Listen now as we bring you the chapel platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. For years, these servants of God have delivered biblical truth to help prepare Christians to serve God. Today we feature a message by Dr. Mark Minnick, pastor of Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina, as well as a professor of religion at BJU. He gave this message at a summer chapel service on June 4, 1986. His challenging message, titled, Why Do the Nations Rage?, is based on Psalm 2. Would you turn with me in your Bibles, please, this morning to the second psalm, Psalm 2. This psalm begins with an incredulous question. Why do the nations rage? Why do the people imagine a vain thing? And in that question, there is implicit a dream that the nations have always wished. This is the way they have always wished it could be. Now, when David records this question, he really only knows the half of it. David knows a little bit about the nations that are scattered around the Mediterranean like a half moon. But what if David had known about the globe what we know today? There was an entire hemisphere of peoples of whom David knew absolutely nothing. David could have read his Old Testament and found out about the inception of these nations in the 10th chapter of Genesis, where you have some 70 groups that are all clustered about what anthropologists call today the Fertile Crescent. By David's time, they had swollen their boundaries and expanded to cover that whole part of the known globe. And David could have read in the Old Testament of the raging of the nations, and by experience he knew something of it. But what if David had known the sweep of history that we know today? David says, why do the nations rage so? And why do they literally meditate such a vain thing? What is it that the nations are raging about? The first three verses of this psalm deal with the raging nations. And if you'll look with me, please, at verses 2 and 3, it says, The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed. And here's what they say. Their speech is recorded. They say corporately, Let us break their bands asunder. and cast away their cords from us. What is the action of these raging nations? The Scripture describes it as a literal insurrection. The character of that insurrection is a scheming solidarity. If you'll notice, please, they're scheming these things. There's a lot of planning and plotting and thick thinking going on. And it's not the revolution of little splitter groups in human history because these nations are represented under their corporate heads, under their kings. This is something that is a common passion that pulses through the hearts of these people. They long for the bands of the Lord and his anointed to be broken asunder. It's an insurrection in character. And notice that the objects of the insurrection are twofold, the Lord and His Messiah, His Anointed One. And here's what they wish. Their viewpoint given to us in verse 3 is just simply this, scattered about upon the face of the globe with broad permission given to them. Why, all things are theirs. The earth and the sea and the sky belong to them. God has given it all to the nations of the earth. And every morning His Son rises on the just and the unjust, and He sends His rain on the good and on the evil. They're all enjoying the tremendous blessing of God, but they don't see it that way. Their viewpoint is that they're restricted. that they are limited. And their dream, the wish that they have is that somehow all those imagined fetters could be broken, that they could be released from these restrictions. Now, folks, that's the way it has always been. And according to these dreams, this is the way they wish it could be. The historian Will Durant In a little book entitled Lessons from History has a chapter that's called Morals and History. And in that chapter, he's analyzing the morals of the people of Earth in terms of history, and Durant makes this statement, he says, Man has never reconciled itself to the Ten Commandments. It's always been this way. Have you ever stood on the seashore and watched the ocean work itself into a storm, looking far out on the horizon and seeing the little green swells rising up and every one of them rising up on the horizon and then racing one after another and swooping in against the seawall? And have you ever heard the little sea waves talk as they rise higher and higher? They have a language all their own. If you could hear the sea waves talk, they would be muttering to themselves and saying, this time, this time, I'll rise high enough and I'll sweep up and out of these restrictions into the glorious liberty beyond. And the sea's been trying to do that since the sea was created. It's always been that way. And in the Bible, the nations of the earth are described as the raging sea. The prophets continually refer to the roaring of the nations like a sea. And there's a limitation place, God has said, this far the sea will go and no further. And the sea can't stand it. Now that's the way it's always been, but we