The Desire and Plot to Cast off the Restraints of God’s Laws--Psalm 2:1-3
“Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? 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 bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords [restraints] from us.’" (Psalm 2:1-3 NKJ)
We live in an age in which kings and rulers seek to free themselves from the restraints of Christianity--if not in this life, then in the next. Our society is quickly becoming a place where most anything goes. Moral standards are becoming lessened, if not absent.
We live in a time when some business and governmental leaders gather for a time of partying and “raising hell,” to use their term. At this event they first go through a ritual of bringing to death their cares, through a “Cremation of Care” ceremony. They want to be free of cares so they can enjoy the frivolity of the gathering. In the ritual, a coffin containing the body of “dull care” is carried in by the leaders, who are dressed as priests. This coffin is burned as a sacrifice to the owl god, representing the wisdom of man. When “dull care” has been cremated, and wisdom and direction given by the forty-foot owl figure, the men are free to operate in a carefree environment. Then the partying begins.
The partying at events like the one described above is but a re-enactment of much of what happens on college campuses at fraternity and sorority parties. I know; I was exposed to these things and readily participated in them when I went to a well-known liberal arts college. A favorite song we sang at our fraternity beer blasts contained the phrase, “For it’s not for knowledge that we came to college, but to raise hell while we’re here.” The men described above openly confess this time spent at their annual gathering is like a re-enactment of their “carefree” college parties.
Some religions promote a heaven where men can have free release of their lustful desires; they are promised access to wine and virgins to be used to satisfy their unrestrained sexual desires.
The Bible’s moral standards are looked upon as old-fashioned, or only for “conservative Christians” and are not to be imposed on others. In fact, even wearing or openly displaying Christian symbols is no longer permitted in some places, because it might offend those living outside the moral standards of the God of the Bible. The Bible says this will happen. The verse quoted above even says that the nations will become enraged at the Christians, imagining themselves able to live without the restraints of God. History has shown that a nation need not be totally Christian to survive. However, when a nation begins to openly mock and flagrantly reject the standards of God’s moral law, that nation will not last. History has shown that also.
The Response of God the Father--Psalm 2: 4-6
“He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the LORD shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion." (Psalm 2:4-6 NKJ)
God is a God of passion. He is a God of love. He loves people. He loves to reveal Himself, His ways, and His nature and purposes to people. He knows man’s rebellious nature, received from Satan and imparted to man when man chose to listen to and obey Satan rather than God. He is a loving God, wanting show His love and His righteous ways to people, and to impart His nature and character to them so they will love His ways and presence as He does. God is passionately angry at the rebellious and God-mocking ways of Satan and of fallen man. He has chosen to vent His righteous anger on His sacrificial Lamb. Man received his sinful ways and desires from Satan. God can take them from man and put them upon His sacrificial Lamb, if men desire to be free of them.
God has a plan to remove evil from the earth and heaven. Then Satan will have no place for himself or his desires except in the darkness and fires of hell. In hell, Satan will fully vent his rage against the ways and nature of God. Then all restraints will be removed from Satan and his angelic followers and from the people who want to be with him. They will be able to lust after each other, to behave violently against each other and to lie and cheat each other with no repercussions. All the restraints of God’s morality will be completely removed.
God accomplished His plan through Jesus, His Son, becoming the sacrificial Lamb. God put the sin of the world on Jesus. Satan crucified Him and tried to hold Him in hell. God sent His Spirit to give Jesus the power to come out of hell and to come back to life. Now Jesus has the God- given right to rule over Satan because of what he did to Jesus. This has been God’s eternal plan.
God’s response to those who mockingly try to cast off His restraints and to keep God’s people from bringing the ways of God’s kingdom into themselves and the world, is to laugh at the absurdity of their plans, to show them His displeasure, and to distress them. We can expect these things to occur as the rage of the nations increases against the moral restraints God has given society.
