1–3. We have
in these verses a description of the hatred of human nature against the Christ
of God. No better comment is needed upon it than the apostolic song in Acts
4:27–28.
1. The psalm
begins abruptly with an angry interrogation; and well it may: it is surely
little to be wondered at that the sight of creatures in arms against their God
should amaze the psalmist’s mind. We see the heathen rage, roaring like
the sea, tossed to and fro with restless waves, as the ocean in a storm; and
then we mark the people in their hearts imagine a vain thing against
God. Where there is much rage there is generally some folly, and in this case
there is an excess of it. Note that the commotion is not caused by the people
only, but their leaders foment the rebellion.
2. The kings of the earth set themselves. In determined malice they arrayed themselves in opposition
against God. It was not temporary rage, but deep-seated hate, for they set themselves
resolutely to withstand the Prince of Peace. And the rulers take counsel
together. They go about their warfare craftily, not with foolish haste but
deliberately. They use all the skill which artifice can give. Like Pharaoh,
they cry, “Let us deal wisely with them.” O that men were half as careful in
God’s service to serve him wisely, as his enemies are to attack his kingdom
craftily. Sinners have their wits about them, and yet saints are dull. But what
say they? What is the meaning of this commotion?
3. Let us break their bands asunder. “Let us be free to commit all manner of abominations. Let
us be our own gods. Let us rid ourselves of all restraint.” Gathering
impudence by the traitorous proposition of rebellion, they add let us cast
away as if it were an easy matter—“let us fling off their cords from us.”
What! O ye kings, do ye think think yourselves Samsons? Are the bands of
Omnipotence like green twigs before you? Do you dream that you will snap to
pieces and destroy the mandates of God—the decrees of the Most High—as if they
were but threads? And do you say, “Let us cast away their cords from us”?
Yes! There are monarchs who have spoken thus, and there are still rebels on
thrones. However mad the resolution to revolt from God, it is one in which man
has persevered ever since his creation, and he continues in it to this very
day. The glorious reign of Jesus in the latter day will not be consummated
until a terrible struggle has convulsed the nations. His coming will be as a
refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap, and the day thereof shall burn as an
oven. Earth loves not her rightful monarch, but clings to the usurper’s sway:
the terrible conflicts of the last days will illustrate both the world’s love
of sin and Jehovah’s power to give the kingdom to his only begotten. To a
graceless neck the yoke of Christ is intolerable, but to the saved sinner it is
easy and light. We may judge ourselves by this: do we love that yoke, or do we
wish to cast it off?
4. Let us
now turn our eyes from the wicked council-chamber and raging tumult of man, to
the secret place of the majesty of the Most High. What does God say? What will
the King do to those who reject his only-begotten Son, the Heir of all things?
Mark the quiet dignity of the Omnipotent, and the contempt
which he pours on the princes and their raging people. He has not taken the
trouble to rise up and do battle with them—he despises them, and therefore
laughs at them.
5. After he
has laughed he will speak; he does not need to smite; the breath of his
lips is enough. At the moment when their power is at its height, and their fury
most violent, then shall his Word go forth against them. And what is it
that he says? It is a very galling sentence.
6. Yet. Despite
your malice, despite your tumultuous gatherings, despite the wisdom of your
counsels, despite the craft of your lawgivers, I have set my king upon my
holy hill of Zion. Is not that a grand exclamation! He has already done
that which the enemy seeks to prevent. While they are proposing, he has
disposed the matter. Jehovah’s will is done, and man’s will frets and raves in
vain. God’s Anointed is appointed, and shall not be disappointed. Look back
through all the ages of infidelity, hearken to the high and hard things which
people have spoken against the Most High, listen to the rolling thunder of
earth’s volleys against the Majesty of heaven, and then think that God is
saying all the while, Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
Yet Jesus reigns, yet he sees of the travail of his soul, and “his suffering
kingdom shall yet come” when he takes to himself his great power, and reigns
from the river to the ends of the earth. Even now he reigns in Zion, and our
glad lips sound the praises of the Prince of Peace. Greater conflicts may be
here foretold, but we may be confident that victory will be given to our Lord
and King. Glorious triumphs are yet to come; hasten them, we pray thee, O Lord!
It is Zion’s glory and her joy that her King is in her, guarding her from foes
and filling her with good things. Jesus sits upon the throne of grace, and the
throne of power in the midst of his church. In him is Zion’s best safeguard;
let her citizens be glad in him.
7–9. This
psalm wears something of a dramatic form, for now another person is introduced
as speaking. We have looked into the council-chamber of the wicked, and to the
throne of God, and now we behold the Anointed declaring his rights of
sovereignty, and warning the traitors of their doom.
