“I am afraid that the majority of U.S. citizens see the U.S.A. simply as the “good guys” and the terrorists as the “bad guys.” Indeed, there are relative degrees of goodness or wickedness between nations (leading to conflicts between them). But we have to recognize that the ultimate conflict on this earth is the opposition between all the kingdoms of this world, to one degree or another, and the kingdom of God, the rule of Jesus Christ.”

The United States of America was recently assaulted by the most awesome terror in generations. The terrorist attacks of September 11 not only killed thousands of people, but created serious disruptions in transportation, communications, the economy, general freedoms, and who knows what other elements of our life. Bill Shishko, an Orthodox Presbyterian pastor on Long Island, writing of those events, said that the emotions in the aftermath ran the same gamut as they do in the unexpected death of a loved one. First there was shock. Then anger set in. Then the realization of the chaos of changed relationships dawned and grew to be overwhelming. Recent polls have indicated that two-thirds of Americans felt depressed after the tragedies.

We saw and heard and felt the shock, anger, and grief of our countrymen. Anger was expressed in threats of retaliation and revenge. Sadness was felt for the thousands who lost husbands, wives, parents, children, and friends in New York and Washington. Tears were brought to Mr. Shishko’s eyes when he met a schoolgirl whose parents both worked in the top stories of the World Trade Center. We share the sorrow of thousands in similar situations. Let us be quick to share people’s sadness and grief.

But what else should our perspective be in the light of these shocking events-and considering that other terrorist acts may follow, perhaps even involving horrific biological or chemical agents?

Our president has said that the United States is at war. Traditionally, war is armed conflict between nations. But in this war, the identity of the “nations” that are involved is rather murky. Our enemy may be “terrorism,” but who exactly are the terrorists-and where are they?

Each of us has struggled with the enormity and the complexity of the issues involved here. To get a better perspective on these events, let’s consider what God has to say in Psalm 2.

Psalm 2

Turmoil on Earth

“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?” (vs. 1). The King James Version renders this verse, “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?” In the Old Testament, the “nations” are usually the Gentiles-the “heathen” in that time period. “Rage” is probably a better translation than “conspire.” The verb has a sense of turbulence. The nations (the heathen) are not just thinking about conflict (as “conspire” might suggest). They are involved in it. They are in tumult and turmoil. Things are already churned up.

Verse 2 delineates the forces that are involved against one another in this situation. “The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.”

This brings us to the key question: Who is on which side of the conflict? In our experience, it is usually “us” versus “them””the “good guys” (us, presumably) versus the “bad guys.” For a long time, the two sides were represented by the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R.”capitalism and freedom versus communism and totalitarianism. Before that, it was the Allies versus the Axis powers. In each case, the two sides occupied geographical areas with more or less clear boundaries. But these delineations between nations are only relative. The conflict envisioned in Psalm 2 is not between earthly nations or kingdoms.

Here is where many people need a clearer understanding. I am afraid that the majority of U.S. citizens see the U.S.A. simply as the “good guys” and the terrorists as the “bad guys.” Indeed, there are relative degrees of goodness or wickedness between nations (leading to conflicts between them). But we have to recognize that the ultimate conflict on this earth is the opposition between all the kingdoms of this world, to one degree or another, and the kingdom of God, the rule of Jesus Christ.

This is the fundamental conflict into which the entire world-with all its people-has been brought as a result of the sin of Adam and Eve. There is a great antithesis between God and sinners, and between those whose saving faith is in the Son of God and those who do not know God in a saving way. Many people are ignorant of this conflict. They are indifferent to God. At bottom, they assume that if they are not blatantly warring against God, they are not guilty of living in opposition to him. They assume they are not guilty of cosmic treason against him.

But they are! Psalm 2 reveals the unreasonableness of man’s opposition to God in its very first word: “Why …?” The senselessness of rejecting God’s rule and order is astonishing. Why would the world gather in opposition to the Lord God, who created and sustains it? In the final analysis, it is the most irrational thing that one could do.

Verse 3 quotes the people of this world as they contemplate their opposition to God: ” ‘Let us break their chains,’ they say, ‘and throw off their fetters.’ ” It’s easy for us to picture Osama bin Laden saying that. He openly expresses his hatred of Christianity. He wants to exterminate all Christians. The Taliban rulers in Afghanistan have arrested both natives and foreigners working with aid agencies and charged them with trying to convert people to Christianity. The foreigners are supposed to be expelled and the natives are to be executed for promoting Christianity.

It’s harder for us to realize that, in a much more civil way, every non-Christian is at war with God. In every area of education and of life, people are trying to break the chains and throw off the fetters that tie them to an infinitely righteous God. Secular humanism and evolutionary thinking permeate not only biology and astronomy, but anthropology and history and our culture generally. It is an attempt to rule God out, to say “Let’s make God obsolete. Let’s leave him out of every equation. Let’s eliminate God and his Anointed One from every part of our life.”

The Response of the Father

But now, verses 4-6 reveal how God reacts to the arrogance of man: “The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, ‘I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.'”

The New Testament frequently quotes Psalm 2. We find one of these quotations in Acts 4. Peter and John, in their prayer after their confrontation with the Jewish Sanhedrin, quote Psalm 2:1-2 and then say, “Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed” (vs. 27). Then listen to this: “They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen” (vs. 28). The quiet sovereignty of God is very clear. No matter what tragic events occur in this world-even in the life of the Son of God, nothing happens that God in his power and will did not beforehand decide would happen.

But in spite of the cruel and senseless action of men in crucifying the Lord Jesus, God still triumphs over the rebellion of man. The efforts of Jesus’ enemies to destroy him actually turn out to produce the redemption of all whom God has ordained to save. The Lord scoffs at the arrogance of proud mankind. The Lord has the final word. He has installed his Son as the head of a kingdom that began with the ministry of Christ and is growing throughout the earth as the years unfold until his return. Until the Lord returns in power and glory, however, the struggle between sinful mankind and the righteous Lord will continue. As Jesus said, “wars and rumors of wars” will occur throughout the years of human history (Matt. 24:6).

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