to smear. And I had it written down. Oh, no, that's not it. I think it's something like that.

Don't quote me on that though. Cause I've lost my note on it. You can look it up, but the word for anointed in Psalm chapter two is smear. And this was a type or picture used in the old Testament, uh, to show the Holy spirit being placed upon someone.

So when Samuel anointed David, he put oil on his head and that pictured the covering of the Holy spirit. Uh, so when we read Paul's words here in second Corinthians, we see that we are anointed by that same Holy spirit that was pictured in the old Testament.

So instead of just a picture, we actually have that spirit in dwelling in us as Christians in our hearts, it says second Corinthians and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts. Moreover, I call God for a record upon my soul, but to spare you, I came not as yet to end of Corinth, not for that we have dominion over your faith, but our helpers of your joy for by faith ye stand.

Okay. Um, let's see, go to first John two. I think that's right. First John two 27. Yes. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and you need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you of all things and his truth and is no lie.

And even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him. So we do have this anointing in us. Uh, go to John one, John one 12. I think I just have that written down here, but I can't remember why. Let me, yes.

Okay. So we, we can see there that we have an anointing on us as Christians, but remember the promise in second Chronicles, the promises I will be a father to him and he will be a son to me. Well, David shows that he saw God as his father and cried out to him as a father.

We saw that in Psalm 89. Uh, we know that Jesus is the son of God. So that fits that picture as well. But what about us? Well, we do have the anointing. What about the sonship? John one 12 says, but as many as received him to them, gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

So while Psalm chapter two is entirely about Jesus and it points to Jesus and it is talking about Jesus, David, as he's writing, it sees how this Psalm applies to him as a son of God. And as an anointed King, when we read this Psalm, we should read it and contemplate how does it apply to us as his anointed children or his sons and daughters?

Because we are that we are anointed in Christ by the Holy spirit. And we have been given the power to become the sons of God again by the Holy spirit. So this Psalm applies to us. It's not just something that, um, we read and go, well, that's interesting.

And that's cool. It, it is talking about Jesus. It is only about him, but it has an application for us, just like it had an application for David. So let's go back to Psalm chapter two and consider what that application is.

The Nations Rage Against Christ and His People

All right. So now that we've read the first two verses over and over again, we know that heathen raging and the people are imagining vain things that won't come true. And we consider that we don't like that the heathen rage, and we don't like what they're attempting to do.

We, we now have considered who is the Lord. Well, the Lord is God period, but his anointed is his son, Jesus. And there is a picture of this in the relationship between Jesus, his Lord and David, the son, right?

Or the anointed. So we have the picture. Jesus is Lord. David is the anointed, but we have another picture. Jesus is Lord. And we are anointed and we are sons. So now we know who the Lord is and who the anointed is.

It is God and it is his son, but we have an application for us as well. Let's look at what it is that the heathen are applauding to do to the Lord and to his anointed. Now take comfort knowing it is all in vain.

Here's what they are plotting to do. It says the Kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord. And it gets his anointed saying, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.

That's the plan. That's the plot. The, the men of the world, the rulers of the earth, the judicious weighty people are plotting against in our case, Jesus and us. That's who they're plotting against. They were plotting against David and his Lord.

They were plotting against God and his son, Jesus. That's we've seen that play out in history, but it's still playing out. It's playing out with us. The, the Kings of the earth and the rulers of the world are plotting against us.

What are they plotting to do? They're plotting to break our bands asunder. What is that? Any ideas? What does it mean that they want to break our bands asunder? They want to divide that which binds us together.

The word for break is to pull or tear or draw off or away or apart. So it's to separate. They want to divide and conquer. That's what they want to do to us. What do you suppose is the true purpose of social distancing?

That it's by its very description is to divide, to separate. So their plan is to socially distance God's people. The word for bands is, it says, let us break their bands asunder. The word for bands is moser.

And it is a word that means to tie or bind, to harness. So in other words, it's the thing that, that makes us stick together. Now that sounds pretty terrifying because what, what sticks us together? Yes, sir.

God himself sticks us together, but what is the agent of stickiness? The Holy Spirit. Well, that's another way of saying God though, right? The love of Christ is what brings us all together, right? And it, Jesus told us himself, he said, by this, you will know them that they love one another, right?

So that's how, that's how we are bound together. We are bound together by the love of Christ. The world's plan is to destroy the love of Christ. Can you see why it's so in vain? Why it's empty? How it's meaningless?

Because can the love of Christ be destroyed? Let me ask you, how would you go about destroying the love of Christ? If you really thought it could be destroyed, what do you think would destroy it? All right.

