Well, good morning. I want to invite you to turn in your Bibles with me this morning to Psalm 2. And if you're using the bulletin, it's right there on page 9. And in the Pew Bibles, you'll find it on page 448. Psalm 2. Allow me to read this for us, and then we'll pray, and we'll jump right in. 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. Let's pray. Father, thank You for Your Word this morning. Thank You for recording these words for us in Your Scriptures. And thank You that You speak to us through them this morning. And we pray that You would help me even as I preach and give us hearts to listen, O Lord, and fix our eyes on Christ, Your Son and our King. It's in His name that we pray. Amen. All right. If you are a person who enjoys following any kind of sports team, whether that's baseball or one of the other games you have in this country, basketball, football, the one you play with your hands. Or like me, coming from the other side of the world, we have something called cricket. It's a very odd thing. You bounce the ball. That seems to get everyone. I play with my friends in my seminary where I'm studying, and the ball bounces before you hit it. It's very awkward. There's also another game called football, but it's also called soccer. This morning, two of the teams that I support played. Very rarely, it's like a solar eclipse. It happens once in a while. And two different sports, right? One is soccer. They played very early this morning. I support our team in Britain as much as I can from here. And they played this morning. The other team that played was the Indian national cricket team, played England in India. Very close to my hometown. And the shocking thing was that both of them won. I'm still trying to digest that. It's given the record in recent times. I was expecting two losses today, but two wins. And if you support any kind of team, you know what winning is like and what losing is like, right? Unless you're one of those persons whose team always wins. We don't like those kind of people. You may be having a great time, but you're not that popular. So we know what it feels like, right? One event can cause two diametrically opposite outcomes, right? There's winners on one side, there's losers on the other. And in this psalm, there's an event that's taking place that causes these two outcomes. This event that we find in the Psalm is the appointment of a king, of God's king, and that appointment brings about two opposite outcomes, winning and losing. The people that belong to the king, the king's people, are the ones who are saved, find refuge, and are blessed. The king's enemies, or God's enemies, they are destroyed. They are crushed, as we read. And so we'll look at what this means exactly for us and for the world. Before we get to the part where the king is anointed and declared to be king, we find in the first three verses of the psalm a situation where it's not going so great. There is a lot of opposition for this king, and we've been making our way through the life of David before he's crowned as king. He's already anointed. They're not putting out the red carpet for him. He has to go through a lot of struggle and opposition before he's actually crowned king. We haven't even come there. We've finished a whole book, one Samuel. And so it's that kind of a situation. Maybe the Psalmist is recalling those days and saying there's a lot of opposition around, but that opposition that David is facing from Saul So much so that he flees to Philistia. That opposition is a microcosm. Now it's blown up in this psalm and it's an opposition from the nations against God's King. All the nations we find in verse 1, they're raging and they're plotting. And verse 2, they're coming together to take counsel. against the Lord and against His anointed, His anointed King. And verse 1 really starts with a question, and it's not an alarm that's being raised. It's like God is a little amused that this is happening. It's like, why are they wasting their time doing this? Why do the nations rage and the people fought in vain? That's what's going on there. And these kings of the earth come together. That's a rare thing too, right? Kings of nations or rulers of nations coming together and agreeing on something. That's what's going on here. Nations are usually at odds with each other. They have their own interests that they protect, right? But here they're putting those aside and they're coming together for a common cause, to fight a common enemy, and that is God and his anointed king. And so they're plotting and they're raging, it says. This is a stark contrast, if you remember, to Psalm 1, which is quite familiar to us. But the blessed man is the one who meditates on the law of the Lord day and night. That's what his mind is occupied with. But these rulers and kings who are against God and His anointed, their minds, their time is occupied with how can we bring an end to His rule. How can we overthrow his rule? They invest all their energy, their resources, their