SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 12/14/2011 10:30:44 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Pt-1 Psalm
2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
2:1-3
Message
of the verses: “1 Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain
thing? 2 The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel
together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us tear
their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!’”
Psalm 1 is never quoted in the NT,
while Psalm 2 is either quoted or referred to at least eighteen times. Psalm 2 is what is called a Messianic
psalm. Warren Wiersbe writes, “The test
of a Messianic psalm is that it is quoted in the New Testament as referring to
Jesus (Luke 24:27, 44). But this is also
a royal psalm, referring to the coronation of a Jewish king and the rebellion
of some vassal nations that hoped to gain their freedom.”
This is a psalm written by David and
could have been written out of the events that are found in 2 Samuel 5:17-25,
8:1-14, 10:1-19.
As we look back at the history of
Israel we see that when they first came out of Egypt and conquered the Promised
Land that the nation was ruled by the Lord, but when we get to the book of 1 Samuel
we see that the leaders of the nation wanted a king to rule over them. This broke the heart of Samuel, but the Lord
told him to anoint Saul as their king.
There are places in the OT before this even took place that show that
God knew that this was going to happen and it was actually part of His plan,
but as we read the events that happened that surrounded the life of Saul we see
that Saul was a man that the people wanted, for he was tall and he was strong,
but God wanted a man from the tribe of Judah and a man that was after His own
heart, and that man was David. Later in
David’s life he desired to build a temple for the Lord, but the Lord told him
that he was going to build a dynasty through the line of David all the way to
the coming Messiah whose humanity would come from the line of David and this is
seen when we look at the genealogies of both Matthew and Luke. Genesis 3:15 is the first prophecy about the
coming of Messiah and we can see from that verse that the Father of the Messiah
will be none other than God and this is seen in the Gospel of Luke. Luke 1:35
“The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the
holy Child shall be called the Son of God.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes: “Some psalms you see, some psalms you feel,
but this one you hear, because it is
a record of four voices.” We will look
at the first voice in today’s “Spiritual Diary.”
Conspiracy—The
Voice of the Nations (vv. 1-3): “1 Why are the nations in an uproar And the
peoples devising a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth take their stand And
the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed,
saying, 3 “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from
us!’” (NASB)
David did not expect an answer to
his question that he presents in verse one, but it is a great question to think
about and wonder about for God created the earth and all that we see in the
heavens, and He created it to bring honor and glory to Himself, but He also
created it for man and as we look through the first days of creation it as if
we are looking at an Artist who is painting a masterpiece and waits until the
last moment to put the finishing touches on the painting to make it complete. The last day of creation God made the animals
and then He made man, the finishing touch to His wonderful creation. Man chose to sin against God and was thrown
out of the beautiful garden that God had made for him, and so sin began to take
on its ugly consequences on not only mankind but also the entire creation. As mentioned above God at once spoke of a
coming Redeemer who would be born of the seed of woman in order to provide
salvation.
I want to quote a verse from the
Gospel of John that is spoken of by John the Baptist that sums up the division
between those who belong to God and those who don’t, and it is those who don’t
belong to God that David is speaking about in this section: “John 3:36 “"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not
obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.’” What will be the wrath that comes upon
them? Well the answer is found in the
first chapter of Romans and verses eighteen and following: “18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in
unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within
them; for God made it evident to them. 20
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His
eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood
through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they
did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations,
and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they
became fools, 23 and exchanged
the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man
and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24
Therefore God gave them
over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies
would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a
lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is
blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this
reason God gave them over
to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that
which is unnatural, 27 and in the same
way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in
their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and
receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 28 And just as they did not see fit to
acknowledge God any longer, God
gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not
proper, 29 being filled with all
unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit,
malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers,
haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to
parents, 31 without understanding,
untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32
and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice
such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give
hearty approval to those who practice them.”
This is a very ugly picture of what
happened to mankind and the worst thing that God could do to them is
highlighted in this section “God gave
them over.” God just let them go and
continue to slide down the slippery slope of sin and the result was the consequences
of what they desired to get from their sinfulness.
I just want to make one more point
from this section of this Psalm and that is that nations were rebelling against
the Holy One of God, the Messiah, The Lord Jesus Christ. It is as if they were all saying what the
Jews said about Jesus Christ, “"But
his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ’We do not want
this man to reign over us.’” (Luke 19:14) The Psalm is speaking of the Messiah as seen
in verse two when is says “His Anointed.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I am so
thankful to the Lord for the salvation that He has given to me and that I am
one of those that are spoken of on the redeemed side of John 3:36. I do not want to ever be ungrateful for the
wonderful gifts that the Lord has given to me, gifts that are given to all
mankind such as air to breathe, food to eat, things like that for they are all
gifts from God, but some do not see it that way.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Have a thankful heart for the
gifts that the Lord has provided for me.
2. Remember to worship the Giver of
the gifts and not the gifts that are given to me.
3. Continue to learn contentment.
12/14/2011
11:32:39 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment