Messiah Speaks From His Temple

Would you take your Bibles this morning and turn with me to Psalm 2, the second psalm. You follow as I read. 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.

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. As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell of the decree. kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Let's pray. Father, thank you again that we can be together to look into your word. What a privilege that is. Help us now to behold wonders in your word. Things that we might not have seen before. Things that magnify the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is our prayer. That we would not read something here that is not there. Rather, that you would reveal to us in even more light the glory of the anointed one the christ our lord jesus help us now we pray in jesus name amen i don't know if any of you have seen those commercials for at&t that are called when okay is not okay? The one that stands out in my mind is the couple that sitting in the room waiting for the doctor to show up And they ask the nurse is Dr Smith a good doctor And she replies he OK And then you see the doctor come in, and he's standing in front of the door.

And just before he enters, he turns his head, looks down the hallway, and he says, hey, did you hear the good news? I've been reinstated. And then he walks in, and he faces the patients. and he says to them, say, hey, are you nervous? And they said, yes. And he says, you know, I am too, but we'll figure it out. And then he walks out.

All right? That's when okay is not okay. When are you okay with the doctor? I don't know if you've ever been in that kind of situation, but typically, you know, the nurse takes you down to the room and you're going to see the doctor and you've never seen him before and you look up at the wall and typically you see all these framed things, okay. Ohio State University Medical School, you see he's graduated from there.

And then over here is he's a fellow in some kind of an organization. All you nurses out there probably know what I'm talking about. And another thing that says he belongs to another professional group. And so your confidence starts to grow because you can see his credentials. Well, as we come to our text today, Psalm chapter 2, or the second psalm, verses 7 through 9, here you find God's Messiah presenting his credentials so that you know that he has the right to rule.

You know that he has the right to rule. Now remember, the second psalm is God's call to submit to his king, the Christ, his Christ, his anointed one. At the end, it's now therefore kings be wise, submit to him, he'll get angry if you don't, but you'll be blessed if you find refuge in him. This is a call for all to submit to the rule of this Christ, this king.

Now you know that this dramatic call, as we've talked about, unfolds in four scenes. Scene 1 is verses 1-3. All of humanity hates the rule of God and His Messiah and they are on the march. They want to throw off their bonds They want to cast away their cords Scene 2 opens in verse 4 and goes through verse 6 in which God laughs in derision over this rebellion He has installed his king Christ is ruling in the midst of his people and over his church already and so the rebellion is pointless.

It's silly. It's foolish. Now in verses 7 through 9 the curtain opens on the third scene and Messiah steps forward and he begins to speak and this is what he says 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 Here you find the God-given authority for Messiah to rule.

Now notice, Messiah's authority is not his own, but is conferred by God in a decree. The Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One says, I will proclaim what Yahuwah has said, what God has said, what the Lord has said. And the words that he used come from 2 Samuel 7, verse 14. You remember the scene there. David wants to build the temple of God. And God reveals to Nathan, his prophet, that David is not the one to build God a house, but God will build his house, that is, will build David's dynasty.

And God speaking to David through Nathan says, I will be to him, that is, to his descendant, that will come from David. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. That's the decree of God. I will be his father and he shall be to me a son. You see? Now, that's the decree that God gave.

He gave it to David through Nathan. The decree was pronounced probably at every coronation for every king of Judah. They probably said this about the king. That is, God says I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. we see in 2nd Kings chapter 11 verse 12 the coronation of Joash and it says there if you want to look at it 2nd Kings 11 12 then he that is the priest Josiah the priest brought out the king son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony something written And they proclaimed him king and anointed him and they clapped their hands and said, Long live the king.

So in the coronation, you have the procession. the crown is placed on the king's head and then a copy of the covenant or testimony is given to him. Quite possibly, this is the words of God to David. I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. Maybe the king read it. Maybe someone else read it. And then they proclaimed him king and he was anointed and then the celebration began.

