Summer in the Psalms - Psalm 2

All right, is this on? All right, thank you. A few weeks ago my wife Angela and I celebrated! our nation's 250th Independence Day in its capital, the other Washington, by viewing the! Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, those things that formed the country, and then visiting the Lincoln Memorial and the Arlington National Cemetery to remember the great sacrifices that were made to keep this country independent and intact. We watched fireworks in the National Mall sitting next to the Washington Monument that was lit up with a giant Freedom 250 sign.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. As a nation, we value freedom. Independence means a lot to us, and we are willing to go to great lengths to protect it. But my question is, is freedom inherently and always a good thing? When does our desire for independence become inappropriate?

The problem is that our rebellious hearts confuse the rejection of what we may consider to be an unjust and illegitimate human authority with the just, merciful, and the only legitimate authority of God.

We confuse those two. Ever since the rebellion of our first parents, rejection of God's authority comes naturally to us, individually and collectively. Therefore, we have to invite the Holy Spirit to use His inspired Word to guide us to the incarnate Word, His Son, so that we may be rightly related to the Father.

So it is to that end we're going to look into Psalm 2 today. Psalm 2 is grounded in the attributes of God. Throughout the psalm, we will see the nature of God as the bedrock, God's sovereignty, God's fairness, God's justice, God's mercy, God's patience, all of those characteristics of God. That's the foundation for what the psalmist is talking about. But while talking about the character of God, Psalm 2 also says something about our character as humans. And there is a contrast between God's character and our contrast. And that contrast is used to teach us about this egregious error that we commit, and this profound foolishness of rejecting God's authority. And it concludes with blessings of the wise choice of submitting to God's authority. And that is the gist of what we are getting at. So we're going to dive into Psalm 2. And just a little context, Psalm 2 is considered a coronation song. So when kings of Israel are installed, this song was often sung in their honor. And we see this, this is used in the line of Davidic kings. But we will also see that this psalm refers to someone far greater than either David or

Solomon or any other king. We have to appreciate the historical context of the psalm. But even more important than the historical context in the literary genre, we have to invite the deeper meaning to sink into our minds and hearts so that this word transforms us. So it is to that end, we will dive into Psalm 2.

If you could have that up, thank you. So Psalm 2 reads, by the way, this splits nicely into four sections of three verses each. So we'll take them out of bite-sized chunks. So let's look at verses 1-3.

Why do the nations rage and the people's 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.

Suppose I begin a conversation with a why statement. Say, suppose they ask, why does the traffic have to be backed up for two miles when it's a simple one-lane closure and a four-lane highway? When I say that, there are two things that are obvious. Everybody knows that this happens. Everybody knows that it shouldn't happen. It's the same way that the psalmist is using this why. He begins with a why. Why does this happen? Unfortunately, the why here is far more tragic than getting stuck in traffic on I-90 and wasting time. This why is speaking about rebellion of two categories of people. There are two categories that are actually put in here, two categories of rebellious actors. And one category, we've got nations and peoples, looking at the Septuagint translation.

This is referring to ethnic and linguistic groups all over the world. This is referring to, okay, that category, that category of rebellion. Another category of rebellion in verse 2, kings and rulers, their leaders. So what this is saying is that comprehensively leaders and followers of every kind all over the world are rebelling against God. So there is a comprehensive nature to the statement. But this is also not speaking about some generic godlessness in the world. That concept didn't exist back then. Rather, this is specifically talking about rebellion against God who revealed himself to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as he revealed to Moses as the I am the Yahweh. This is rebellion against the Lord, that is transliterated, rendered as Lord. This is rebellion against the true God. But it's also not just rebellion against God generally. This is specifically rebellion against God's anointed. Let's unpack that for just a moment.

Humanity has been rebellion against God since Genesis 3. This is quoted over and over again. The Old Testament quotes it. The New Testament quotes it. This is simply the truth about human nature. But like with many prophecies in the Old Testament, there are different layers of meaning. There is a surface level meaning that was true in the short term. But then there is a deeper meaning that is true in the long term.

And both those things are true here. Specifically, this is talking about rebellion against the Lord and His anointed. The anointed, the Hebrew word Mashiach, which is translated into Greek as Christos, from which we get the English word Christ, generally refers to someone who is chosen by God and consecrated to God, often in a ceremonial way by the rubbing and pouring of oil for God's purposes. This happened with various rules. For example, in Leviticus 4, we see that this is how priests in the Old Testament were anointed. We see this in 1 and 2 Samuel.