So if we could destroy the manifestation of that love, right? If we could destroy the fruits that should come as a result of the love of Christ. Okay. Maybe through doubt, through hate. All right. Hate is very obviously the, the antonym to, to love, right?

So if we could somehow spread hate, then we could somehow defeat love. Jesus's love is completely unconditional, which means there is nothing required to receive it. There is nothing required to experience it.

You can't do anything to get it. It's just, he gives it to you. And as a result of that love, you love Jesus. If there is nothing you can do to get it, it stands to reason there's nothing you can do to lose it, which also means there's nothing you can do to destroy it.

Right? So it's completely meaningless. It's fruitful. It's in vain that they are thinking they're going to break our bands asunder. It can't be done. So we should take comfort in that. But why do they want to our bands asunder?

What is the world's reason for destroying the love of Christ? And the way they hope to do it is to destroy the manifestation of that love. They don't, they don't want Christians together. They want them separated because if we're separated, we have, we don't have the ability to show each other the love.

When Paul writes to the churches, he often says, I want to be there with you. And it's usually to partake in the fruits of that love. I want to worship with you. I want to work with you. I want to share the gospel with you.

I want, he wants to talk about love with the people he's going to go visit. But there are some times when the world has socially distanced Paul from the church and he can't go. So he's experienced that in his time.

There are no new tricks. Satan doesn't have new tricks. He just has new people. He's, he's trying to socially distance us because it makes it harder for us to experience the love that we have for each other.

You know how sometimes when you have a disagreement and you don't come together to deal with it, maybe you try to deal with it in letters, or you try to deal with it in emails, you know, and context is all messed up and, and the way that you're feeling doesn't come across.

There's something lost when you're not with the other person and Satan realizes that. So he's trying to keep us apart. It, it helps to create division. It helps to create false thinking in our own minds, but he can't destroy our love.

If it's in us, then once we get back together, that's when the healing begins. That's when we begin to, to get better and work through our problems more easily. Why would the world want the manifestation of our love to cease?

It says here, to cast away their cords from us. What is that? That's the answer. So what is it? What are the.

Cords? You know, they're enemies. Right. They can divide us up like you were just saying. That hurts, but when it comes to the bands, I think it, where they're actually targeting each individual through their values, through their, you know, basically.

Hmm. There it is. They want to break those.

That's it. So notice it says, and let us cast away their cords from us. So these cords. So in case you can't hear online, here's what Ben and Ashton are saying. When you look up the word cords, it literally means restraints.

Sometimes it even refers to like a rope or a chain so that the heathen see God's people coming together. They see the love of Christ, which binds us together and they see fruits of that labor. And they say, we've got to stop that because it somehow binds them.

They say, let us cast away their cords from us. So something is restraining them and it has to do with our values. It has to do with the manifestation of that love. The things that come from that, the value of life, for instance.

Right. We value life from conception. We value honesty. We value integrity. We value truth. We value right and wrong, knowing what that is, how to decipher it. We put a standard out there that the world does not want imposed on them.

They're very clear about it. They literally tell us don't impose your religion on me. They think it's religion. And it can look like religion if you focus on rules, but what is it to us? It's relationship with Jesus, which manifests with the desire to follow the law of the Lord.

To them, it's just religion because they don't have that love. To Saul, who's on his way down the road of Damascus to kill Christians, it was a cord he wanted to cast from him, so he thought. Little did he realize that he was one of Jesus's and Jesus made it very clear, no, you're one of mine.

Why do you persecute me? And in that moment, Saul received the love of Christ, which activated love in Saul. So then he became Paul, he goes and gets baptized, and now he understands the flip side. It's no longer like a false religion to Saul.

It is a relationship with Jesus that manifests in a desire to follow the law of the Lord. So we see the heathen, we see the rulers of the earth, we see the kings, they are binding together, they are unionizing, and they are grouping together in order to disband us.

If they can be more together in their unity, it will make it easier to disband their enemy. And the reason why they want to disband their enemy is because they don't like the restraint that we put on them in this world.

Now here's something else to think about, and I think Brother Bill would like this, because it's like a science thing. If you have a larger body of mass, it has a greater gravitational pull. So in other words, the more mass that is grouped together, the greater the pull it has on outside things, outside objects.

So the whole point of the heathen, the whole plot that they have is to reduce our mass and increase their mass. Because as their mass increases, they believe they can attract more to them. As our mass decreases through disunity, our influence on the world decreases as well.

We're seeing this play out in the church because we're not unified. Why aren't we unified? Well, we're supposed to be unified by the love of Christ, but we can't understand the love of Christ if we are not in the word of God.