Psalm 2:1-3 ESV
Why do the nations
rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth
set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed,
saying,
“Let us burst their
bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
Rev. 11:2 ESV: “…but
do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given
over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.”
The people of God today are those who are true followers of
Jesus Christ. They have, by God’s grace, through God-given faith in Him, forsaken
their former lives of living for sin and self, and they have turned to follow
Jesus Christ in obedience to his commands, to follow his will and his ways.
The Holy City of God is no longer physical Jerusalem, for she
is still in slavery to sin, along with her offspring (Gal. 4:22-31), because
she rejected Jesus Christ. But, we who believe in Jesus Christ, as Savior and
Lord of our lives, are of the heavenly Jerusalem, and like Isaac, we are the
children of promise, for we are free from our slavery to sin via faith in Jesus
Christ.
But, because we have left the ways of this sinful world to
follow Jesus Christ with our lives, and because we proclaim Jesus Christ to the
world as their only hope of salvation and their only hope of eternal life with
God in heaven, the world will hate us, because it hates Jesus and all that he stands
for.
And, that world includes the Jews, too, who have rejected
Jesus Christ as their Messiah. Many of them will hate us and persecute us who
are followers of Christ. And, it includes the worldly fleshly church, too,
which has sold itself out to following the ways of the world, and has chosen to
follow the ways of man instead of to follow the God which they claim to worship.
Many of them, too, will hate us, reject us, persecute us, abandon us, and say
all manner of evil against us, and they may even put us to death.
Psalm 2:4-6 ESV
He who sits in the
heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to
them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“As for me, I have set
my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
Rev. 11:18 ESV: The
nations raged,
but your wrath came,
and the time for the dead to be judged,
and for rewarding your
servants, the prophets and saints,
and those who fear your name,
both small and great,
and for destroying the
destroyers of the earth.”
But, when the nations do rage against us, they do so in
vain, for God is still in absolute control and authority over all that he has
created, and no man can do anything to thwart God’s purposes for us, his
people. They may be able to kill the body, but they cannot kill the soul.
These enemies of God will not be able to destroy Jesus
Christ, or his followers, or his Word, for God will have the last word, and he
will judge those who have persecuted and who have murdered his saints, and he
will exonerate his saints who have followed him in faithful obedience.
Humans may rage against God, and against Jesus Christ and
His Word, and against us, his followers, but they can only do what God permits
(what he allows). For, he sets limits on what they can do, and he will stop
them dead in their tracks if what they are doing does not suit his purposes or is
not in accord with his will or his timing. And, in the end, they lose – BIG TIME!
Psalm 2:7-9 ESV
I will tell of the
decree:
The Lord said to me,
“You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will
make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them
with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter's
vessel.”
Rev. 19:15 ESV: “From
his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he
will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of
the wrath of God the Almighty.”
A large number of Jews of Jesus’ day thought they could
destroy Jesus and his messages, but they were dead wrong. They thought if they
killed him, that it would be the end of it, and they would have succeeded from
keeping Jesus’ gospel message from spreading further. But, they were sadly
mistaken. For the more they advanced against Jesus’ followers, after his death
and resurrection, the more the gospel advanced, and the more the numbers of
people coming to faith in Jesus Christ increased.
And, the nations (including many Jews and fleshly
Christians) of today are also advancing against those of us who are truly
following Jesus Christ with our lives. Some of them are working against us via
manipulation of truth to try to discredit us and the true gospel. They are
trying to convince others not to listen to us, and they assign all kinds of
accusatory names to try to make people think that what we are teaching is
false.
Not only that, but they have altered the true gospel message
to make it more appealing to human flesh, and they have managed to convince the
vast majority of the church in America, it would seem, to follow the broad road
that leads to destruction rather than the narrow road which leads to eternal
life. For, they convince them that the broad road is the true gospel and that
the narrow road is legalism, and so many follow what they feel gives them more
freedom to live their lives however they want.
But, Jesus Christ is still on his throne, and he is over and
above every authority on this earth and in the heavenly realms. All kings and
kingdoms and people will have to answer to him for what they did with Jesus and
with his gospel, and for what they did to his servants and messengers, too.
And, for those who continue to reject the Lordship of Christ over their lives,
and who choose to persecute Jesus’ followers, and to slaughter his gospel
message, Jesus will judge them for what they have done.
Psalm 2:10-12 ESV
Now therefore, O
kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers 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,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who
take refuge in him.
So, this is a warning to all who would reject Jesus Christ,
and who would trample his servants and messengers, and who would despise his
Word, and who would create their own gospel which appeals to human flesh.
You must serve the Lord with fear and trembling. You must
revere him, respect him, honor him for the holy God that he is, praise him,
worship him, and obey him. For, he is not some magical genie in the sky there
to grant your every request or to submit to you and to your will and purposes.
Our God – Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit – is righteous,
holy, pure, faithful, just, merciful, compassionate, forgiving, and loving.
And, he demands of his followers that we follow suit, that we die to our flesh,
and that we become like him in character, in thought, in word and in deed.
If we want to be forgiven of our sins and have eternal life
with God, we must come to our Lord in humility, in repentance, and in
submission to his Lordship over our lives. We must die to our former way of
living, and we must now live for our Lord and for his righteousness and in his
holiness – all in his power and might at work within us. For, if we don’t, we
don’t have the promise of heaven after death, but a fearful expectation of
eternal punishment (Rom. 8:1-17; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Gal. 5:19-21; Gal. 6:7-8).
So, give your lives over to him today, surrender your will
to his will for your lives, follow him in obedience to his Word, and love the
body of Christ as Christ loves the church and gave himself up for her.
For
Our Nation
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: we’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
Saturday, November 10, 2018
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