time, money, everything into this. And you may think, well, this is a little far-fetched. I mean, yeah, it's poetic and all that. I don't think this is happening. The world seems like a very peaceful place. But if you have a news feed that pops up on your phone, it's very hard to find a day when everything is at peace. The Lord has created this world in a certain order. God is king, and He's the king over other kings and rulers. No matter which country they rule, they rule under the ultimate authority of their creator, of God. are to deal in justice. They have to protect life and preserve life. These are the common things that the nations are supposed to do, being in this world created by God. And they ignore all that. They don't like that God is the ruler, that God is really the king. They're upset with this fact that they have to bow before a sovereign God and creator. And whether it's through false religions, Whether it's through, you know, ideologies, secularism, or materialistic tendencies. In one way or the other, they tend to ignore that God rules and reigns. And they want to overthrow God's reign. So much so that verse 3 says, They're saying this God and His anointed King, Let us be freed from this. We don't want to be under their yoke anymore. Let's burst these cords apart and then we'll truly be free and we won't have to be accountable to the king, God's anointed king and God himself. And that's the way it functions. That's the way this world functions ever since the fall in the Garden of Eden. Even then, didn't the serpent come and tell Eve, you'll be like God. I mean, why do you want God to be God? You know, you're a good candidate. Just eat the fruit. Disobey him. Why does he get to call the shots? And that is the same story that's been going on and unfolding in different ways in the nations of the world. You know, there will be a time when all the nations will not rage and will not plot. And that will be only in the new heaven and the new earth. But until then, this will go on. You know, we've seen the history of our world. There's been times where, you know, people have even called it Christendom. And it's not been the best form of Christianity. Power, right? Too much power corrupts. And a historian by the name of Lord Acton said, you know, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The moment people get that power, it seems they want to raise themselves above God and show that God is not the one in charge, we are. We get to call the shots. That's the world that we live in. And so God looks, it's like the Tower of Babel, right? They're building this tower, they all come together, get their resources in one place, and they're building this great tower, and then God looks down. They think they're gonna make their way to God, but God is so high and lifted up that he has to come and look down. What is going on? is the same kind of idea here. What is going on? Why are these nations raging? Do they really think they can overthrow God? Do they really think that they can overthrow God's rule? And so in the next verses, verses four, five, and six, we find God's response. How does God respond to them? Well, the first thing he does is, you know, he who sits in heaven. Notice that he's sitting. They have not even bothered God enough to make him stand. I'm like, okay, they're raging, they're plotting, they're coming together, they're hatching a plan, a plot. You know, God sits in heaven. And another thing that he does is he laughs. He finds it a bit amusing that they're even trying to get together and do this. I mean, like, it's like, You know, a small island in the middle of nowhere, occupied by 10 people, saying, we're going to overtake America. That's the kind of scene. Like, what? This is a joke, right? And God laughs. And the next line tells us, He holds them in derision. Of course, derision is a word that you use every day, right? This took some time. I mentioned cricket earlier. And someone might tell you that it's a gentleman's sport. Don't listen to them so quickly. There's various formats. And the longest format of the game is five days. And each team gets two innings to play in those five days. It's like 9 to 5. And you go there and you play for five days and see which team ends up scoring the most runs or points. But what happens is, in the midst of the game, the match, you'll have two batsmen or two batters in the middle of a field right there trying to bat. And you'll have 11 of the opposing team right around them. Some of them are really close, and they'll keep Sledging is what we call it. They'll keep trash talking, right? They'll keep and try to break the concentration of the batter or try to pump him up into playing a shot that is not well-timed or it's not played carefully, and he'll get out. And that's the idea. It's trash talk. And every once in a while, one of the batsmen will turn around and say, yeah, keep talking, keep talking like that. You've seen that in your sports too, right? And so that's the kind of idea. God