7. God has
laughed at the counsel and ravings of the wicked, and now Christ the Anointed
himself comes forward, as the Risen Redeemer, “declared to be the Son of God
with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the
dead” (Romans 1:4). Looking into the angry faces of the rebellious kings,
Christ as the Anointed One seems to say, “If this is not enough to make you
silent, I will declare the decree.” Now this decree is directly in
conflict with the device of man, for its tenor is the establishment of the very
dominion against which the nations are raving. Thou art my Son. Here is
a noble proof of the glorious divinity of our Immanuel. “For unto which of the
angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?”
What a mercy to have a divine Redeemer in whom to rest our confidence! This
day have I begotten thee. If this refers to the Godhead of our Lord, let us
not attempt to fathom it, for it is a great truth, a truth reverently to be
received, but not irreverently to be scanned. It may be added that if this
relates to the Begotten One in his human nature, we must here also rejoice in
the mystery, but not attempt to violate its sanctity by intrusive prying into
the secrets of the Eternal God. The things which are revealed are enough,
without venturing into vain speculations. In attempting to define the Trinity,
or unveil the essence of Divinity, many have lost themselves: here great ships
have foundered. What have we to do in such a sea with our frail skiffs?
8. Ask of me.
It was a custom among great kings to give favored ones whatever they might ask
(see Esther 5:6; Matthew 14:7). So Jesus only has to ask, and he will have.
Here he declares that his very enemies are his inheritance. To their face he
declares this decree, and “Lo! here,” cries the Anointed One, as he holds
aloft in that once pierced hand the scepter of his power, “He has given me
this, not only the right to be a king, but the power to conquer.” Yes! Jehovah
has given to his Anointed a rod of iron with which he will break rebellious
nations in pieces, and, despite their imperial strength, they will be but as
potters’ vessels, esaily dashed into shivers, when the rod of iron is in the
hand of the omnipotent Son of God. Those who will not bend must break. Potters’
vessels are not to be restored if dashed in pieces, and the ruin of sinners
will be hopeless if Jesus smites them.
10–12. The scene
again changes, and counsel is given to those who have taken counsel to rebel.
They are exhorted to obey, and give the kiss of homage and affection to him
whom they have hated.
10. Be wise.
It is always wise to be willing to be instructed, especially when such
instruction tends to the salvation of the soul. Now therefore. Delay no
longer, but let good reason weigh with you. Your warfare cannot succeed;
therefore desist and yield cheerfully to him who will make you bow if you
refuse his yoke. How infinitely wise is obedience to Jesus, and how dreadful is
the folly of those who continue to be his enemies!
11. Serve the Lord
with fear. Let reverence and humility be
mingled with your service. He is a great God, and you are but puny creatures;
bend, therefore, in lowly worship, and let a filial fear mingle with all your
obedience to the great Father of the ages. Rejoice with trembling. There
must ever be a holy fear mixed with the Christian’s joy. This is a sacred
compound, yielding a sweet smell, and we must see to it that we burn no other
upon the altar. Fear, without joy, is torment; and joy, without holy fear,
would be presumption. Mark the solemn argument for reconciliation and
obedience.
12. It is an
awful thing to perish in the midst of sin, in the very way of
rebellion; and yet how easily could his wrath destroy us suddenly. His
anger does not need to be heated seven times hotter; let the fuel kindle but
a little, and we are consumed. O sinner! Take heed of the terrors of the
Lord, for “our God is a consuming fire.” Note the doxology with which the
psalm closes: Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Have we
a share in this blessedness? Do we trust in him? Our faith may be
slender as a spider’s thread; but if it be real, we are in our measure blessed.
The more we trust, the more fully will we know this blessedness. We may
therefore close the psalm with the prayer of the apostles: “Lord, increase our
faith.”
The first psalm was a contrast between the righteous man and
the sinner; the second psalm is a contrast between the tumultuous disobedience
of the ungodly world and the sure exaltation of the righteous Son of God. In
the first psalm, we saw the wicked driven away like chaff; in the second psalm,
we see them broken in pieces like a potter’s vessel. In the first psalm, we
beheld the righteous like a tree planted by the rivers of water; and here, we
contemplate Christ, the Covenant Head of the righteous, made better than a tree
planted by the rivers of water, for he is made king of all the islands,
and all the heathen bow before him and kiss the dust; while he himself gives a
blessing to all those who put their trust in him. The two psalms are worthy of
the very deepest attention; they are, in fact, the preface to the entire Book
of Psalms, and were by some of the ancients joined into one. They are, however,
two psalms; for Paul speaks of this as the second psalm (Acts 13:33). The
first shows us the character and lot of the righteous; and the next teaches us
that the psalms are Messianic, and speak of Christ the Messiah—the Prince who
will reign from the river unto the ends of the earth. That they both have a
far-reaching prophetic outlook we are well assured, but we do not feel
competent to open up that matter, and must leave it to abler hands.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