This is how Saul and David were anointed to rule over God's people. We see this later that other successors to David were also anointed in that way. So, at a surface level, this term could be used to describe any of these anointed authorities of God. God says that you are going to act in my authority over these people. So, on the surface level, this term could mean, could refer to any of them. But generally speaking, the Psalms refer to use this title to refer to David, King David, and his descendants like Solomon, who were sitting on the throne that belonged to David. So, at the surface level, this term applies to David and his successors. Now, when you think about the life of David, David faced many enemies. He faced enemies from outside Israel. You would expect that. But he also faced enemies from inside Israel, such as his predecessor, whom he served faithfully, King Saul, and one of his own sons, Absalom, who tried to take over David. So, David faced enemies all over. Yet, David knew something. He knew that he didn't earn his kingship. God chose him. God told him, you're going to be my king. In fact, David wasn't even considered worthy by his own family members. His father didn't even consider him worthy to even put him in front of Samuel. His brothers thought nothing of him. So, David knew that, I didn't really earn this.

God put me here. So, David knew that any opposition that came at him, whether by Saul or his son or any other foreign enemies, David knew that this opposition is really not against him. It's against the God who chose him and put him in that role. So, David was very clear who this opposition is actually directed against. It became common throughout the history of the ancient world, in every civilization throughout history since then, to subvert this text by rulers and kings all over the world have used this text to say that they were the divinely appointed ones. This refers to them, so that they can consolidate power, do whatever they want, and rule with an iron fist.

This is just how human nature works. In fact, during our nation's revolutionary war, many who lived in the colonies believed that it was sinful to declare independence against the king of England because, you see, the king of England was not just this anointed, the king of England was and is also the head of the church of England. So, when we apply this text to other human authorities, we are stepping out of bounds of what the text is actually trying to teach us. This practice of invoking God's name in vain and the king of Israel and Israel and Israel and Israel and Israel and Israel and Israel and Israel and Israel because they used this to justify their own selfish desires.

The biological descendants of David treated God's unconditional promise not as a gift to be stewarded responsibly, but something that they can abuse to their own selfish ends. We know that with the very next king, Solomon, he built lavish palaces for himself and his 700 wives and 300 concubines.

His lavish expenditure cost such a great strife in the nation that it actually split the nation into two right after he died.

So, this is not an excuse for self-indulgence. All of these things are examples of humans abusing God's good gifts. But when we do that, even when we abuse God's good gifts, Paul tells Timothy that that even when we are faithless, God is faithful because he cannot deny himself. Faithfulness is integral to the very character of God and therefore God brought forth an ultimate successor to David who truly fulfilled this promise in a way that David or Solomon and nobody else did. And that descendant of David was, of course, the incarnate God, Jesus. So, we see this quoted again many generations later in Acts chapter 4.

The context was that Peter and John perform a miracle by the name of Jesus and they get arrested and the ruling leaders of Israel around Peter and John and they imprisoned them and then they realized that we can't really hold them. So, they let them go under the one condition they cannot preach or teach in the name of Jesus. Well, obviously, the apostles realized that there is an authority greater than the Sanhedrin.

So, they go meet up with the other apostles and their friends and they pray together and that is the context of Acts chapter 4 verses 24 through 31. Let me read this. So, this is in the early church. This is the apostles praying and it says this, and when they, the apostles and their friends, heard this, they lifted their voices together to God and said, Sovereign Lord who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them who through the mouth of our father David your servant said by the Holy Spirit, quoting this, Why do the nations Gentiles rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers gathered together against the Lord and his anointed for truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now,

Lord, look upon the threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness while you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together were shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak of the word of God with boldness.

This is the testimony by the inspiration and by the attestation of the Holy Spirit that who this passage refers to ultimately is Jesus Christ. While it could have referred to someone else in the short term, this text is ultimately referring to Jesus Christ. The apostles understood that this refers to Jesus as the ultimate anointed one.

Now, regrettably, the rulers who ended up fulfilling this prophecy in Acts 4 were not foreign kings alone, but it included the leaders of Israel themselves.