Now, the function of that decree was to proclaim something about the king. It was to proclaim something about the king. It was to proclaim something about his position. He has a special relationship with the God of Israel. It says something about his position. Every king held a special position.

He had a special relationship with God, the God of Israel. He was to be called his son. God was to be called his father. and he had particular responsibilities and that was to extend the rule of Yahuwah. So the king of Israel... Listen, when you read about the kings of Israel, please understand this is unlike any other king in any other nation. It's not just another king of this people who happen to be God's people.

The king had a special position and special responsibilities. Alright? He was a king who was called the son of God. That's important. He had a special relationship with God. He occupied a special position.

And his job then was to extend the rule of Yahuwah amongst the people and beyond. At every coronation ritual, this was repeated. And no Judean king ever fulfilled what was promised in terms of that decree until Jesus. All right? and so they start looking and so you find before you God's decree God's authority given to his Messiah and so these are the words then of Jesus as he speaks from his throne he's the only one Whoever fulfills the words of that promise.

Now, why should we submit to this Messiah? Remember, we're driving to the end of this psalm where God calls everyone to submit to his anointed one. Why should we? Because God has declared to you Messiah's position. First of all, he has declared to you his position. The second part of verse 7.

The Lord said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. All right. Messiah now presents his credentials of authority. He says, God has given me a special position. The king occupies a special position in relation to God.

That is sonship. He is the son. the special position of sonship was declared of every Davidic king on the coronation day today right today I've begotten you are my son today I've begotten you he was declared because of God's promise to David about his descendant that's why he was declared this because of God's promise to David in that covenant I will be to him a father and he will be to me a son this king unlike any other king in the world had a unique relationship with god with the only god with the only true and living god you see as a result he had to perfectly respond to god and he had to perfectly represent god if he's going to be called God's son if he's going to occupy this special position that no other king occupied and no other person in Israel occupied if he was going to occupy that position he had particular responses he had to respond in a particular way and he had to represent God in a particular way he had to respond to God in worship he had to respond to God in the right worship he had to respond to God with the right desires he had to respond with a willingness to submit entirely to God will alright not only that but he had to perfectly represent God to the people That is, he had to execute justice. He had to execute justice.

Did you hear the prophecy from Isaiah 11 this morning that was read in the Old Testament reading? Where it talks about this branch coming out of the stump of Jesse that is going to judge with perfection. He's not going to be swayed by things that he sees or hears. And what that means is not that he's not going to listen. What that means is, you know how it is today when someone goes to court.

Okay, for example, big one, recently. Harvey Weinstein, right? The guy who's been preying on women, this guy of incredible power in Hollywood. He showed up for court the other day. How? Did you see that story?

He showed up for court stumbling in with a walker. Right? And the story goes on to say, I think, I didn't read the whole thing, I don't want to waste too much time. It goes on to say that suddenly that walker disappeared later on when he wasn't in court. Now, why do you think that happened? Because you want to sway the judge.

Right? And Isaiah 11 is making the point that this king will have perfect justice. He will execute the justice of God. He will not be swayed by what he sees. He won't be swayed by someone coming in with a walker. He won't be swayed by someone who has lots of money.

He's going to execute perfect judgment. That is what the king was supposed to do in Israel. He was to execute justice and represent God's justice. He was to be an example of what God expected from his people. He was to see that the laws of God were promoted and that he would do it with no other ambition, no ambition for himself. That is what the king is supposed to do if he is God's son.

If he occupies this position, this special unique position where God calls him a son, the king is his son, then he's going to perfectly represent God and he's going to perfectly respond to God. And yet no king although declared to be a son at his coronation with those responsibilities ever came close to reaching the measure of those words Never came close. And that is why, listen, when you, and I remember as a kid, the hardest part of doing my Sunday school lesson was when we studied kings, right?

You've had bad king, bad king, bad king, good king, bad king, good king, good king, bad king right and then Israel in the north all bad not one of them was good right those were so I remember thinking this is so boring but when you look at it even the good kings did not measure up Hezekiah second only to David in the way he followed God didn't measure up. Right? Didn't measure up.

