The faithless want to live life not on God’s terms, but on their own terms, in pursuit of rights, privileges, and “cancel culture.” David reminds every one of us: on the authority of God’s written word, heed His warnings of wrath, embrace His promises of pardon. Wise up, repent, and take refuge in God’s Anointed King, Jesus, the Lord!

It’s crucial that we in the church see our lives, history, and culture in terms of the conflict between the heavenly city of God and the earthly cities of man. When we turn to Psalm 2, that’s the way, in sum, that David views the world. His lyrics tell us of heaven’s message to all us rebels on earth. In words of warning and pardon in Ps 2:4-12, we’re told to realize what God’s response is to our rebellion and what our duty is to Him.

David gets right to the point in the second stanza of Psalm 2 (2:4-6): God the Father has responded to our revolt with scorn and ridicule, and He has taken measures to counter our rebellion. As Father of the King, He has put His Son, Christ Jesus, on the heavenly throne in heavenly Jerusalem on heavenly Mt Zion. From heaven Christ the Son now reigns as King of kings and Ruler of the nations, and He is commanding rebels everywhere to repent and believe in Him as their only hope of salvation from the wrath to come. We—especially those of us in pulpits and pews—need to recover the too-long-ignored truth of God the Father’s response to our rebellion: He declares, “There is a King. He is King of kings. His name is Jesus. His capital city is heavenly Jerusalem, and everyone must do whatever is right in His eyes.” Note to self: wise up and realize how the Father of the Anointed King has responded to your insurgency.

Not only that: wise up and realize how the Father’s Son Himself, the Anointed King, has responded to your rebellion. David gives us the headline in stanza 3 (Ps 2:7-9). The Son tells us in 2:7 about the proclamation that His Father published about Him. It reads, Today I have begotten You. The Father looks on His resurrected Son Jesus and declares: “By resurrection, I have made You ‘the Firstborn from the Dead.’” And there’s more. In 2:8-9 the ascended Son tells us about the promises made to Him by His Father.

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