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The Message of Psalm 2: Part Two :: By David Reagan

Published on: by RR7

A Coming Reign

The passage in Psalm 2 indicates a third reason that God is laughing. God explains it by saying, “As for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion My holy mountain” (Psalm 2:6).

The wording here is very interesting. God speaks of a future event — the Millennial reign of Jesus — as if it were an accomplished historical fact. This strange manner of speaking of the future as if it were past is a very common feature of Bible prophecy — so common, in fact, that theologians have coined a word for it. They call it “proleptic” speech.

Such speech is particularly characteristic of God in the Scriptures. The reason is that God is not in time as we are. We are on a timeline. We have a past, a present, and a future. God is outside of time. If He wills something, it is accomplished, whether or not it has yet happened in history as we know it.

Take, for example, the crucifixion of Jesus. We think of it as happening 2,000 years ago on the outskirts of Jerusalem — and it did, as we perceive time. But when did the crucifixion take place as God sees time? The Bible says that Jesus was slain “from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8) because that is when God willed it.

The proleptic principle is best expressed by God Himself in 2 Kings 19:25 — “Have you not heard? Long ago I did it; from ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass.”

But let’s get back to our point. The point is that God sits in the heavens and laughs at the rebellious kingdoms of the earth because He has ordained that one day soon His Son will return as “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16) to reign over all the earth and bring it into submission to God’s perfect will (Isaiah 9:6-7).

An Unfulfilled Promise

How do we know this is a proleptic statement — that although it is stated in the past tense, it is a promise yet to be fulfilled? The answer is obvious — namely, there is no fulfillment in history. Does Jesus reign today as King of kings from Mount Zion in Jerusalem? Has He ever?

There are those who argue that He is spiritually reigning over the nations of the earth. If so, then He is doing a very poor job, for the earth is dominated by evil rebellion against God.

When you consider what the Bible says will be the characteristics of the Lord’s reign over the earth, it is easy to see that the reign is yet future. Isaiah 11 says the reign will be characterized by righteousness, fairness, and faithfulness. Are these the characteristics of national governments today? In that same chapter, Isaiah says, “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9). How could anyone argue that such a prophecy has been fulfilled? The promise of God in Psalm 2 that His Son will one day rule over all the earth is yet future. The King is coming! The kings of the earth are living on borrowed time. They plot and connive, but their fate is sealed. So, God sits in the heavens and laughs.

Jesus Proclaims

The next spokesman in Psalm 2 is Jesus Himself. He makes a glorious proclamation about the future in which He confirms His Father’s intention to establish Him as the King of kings:

“I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord:
He said to Me, ‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance,
And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron,
You shall shatter them like earthenware'” (Psalm 2:7-9).

The Begotten One

Jesus begins His proclamation by repeating the Father’s promise to Him that He will one day rule from Mount Zion over “the very ends of the earth.” It is a promise that undoubtedly dates back to the foundation of the world itself. I say that because the Bible tells us that Jesus was foreknown as the Savior who would shed His blood “from before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1:19-20, Revelation 13:8, and Ephesians 1:4).

Because Jesus is the Worthy Lamb who was slain for the sins of Man (Revelation 5:9), He is the only one eligible to assert dominion over God’s creation. In that sense, He is the “only begotten” (John 1:14,18) — the only Anointed One of God who is authorized to act in the Father’s behalf as the Regent of planet Earth.

This sense of meaning is reflected in the Living Bible’s paraphrase of Jesus’ proclamation: “I will reveal the everlasting purposes of God, for the Lord has said to me, ‘You are my Son. This is your Coronation Day. Today I am giving you your glory. Only ask, and I will give you all the nations of the world'” (Psalm 2:7-8).

Note that the statement, “Today I have begotten You,” is paraphrased to present the real meaning: “This is your Coronation Day.” That is why Jesus could address Himself to the church at Philadelphia as the one “who has the key of David” (Revelation 3:7). He is the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant and its promise:

“I have made a covenant with My chosen;
I have sworn to David My servant,
I will establish your seed forever,
And build up your throne to all generations” (Psalm 89:3-4).