They were the ones who charged the apostles not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. Just as David faced enemies outside and inside Israel, so did Jesus. When we think about all the collusion that happened, the rival factions of the Jewish leaderships, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, set aside their differences to come again, come together to plot against Jesus. The Jewish authorities did not like the Roman authorities at all, but for this matter they set aside their differences to come together to plot to arrest Jesus and to try to put him to death.

Within the Roman Empire, you had two rival cogs in the Roman machinery, Herod and Pilate. They both served the Roman Empire, but they didn't like each other. But you know what? For the sake of mocking and persecuting Jesus, they came together and bonded together. Everything that this psalm speaks about, that the leader, the kings and the rulers bonded together, came true in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Such organized and carefully planned opposition to Christ Christ by both the leaders and the followers was true then and it is true now.

Around the world today, the church faces immense persecution. Open doors, an organization that monitors persecution of the church around the world. Among the top 50 nations where the persecution is happening, it counts about 300 million Christians around the world. In their quote, to face very high or extreme persecution. 300 million Christians around the world. And this ranges from death, extreme violence, imprisonment, destruction of homes, and not to mention beyond that, in all of these places, you have carefully constructed laws that have a single purpose of stifling the church. That is the reality around the world today. Hebrews 13.3 tells us to remember those who are in prison for Christ as though we are in prison with them because what God's Word says here was not just true then, it is true now.

Now, what's behind all of this? Jesus taught in the parable of the wicked tenants that these tenants really do not like the master, that they abuse the master's servants and eventually they abuse and kill the master's son. What Jesus taught was that the rejection unto death of the son is actually a rejection of the father. Jesus himself said, the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me. And again, whoever does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him. Regardless of ethnicity, social status, gender, age, or whatever trade, humanity consistently strives to reject the authority of God by rejecting God's anointed.

That was true then, it is true now, this is true collectively, this is true individually. Here's the thing, to all of this, the tone of David when he wrote Psalm 2 or the apostles when they quoted Psalm 2 in Acts 4, there is no tone of despair, nor are they putting their confidence in themselves.

Instead, the leaders of the early church recognized that Jesus, the true anointed one, all the suffering that was inflicted upon them in the name of Jesus was all still within the sovereign hand of God. As they endured persecution, they knew that God was still in control. And they were able to see through to the motivation of the rebellion. So when we get back to our text in Psalm 2, verse 3 gives us the motivation for the rebellion. What this says is that the motivation for the rebellion is specifically the authority and the lordship of God over us. We are told that they do not like God's cords over us, God's cords to bind us. God's word cuts through to the thoughts and intentions of our heart.

The reality is that we too can conspire against God's authority in our lives. When you look at this language over here, burst their bonds, cast away their cords. Different English translations use shackles and bonds, chains, fetters. These are all things that the language that we use tells us that God is just holding us hostage. God is this tyrant who's holding us hostage. The language that we use reveals the status of our hearts. This has been true all along. For example, when you look at Genesis chapter 3 in verse 3, Eve is embellishing and exaggerating God's commands. God says that you should not eat of the fruit and even embellish. Oh, you should not even touch of the fruit.

God didn't say that. Why are you embellishing? Oh, your embellishing is actually revealing your heart that you think God is an unfair master. And that shows up over and over again. It reveals a heart posture.

God says that he led Israel, this is in Hosea, God says that he led Israel with cords of kindness, with bands of love. That's the kind of a master God is. But what does Israel do in response?

Israel was adulterous towards the Lord. We see this again in the New Testament. The Lord teaches in the parable of talents. Many of you know this. He uses this parable to talk about three different servants.

And the third servant is the one who was not faithful to the master. But he gives a reason why he was not faithful to the master. Because he says, for I know that you're a cruel master. That's why I didn't serve you well.

But here's the problem. Each one of us, at some point or another, we have that distorted view of God.

In some way, in some area, we think of God in a way that God is not being entirely fair. We too are prone to this type of thinking. So we want to be able to diagnose our heart and contrast it with the truth. This is speaking of the language of bonds and cords and shackles. What does the Lord himself have to say about this?

Lord Jesus tells us that to come to him, all who are weary and heavy laden, for his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

That is the truth. Yet, we have a picture of God where he is constraining us with these firm shackles and bonds in a way that's oppressive.

So, what we want to think about is that, is our thinking of God shaped by God's word or by our own experiences?

