One King to Rule Them All (Psalm 2)
Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
. . . He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
. . . Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
~ Psalm 2:1, 4, 10-12
The psalmist’s words in Psalm 2 ring true now as ever. Over the course of this semester, we have seen the nations rage and people plot in vain, chafing under God’s law of love and itching to be free of him. We have seen this attitude, which bears only the fruits of chaos, at work in the wars in Israel and Ukraine, the sayings and doings of our political leaders, and, no doubt, within our classrooms, dining halls, and libraries. As Christians we often find ourselves angry, and rightfully so, about this wicked state of affairs and struggling, commendably, to remedy the issue by modeling Christ’s love in every small opportunity that is afforded to us. Each of us is limited, however, and the world gives us plenty of reasons to be discouraged.
But the psalmist wrenches our attention away from the world and back towards Christ. He reminds us that the Lord laughs at evil in this world—it is useless to resist our Lord, Creator of heaven and earth.
This message is a poignant beginning to the Advent season. The psalmist writes before Christ’s incarnation. Yet he recognizes that God will set Jesus as King over all the world and confidently predicts his arrival on earth to decimate the powers of the world and give peace to those who serve him. As the psalmist did, we must set aside our worry about the ways of the world and look directly at Christ, who is over it all.
But what the psalmist saw dimly, we see clearly. Christ, crowned on the cross, sits in judgment over the world that he rules. We have every reason to be confident in the work that we do for his kingdom, however small it may be, because we know that he has already triumphed and is working all things together for the glory of God. We can have peace in the midst of chaos because we can always turn to Christ, who is not ashamed to call us his brothers, for refuge. Moreover, even as we celebrate this Advent, we place our sustaining hope in the Second Advent of Christ, when he will give full and final justice to everything under the sun. So we bend the knee to Christ our king, kissing his ring, calling ourselves “citizens of heaven” as we prepare the way for him. Hosanna in the highest!
Ben Kelley is a Junior in CC. He studies Political Science and Statistics and currently cannot get enough of Proverbs.