When God told Moses to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt Nile , so He turned it into blood. They trusted in the sun god, so God brought darkness on the land. They even believed that the Pharaoh was the manifestation of their primary deity and that his son was the heir-apparent to the throne, so God killed all the firstborn in Egypt
God’s answer--that He is speaking to the kings and rulers who are trying to mockingly come out from under the truth that God has created all things for His plans and purposes—is, “I HAVE SET MY KING ON MY HOLY HILL OF ZION.” Jesus Christ is Lord. He is king over all. God’s response today is the same as it was 2000 years ago when Jesus, in the weakness of sinful flesh, was on the high mountain in Israel
The Word Being Spoken by Jesus, Who Reigns on Mount Zion
"I will declare the decree: the LORD has said to Me, 'You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel.'" (Psalm 2:7-9 NKJ)
Jesus is speaking. He is speaking the decree God had previously spoken to Him. He is declaring that God had affirmed the truth that He was the Son of God. Jesus knew this and had previously declared this many times during His life on earth. Men could not grasp this without revelation from God. When Jesus asked His disciples who they thought He was, Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16 NKJ). Jesus responded to Peter: “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17). It takes God to reveal God. The Father wants to reveal the Son. The Holy Spirit is sent to reveal Jesus to us. Jesus wants to reveal the Father to us. There is a Divine love affair in the Godhead. Each of the three Beings loves and respects the character, the work and function of the other. They are One. This is the word God wants Jesus to declare: that He is the Son of God and the firstborn from the dead, called to reign over the nations and to possess all the earth.
God raised Jesus from the powers of hell and death. He raised Him so that Jesus could be our heavenly King and High Priest. On the day of Pentecost, Peter revealed this to the Jews who were gathered at Jerusalem Israel
God made Jesus Lord and Christ. As Lord, He reigns from His place on heavenly Mount Zion Zion
The Father has told the Son to sit at His right hand until He, the Father, brings all things under Jesus’ feet. Jesus is to rule from Mount Zion
Jesus has been made Lord and Christ. He has been brought back from the grave to accomplish this. He is to break in pieces the nations, and rule them with a rod of iron. This is His commission, and He is speaking this word from His place on the Heavenly Mount Zion.
The nations that are rising up with a rage and in their own vain imaginations shall be broken as He enables and empowers His disciples to bring about the reign of His kingdom and power. While the nations rise up against God and against His Christ, God will rise up in Jesus and in His people and give them victory over their enemies. This is what the prophetic vision given to Nebuchadnezzar described.
In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, he saw a great kingdom arising, seeking to unite all the kingdoms of the earth, but while this was happening, Nebuchadnezzar also saw another kingdom arising which would destroy the kingdom of united kingdoms
The Admonition for All--Psalm 2: 10 -12
“Now therefore, be wise, O 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 in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him” (Psalm 2:10-12 NKJ).
The nations will rage, but the passion of God will rage in Christ and in His people. Our passions will be set on fire for the things of God. We will become zealous for good works. We will have the zeal of the Father and the zeal of the Son. Our High Priest will remove sin from us and we will be holy and without blame, without spot or wrinkle.
We need to be wise, with the heavenly wisdom of God. The wisdom of this world is fast being revealed as totally insufficient for the coming situations. Only the revelation knowledge and wisdom of God will suffice. God is ordaining these events so that He can make His power and glory known in His people who will diligently seek Him and follow Him in these days. Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God. Jesus Christ is the Holy One of God, able to bring His holiness and righteousness into the hearts of His people and to manifest God’s love for His people and His wrath for the evil ways of this world’s system. Remember God’s promises in the days of the kingdoms of evil arising: "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:44 NKJ).
Kiss the Son--receive righteous affections. Become intimate with Him. Share your heart, your emotions, your desires, your attitudes, with Him. Let Him share His heart with you. Learn to meditate on Him and on His word. Spend time in intimacy with Him. Worship Him in the beauty of His holiness. Let your heart be a temple of His emotions. Let your spirit become united with His. Let your body be a temple of His for Him to operate in and through. Live in His new covenantal relationship with Him. Learn to be His bride, filled with His nature and ready for the battles ahead. Receive into all of your being, love from God for you, love of God for the world, and love of God for God. Only God can do this. Only God will do this. He loves the world and His people. He has many others to be brought into His kingdom in these days. He will do it. The Father is filled with a passionate zeal to see the kingdom of His Son
When I was at Mount Sinai 29 years ago, the Lord brought this Word into my spirit to speak in these days:
“See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.’ Now this, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:25-29 NKJ).
Pray for us and for each other that we all might receive grace to walk in these ways in these days.
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