is like, what did you say? You're going to overthrow my rule? Yeah, keep talking. That's the idea. That's how God is treating this whole thing. It's, man, they'd rather use their time for something else. This plan is going to fail. And why is it going to fail? The rest of the psalm reveals to us why this plot of the nations is going to fail. God has something in mind too. These nations are coming and plotting, but God already has a plan in mind. And he starts telling us what that plan is. The next verse, verse five says, God will speak to them in His wrath and terrify them in His fury. You know, it's no small thing to try to overthrow the rule of God. Yeah, God is laughing at this, but we're talking about God, the one who made us. And these nations, and these kings and rulers, they're trying to overthrow the reign of the sovereign God who made heaven and earth. It's no small thing in His eyes. We were made as creatures to worship Him. And sure, we're a fallen race, but He will speak to them in His wrath and fury. He's going to say something that's going to terrify them. It's a shocking statement that God is going to speak now. And we find the statement, we find exactly what God is going to say. You know, it says, As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. God says something. You know, when God says things in the Bible, when it's recorded, it's no small deal. Great things happen. In the first page of the scriptures, God spoke. He spoke into a vast nothingness. Let there be light. And there was light. This universe, all the atoms of this universe obey the voice of the Lord. The voice of the Lord, the psalmist in another psalm says, breaks cedars. He lays waste to forests. The voice of the Lord shakes the earth, causes the sea to roar. That is the voice of the Lord. Even when Christ returns, it says He will kill the lawless one. He will kill the lawless one. The Antichrist, it says in 2 Thessalonians 2.8, he will kill him with the breath of his mouth. With the breath of his mouth. Even this morning when we read Revelation 19, there's a scene of the rider on the white horse. Lord Jesus coming with the hosts of heaven, an army ready to fight. And then it says, there's a sword coming out of his mouth. So by his word, he's going to destroy his enemies. The word of the Lord speaks. With power, the word of the Lord speaks finally and fully. And this is what the Lord speaks with His words. As for me, or it can be said, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. That's God's plan. He's already planned it. He's already set His king on Zion. He's appointed a king already. This is not a reaction to the plotting that's going on from the nations. This is God's plan. This is shocking to the kings and to the nations. It tells them that God has entered on the field. God is going to do something now. He's in this battle. He's got a guy in the game, and that's his king. Wait a minute, God is appointing a king? But we're kings and we're rulers of the nations. He's going to take away our power? He's going to fight a battle against us? He's God's king. We didn't expect this. That has been God's plan all along. And we find in the next verses that this king is the son of God, right? God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, our triune God, even before the world began, There is this plan where the father promises the son a people, a kingdom for his possession forever. And the son, we can say, accepts that and does and promises to do whatever it takes to bring this plan about, to bring this kingdom about, to save these people. He submits to the father And He does what it takes, right? He comes in the form of a man, and in our place, goes to the cross, dies and is raised and exalted. And we, His people, are waiting for His return to bring the kingdom in its fullness. That's God's plan all along. I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. Zion is the place where God's king will reign, and from there, reign over the whole world. Zion is God's capital city. That's where God's king is going to reign from. And that is God's great plan. And it will not be thwarted. It will not. God will not be disappointed. Whatever God has planned will come to pass. God has planned to save from a fallen race of Adam people for his own possession through his king. That's God's plan and Spurgeon says this, God's anointed is appointed and shall not be disappointed. I didn't know he wrote lyrics for bands. Anyway, so that's the idea. God's anointed is appointed and will never be disappointed. God's plan will never come to an end, no matter how bad it gets in this world for God's people. No matter how much persecution they go through, no matter how much heartache, no matter how much loss, God's plan will not be disappointed. His King will bring in His rule. His King will reign over all the earth. That's God's great plan and no wonder the rulers of the nations are perplexed at this plan. There is a King we know about. And he's a strong king. He's a powerful