Psalm 1, which Jay preached last week, says that the blessed man meditates on God's law. But the reality is, humanity is bent, intently focused on finding a way to rebel against God. There is a meditation going on here. The meditation here is, how do I escape God's law? How do I escape God's authority?

So the question for each one of us is, are we meditating on God's law or are we meditating on finding a way to escape God's law? Let me offer a free heart checkup that doesn't require any insurance. There are no medical bills associated with this heart checkup.

In our mental picture, is God an uncaring boss who constrains us from living our best life? Or is God our loving maker whose yoke is actually the best thing for us to function as he designed us?

Which picture we have of God makes a huge difference and that takes us to the next passage, next section from verses 4 through 6.

In 4 through 6, he talks about, in response to all of this, he who sits in the heavens laughs. God holds them in derision and he will speak to them in his wrath and he will terrify them in his fury, saying, As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.

Human scheming against God is comical. It is so ridiculous that it makes God laugh. But this is not a laughter corresponding to enjoyment when I'm watching a good show.

No, this is one of dismissal that those who plot against God are a laughing stock. This shows up over and over again in the Old Testament. David sang elsewhere, it is in Psalm 37, David sings that, Again, David sings in Psalm 59, But you, O Lord, laugh at them.

You hold all the nations in derision. So this is a common pattern. People scheme at the Lord. God just laughs at them. It's like, what are you doing?

And that pattern shows up over and over again, not just to foreign nations. Regrettably, it shows to God's chosen people as well, because God's standards are the same for everybody.

God applies the same standard to the rebellious sister nations of Israel and Judah. He says to Ezekiel, this is in Ezekiel chapter 23, God is telling Judah and compares us with the older sister nation Israel, You will drink your sister's cup, which is wide and deep.

You will be laughed at and held in derision. The same language used against the foreign nations is used against Judah. Jerusalem would become a laughingstock.

Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your indecency and your promiscuity, is what God tells in Ezekiel 23.

Because God's standards are the same for everybody. So in response to all of this plotting, God terrifies those who plot against him by installing his king.

It was a message to God's enemies that God was still in control. God installing his king was a reminder that God was still in control. But to really appreciate the depth of the sentence, we have to go back and look at, okay, how did Israel get its first king?

Oh, this happened when Israel went to Samuel and told Samuel to go ask the Lord to give us a king to judge us like all other nations.

By the way, keeping up with the Joneses is nothing new. Israel wanted to be like all the other nations. That's why they demanded through Samuel to tell God, hey God, give us a king because we want to be like everybody else.

And they got their wish. Let's not deceive ourselves that we are somehow going to wrestle away a blessing from God against his wishes. No.

Israel got its wishes all right, but God was still in control as to who he anointed as the king and what he was going to do through the king. God still works his purposes through them.

Our distorted desires do not shake God's sovereignty, but they simply make it painful for us to recognize that God is sovereign. So even though these verses were sung in reference to various kings of Israel, those kings ended up being rebels themselves.

God is a fair judge and there is no partiality in him. Though David, Solomon and his successors were anointed by God in the short term, their sins and their unfaithfulness were not ignored by God.

But because God is a loving father, he promised to discipline them. We'll see in the next passage. When they sinned, God was going to discipline them because a good father disciplines his children.

So God's discipline of Israel and Judah must remind us that in fact, there is a king of all kings and we are fools if we plot to rebel against the king of all kings.

And that takes us to verses 7 through 9. So continuing with our psalm, in verses 7 through 9, we see this. The imagery of potter, clay potter, potter's vessel, is used over and over again in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.

We see this at least four times in Isaiah. We see this in Jeremiah. And all of these imagery is repurposed by Paul in Romans chapter 9 to speak about God's sovereign choice.

And all of these references to this potter image, there is one consistent theme. It reminds us of God's power and it puts us in our place.

So, Psalm 2 is using that same imagery. See, God promised a father-son adopted relationship with the descendants of David who will sit on the throne.

This is in 2 Samuel 7. And when we look at this passage in 2 Samuel 7, this is God sending a message to David. And he says, When your days, this is David's days are fulfilled.

And when you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name.

That's the temple that Solomon built. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.

When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men. But my steadfast love will not depart from him, that as I took from Saul, whom I put away from before you.

And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. So God makes a promise to David that his throne, his descendants, will rule forever.

And God is always faithful to his promises, even when the descendants of David were not faithful to God. David and Solomon saw a glimpse of the magnitude of this promise.