know something that David never could have foreseen what David wrote about it. In some of his other songs, David recorded it, but David was one of those prophets who never fully understood the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. He inquired about it, but it was never fully revealed to him what those prophecies meant. But you know, the early Christians understood exactly what the culmination of all of this raging of human history was. They knew the culmination. Did you know there's a passage in the New Testament that records these exact words and their fulfillment? Would you turn with me to the fourth chapter of the book of Acts, Acts chapter four, the early church suffering persecution, And during that time, they pray a prayer to God. And in that prayer, in the fourth chapter, beginning in verse 25, they quote this psalm. And notice, please, what they say in verses 25 and 26. They say, by the mouth of thy servant David thou hast said, and then they quote those second and third, first, second, third verses. And in verses 27 and 28, they connect with that quotation the fulfillment. Look at this. For of a truth against thy holy child, Jesus, whom thou hast..." And look at the next word, anointed. "...and the nations are raging against the Lord and His anointed. For of a truth against thy holy child, Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod..." There's a king. "...and Pontius Pilate..." There's a ruler. "...with the Gentiles..." There are the nations. and the people of Israel." There are the people. "...they were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. " You know that over 40 centuries of human history, at least 40 centuries, maybe more than that, but over 40 centuries of human history all culminated in one gigantic wave. when Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and the people of Israel bruised and broke and blasphemed and crucified the Lord's anointed. And he died. Now, if that was all the story, I would think the sea had won. But there's a little word in verse one that anticipates that there's far beyond that. It's the little word vain. They imagine a vain thing, folks, vanity is futility. Vanity is like a soap bubble, a little bit of nothing with a shiny skin on it. And they have imagined a soap bubble, it's going to pop. Because there's a whole lot more to the psalm. And if you'll notice, please, in verses 4, 5, and 6, the Lord is going to have His say now. And in verses 7, 8, and 9, the Anointed is going to have His say now. You know, it's always the one who gets the last word who wins. And let's see what the Lord and His Anointed say. Listen to the words of the Lord. And notice, well, we'll read verses 4, 5, and 6, and I'll just point out the divisions. In verse 4, you have the position of the Lord. He that sitteth in the heavens. Now, they're on the earth and he's in the heavens. Remember when Dr. Bob Senior said that your arm is too short to box with God? Why, that means if God sits in the heavens, he must have had to scoop, to scoop their first father out of the dust. That means that he who scooped to make this people is the very one against whom they're having to stretch themselves to break his bounds. And we're still trying to measure how long an arm you'd have to have to box with God. So he sits in the heaven and he has a certain reaction to people. And if I can just make this comment, it's a very bad thing to make God react. God is not supposed to be the reactor, we are. But God reacts, and when God reacts, notice in verses 4 and 5, He reacts with laughter. He reacts with derision. He reacts with wrath. He reacts with sordid pleasure. Now, that's not the only picture of God in the Bible. There are pictures of God weeping. There are pictures of God sitting calm, almost passive-like, like a sphinx with his eyes wide open, gazing down wide-eyed, almost in disbelief at what men are doing. But this is one picture of God in the Bible. And will you notice, please, in verse 6 that you have the action of God. This is what the Lord has done. The Lord has set his king upon his holy hill of Zion. These are the words of the Lord. The Lord is saying, yet, all this raging, yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. Now, every king of the earth would like to be the king. That's what they've been raging about. See, folks, listen, the issue is government. The issue is not just blessing. We've all been terrifically blessed by this God. The issue really is not blessing. It's not that we've been mistreated and somehow we must get out of the restriction of this mistreatment so we can be blessed. The issue is not blessing. The issue is government. And no matter what blessings come from it, people can hardly stand to be God governed. But God has a government. God has set up his king already. Now, let me show you something very interesting. The little word translated said in verse six is not normally translated, said in the Old Testament. It occurs about two dozen times and some 15 of those times it's translated poured out. Six or seven times it