king. He's God's king. And then moving on, this king proclaims the decree of God in verses 7, 8, and 9. It's the king speaking now. And notice the first line. It says, The king is not saying, well, or God is not saying, I will now respond with a plan of my own. Oh, I will take this action. I will make a decree. It's not make a decree. I will tell of the decree of the Lord. This decree or this order from God, this plan has already been made before time began. This is God's plan. And now God's king will say, this is the reason why I am king. This is the reason why God has anointed me. In the midst of opposition from his enemies. And David, unlike Saul, was the chosen and anointed one of God. And Saul wasn't. The people chose Saul and then we know what happened with him. And then you have David, God's anointed king. He's the king from God's decree. And he points to the greater David, the coming king, Lord Jesus, who is the king based on God's decree. And what is the decree of God? You are my son, God is speaking to the king. Today I have begotten you. The king is God's son. The king is divine. There was this idea floating around in the ancient world that kings were said to be divine. Even in Egypt, the pharaohs were said to be sons of God because they were made king. But this is God's son who is made king over his people. God, when he makes a covenant with Samuel in 2 Samuel 7, this is jumping the gun a little bit. We'll get there in the following weeks, I'm sure. But he makes this covenant and says in 2 Samuel 7 14, this is talking about David is going to have a son. And God tells David, I will be to him, your son, your offspring, a father, and he shall be to me a son. Now, who was David's son? Who was next? Solomon? Yeah, all of Dave's descendants, if they were ruling rightly in fear of the Lord, obeying His law, could say that, yes, in a sense, I am an adopted son of God. Ruling God's people under God's command. But this one, this great coming King, is truly the Son of God. He has been with the Father forever and ever. There's not been a moment in eternity where the Father and the Son have not been together in perfect love and fellowship. That son who was in the bosom of the Father, He is the one who's coming to the rescue of His people. God doesn't send legions of angels. He can. One angel is pretty terrifying. Ask Sodom and Gomorrah. Ask the people of Egypt that lost their firstborn. One angel is terrifying. But He doesn't send an angel to do this work for us. He sends His Son. He's coming with authority. Divine authority. to do His work of saving His people and making a kingdom here on earth from a fallen race, in this fallen world. He will recreate it and His people will rule with Him. And so, that's the plan that God has. You know, God testified about Jesus, the Father testified about Jesus at His baptism, if you remember. This is my Son in whom I'm well pleased. right after he was baptized. That is Christ's commissioning for his work that he's going to do of a high priest, of giving himself as the perfect sacrifice for us. And also as the king who's building his kingdom. Then also at the transfiguration, it was said, God said, a voice spoke from heaven, this is my son, listen to him. This is God's son. He's not one who is adopted by God to be his son. He is the eternal son of God who is given to us as our king. And then the psalmist goes on to say, as part of his decree, he says, you know, you are my son today, I have begotten you. And some people try and poke some holes with that. They say, look, there was a day, if you're saying this talks about Christ, there's a day when Christ was not. Because God says, today, I have begotten you. Therefore, there was a point in time that Jesus began to exist. Well, he's not born, he's begotten. He's begotten, not made. And this idea of today is the day when God is revealing to his people, this is my son, this is your king, and my king. You know, the Apostle Paul talks about, he quotes this idea of, you know, today I have begotten you. In Acts 13 and 33, he quotes this very verse in connection with God's fulfillment of his promises of the Messiah to come. And he says, this is the Messiah. This is the one of whom God said, Today I have begotten you. And then Romans 1, Paul makes this connection, Romans 1, 4, with the resurrection of Christ being the moment in which He was declared to be the Son of God with power. Because He was raised from the dead. That does not happen every day. Raised from the dead with a glorified body. That is the moment when Christ was shown to be the Son of God in power. And we can say the king, God's king, in power to rule. Did he not, when the Great Commission, the last few verses of Matthew, you know, the great missions verse, go make disciples. Why? Go into the nations, not just Israel, go into the nations and make disciples. Why? Because all authority in heaven and on earth is given to Jesus. And that's the way in which his kingdom is spreading Right now, in the world, is through