You see, God picked Israel, even though they were the least of nations, as God tells them, so that his power may be made known. What happened after this promise was declared?

In a very short duration, Israel went from nothing. Within a couple of generations, during the time of David and Solomon, Israel grew rapidly in power.

At its peak during the reign of Solomon, Israel was comparable in size to great nations like Assyria and Egypt that had taken many centuries to build up their power.

Within two generations, Israel realized that, oh yes, God's promise is coming true. So there was a very clear short-term blessing that was evident to them who were living in that day.

So the partial blessings that they experienced for a short time were intended to give them a glimpse of a far greater blessing that would never fade.

Alas, that was not fulfilled in their lifetime because, as we said, the successive kings were not faithful to the Lord. The other anointed kings and the adopted sons were only occasionally partially faithful to God.

And when we did, they did experience blessings. But the ultimate anointed king was declared to be the true son at his baptism. At the baptism of our Lord Jesus, we see the Spirit descending upon him when he was declared to be the son of God with whom the Father is well pleased, in a way that none of the other kings before him were true.

And of course, in Romans 1-4, we see that the resurrection was also the ultimate demonstration that he was the son of God. So this verse 7 that we just read about being declared to be the son of God is quoted over and over again in the New Testament.

We see this quoted in Acts 13. This is Paul and Barnabas. In the first sermon, Paul quotes this. In Romans 1-4, again in Romans 1-4, Hebrews actually quotes this twice, once to point out that Jesus is superior than the angels, and again to point out that Jesus is superior to every other priest who served before him.

So this verse is quoted over and over again in the New Testament because it is clear that all of these prophecies were only true of one person ultimately, the incarnate God, Jesus Christ.

Another prominent messianic psalm, Psalm 1-10, speaks of the kings being shattered in judgment and judgment being executed over the nations as a sign of the authority of the Father being bestowed upon the Son.

Verse 9 that we just read, that you shall break them with a rod of iron and you will shatter them like pottery is also quoted over and over again in the New Testament.

Revelation alone quotes that verse three times, twice to indicate the power of the authority of Jesus and once to indicate that Jesus' power is delegated to his believers, whose faithful believers, Jesus grants them this authority to them as well.

All of this points to the fact that this ultimate authority belongs to Jesus Christ. Though the Son was and is always been fully God during this incarnation, the Son emptied himself in obedience to the Father.

Upon completing the work that the Father gave him, he was exalted and he was given the name above all names as Philippians 2-9 tells us. That promise that the nations will continually fall before him.

There is only one person of whom the prophecy of Isaiah 9-7, of his kingdom that shall be no end, applies to one person and one person only, Lord Jesus Christ.

As he told Peter and the apostles, upon their testimony, he will build his church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

That is the truth. Only his kingdom has no end, has no boundaries, has no time limits, because he's the king of all kings and the Lord of all lords.

This applies only to him ultimately. And that takes us to the last quarter of our psalm, verses 10-12. Therefore, now, 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. Proverbs has a whole series of now-then type of language.

It just sets up a scenario. The outcome is pretty clear. Now that you know this, how are you going to live? In the same way, Psalm 2 has this now-therefore, now-then language.

This is what's going to happen. My anointed, he's in charge. Everybody who opposes him is going to be shattered like pottery. Therefore, what are you going to do?

Given all this, what is the implication for the world? It's to be wise, as Proverbs tells us. It's to choose a path that leads to life.

The psalmist offers a clear path forward. See, interesting, though the psalm begins by identifying two categories of rebellious, rebellions, one by nations and people, followers, and their kings and rulers, their leaders, this is specifically addressed to the leaders.

Why? They have a responsibility to use their influence to lead their followers in God's way. So this is talking about asking them to kiss the sun.

Historically, and this is true in many kingdoms throughout the world, to kiss the ruler was to submit to his authority. Many centuries later, the Roman Empire adopted this practice to specifically signify to kiss the ring of the emperor was to submit to the authority of the emperor.

And then many centuries later, the Roman Catholic Church adopted that practice to kiss the ring of the leaders of the church for to submit to their authority. You see how this plays out?

Regardless of what, how human authorities may subvert this sign to flaunt signs of human authority, God's signet ring, God's seal has been set on Jesus Christ.

and he is the one to whom we must submit. We must submit to his authority. In addition to all the reasons that have been given already to submit to his authority, the passage gives us one last reason to submit to his authority.