You read his story about, you know, when God promises judgment on the nation. And he goes, at least it's not during my reign. Not measuring up. Right? And as you read him, you keep saying, nobody measures up. And so the waiting, the anticipation began.

And then came Jesus. And don't miss don't don't miss what it says in those stories that we're so familiar with he was declared by the angels did you hear it this morning? see we're so used to these these are just the background to opening presents or singing songs you will go to Bethlehem and there you will find this person who is what? Christ, the anointed one, the Lord you'll find Christ the Lord.

The angels declare that. He was recognized by the Magi as what? Who were they coming looking for? The King. Herod gets all worked up. Why?

Because they're coming for a King. Matthew's making a point by telling you that story. Jesus is the King. Right? He is the one who speaks here then in verses 7-9. Jesus comes along now let's look at Hebrews chapter 1 for a moment so the anticipation we waiting we looking every king is declared a son but no one ever fulfills the no one ever responds to God rightly nor do they represent nor do any of them represent God rightly Well, then we come to Hebrews.

Hebrews chapter 1. Now, the whole book about Hebrews is to show you the superiority of Christ. The people back then were tempted to go back to the old ways. They had followed Christ. They paid a price. They're thinking, let's just go back to the old ways of God, to the Old Testament ways.

And the writer of the Hebrews is saying, you can't do that, because Jesus is superior to everything that's gone before. And here's how he proves the point, starting in verse 1 of chapter 1. Long ago, at many times, and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom also he created the world.

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. In other words, he's God. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, You are my son, today I have begotten you.

Quoting Psalm 2. Or again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. Quoting 2 Samuel 7.14. He says this has been said. And look it, Jesus fulfills it. He stretches these words to their absolute ultimate limit. they mean one who is actually God so when God in the past was saying you're my son today I've begotten you and I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son Jesus comes and fulfills that to the limit it can't be any it can't be any bigger than that he is the son of God because he's God right wow you see what they're saying they're saying look jesus came and there's a whole larger universe than what we originally expected is it still true absolutely absolutely but it's true in a way that goes far beyond anything that ever expected he still he still is what the Lord says in Psalm 2, but in a way that says, wow, this is it.

This is it. This is the one. Look at Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1. As the promised son, as the king who is supposed to be the son of God, he has an intimacy unknown to former kings. He has an intimacy with God that's unknown to former kings.

And it's experienced by this king. Verse 9. In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. By the way, that's supposed to be ringing in the ears of that original audience. This is the one who's anointed by the Spirit of God.

Right? And a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved son. With you I am well pleased. God had never said that about any other king, had he? Only this time he does. This king, this son, has the experience of a real son. he has an intimacy with the Father that none of the other kings ever had.

Again, fulfilling the very words to an extent that no one ever dreamed, but it's still true. Jesus perfectly represented the will of God to his people and perfectly responded to the interest in the will of his Father. Look at John chapter 6, verse 38. John chapter 6, verse 38. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

By the way, in chapter 4, two chapters before, Jesus had said, My food is to do the will of my Father. alright in other words my very existence my very existence revolves around doing the will of God You see By the way, you see that in fullest expression in the garden before he was crucified. As Jesus agonizes over the death he's going to die. What does he say?

Father, if there's any other way, let this cup pass from me. But what? not my will, but yours be done. He perfectly represented and perfectly responded to the will of God. All of this, all of this, the fact that he is the son, was forcefully declared at the coronation day of Jesus. What was his coronation day? The day of his resurrection, Romans chapter 1.

Turn there, Romans 1. now notice how Paul describes Jesus here don't miss it Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now again, there's a whole universe of meaning there. You should have these royal tunes ringing in your head as you read that.

Descended from David, declared to be the Son of God by his resurrection. All that Jesus claimed regarding his position of special relationship was confirmed on that day. All those things are true. This is my son. I'm well pleased with him. How do I know?

