Shalom,
Only God is worthy of our praise and glory and worship because He is very good and blesses us with His Word from time to time to strengthen us in facing any problems.
The death and resurrection of Jesus has fulfilled all that is written about Him (=Jesus) in the Book of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms (Luke 24:44). Jesus is Lord and Christ, the Messiah (Acts 2:32,36).
Psalm 2 is one of the Messianic Psalms. This Psalm was written by King David so that we can understand it from his point of view, faith and experience and its fulfilment in the New Testament (Acts 4:25;13:33). In Psalm 2:12b the psalmist says, “Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.” Of course, what is meant is taking refuge in God, the Creator of the universe. The word “take refuge” means believing and surrendering, which means having faith in believing and entrusting oneself to God, meaning we do not rely on our strength, greatness, wealth, or thoughts and feel able to do it ourselves.
People who take refuge in God will be happy. Are we happy? If not, have we taken refuge in God? God promises we will be happy if we are not conformed to this world and love His Word (Ps. 1:1-3). We are also pleased and blessed when we rely on God and put our hope in Him like a tree planted by the water whose leaves remain green and never cease to bear fruit (Jer. 17:7-8).
Why do we need to take refuge in God?
a. Men want to fight God and His anointed (Vv. 1-3).
Men feel tremendous and tend to be against God. Why? The world's kings and princes conspire against God because they feel restrained and oppressed by Him and His anointed.
Who has He anointed? God has anointed kings and priests. In this context, it says "appointed my king" (v. 6), focusing on King David, who was given power and trust over the Israelites at that time.
In the book of Old Testament History many people wanted to overthrow David who didn’t rule yet although he had been anointed as king because King Saul was still ruling at that time. Who didn't like David and tried to dethrone him?
- David's brothers humiliated him when he could not stand Goliath's blasphemous words (1 Sam. 17:22-28).
- God rejected King Saul because he was disobedient and had rejected His Word (1 Sam.15). He realized that God had given the position of the king to David; therefore, he was very jealous and hated David and even wanted to kill him (1 Sam.18-27). Saul could not resist in harming David, the LORD's anointed. However, God was David's refuge. Meanwhile, David showed respect for the Lord's anointed man, Saul, by not killing him even though he had the opportunity to do so (1 Sam. 24:5-8; 26:7-12). He didn’t give credit to the young man who killed Saul. He killed him, instead (2 Sam. 1). David didn’t have a vengeful heart but returned vengeance to God, who had the right to do so (Heb. 10:30).
- The kings of the Philistines and other nations agreed to defeat David, but David always won in battles because he was in God's protection (1 Sam. 29; 2 Sam. 5:17-25; 8).
David kept the word of God, who promised to strengthen his kingdom and his descendants. When Israel split into two, the kingdom of Judah was always ruled by the lineage of King David. The promise of anointing continued on the descendants of David and lasted until the New Testament era in the genealogy of Jesus Christ (Matt. 1) in which it was written about Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ (v.16).
Psalm 2 is often called the Messianic Psalm because it refers to Jesus as the anointed Messiah, the Son of God who will be king over the descendants of Jacob forever and ever, and His kingdom will never end (Luke 2:32-33).
"The anointed one" (Hebrew: mashiyach and Greek: khristos = the anointed). Messiah and Christ have the same meaning of "anointed one, " which refers to the anointed Christ, King of kings.
If in David's time many people opposed God and His anointed, in Jesus' time, many people opposed God and His anointed Messiah. What is the proof? Peter and John preached the risen Jesus Christ who performed miracles so that many people were converted. Hearing this news, the Jewish leaders, elders and scribes took them to the Religious Court and interrogated them by what power they carried out these activities. They said using the power of God's Name also confirmed that there was no salvation except in Jesus. They were threatened and banned from doing activities using the Name of Jesus. Indeed they were not punished because there was no reason to detain them, but the Jewish leaders and political leaders agreed to stop the teaching about Jesus (Acts 4:1-22). Isn't this the same as going against God? For the disciples were also anointed and filled with the Holy Spirit.
Application: We are also anointed by God, and the Holy Spirit is in us. Therefore we need to take refuge in Him and not be afraid of proclaiming the gospel of Christ.
