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KISS THE SON

Psalm 2:1-12

Key Verse: 2:12

“Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”

Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is essential in our Christian life. Thanksgiving is a barometer for one’s faith in Christ. Unthankfulness is a red signal for our life in Christ. Apostle Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Be joyful always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” There is a hymn song titled, “Count your blessings.” When we begin to count God’s blessing, there are so many and it becomes countless. Particularly, we have survived until now during this COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, it is important to know what the greatest thanksgiving topic is to each of us. It is that God gave us Jesus as our Saviour and Lord, as our true and eternal King. We become much more grateful for this, when we think of and live in this troublesome and turbulent present time. On this Thanksgiving Sunday, we want to study Psalm 2, which can be the summary of all of history.

In Psalm 1, the righteous and the sinners are contrasted. In Psalm 2, the rebellious kings of the earth and the Son of the righteous God are contrasted. In Psalm I, the wicked are blown like chaff. In Psalm 2, the rebellious nations are dashed to pieces like pottery. In Psalm 1, the righteous are like a tree planted by the streams of water. In Psalm 2, the Anointed One is more precious than the tree planted in the streams of water. These two Psalms are like the introduction of Psalms, setting a direction for the book. As we meditate on the words of Psalm 2, may we be assured of our wonderful King so that we can take refuge in him living under his kingship and be truly thankful and joyful with full security and hope in him.

First, “I have installed my King” (1-6). Verses 1 and 2 say, “Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and his Anointed One.” The rebellion of the nations has taken place since the fall of man. Even after the Flood at Noah’s time, people gathered together at a plain in Shinar and conspired, saying, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves…” Yet, their plot was in vain, because the LORD came down and scattered them by confusing their language (Ge11:1-9). So that place was called “Babel”, meaning confused, related to Babylon. In Acts, when Peter and John were released from the Sanhedrin court after testifying to Jesus, the believers prayed to God remembering this Psalm and saying, “You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.’” They exactly recited this Psalm in their prayer. They continue, “Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen” (Ac 4:25-28). Still nations of the world gather together being united and plot against God and God’s grand plan of salvation of mankind. Human history goes in that way against the LORD to the end of the time.

In verse 2, “his Anointed One” is a very important concept in the Bible. In the Old Testament, kings and priests and prophets were anointed. Yet, his Anointed One has been distinguished and was prophesied to come. Who is the Anointed One, the One whom God anointed? This has been the most important question in the history of mankind. It is written in Daniel 9:25-26, “Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’…After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing.” God gave this vision to Daniel who was in Babylonian captivity. This vision was concerning the coming of the Anointed One, his death on the cross, and later on his kingdom after the time of 7 years of tribulation. Then in the New Testament Jesus once asked his disciples, “Who do you say I am”, Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ; the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16). The Christ is the Messiah in Hebrew, meaning “the Anointed One.” Simon Peter was the first human being who found and made this confession of the Messiah, the Anointed One. Christians are those who make this confession of Christ. At that time Jesus predicted the way of the Messiah, that is, to be killed and on the third day be raised to life. He indeed died for man’s sins and rose again and proved that he is the Messiah, the Anointed One. However, on the very day of his resurrection, a story fabricated by the religious leaders was spread that his disciples came during the night and stole the body of Jesus, to conceal the truth of the Messiahship of Jesus. This denial of Jesus Christ has been continued with the coming of antichrists in human history, and it will be so to the end of the age. This is as we studied in 1 John, “This is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come…Who is the lair? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist…” (2:18, 22).

Look at verse 3. It says, “‘Let us break their chains,’ they say, ‘and throw off their fetters.’” The kings and the peoples of the world think that God’s law is chains that shackle them and fetters which restrains them. They want to be free from God’s law. Actually, God’s law was given to the Israelites after God liberated them from the land of slavery. A Psalmist confessed in 119:32, “I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.” As we studied in James, 1:25 says, “…the perfect law that gives freedom…” and 2:14, “…the law that gives freedom…” When they said, “Let us break their chains and throw off their fetters”, they wanted to live freely as according to their sinful desires with any constraint. Throwing off God’s law, they make their own human law to justify their sinful life and actions and execute the law, using even the Supreme Court.

Now how does God then respond? Verse 4 says, “The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.” In Revelation 4, John saw this throne when he was taken to heaven in the Spirit. It is written in 4:2, “…there before me was a throne in heaven with some one sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian.” The point is that the throne in heaven and the One enthroned in heaven are real. The one enthroned in heaven is holy and righteous in unapproachable light and consuming fire. And the throne in heaven is far above all earthly thrones. Isaiah 40:15 says, “Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales;” and 40:17 says, “Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.” What an expression about the nations of the earth! And 40:23-24 say, “He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.” The conspiracy or evil schemes of the nations cannot outwit God’s power and wisdom. From heaven, the Sovereign Lord sees all and accomplishes his purpose. One example was when Pharaoh commanded that all Hebrew boys be thrown into the Nile. So baby Moses was thrown into the Nile. But Pharaoh’s daughter picked up the baby and named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water” (Ex 2:10). Then Moses, thrown into the Nile and drawn out of the water, became the deliverer of the Israelites from the hand of Pharaoh. What irony!

Verses 5 and 6 say, “Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, ‘I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.’” What kind of rebuke is this? What a terrifying declaration! This King is the King of Kings. So the installation of this King is so scary and terrifying to all the kings of the earth. In the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, there was an enormous dazzling statue with a head of gold, its chest and arms made of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. According to Daniel’s interpretation, the head of gold stands for Babylonian empire, its chest and arms, Mede-Persian empire, its belly and thighs, Greece, and its legs, Roman Empire, its feet, a coming divided kingdom. Then this enormous statue was smashed by a rock cut out not by human hands and broken to pieces and the rock itself became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. This was a vivid picture of the destruction of all earthly kingdoms and the establishment of Christ’s kingdom, whom God has installed. Revelation 11:15 says, “The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.”