And that is that his wrath is quickly kindled. Now, when we read this, we must be careful to not interpret it incorrectly. You see, we have a bad habit of starting with our emotions and our experience and extrapolating them to God.

Uh-uh. We shouldn't do that. Because what we see throughout the testimony of Scripture is that God is patient, long-suffering, he's merciful, gracious, and loving.

All of those attributes of God are still even in this passage. So when it says that for his wrath is quickly kindled, we should not think that, oh, God has a short fuse.

That is false. That is not the God that is painted throughout Scripture. Knowing that God is patient and long-suffering and gracious and loving, what does this mean?

It is something that the rest of Scripture attests to, namely, that he will return in judgment when? Anytime. Like a thief at night, we don't know when he's going to return in judgment.

And 1 Thessalonians 3, 1 Thessalonians 5 says that when he returns in judgment, there will be sudden destruction. So what this is referring to is that we don't know when he's coming back as a judge.

So, it is foolish to delay submitting to him. If he could return any moment, you can't just say, well, I'll submit to him when I'm old and when I'm ready to die, I'll wait to submit to him.

No! You don't know when he's coming back in judgment. Do not delay in your submission to the Lord is the message here. To illustrate this, there's a character in the Bible as I was reading through this passage and reflecting, there was one character in the Bible that portrayed this very well for me.

And perhaps it's not the first character that you may think of, but as I was reflecting on this, this is the character that exemplified this for me. And that was a Canaanite prostitute named Rahab.

Rahab was caught in this unenviable situation. Israeli spies were coming to spy out her land and her king had issued this order that you got to turn over these spies or you're going to die.

But she feared God more than her own king because she recognized in her own words from Joshua chapter 2. The Lord Yahweh, your God, he is God in the heavens above and on earth beneath.

She knew who the God was. She knew who she had to submit to. So as a result of her knowledge of who God is, it resulted in her actions, namely, she risked her life to save the lives of these two men who were sent by Joshua.

And for that, she received first a short-term blessing. The short-term blessing that we see in Joshua 6 was that her life and the life of her family was spared. Great.

There was a short-term blessing. And then there is something that I would call medium-term blessing. I think that's a word. Okay. Medium-term blessing. Medium-term blessing was that, well, it turns out that she gives birth to a child named Boaz who gives birth to another child.

Obed, Jesse, David, oh, now, the medium-term blessing is that she is now the ancestor of King David. But wait, it gets better.

What we see in Matthew 1 is that she is the ancestor of the true anointed, the true descendant of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. So because of her obedience, she receives both a short-term, middle-term, as well as a long-term blessing.

she believed who God is and acted in a way that put her own life at rest. That type of standard, that's what God expects of all of us.

The same standard is applied to all, the same choice is given to all. Face the anger of the anointed and perish, or take refuge in the Son and be blessed.

In the words of one scholar, there is no refuge from him, there is only refuge in him. The blessings are not a result of our works, but of trusting in the Son.

Peter in Acts 2 and Paul in Romans 10 quote Joel chapter 2, it says, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Jesus Christ is the exclusive arbiter of the fate of the world.

He is the only stone that is either a stumbling block for those who do not believe in him, or the rock of refuge, built to weather the storms for those who do trust in him.

All of this concludes with a call to take refuge in the anointed. So as we conclude this psalm, I want us to remind, I want to remind ourselves, our sinful hearts and our corrupted culture tell us that only a life without any bonds or burdens will satisfy us, and that's a lie.

invite the Holy Spirit to reveal if we are resenting God's bonds that guide us to abundant life. Remember, the anointed's yoke is easy and his burden is light, but there is a yoke and a burden.

We need discernment to differentiate between the world's yokes that lead to destruction, destruction, and Christ's yoke that lead to abundant life.

And my prayer is that we will embrace the yoke of Christ joyfully. Let me pray for us. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you are God who dwelt among us.

Father, Son, and Spirit, thank you for your work of redemption through the incarnation of your Son. thank you, Lord Jesus, that your yoke is easy, your burden is light.

Thank you, Lord, that you've given us your Spirit, that we will not be prone to wander as we naturally are in our sinful state, but we will listen to your inspired word, we will joyfully submit to the yoke of Christ, and receive the blessings that come with it, because blessed are all who take refuge in them, is what your word says, and we take you at your word.

Amen.