May 12 Daily Devotional

Against the Lord: A Meditation on the Second Psalm

Psalm 2

1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.
5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Devotional

(continued)

How can it be said that Christ has a kingdom now when the nations of this world pay no heed to His word? But is it not true that the Holy One of Israel has a people for His name from all climes and nations of the earth? Does He not now work mightily in the saving of sinners everywhere? True, it is still a world lying in wickedness, but can any creature including Satan take away from His sovereignty? Be men ever so rebellious and throw away the bands of His righteous rule, yet they cannot take away or annul God's authority and power.

Who can fight against God and win ? If a man is not for Christ and His gospel, then he is against Him. They are, however, sure to fall unless they bow beneath His sceptre. He who will not bow in submission must fall beneath His rod. God's justice is not extinguished by His mercy, fn a parable our Lord said, "Those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me." He shows himself to be a gentle shepherd to the meek and obedient, but He is armed with power to destroy kings and their armies that are against Him, in the day of His wrath.

The "terrors of the Lord" are for purposes of persuading men to submit while pardon is possible. Now is the day of the Lord if men will hear His voice. After death is the judgment, To the impenitent there is held out nothing but righteous doom. While redemption is the beginning of the work of the Son of God, judgment is the end of it.

Every man knows that he ought to know, love, and trust God. Whether he does so or not, or feels unable to do so because of his sinfulness, yet he knows God will require obedience from him. Does he try to render what God requires in himself? Then he is doomed from the start, for man has no righteousness to commend himself to God. How then shall he give to God the homage and worship that He requires? The Father said of the Son, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Only in the Son can we be pleasing to Him. He is the only way to the Father. To deny the Son is to deny the Father.

God acknowledges as subjects, and reckons to be on His side, only those who acknowledge themselves to be sinners devoid of all glory before God, and incapable of entering by their own strength and their own merits into communion with the Father, those who cry for mercy and grace at the foot of the cross, and expect nothing in earth or heaven except His personal and powerful mediation. Those only are for Christ. The rest are against Him.