God’s Still on the Throne

Psalm 2 joins with Psalm 1 in introducing the Psalter, each presenting two ways (Psa. 1:1,6; 2:12 ).Together they provide a perspective for reading and praying the whole of Psalms, and for living in the world today. Psalm 1 exudes quietness and calm with a focus on the individual. Psalm 2 pictures turmoil and conflict, with “the nations” stridently opposing God’s ways and refusing to acknowledge the rule of his “son.” Our horizons are expanded to God’s global purposes, to “the ends of the earth” (8). Listen to the news and read media reports in the light of this psalm! Central is the Lord’s “anointed,” “my king,” “my son” (2,6,7). Given God’s decree (4-9), the “wise” response is to “serve” (10,11). Here we bow before Jesus Christ; when the early church faced threats, they used this psalm in bold prayer (Acts 4:25,26).

With the same Hebrew words, the “plotting” of the nations (1) stands over against “meditating” on the Lord’s teaching (1:2; both are a “muttering”); the righteous do not “sit” with the wicked (1:1) for they know the Lord is “enthroned [NRSV, “sits”] in heaven” (2:4). For those who rebel against the anointed king, “your ways will be destroyed” (12a; c.f. 1:6b), but “blessed [NRSV, “happy”] are all who take refuge in him” (12d; c.f. 1:1,2).

When the Psalter reached its present form, God’s people were under Persian rule, yet they boldly sang that opposition to God’s rule, centered in his “anointed one,” is “in vain” (1) and affirmed the utter defeat of opposition (9). John may have been a prisoner on Patmos, but to him, and to us, is promised participation in that victory (Rev. 2:26,27). Despite what we may see in the world, we can join in this audacious affirmation of obedient and expectant faith.

Allow the language of this psalm to affect your view of any opposition you face, seeing above everything and everyone “the One enthroned in heaven.”