Scripture Reading: Psalm 2
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, saying,
“As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
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 vessel.”
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.
Joy to the World: The King Who Came to Destroy Our Enemies
A Christmas Sermon on Psalm 2
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God, our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.
The Surprising Truth About "Joy to the World"
Joy to the World is one of the classic hymns of the Christmas season. But I bet you didn't know that Isaac Watts never intended for it to be sung on this occasion. It is an end of the world hymn he saw. He wrote Joy to the World for the return of Christ, not the birth of Christ.
And it makes sense, because all of the things about this hymn are "Joy to the world, the Lord is come." All the bad stuff has gone away. "No more let sin or sorrow grow, nor thorns infest the ground." Sounds a bit like Christ has come to reverse the curse of the Garden of Eden, to banish the enemy that has oppressed us all these years.
Understanding Psalm 2: A Coronation Hymn
And it's great because that is exactly what our Psalm is about today—about a king who is coming to destroy the enemies. That's what Psalm 2 is about. For ancient Israel, this was most likely a coronation hymn, something that they would have sung or spoken whenever the king was crowned, the king of Israel whose job it was to defend against the enemies of the nation that would come and attack Israel.
He was God's tool and method to take care of the people. He would fight off the bad guys and keep them safe, all with the divine power of God, and that is what this is about. With our Savior, Jesus Christ, the earthly king could not do the kinds of things that our great heavenly King can do.
Part One: Why Do the Nations Rage?
And so I'd like to go through Psalm 2 with you today to see how this applies to our great King, Jesus Christ, who was born a child, born in Bethlehem as a lowly King. This Psalm is divided, I think, into four different sections. Each section goes through the different pieces of what it means to be the king of our church, the king of this new people.
Our True Enemies: Sin, Death, and the Devil
The first section begins with, "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."
For Israel, they would have looked out and seen the nations surrounding them and seen them plotting against God's chosen people. The king's job was to gather the troops to fight the bad guys and keep them free. But our enemy are not people. Our enemies are not armies or governments. We are oppressed by sin, death and the devil, and they are what plot to destroy God's kingdom.
The Enemy's Limited Power
These forces of sin, death and the devil are always around us, always trying to reach into our hearts and minds to trick us, to pull us from Christ. They want to burst the bonds of the king that has come to destroy them. They want to cast away the cords of the Almighty God who has bound their power by His death and resurrection.
They're always plotting, but they can only plot. They can only use trickery, because the Divine King has come, and he has truly destroyed their power. All they can do is make us think that Jesus hasn't won, that God is not victorious. All they can do is lie to us, just like these nations who rage and plot in vain. They only have tricks because our King truly has come, our Jesus, who destroyed the power of sin, death and the devil, not just by His death and resurrection, but also by his incarnation, His lowly life, his ministry as well. Every step along the way, he came to fight for you, and His power is there for you.
Part Two: God's Response—He Sets His King
The next section says, "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, saying, As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill."
A King Unlike Any Other
This passage is interesting to me because God's response in the ancient world to enemies that would attack was not to rain fire from heaven on all the bad guys, but to say, "Ha, I've got a king. He's going to do the job." He laughs at the power of the nations. He holds them in derision, and by setting a King on Zion, he terrifies the nations.
That's what God does for us. In Christ, He gives us a great king. But this king isn't born in a palace. He isn't crowned in the temple. They don't chant this psalm when he is raised up to his throne on the cross. He is lowly and a servant, and he lives a lowly, normal life, just like us—neither rich nor poor, just a king in Bethlehem, who lived as a human being.
The Power of Weakness
This is the one who is terrifying sin, death and the devil. When God sets this king up, they look at him and they quake, because his wrath is not like anyone else's. It doesn't come with power and scary might with a trumpet blast. It comes with service.
Sin, death and the devil—they tremble at a timid king, they weep and cry at his weakness, and they cower at his common humanity with us, because this is what it takes to destroy them. When Jesus came to take on humanity, he invaded sin, death and the devil by being placed underneath them, by feeling the pain we feel, by living the life that we live.
And it's not power or glory or riches or success that defeated them, but becoming our flesh and dwelling among us. It is service, peace, humility and his death on the cross. These are the tools that this king is using to destroy sin and death for you, the king placed on Zion.
Part Three: The Son Breaks His Enemies
"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 vessel."
Victory Through the Cross
That's what Jesus does for us. The true son of God comes and destroys the power of our enemies—sin, death and the devil—as the Word made flesh. And the amazing thing about it is that it's all done through a trick on the devil.
All he could have done to avoid his defeat was not kill Jesus, but he couldn't help it. It was too tempting, too great a threat, and he nails the Son of God to a cross. And because of that, Jesus shatters the power of sin over us. He loosens the grip of death on all people and humiliates the pride of the devil for you. So these things no longer have any power. He breaks them with his rod of iron. He dashes them like a clay pot simply by dying and rising.
Part Four: Take Refuge in the King
Which means there is only refuge from all of these things in him. The Psalm says, "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."
Our Only Protection
This is the warning to all the enemies, all the enemies of Christ and his Church: serve the king, follow Him, live in his kingdom or perish. We've already seen what he has done to sin, death and the devil, the great enemies of humanity. His power and His might are the only thing that can protect us. He is the King who can fend off sin and all of them, and he reminds us He is our only refuge. He is our only peace, and when he returns, He will bring us that joy and that peace and bring judgment to all those who stand against Christ and His Church.
The True Power of Christmas
The power of Christmas is not just a beautiful story with a babe in a manger and the shepherds. The power of Christmas is about God becoming flesh, a king who has the power to destroy sin, death and the devil for you and me. And it's this king, a lowly servant, humble, who gives you peace.
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