Jesus raised him, or God raised, his father raised him from the dead. Right? This is my son. How do I know? He's the exact representation of God. Right?

And so that unique position declared by God the Father is perfectly fulfilled in Jesus Christ. now in verses 8 and 9 Jesus declares to you Messiah purpose or God declares to you Messiah purpose well the Messiah declares to you his purpose Ask of me this is what God is saying 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. This was the purpose of every Davidic king.

He knew it as he read those words from the document handed to him. What do you know? He was to extend the rule of God. Look at Psalm 78 for a moment. This is written by Solomon. Psalm 78 is written by Solomon.

Start in verse... No, no, no. It's not Psalm 78. It's Psalm 72. Sorry. Psalm 72.

Psalm 72. may he have dominion speaking of the king may he have dominion from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth may desert tribes bow down before him and his enemies lick the dust may the kings of tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute may the kings of shabbat and bring gifts may all kings fall down before him all nations serve him why would they serve the king of Israel because he's the representative of God. He's to make Jehovah's rule both universal and visible. That's what Solomon expected.

It never happened. It did not happen. The anticipation of one coming grew. And now we look and we see that God has set Jesus upon the throne, first of all, of absolute authority. He set him upon the throne of absolute authority. Ask of me and I'll make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.

He has authority over all the nations. They are his possession. They are his inheritance. They are his. Do you ever think about the Great Commission? Matthew 28, 18 through 20.

You ever wonder about that? What does Jesus say there? He commands his disciples to call people to repentance and submission to him. as we go out we're to make disciples we're to call people to repentance and to submit to Jesus as King right do you remember how Jesus starts out the Great Commission on what basis are we to make disciples You remember what it says It says this All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me Now, go and extend the rule of God everywhere to all the nations.

You see? So Jesus, by his people, through the gospel, extends the rule of God because of his sovereignty over all the nations. I don't want to get in any hot water, and I'm not, I think some mission policies are mistaken and wrong-headed, but I will say this. if any nation says don't come here and make disciples of Jesus, what am I going to say? Well, the king of all the earth says I have to.

Right? The king who has authority over all the nations says I have to. And so I'm going to. Now, so he sets him upon a throne of absolute authority and a throne of absolute power. Verse 9, you shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Here's the absolute power of God's Messiah.

Messiah, like every other king, sits on the throne and he has a what? What is that called? By the way, in all our Cinderella and princess movies and all that we watch, the scepter's about that big, right? and they hold this little scepter, this jeweled thing, you know. Well, in the ancient Near East, the scepter would have been like a staff. It's very ornamented.

It's, you know, it's pretty tall. It's like a walking staff. That's how big the scepter was. And it was a representation of the king's authority, okay? It wasn't a baton. It was a big thing, right? and it was more than symbolic.

And here it's likened to a weapon of iron which will be wielded with angry force against defiant rebels like iron against fragile pottery. 30 years ago, boy it's been that long, 30 years ago we moved to our place outside of town, right? And along with that came, you know, the old schoolhouse that's our garage and the chicken coop and a storage shed which is now a little house and our big red barn.

And the owners who were there before had left some things in that barn. and one of the things they left was a stack of clay tiles. You know? A whole stack of clay tiles. You know what those are, right? And I remember my three boys and their friend Josh, right? Went out to that barn and totally destroyed those clay tiles. just absolutely made powder out of them.

I'll never forget. I said, guys, you're not supposed to do that. That's destructive. Why did you do that? And their response was, well, you didn't say we couldn't. It's one of those things.

I don't remember much, but I sure remember that. Right? It took no effort. And I'm sure it was fun. They just took some hammers and just beat them into little pieces. That's the picture you have here.

That is what the king is going to do. You know that scepter that he has? As he sits on the throne, he holds that scepter. He's going to wield that thing to anybody who doesn't submit. Those are terrifying words. They're meant to terrify.