At the time of Jesus’ birth, the angel Gabriel said to Mary concerning the baby she was going to conceive, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, his kingdom will never end” (Lk 1:32-33). He came into this world and triumphed over sin and death through his death and resurrection. He was ascended into heaven with the promise of coming again to this world. In Revelation 19 he, as King of kings and Lord of lords, defeated the beast and the kings of the earth. It is written, “With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns…Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations…On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (19:11-16). What a great, triumphant King! This king God has installed on Zion, on his holy hill. Praise God for the installation of this King.

Now the Son responds. Verse 7 says, “I will proclaim the decree of the LORD.” This would be the whole life of the Son in this world. The Son responds continually, “He said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father.’” What a revelation! When Apostle Paul preached the good news to the people in Pisidian Antioch, he said in Acts 13:32-33, “What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father” exactly quoting these words of Psalm 2:7. Also, the author of Hebrews quoted these words and said in Hebrews 1:5, “For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father”, and in 5:5, “So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father.’” Jesus is a son of Mary as a descendant of David and at the same time he is the Son of God. This is a mystery. Again, as we studied, Jesus Christ is God-man, who came in the flesh.

Then verse 8 says, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possessions.” When God made the earth, he gave the right to rule the earth to Adam. But Adam lost the great privilege as he disobeyed God’s command. Subsequently the right to rule the earth transferred to Satan. Then at the right time the Son came as the second Adam and regained this right through his death and resurrection with the victory over sin and Satan.

And verse 9 says, “You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.” Now his rulership is described, how to rule. Ruling with an iron scepter shows his absolute rule. His once pierced/nailed hand now holds a iron scepter. All those who reject him will be dashed to pieces like pottery. While on earth Jesus said in the parable of the tenants in Luke 20:17-18, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone. Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” His power of ruling is absolute with absolute purity.

We praise God for installing this King, King of kings and Lord of lords, the eternal King with his eternal kingdom.

Second, “Kiss the Son” (10-12). Verse 10 says, “Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth.” The very way to be wise and warned is to repent and believe the good news of the King’s coming, as Jesus proclaimed from the beginning of his messianic ministry, “The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mk 1:15). Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:20-21, “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.”

Verse 11 says, “Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling.” This fear is reverent fear. Joshua said to his people in Joshua 24:15, “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Whom we serve determines our lives. Rejoice with trembling is a characteristic of Christian joy.

Then verse 12 says, “Kiss the Son lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” What a command! What a grace! What a blessing! We have thought of who the Son is. The Son is God’s Anointed One. He proved this through his death and his resurrection. He is the King God has installed on Zion, saying, “my King.” He is King of kings and Lord of lords with many crowns, having no defeat. The Son is God’s treasured possession in the Father and the Son relationship. He is the most precious one in all human history. He is altogether beautiful. He is the desire of all nations (Hag 2:7). Without him all perish.

Then what does it mean to kiss the Son? First of all, it means to accept or welcome him as your Saviour and King, putting yourself under his rule in obedience to him. It is to submit yourself to him. It is to adore and worship him. Surely this kiss is the kiss of love. So it is to love him because of his love, and love him each and every day.

Jesus was once invited to the house of a man named Simon. While Jesus was eating in that house, a woman who had lived a sinful lift brought an alabaster jar of perfume, wept at his feet, and began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair kissed them and poured perfume on them. The man Simon could not understand why Jesus accepted such a sinful woman and her such actions. Then Jesus said to him in Luke 7:44-47, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has forgiven little loves little.” According to Jesus her such a dramatic action was the expression of her love for Jesus because of Jesus’ wonderful grace of forgiveness of her sins. This story tells us that in proportion to the realization of the grace of Jesus, we can love him.

Another time, Jesus visited to a home where two sisters, Martha and Mary, lived. At Jesus’ coming, Martha worked diligently to serve Jesus, if possible, with the best meal. But Mary sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. It is to do what he wants me to do. Martha complained to Jesus that her sister did not help her when she had much work to do. The Lord’s answer was this: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (Lk 10:41-42). When we love Jesus, we want us to do what he wants us to do. We should consider the time to listen to Jesus most precious each and each day, if we truly want to kiss the Son. Without having such time, our busy or hardworking life is pointless.

Another time, Jesus told the parable of ten virgins. They were all waiting for the bridegroom’s coming. The five wise virgins prepared extra oil, and the five foolish ones did not. Only the five wise virgins could enter the wedding banquet, while the other five virgins only saw the door shut after coming back from buying the oil (Mt 25:10). Extra oil can be our wakened life and eager expectation of our bridegroom Jesus’ coming again. In Revelation, we could hear the message, “The wedding of the Lamb has come!” and the New Jerusalem, the wife of the Lamb, coming down. What a blessed life it is to kiss the Son day by day!

At the end of verse 12 it says, “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” Where can be refuge for our lives and souls in this world? Only in him with sure promise. In that refuge there will be no fear, no anxiety while living in this uncertain troublesome world. There will be a complete protection from the evil one with the safety of our souls and the blessing of eternal life. It is as 1 John 5:11-12 says, “…God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

May we kiss the Son, truly accepting him as my king to love him and live under his kingship with the eager expectation of the king’s arrival on Zion and his kingdom.

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