Once again, keep in mind that the Father’s promise to Jesus is yet to be fulfilled. Remember, Jesus was “slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8) because that is when the Father willed it to happen. But the Father’s will did not become a historical reality until thousands of years later. In like manner, Jesus was crowned from the foundation of the world — also because the Father willed it then — but it is an event that is yet to take place in history.

The Roles of Jesus

The first time Jesus came, He came as our Suffering Savior (Isaiah 53). After His resurrection, He became our High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16). He continues in that capacity today, ministering as the mediator of our prayers before the throne of God (Hebrews 8:1-2). But one day, very soon, He will return, and when He does so, He will return as our Glorious King to reign over all the nations of the world (Revelation 19:16).

Jesus is not serving as a king now. He is never pictured as currently being the king of this world or the king of the church. His relationship to the church is portrayed as being like the head to the body (Ephesians 5:23) or a bridegroom to a bride (Revelation 19:6-9).

Jesus is a king-in-waiting. The situation is like that which prevailed in the life of David for many years. David was anointed the King of Israel by Samuel. But David had to wait many years before he was coronated. Likewise, Jesus has been anointed King of kings and Lord of lords, but He will not be crowned as such in history until He returns to earth.

An Incredible Inheritance

When Jesus does return, the promises of Psalm 2 will be fulfilled to Him. The first of those promises is that He will inherit the earth — “the very ends of the earth” will become His possession (Psalm 2:8).

There is a popular myth that when Jesus returns, the earth will burn up and cease to exist. That can’t be true because the Bible affirms that the earth is “eternal” (Psalm 148:6, Psalm 78:69, and Ecclesiastes 1:4).

It is true that the earth will be radically changed when the Lord returns. The change agents will be earthquakes and supernatural phenomena in the heavens (Revelation 6:12-13). We are told that every island will be moved and that every mountain will be lowered and every valley raised (Revelation 6:14 and Isaiah 40:4). The image that is portrayed is one of the earth’s surface being smoothed out, with Jerusalem being lifted up to become the highest point on the face of the planet (Micah 4:1).

The earth will also be refreshed. The deserts will bloom (Isaiah 35:1,6-7). The hills will “drip with sweet wine” and “flow with milk” (Joel 3:18). The abundance of agriculture will be so great that “the plowman will overtake the reaper” in the sense that a new crop will be planted as fast as the old crop can be harvested (Amos 9:13). Even the Dead Sea will come alive and teem with fish (Ezekiel 47:8-9).

The animal kingdom will also be restored. We are told that the carnivorous animals will become herbivorous. Thus, “the lion will eat straw like the ox” (Isaiah 11:7). This change will enable the animals to live together in peace with each other and with Man. “The wolf will dwell with the lamb” (Isaiah 11:6), and a “nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra” because the cobra will no longer be poisonous (Isaiah 11:8).

The Eternal Earth

Even when the Millennium ends, the earth will not cease to exist. Instead, its fundamental nature will be changed once again. This time the change agent will be fire.

God will take the redeemed off this planet and put us in the New Jerusalem. From that vantage point, we will watch as the Lord superheats the earth and burns away the pollution of Satan’s last revolt.

Then, working with the earth like a hot ball of wax, the Lord will reshape it, and out of that flaming inferno will come a new earth, a perfected earth, an earth which will serve as our home eternally (Revelation 21:1).

Joint Heirs

God has promised to give that redeemed planet to His Son and to His joint heirs — namely, those who have received Jesus as their Lord and Savior. In Psalm 2, He promises the earth to His Son. In Psalm 37:11, He extends that promise to the redeemed: “The humble will inherit the earth.” That promise is repeated in verses 22, 29, and 34.

These promises are the ones that Jesus referred to in His Sermon on the Mount when He said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). Paul recognized that the same promise was inferred in the Abrahamic Covenant when he wrote that God’s promise to Abraham and his descendants (by faith) is that they would “inherit the world” (Romans 4:13).

A Worldwide Reign

The second promise that the Father makes to His Son in Psalm 2 is a natural corollary of the first. Not only will Jesus inherit the earth, but He will also reign over it: “I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance… You shall break them with a rod of iron” (Psalm 2:8-9).