refers to molten metal, you know, the kind of metal that runs like a liquid. And on only two occasions is it translated this way. And the idea behind the word is not really that of fixing something like you would set it in cement, but it really is the idea of pouring it out. Yeah, and what really did happen on the cross? I mean, when those first three verses were fulfilled, what really was happening, folks? The first three verses are the way they wished it would be. But what really was happening? In other words, what really is the situation? Have you ever noticed the words of David in Psalm 22, verse 14, when he quotes the future Messiah who says, I am poured out like water? And remember in Isaiah 53, verse 12, it says, He has poured out His soul unto death. Poured it out! Yes, and what was happening on the cross? I'll tell you what was happening. The Lord was pouring out His King! He was showing his king. This was the king's hour. The king was claiming his crown. You say, wow, what a strange way to claim a crown on a cross. Yeah, but it has to be that way. It has to be that way because apart from that cross, there won't be any citizens in this kingdom. So when the king inaugurates his kingdom, Somebody's got to die. You see, folks, it's always that way when you have an insurrection, somebody always dies. And it's either going to be all of us or somebody for us if they're going to be any citizens in the king's kingdom. So this is the way it really is versus one through three or the way they wish it could be, but this is the way it really is, you know, the way it really is today. It really is this way. There's a king already. And that king has earned not only by virtue of his nature, but by virtue of his work, he has earned the right to be king. Now, the anointed one himself has something to say. And I love the way he says it, look in verses seven, eight and nine, and he will speak, I will declare the decree the Lord has said unto me, see, this is somebody other than the Lord talking. This is somebody telling what the Lord said to him. And this is what the Lord said to His anointed, and it's given in six striking statements. Notice them, and notice how they beat out a rhythm. First of all, He is the Father's Son. Secondly, He is the Father's begotten. Thirdly, He will inherit the heathen. Fourthly, He will possess the earth. Fifthly, He will break His possession with a rod of iron, if necessary. And sixthly, he will dash his possession in pieces like a potter's vessel if necessary. And when you stood and watched the waves of the sea rise higher and higher and swoop upon the seawall, what happened? And he will dash his possession in pieces if necessary. Now, it's a wonderful thing that the speech of the anointed one is many times quoted in the New Testament and the fulfillment of these verses is given. The first time this passage is quoted is in the 13th chapter of Acts. We're not going to turn to it, but you notice the words when it says this day, have I begotten thee? When did the father beget the son? If you read the 13th chapter of Acts, that passage will tell you that the beginning took place. After the death, what happened immediately after the death? What is a beginning, a bringing to life, right? What happened after the death when God poured out his King? Why, there was a resurrection. You know, if you'll just put yourself in the position of these nations for a moment, it's pretty bad news when you do the ultimate to your enemy. The ultimate is to kill him. But what happens when he comes back to life? What do you do now? And this son, this anointed one, came back to life. He rose after three days. It didn't last very long. It lasted just long enough that we would know he really died and not swooned. And when he rose, this is the promise that he had in mind, verses eight and nine, this wonderful matter of having the heathen in the uttermost parts of the earth as his possession and his inheritance. And in verses nine, where you have this matter of breaking them with a rod of iron, you know, three times in the book of Revelation that's quoted. And we don't have time to look at all of them, so I'll just call your attention to the last one that occurs in the 19th chapter of that book, and you don't need to turn to it, but it's a wonderful picture. It's the culmination of all world history as we know it. And here's how it's going to culminate. The one who was poured out on Calvary doesn't look like that anymore. Today, his hair is white as wool, his eyes are like a flame of fire, his feet are like molten metal. In that picture in Revelation 19, he has a vesture dipped in blood. and a sword that proceeds out of his mouth with which he will smite those nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. And guess who comes with him? All of his people come dressed in fine, clean. How wonderful it will be to be clean! Dressed in fine, clean, white linen, and we come with him. And he sets up a kingdom on earth that does what no earthly kingdom has ever been able to do. God's been giving man a chance to rule