Rage of the Nations – Psalm 2:1

“Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing?”

It is distressing to see the news on television or the internet these days.  There is so much rage.  Whether it be the rage between political parties, or the rage of special interest groups, or the rage between countries, or the rage of ISIS against Christians.  The Hebrew word used here is ‘ragash.’  According to Strong’s (07283) this second Psalm is the only place that word is used in scripture.  It means to be in a tumult or commotion, to conspire or plot. 

There is much that precedes getting to the point of being in a tumult, a conspiracy or a plot, of getting to a rage.  Generally speaking, the person that finally gets to the point of rage says that they have been wronged, they say that they have not been treated fairly.  Whether fair or not, the truth is, they are going to take it into their own hands to have their own way.  What God is talking about in this second of the Psalms is not a human rage against another human, but a rage against God.  The question God asks, “why do the nations rage?” is not because He does not know the answer.  He knows that they are enemies with Him.  He knows that they resent His holiness and His requirements for accountability.  We know this because in verse 3 the people say “let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.”  This is about the people’s rebellion against God’s requirement to admit their sin, call sin the sin that it is, and to repent of sin and stop sinning.  “They cannot endure the yoke, at least the yoke of the Lord and his anointed. They will be content to entertain such notions of the kingdom of God and the Messiah as will serve them to dispute of and to support their own dominion with: if the Lord and his anointed will make them rich and great in the world, they will bid them welcome; but if they will restrain their corrupt appetites and passions, regulate and reform their hearts and lives, and bring them under the government of a pure and heavenly religion, truly then they will not have this man to reign over them (see Luke 19:14)”  (Matthew Henry)

God knows why the people rage.  The reason He asks why has to do with the futility of their rage.  We know this because of the second part of the question, "and the people plot a vain thing?"  When something (or someone) is vain, it is empty, it is idle, it has no purpose.  It is vain because it can accomplish nothing.  How could the creature think to plot against the Creator?  God Almighty, our Creator, is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent.  There is no winning against Him.  Such a plot is vain. 

One would think that those who plot against God do not know Him.  But the evil one knows God and has stood before Him, yet he plots.  “We have here a very great struggle about the kingdom of Christ, hell and heaven contesting it; the seat of the war is this earth, where Satan has long had a usurped kingdom and exercised dominion to such a degree that he has been called the prince of the power of the very air we breathe in and the god of the world we live in. He knows very well that, as the Messiah’s kingdom rises and gets ground, his falls and loses ground; and therefore, though it will be set up certainly, it shall not be set up tamely.”  (Matthew Henry)

Are you at war with God?  Are you mad at Him about something that happened in your life?  Do you think it is not fair that God holds you accountable for your sin and that you could go to hell when there are worse people out there than you?  Let me tell you what is not fair.  You and I have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  We deserve condemnation.  Yet God made a way for us to reconcile with Him.  He sacrificed His only begotten son, that whoever believes in His Son will have everlasting life and not condemnation.  It is not fair that because of Christ’s sacrifice, I get eternal life.  Fair would be for me to go to hell.  I thank God for His Son Jesus Christ and my salvation through Him.  All I had to do was confess my sins, repent, and receive Jesus as my Lord and my Savior.  I rejoice that Jesus gave us victory over sin and death.  I tremble for those who are waging a war that they will not win.

“This psalm, as the former, is very fitly prefixed to this book of devotions, because, as it is necessary to our acceptance with God that we should be subject to the precepts of his law, so it is likewise that we should be subject to the grace of his gospel, and come to him in the name of a Mediator.”  (Matthew Henry)

May you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Satan Rebuked – Zechariah 3:1-2

“Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him.  And the LORD said to Satan, ‘The LORD rebuke you, Satan!  The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!  Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?’”

Zechariah was given a vision of God’s view of Joshua the high priest.  Joshua is standing before the Angel of the LORD, which reveals that Joshua was in service to God.  Satan is never happy when someone is serving the Lord.  The very name, ‘Satan,’ means adversary, one who withstands (Strong’s 07853).  So true is he to his name that he stands at Joshua’s right hand, like a prosecutor, ready to oppose Joshua.   “When we stand before God to minister to him, or stand up for God to serve his interests, we must expect to meet with all the resistance that Satan’s subtlety and malice can give us.”  (Matthew Henry)

But before we see Satan bring an accusation against Joshua, we see the LORD rebuke Satan.  According to Webster’s, to rebuke is ‘to criticize sharply, reprimand.’  “Take note that this rebuke comes at the right season. When Satan accuses, Christ pleads. He does not wait till the case has gone against us and then express his regret, but he is always a very present help in time of trouble. He knows the heart of Satan, being omniscient God, and long before Satan can accuse he puts in the demurrer, the blessed plea on our behalf, and stays the action till he gives an answer which silences for ever every accusation.” (Charles Spurgeon)  Praise be to God that with Jesus as our advocate, the adversary’s case is immediately dismissed.

It is something to note, too, the manner in which Satan is rebuked.  The LORD says, ‘The LORD rebuke you.’  This is the same phrase used by Michael, one of the chief angels in heaven, when he disputes with Satan over the body of Moses.  “Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’” (Jude 9)  This pattern shows us that we should always put the Lord between us and Satan.  We have no business dealing directly with Satan.  It is not for us to say ‘I rebuke you Satan,’ but rather leave that to our Advocate, to our Master, to our King.  We should speak as the examples given us:  The Lord rebuke you.  Jesus has already defeated Satan.  He makes quick work of the adversary in the courtroom. 

The LORD refers to Joshua as a ‘brand plucked from the fire.’  When wood is in the fire it is on fire.  When it is removed from the fire it becomes black as charcoal.  Did you ever consider yourself in either state?  I have wondered, as a brand plucked from the fire, what good might I possibly be to God?  “So it is with the child of God. What is he at the best? Till he is taken up to heaven, he is nothing but a brand plucked out of the fire. It is his daily moan that he is a sinner; but Christ accepts him as he is: and he shuts the devil’s mouth by telling him, ‘Thou sayest this man is black - of course he is: what did I think he was but that? He is a brand plucked out of the fire. I plucked him out of it. He was burning when he was in it: he is black now he is out of it. He was what I knew he would be; he is not what I mean to make him, but he is what I knew he would be. I have chosen him as a brand plucked out of the fire. What hast thou to say to that?’ Do observe that this plea did not require a single word to be added to it from Joshua.” (Charles Spurgeon)

This passage reminds us of all that Jesus has done and is doing for us.  He has plucked us from the fire and saved us to eternal life.  Although every word of accusation about us from the adversary is true, yes we are all sinners and easy prey when it comes to that, yet Christ stood in our place and died for our sins so that He could be an advocate of our innocence.  Though we are a piece of burnt wood, weakened and useless for anything, He has chosen to save us and to use us in service to Him for His glory. 

Without Jesus, we can do nothing.  “I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”  (John 15:5)

And with Jesus, we can do all things.  “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  (Philippians 4:13)

May you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.