the gospel proclamation, right? The gospel has been taken to places where it wasn't present before, and Christ's name is preached, and that's how His kingdom grows. And we're involved in that. We're involved in that in different ways, in taking out the gospel even to our friends and those around us. God's kingdom is growing. Today, this morning, is Christ's people coming to worship the King of Kings. Here on earth, we join with the saints in heaven. We join with the heavenly hosts who are always praising Him. We come to worship the King of Kings. And one day, that rule will be established on earth forever. We'll be with Him face to face. We will be in His presence, no longer worshiping from afar, no longer by faith. It will be by sight then. His kingdom is coming. This is God's king. Why do the nations rage? What do they plot? What plan can even possibly shake God's plan? None. He's got the best man on the job, His son, His king. He will bring it to pass. You need to learn another thing about the reign of this king in verse 8. God tells this king, just ask. You have the right to ask. You have this relationship with me that you can ask. The father says, ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. That's the extent of this king's reign. This king doesn't need other kings. to hatch a plot. He doesn't need the confidence of the rulers of the other nations. No, no, no, he rules very differently. He doesn't need those allies. He alone is king of all the earth. He alone reigns. And he does reign. His resurrection and his ascension seated at the right hand of God tells us that Christ is reigning even now in the midst of his enemies. He's reigning even now. How do you know? Well, look around you. This is the church of Christ. This is where His kingdom is found in the world. I met a friend from China yesterday in our living room, a couple, and we were praying for them. They just came for a couple of weeks stateside and they're going back. They are going to an underground church in China. They can't even raise support to go back. Because how will you send the support to such a locked country? Underground. Christ's kingdom is there. There's people that are unreached and have never heard the name of Christ. There's missionaries that are working in those areas proclaiming the name of Christ. He rules over the nations. He rules the world. He's our ruler. His reign is manifest here in Escondido. They're not very fancy and great people, by the way. They're normal people belonging to the king. We carry the king's name. We are known as the people of the king. That's our status. That's our identity. We belong to the king of kings. His reign is universal. And it's been spreading for over 2,000 years and will not stop until the day when He returns and all the world will be His. You know, Philippians 2, you know that verse, right? One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, the glory of the Father. Right now, you know, we bow gladly on that day. All knees will bow, no matter how great or small, how smart or foolish. All will bow before the King of Kings, before Christ. His reign is universal. Also, verse 9 takes this further. Not only is His reign universal, but His reign is absolute. There is no opposition to His reign. There cannot be. Verse 9 very graphically paints this for us. It says, you, that is the king, you shall break them. This is God's decree. It's still part of God's decree. You shall break them, the nations. with a rod of iron, and shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." You know, the scepter which this king rules is like a rod of iron by which he breaks the nations. He shatters them into pieces, you know. Earlier, in the first few verses, the kings of the world, the rulers were saying, let us break their bonds. Somehow, let us loosen ourselves from their bonds. But here, Christ shatters the nations, the kings of the nations. That is the level of his authority. And it's pretty graphic, right? A potter's vessel. It's not a Dutch oven that's made of iron. That thing doesn't break. But you might be drinking coffee from a mug that's made of ceramic. I am the undisputed champion in my household of breaking cups. And trust me, I am not doing this on purpose. I'm not flinging them here and there. I have no joy. I just go to wash them and they break. That's how brittle and that's how weak they are. And that's the nations in front of this great king, in front of his scepter. He will rule with a rod of iron. Some people might have a problem with that. Jesus, low and kind and cuddly. What is this? We don't want this Jesus. Well, like it or not, that's the one you get. It's hard to understand how this picture of Christ can be painted. People are not going to become Christian if they see this image of Jesus or if they're told this image of Jesus. Well, it's the truth. This is Christ. He reigns. He will bring His enemies to an end. It is no small thing to be an enemy of Christ and God. You will not go unaccountable forever. You will