What to do when faced with a challenge? When the disciples were threatened and prohibited from preaching the gospel, they behaved like David, not fighting but taking refuge in God by praying. They acknowledged that God, the Creator of the universe, is sovereign over human life. They said Herod and Pilate (leaders of government), the nations and tribes of Israel were against the anointed Jesus because they threatened those who preached the Word (Vv. 23-31).
Application: We need to pray for the evangelists at the forefront of preaching the Word of God. We also pray for the nation's leaders to have a God-fearing heart in their actions. We must have the courage to testify to the truth in words and actions and not compromise with sin even when threatened.
The actions of people who oppose God have continued since the time of David (Old Testament) until now (New Testament). They had fought God since Jesus was born, and Herod, who felt his position was threatened, ordered children of two years of age and under to be killed. But no matter what happens, God's Word continues and is fulfilled. After Jesus grew up and ministered,
the Scribes and Pharisees tried to overthrow and even kill Him because they did not want their pride and comfortable position in the Jewish tradition to be changed by the teachings of Jesus. It proves that the attitude of self-arrogance – feeling great, feeling self-righteous – exists in men who do not want to submit to God's sovereignty and truth, including salvation. Don't many people think they can gain salvation by diligently worshipping and sacrificing a lot; whereas, salvation is grace (Ephesians 2:8-9) which exists only in Jesus? We must acknowledge our inadequacy because we are only God's creations and need to take refuge in Him.
b. God, the Creator of the universe, is sovereign over human life (vv. 4-9). He laughs at the arrogance of men who feel great and can defeat Him.
Men want to be free from the restraints of God, the Creator who resides in Heaven and do not want to submit to Him. How different between the world and Heaven-created man and his Creator God!
We must admit that we cannot be free without Him because we were slaves to sin but were set free and are now slaves of righteousness (Rom. 6:20-22). As servants of the truth, we feel a burden to testify the truth; that's why Jesus offered relief to take up His yoke because His burden was light, and His yoke was easy (Matt. 11:28-30). We can bear the burden because we are with Him.
Remember, our life belongs to God. Therefore we must obey His will and statutes. There are many decrees of God that we need to understand and do. God's rules in Psalm 2 and Acts 4 relate to authority. He appointed David as king and Jesus as King of kings. How do we obey God's decrees? We must believe and accept Him as our Lord and Savior. The sovereignty of God, who established Jesus as King of kings, applies throughout time and even into eternity (Rev. 2:26-27).
Application: In daily life, wherever we are – at home, at school, at work, in the ministry, in our country as citizens – there must be someone who has been assigned authority: parents, principals-teachers-lecturers, superiors or employers, pastors-elders-assembly-speaker, President etc. We must value and respect them. If their decision is not following God's decree, we must pray for them and be more submissive to God's decree. He alone is sovereign to help us and destroy those who oppose Him.
How do we take refuge in God? Act wisely, accept the teaching and worship fearfully (vv. 10-12) We need the wisdom to be wise in making decisions. These verses advise rulers or leaders not to boast of their power but to submit to God. People entrusted with positions in this world must remain submissive to the Lord above all masters. We must be wise in our submission to God's sovereignty. We need to be wise in dealing with authorities wherever we are. We need to be wise in facing challenges, though. This wise attitude is obtained by accepting God's Word, especially the teaching about salvation only in Jesus.
We need to receive teaching from God. The teaching of God's decree has made Jesus the only way of salvation and made Him the King of kings. The sound teaching leads to true worship, namely an attitude of fear/respect, submission to God, and worshipping only one God. Do not act foolishly by replacing God's position with our strength, ability, intelligence and wealth! Therefore, let us serve the Lord with thanksgiving, in a way that pleases Him, and with respect and fear (Hebrews 12:28-29).
Finally, to get happiness, we need to completely take refuge in God by living wisely, accepting every ordinance of God and serving Him with an attitude of worship. We state this in our daily lives, in our relationship with God and others. More than that, let us continue preaching the gospel of salvation to all people; praying for the evangelists and our leaders that they will do their job according to God's decrees. Amen.