The psalm begins, with the question, Psalm 2:1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
The word “heathen” is the same as “nations.”
Among men the word “heathen” is usually considered as synonymous with “uncivilized;” but the Bible calls all men heathen who do not serve the Lord, no matter how much they may have of the veneer and polish of what is called civilization. It will be noticed that in the margin we have “tumultuously assemble” as the equivalent of “rage.”
Q: What is the cause of the tumultuous gatherings of the people?
Q: What is the cause of the tumultuous gatherings of the people?
The second and third verses give the answer: Psalm 2:2,3 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
The reader will see by looking at John 1:41 and margin, that the word, “Anointed” and “Christ” are the same.
Therefore we may read, “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His Christ.”
This is quoted in: Acts 4:25 Who by the mouth of your servant David has said, Why did the heathen rage, and 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.
The Father and the Son are inseparable. It is impossible to speak against one without opposing the other. It is impossible that there should be such a thing as believing in God but not in Christ. Jesus said, John 14:6 I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes unto the Father but by Me.
They are one in redemption, as they are one in creation.
---Some people like to persuade themselves that in casting away the law of the Lord they are following Christ.
---They try to believe that Christ came for the purpose of loosing men from their obligation to keep the law of God.
---That is a part of the “vain thing” which the people imagine.
Q: How does the Lord regard these attempts upon His law?
A: Psalm 2:4 He that sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision.
Psalm 2:9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash
them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
Psalm 2:9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash
In the 2nd chapter of Daniel the nations of earth are represented as an image composed of various metals. The kingdom of Christ is represented as a stone cut out of the mountain without hands, with the following results:
Daniel 2:35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. That image represented the nations of earth until the end of time.
In view of all this, how important the exhortation, Psalm 2:10-12
Daniel 2:35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. That image represented the nations of earth until the end of time.
In view of all this, how important the exhortation, Psalm 2:10-12
Be wise now therefore, O you kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish from the way, when His wrath will soon be kindled."
E.J. Waggoner
E.J. Waggoner