They're to tell you, you don't mess with this king. Listen, God's decree of Messiah's purpose includes the final disposition of stubborn rebels. Those who will not submit will be destroyed. They will be destroyed. Look at Acts 17.31. you know and again in the in the world in which we live someone may say to us well how can you say that how can you say that you jesus this one that that you call lord you call him that what What makes you think he going to do that Come on Right Like this one that you believe in He the one who going to deal with the world Yep Acts 17.31.

Here's the background. Paul's at the Oxford University or the Harvard University of the ancient world. He's in Athens, the very heart of intellectual, you know, the height of the intellectual universe is Athens. He's there. He looks around and sees these idols. By the way, don't ever equate idolatry with stupidity.

Okay, it's dark. It's rebellious. It's not stupid. Those idol worshipers were the smartest people in the world at the time. He's there at that place, and he's going to present to them Christ. And this is what he says to them at the end of his sermon.

In Acts chapter 17, or the end of his argument, he's talking before this whole assembled group of intellectuals. And here's what he says in verse 31 at the end of his lecture. Verse 30. No, verse 29. being then God's offspring we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone an image formed by the art and imagination of man the times of ignorance God overlooked but now now he commands all people everywhere to repent now listen he's talking to these intellectual people and he's saying I'm here to tell you that you guys all need to repent all of you you need to repent doesn't sound like a real good debating point, does it?

Why? Note verse 31. Because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this, he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. This is what he says to them. God raised someone from the dead showing that he's the one who's going to judge.

You need to repent. You need to abandon all that you are and all that you believe and embrace Jesus This is the way And if you don he will judge you And he will judge all nations because God raised him from the dead He has the authority to judge. And so Jesus has been directed to smash to pieces the frail, brittle enemies of the throne. And he will. now today what we see is is kind of a gap verse 8 god's given them all authority over the nations go and make disciples extend the rule of god and then it says you're going to break them with a rod of iron with that scepter you'll break them haven't seen that yet it's still to come because now we have a chance to submit to him.

Now we have the opportunity to submit to him. He's given all men everywhere an opportunity to submit. And when they don't, and if they don't, they will face his judgment. Revelation chapter 19. We've been there every Sunday since we started looking at Psalm 2 because this is speaking of Psalm 2. Today his rule is not recognized, but someday all are going to see it.

This king will extend the rule of God over the entire earth. And in Revelation 19 verse 15, it says, as it describes this king returning, note, on a white horse, the sign, remember he came to Jerusalem on a donkey, that's the sign of peace. He's coming to the world on a white stallion, which is the sign of war. And it says that this rider on the white stallion, from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron in fulfillment of Psalm 2.

His rule is not recognized today, but someday the whole world will and he's going to wield his scepter and destroy all who resist. Psalm 2 tells us that. This is what the Messiah will do. So, Christian, what do you think of the rule of God? What do you think of the rule of God? I hope you don't find it a burden.

I hope you find the rule of God, the rule of a king who loves you and is gracious to you who continually and constantly forgives you who calls you into submission every day to know and enjoy the fruits of his rule but maybe you here today and you've never confessed your sin you've never confessed jesus as sin bearer and for sure you've never confessed him as king remember this you're like those clay pots your rebellion is fragile it's pointless Jesus sits on his throne with his iron scepter in hand but he holds back he's not wielded it he's not wielded it yet he's given you an opportunity to repent to submit to accept his rule to say to him your payment for my sin is all that I want and I will serve you gladly Father thank you for your word Lord God I pray I pray for those who are in our midst right now who have never bowed the knee to you. I pray, Father, that they would first look at you and see your grace, or look at your Son and see His grace, His invitation to them to believe, to submit, to rest in Him. Father, help them to see that, to hear the tender voice of Christ inviting them to find rest with him but Lord help them also to see that iron scepter in his hand that he will one day wield against all those who stubbornly refuse to bow before him who would throw off the cords throw off his rule who hate him because of it oh God help these I pray open their eyes to see these things, the grace and the severity of the King.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.