be held to account as a creature of the great God of heaven and earth. We will be held to account. We cannot escape this. His reign will come with power and He will crush His enemy. You know, right now, it seems like the tables are kind of turned upside down. The church is so fragile and feeble and full of people that are, you know, ordinary. The church doesn't seem great in the eyes of the world, in the movies and shakers in front of them, you know, but when Christ returns, The tables will turn. We will be the ones who are the people of the King that rules with the iron scepter. And the world, no matter how great they are, how great these rulers were, they will bow the knee to this King, to Christ the King. You know, right now, the church is a persecuted people, a ridiculed people, a people that undergoes various kinds of injustice. The King will come and will establish His righteous reign. That's why we press on knowing that vengeance is the Lord's. We press on knowing that although injustice happens to us at this moment, He will come and make things right. He will make our righteousness come forth as the noonday. He will reveal the deeds that are done by us in faith that no one knows about. He will reveal the struggle and He will be glorified in that. the little steps of faith that we take, he will come and he will be glorified. And he will see those and say, well done. And he'll say, what? When did I do that? Jesus will say, when I was hungry, you fed me. Remember that when he said that? And he'll say, when did that happen, Lord? You do it to the least of these, you have done it to me. He will bring to light, not our dirty laundry that is dealt with in Christ. For His people, Christ will come with a reward in His hand. And He Himself is our great reward. And He will bring to light those deeds done in faith, those little steps. And He will be glorified in those. He will get the glory. That day is coming. Our King has a universal reign and absolute authority. And then in the last section, in the last three verses, verses 10 to 12, we learn what response should the enemies of God have? How should they respond to this great thing? Should they continue to plot and rage? Well no, and verse 10 just spells it out for them. Calling them to be wise, the psalmist is calling them to be wise in light of this great king whose rule is so powerful, so universal and absolute. Telling them be wise. The wise thing to do would be to submit to this king. Stop plotting, stop wasting your time. Submit to this King. Surrender to this King. Be warned, O rulers of the earth. It is a warning. Christ is portrayed in His awesome, fierce, powerful glory here for us and for the nations as a warning. For His people, this is great! But for the nations that plot against Christ and God, this is bad news. And He's calling them rightly to be warned. And in verse 11 it says, It spells it out. It's amazing how in the midst of this warning, in the midst of this portrayal of Christ as this all-conquering king, there is even now an invitation. For God's enemies to submit. This is the day of salvation. You know, God is being patient right now, is He not? So that all should repent. That's the offer even to these. It doesn't matter how much you raised against this king. It doesn't matter the treason that you did. If you submit, you will be forgiven. Was that not the story of Paul? Was he not persecuting Christ's people? So much so that when God appeared to him on Damascus, he said, why do you persecute me? And his life was turned around. And the one who was out to get the Christians became the pioneer missionary to take the word of God out, to take the gospel out. You know, there's opportunity for these kings to submit and there's opportunity for us. You know, there's probably people among us, right, who have, you know, Sunday after Sunday had the great privilege of being with the people of the king, of hearing the message of the king proclaimed, about hearing the declaration of his rule. of bowing to Him. You've been in the midst of this, people, and yet you seem to think that you can make it without submitting to the King. You can make it by just ignoring the pleadings of those around you, of the pastors, of people who love you. Believe in Christ. Submit to Him. You might say, well, look at the world. Look at the smart people in this world. Look at the influential people in this world. Look at the powerful people in this world. They're not Christian. I'm fine. Well, one day you'll see them bowing before this King. It won't be fine. He's going to break people. He's going to break the kings of the nations. Imagine us. With a rod of iron. Yet, He invites you now to come to receive forgiveness. He invites you. He's the one who can wash your sins away. He's the one who can extend amazing grace to you. And then, serve him with fear, the psalmist says. Serve this king as your king. You may be the kings of the nations, but he is really king of kings. Serve him with fear. Submit to this king. And