Jesus is coming to reign. That is one of the most persistent themes of the Scriptures from beginning to end. And again, the redeemed will be joint heirs of this promise. We will reign with Jesus.

These truths were graphically portrayed to Daniel in a series of night visions. In one, he saw the “Son of Man” appear before the “Ancient of Days” and receive dominion and a kingdom that included “all the peoples, nations, and men of every language” (Daniel 7:13-14). Then Daniel was told that “the saints of the Highest One” would receive the kingdom and would exercise “the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven” (Daniel 7:18,27).

In the book of Revelation, Jesus promises that He will give overcomers “authority over the nations” and they will rule over the nations “with a rod of iron” (Revelation 2:26,27).

In Revelation 4, when John is raptured to Heaven and finds himself in the throne room of God, he hears the heavenly host singing a song of praise to Jesus. In the song, the statement is made that those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb have been made a kingdom, and “they will reign upon the earth” (Revelation 5:9-10).

The Glory of the Lord

And what will be the purpose of all this? There are many reasons for the Millennial reign of Jesus. God is going to use that period of time to fulfill promises He has made to the nations, to nature, to a remnant of the Jews, and to the Saints. But the fundamental purpose is to fulfill His promise to His Son that He will one day be glorified in history, just as He was humiliated in history.

This promise is a persistent theme of the Scriptures. It is the essence of the Father’s promise in Psalm 2, and it is echoed throughout the Bible, in both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament.

The prophet Isaiah says that when the Lord returns in “terror” and in the “splendor of His majesty,” all proud men will be humbled, and “the Lord alone will be exalted in that day” (Isaiah 2:10-11). The Lord’s name will be honored, and He will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). He will return to manifest His glory before His Saints (Isaiah 24:23) and before the nations of the world (Isaiah 66:18).

Paul affirms this purpose of the Lord’s return in 2 Thessalonians 1:10, where he states that Jesus is returning “to be glorified in His saints” and “to be marveled at among all who have believed.”

To be concluded in Part Three.

1 Thessalonians Lesson 6: Walk (Live) to Please the Lord :: By Sean Gooding

Published on: by RR7

Chapter 4: 1-12

1 “Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; 2 for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. 7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. 8 Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.

9 But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; 10 and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; 11 that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.”

We live in a world that is so ‘self’ focused that it is almost impossible for it not to creep into the Lord’s churches and into our Christian walk. The world is self-centered; do what feels good to me and avoid any kind of pain and hurt at all costs. Paul is an example of one who did the very opposite of this; he lived and eventually died for the Lord. Once he was saved and gave his life to the Lord, Paul stopped living for himself. He stopped living for fame and fortune and anything that did not please God. He lived in a time when living for the Lord was not a cheap choice to be made. In the 30-40 years after Jesus’ resurrection, the dangers that being a Christian brought were serious, from serious hurt to brutal death.

Right now, we do not face any such issues in our time here in North America. We are inconvenienced, and we are disliked, even hated; but as of right now, no Christian in North America is in imminent danger of losing his or her life for the Gospel. That time may come and maybe sooner than we think. In contrast, I know of Christ-followers right now that live in danger, maybe not death danger, but in hurt danger. They have no rights whatsoever; they are preaching the Gospel and sharing Christ in a predominantly Muslim nation that offers them no security and no guarantees.

We are called to live as pleasing to God, not self, not others, simply living pleasing to the Lord. Let us explore how.

  • Sexual Purity, verses 3-5

God invented and designed sexuality. We are made as sexual beings. God designed sex to be an intimate act between a husband and wife only. In Hebrews 13:4, we are told that the marriage bed is undefiled, which simply means that God allows a man and his wife to explore their sexual union in any way they deem fit as long as it is between them. Any sexual activity outside of this union of marriage between a man and a woman is wrong. As well, any union that is other than a man and a woman is wrong.

Of course, in the Bible, there are many of our Biblical heroes that did not obey in sexual purity. From Abraham to David, to Solomon, and many others, there are examples of sexual misconduct. Sadly, this was still prevalent in Paul’s day and ministry and just as much today. Paul, through the Holy Spirit, calls us to sexual purity as children of God. In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul tells us to get married if we cannot control our sexual urges. God has provided a way out if need be. Too many Christians are still putting off marriage into their thirties and forties. This is not normal. If you are able to control yourself, so be it. But for the vast majority of persons, this not the case, so there are sexual sins in our churches. We need to encourage young men and young women to be married early in life.

