GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
PSALM 2:1-2
The second Psalm is messianic; the most important of all the messianic psalms. Here we learn that the Christ would be true God (2:7), that he would reign over an eternal kingdom that includes the whole world (2:8), that he is the Son of God (2:12), and that he will be the judge and Savior of mankind (2:12). His title will be “Anointed One, which is Messiah in Hebrew and Christ in Greek (2:2). Other important messianic psalms include:
16 (Christ’s resurrection),
22 (the Savior mocked during his terrible suffering,
his clothing divided by lot, and one of his words from the cross ),
31 (another of Jesus’ words from the cross ),
40 (the Messiah obedient to God’s will through his suffering),
41 and 55 (the Messiah betrayed by a friend),
46 (the Divine nature of Christ),
69 (the suffering of Christ and being given vinegar to drink ),
72 (Christ the son of David, eternal King and Savior), and
110 (Christ’s eternal reign as priest and king).
Peter and John ascribe this Psalm to David in Acts 4:25.
2 Why are the nations furious
and the peoples murmur in vain?
2 The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers gather together
against the LORD
and against his Anointed One.
When David asks why the nations are furious (why do they “rage”), he is showing how amazed he is that the world and the rulers of the world would dare to plot against God the Father and against God the Son. All of what they say against God is in vain and useless. Their efforts will come to nothing in the end, even if they think that they have achieved minor victories by silencing one witness or by killing another.
The word “murmur” in verse 1 connects this to the previous Psalm in an unusual way. The verb hagah means to mutter, to murmur aloud. This can be a positive thing or a negative thing. In Psalm 1:2, the righteous man “meditates” on the word of God by talking to himself aloud. It is the very same word we find here where the unrighteous murmurs against God rather than about his glorious actions. So we have the righteous and the wicked described with the same verb, one to God’s glory and the other to their own shame.
The rage of the nations was once directed primarily at God or God the Father, especially in the days before the flood when Cain’s descendants were the enemies of the church. But by David’s time, and to this day, the world despises the idea of a Savior, for the very idea of a Savior shows that people need to be saved, and this points the finger of sin at each and every one of us; all of mankind is wretched, both together as a fallen and sinful group and individually as sinners.
We should identify and explain the word Messiah here. Messiah (מְשִׁיחַ) means “anointed.” Kings and priests were anointed with oil (Leviticus 6:22; 1 Samuel 10:1), and our Savior was anointed with the oil of gladness, which is to say, with the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ names are also his titles. The name Jesus is Hebrew, meaning “the Lord saves” or “The Lord is the Savior.” The title Messiah, as we have seen, is Hebrew and means anointed, but Christ means the same thing in Greek; in John 4:25 we are told Christ is indeed the Messiah. This helps us to remember that Jesus is not only the Savior of the Jews (with a Hebrew name), but also of the Gentiles (with a Greek name), because he is the Savior of the world (John 1:29). There are many passages that talk about Christ in the Old Testament.
1 Samuel 2:10, “the horn of the Messiah (anointed one) who is the power of God at work in the world.
Psalm 132:10,17, “a lamp for my anointed one (Messiah).”
Daniel 9:25, “Restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah comes”
Daniel 9:26, “The Anointed One will be cut off” (that is, crucified).
The ancient Jews understood these verses to also refer to the Messiah, and we would agree:
Micah 5:2, “Out of you, Bethlehem, will come Israel’s ruler.”
Isaiah 53:1, “How has the arm of the Lord (the Messiah) been revealed?”
Genesis 49:10, “The scepter will not depart from Judah until ‘Shiloh’ comes” (another name for the Anointed One).
This One, this Christ, is hated by the world, despised by the world, and infuriates the world. This is because the ruler of the fallen earth is the devil, and when Christ comes, the devil throws everything he can at Christ and all of his servants. Whenever a godly man speaks up, the world will pick apart his past and claim that a man who is a sinner can’t be a godly man at all. This isn’t just the pot calling the kettle black, but it’s more of a bricked-up forgotten window accusing a lovely clear glass window pane of having a smudge. Of course all godly men are sinners! The point of the gospel is not that it makes a man perfect on earth, but perfect in God’s sight for eternity. The world tosses that teaching aside and shouts and gnashes its teeth.
Luther deftly and perfectly reduced the world’s arguments by unmasking their arguments this way: “This theologian is evil, and therefore theology is evil? This lawyer is worthless, and therefore a knowledge of the law is also bad? This teacher is an adulterer, and therefore the arts or classes he teaches are all adultery?” (LW 12:8). The world blinds itself to Christ by clenching its eyes shut for fear of seeing its own sin. “I hate the idea of sin,” it rages, “and therefore I will kill God.” It is as warped and twisted as a little child thinking, “I hate the string beans my mother cooks for me, therefore I will kill my mother and my father and I will ban the institution of parents from all the world.”
We return to David’s question, “Why are the nations furious?” It’s because they don’t have faith in Christ, the Messiah of God. But he still holds out forgiveness to them, as he showed when unbelieving arms drove nails into his flesh: “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.” He held out that forgiveness to the world, and we receive it through the gift of faith. The believer can’t help but act like loyal Andrew, running to find his brother: “We have found the Messiah (that is, the Christ)!” (John 1:41). Sharing your faith is living your faith, and God blesses us as we eagerly talk about the salvation we share.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Psalm 2:1-2 The Messiah