rejoice with trembling. Let this fear not just be faint, let it be from the heart with joy. Let it be pure. Let it be true. Really serve Him. It's not changing. He's going to be the King forever. He's not going to die. You know, in verse 12, the beginning says, kiss the Son. Another sign of pure submission to the Son. Kiss the Son. And another warning, it doesn't end. Another warning, right in the second part of verse 12. The way of perishing, Psalm 1, it ends with the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Well, if you don't submit to the king, your way of perishing is there, it's to get out of the way of perishing, you submit to the king. But if you choose not to, your way will perish. And you will perish in the way. And it says, lest his wrath is quickly kindled. Submit to him, lest he be angry. And some look at that now. God has a short temper? You mean God's like me? You know, he has a short fuse. This seems like a God that I don't want to serve. You know, he seems like a tantrum-ous toddler. That's not what it says. The idea is that in light of God's patience and mercy right now, to not bring that judgment on the nations right now, because he's patient, don't think that when the time comes, he will not act. His patience is not weakness. its opportunity to repent. And when the time comes to judge the nations, when the time comes to shatter them, He will do it. He will do it. He'll do it swiftly and quickly. To be safe from that is to submit to a now. One commentator beautifully says, you know, refuge from him, from this great king, refuge from this king is found in him. That's where you run. He's the tower of refuge for us who are his people. And yet he's coming with great power and great swiftness to bring judgment on his enemies. None of them will flee. You know, in Revelation, we find the imagery of people saying, the day of the Lord has come. Let the mountains fall on us. Who can stand his day? That is Christ. That's our great King. He's the one who rules the nations with the rod of iron. And then in all of this, it ends very beautifully. This is for the people of the King. This is God's word to you. The last, very last line, blessed are all who take refuge in Him. It's talking about all who took refuge in Him once, all who take refuge in Him right now. You know, He is your refuge if you have fled to Him. This King, this King is such a great King. He's the King who took on this wrath, wrath that He will pour out on the nations. For us, He has already taken it upon Himself. He was the one who was broken. He was the one who was crushed for us on the cross. All our rebellion against God, all our disregard for His law, all our sin has been taken on Him. He's the one who has borne it on the cross. This is our great King. He is the one who has loved us with an everlasting love. Blessed is all who take refuge in Him. Someone has a lot to say about the blessed man, right? The blessed man, the way he walks, not in the counsel of the wicked, the way he stands, the way he sits. We've all failed to be that blessed man or woman. We've not made it. Let's not pretend. But by faith in this King, By submitting to this King, we are counted as those who are blessed. His righteousness is given to us. Our sin has been taken by Him. He has made peace with us. We have not offered Him anything worthy of that peace. He has offered Himself to make peace with us. Blessed are you if you find refuge in Him today, if your sins are forgiven in Him. Truly, you are blessed. You know, the reign of God's King is bad news for the losing team, but good news for His people. And we've all received this by grace. He's chosen us before the foundation of the world. God has chosen us in His Son to be kind to us, to be gracious to us, not because of anything we've done. We didn't earn this. And let's not try to earn it now. Let's receive it with thankfulness. This King has laid down His life for us. His kingdom will never come to an end. It's an everlasting kingdom as we've seen. Forever, we will be with Him. He is a King who is all-conquering and overcoming. In His seemingly weakest moment on the cross, it seemed like it was over. It seemed like the nations had conquered, like Satan himself had won. In His weakest moment, He brought about the greatest redemption. For sinners, right? In His resurrection, He defeated the last enemy, death. And at His return, He will crush His enemies forever. Behold, Your King. Let's pray. God, we are humbled. We tremble with fear. And yet, we recount Your love for us that You, the great King, The great and awesome ruler of the world, you have become our Savior by hanging on a cross for us, for our sins, by becoming sin for us so that we can become the righteousness of God in you. What great love, what great mercy, what great patience, what great grace has been poured on us by your hands. Lord Jesus, come, come in your kingdom. Lord, may we be raised to be with you forever and to reign with you, Lord. So come quickly, in your name we pray. Amen.