As well, there are other things that can lead us into sexual impurity, like pornography. This is nothing new; it is more accessible because of technology, but pornography or sexual writings have been around as long as man has been around. These can be very appealing to the young and leave lasting scars that are hard to shake. God is greater. But in the area of sexuality, we need to be determined to live pleasing to God.

  • Financial Purity, verses 6-7

Sadly, money and the need to have lots of it has caused a lot of corruption and carnage in the Lord’s churches. There are countless stories of fraud in churches; from pyramid schemes to bold-faced theft, money and the temptation that comes with it have infected our churches. The church, while it should be run as a business to some degree, is not a business. We need to balance our books and live within our means, so to speak, but churches also need to step out in faith and stretch beyond what they can see and seek God’s miraculous provisions.

All around us, there are churches that are just about money. The preacher or preachers get richer and richer while promising riches to those that give to them. Many live extravagant lives while their congregants live very hard lives, and some are in abject poverty. There is nothing wrong with money nor with riches, for that matter. Abraham, Solomon, Jacob, David, and many others – godly men – were very, very rich. God made them rich. In the case of Solomon, God made him so rich that no one since that time has been as rich as Solomon.

Money is not to be our God. Being rich is not to be our goal. Even being financially secure is not to be the goal. God is to be God, and all we have is from Him and is for Him, His glory, and His use. We should not be defrauding our brothers and sisters. We should not be defrauding anyone. We bring shame on the Lord’s name and people when this kind of behavior exists around the Lord’s people and churches. The book of Proverbs tells us that a ‘good name’ is more important than riches (Proverbs 22:1). All too often, even in the Lord’s churches, we have seen riches chosen over a ‘good name.’ Do not cheat each other; do not take unnecessarily from each other. And whenever possible, share in our good fortune and seek God’s favor, not more riches. In the area of money, let us live determined to please God.

  • Relationship Purity, verses 9-12

We are called to love each other as brothers and sisters in the Lord. This is the sacrificial love that we have from Jesus to us. We are to exhibit this kind of love to each other. We are to esteem each other (Philippians 2:3). Let us honor all men [and women] (1 Peter 2:17). When we live this way, both in the Lord’s churches, in our homes, among our friends, and with our businesses, we live to please the Lord. In Leviticus 19:18, we are told not to even bear a grudge against anyone but love our neighbors as ourselves.

In Proverbs 16:7, we are told that when a man’s ways please the Lord, the Lord makes even his enemies be at peace with him. This is relationship purity. Our love should extend to the brothers and sisters everywhere. It never ceases to amaze me how my wife and I can meet Christians for the first time, and once we know that we are all in the Lord, there is a comfort that comes and a familiarity that binds us together. We can see people once a year at camp or at functions, and the relationship just picks up as if we were never apart. Why? The Holy Spirit in us, the love in Christ that we share for and to each other.

We should love each other this way all the time. Sadly, this does not always happen, and every year, thousands of church members quit church because of a relationship failure. Someone hurt them, someone offended them, and they quit. Once they quit, the fallout of family and other friends leads to even more people quitting. Brothers and sisters, it should not be this way. If we have Godly love for each other, we will seek to forgive and move on. In 1 Peter 4:8, we are encouraged to love each other deeply, and that love should cover a multitude of sins committed against us. Jesus encourages us to forgive continually. Stop keeping score; just forgive as God forgives us.

In the same manner, when we put others first, we seek less and less to offend them. In so doing, we seek to build each other up and not tear each other down. When we have people who constantly build each other up and who constantly forgive each other, there is no room for the Devil to cause division, and we can keep our relationships pure.

When we seek sexual purity, financial purity, and relationship purity, we are living lives the apostle says that “lack nothing” (verse 12). Listen to that; lives that “lack nothing.” What kind of lives do we have? We have lives that are lived pleasing to the Lord and that lack nothing. Wow!! What more could we ask for in this life? Let us endeavor as much as lies within us to live lives that please the Lord.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

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