this globe for centuries, and not any form of human government has ever been able to do it. So he'll do it. He'll demonstrate that only God can rule what God made. And all of this will come to its ultimate fulfillment. You know, you read those words and it's so beautiful if you're really a subject of the king. You know, the poets write about the sweetness of the nightingale singing. I can't remember ever hearing a nightingale. I don't know whether you have or not, but they say it's beautiful. But, you know, when the nightingale sings so sweetly, it doesn't sound like that to all the creatures of the forest. To other nightingales, it is a battle cry. What is so sweet to us is actually the nightingale claiming his rights of property and warning any other nightingales that they are not to be rivals to his territory. And these words of the anointed are like that. See, to me, it sounds like a nightingale song. I can't wait for that day. Why, that'll be wonderful to be wide and clean and to reign with him. But my, the people who want to be nightingales, What must this sound like? To people who want this anointed one's territory, what must this sound like? Well, it's no wonder, folks, that if this is the way it shall be. He is king now, but if this is the way it shall be, then verses 10 and 11 and 12 are the way it should be. And here we switch back to the psalmist, and the psalmist has some advice, verses 10, 11 and 12. Notice, please, first of all, that his advice is to respond to the facts in verse 10. Be wise. You know what wisdom is? Wisdom is just the skill to order your affairs after the facts. Dumb people refuse to order their affairs after the facts. They lack a real skill. But why skillful people just look at the facts and you can't fight these facts? Be wise now, therefore, O kings, and be instructed, you judges of the earth, you great men of the earth. Respond properly to the facts, and verses 11 and 12, respond properly to these two figures, the Lord and his anointed. How do you respond to the Lord? Serve him with fear. How do you respond to the son? Kiss him. This is the same kind of kiss that Samuel gave David in first Samuel 10 when he anointed him king. Oh, there's affection in it. But it's the affection of a submission that has no issue with the king. It is a joyful resignation to the reign of the king. So serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling and kiss this son lest he be angry. You know, it's one thing to pour out your life for people. It's another thing finally to be angered with their obstinacy. And somebody has said that the wheels of God grind exceeding slow, but my, they grind exceeding fine. The proper response is just simply this, folks. If we are really subjects of this king, are you really in the kingdom? Is this one your king? If you are really in the kingdom, then the proper response is this, to simply have no issue with this king. Most of us feel as if our lives are very complicated. The thing that complicates life is rebellion. The Apostle Paul said that his testimony was that he had lived in simplicity. My, I'd like to live in simplicity. Do you know how simple it is when you're faced with a complex decision and the king just simply says, do this? Why, that's simple. But to think through all of the results and to wonder about people's reactions, my, that gets so complicated. And the real issue before us is just simply this. Are we going to let him be king? He's a wonderful king, there's fear involved in it, but he's a wonderful king. And I've mentioned this in some of my classes, and please forgive me if it's too repetitive, but I love the picture that's in C.S. Lewis's first volume of the Chronicles of Narnia. where the little children who have entered the fairy land of Narnia for the first time hear about the king of the land named Aslan. And Aslan is a lion, and the children are afraid to meet a lion. They're sitting at supper in Mr. Beaver's house, and they're in trouble because the wicked witch wants to get them. And Mr. Beaver says, you need to go to Aslan. And one of the little children says, well, is Aslan... will he hurt us? I mean, he's a lion. Does he hurt us? Is he is he is he dangerous? And Mr. Beaver doesn't answer, and the little girl asks again and says, is Aslan dangerous? And finally, Mr. Beaver, in somewhat of an impatient voice, snaps at her and says, of course, he's dangerous. But he's also good. And the psalm ends this way, folks. Blessed are all those that put their trust in Him. He's good. Let's close in prayer. Father, dismiss us with thy blessing and help us to be responsive subjects of your anointed King. And we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for joining us on the chapel platform. Cassette copies of today's message are available. Just send a check for $5 to Audio Services, Bob Jones University, Greenville, South Carolina, 29614. Just mention the speaker, Dr. Mark Minnick, the message titled, Why Do the Nations Rage?, and today's date. Please join us again for the Chapel Platform, sponsored by Bob Jones University.