Psalms 1,2
Peace be with you, listening
friends. We greet you in the name of God, the Lord of peace, who wants everyone
to understand and submit to the way of righteousness that He has established,
and have true peace with Him forever. We are happy to be able to return today
to present your program The Way of Righteousness.
In the past four lessons we have been examining the
story of the prophet David. We have seen how David
was a shepherd, harpist, hymn writer, student of God's Word, hero in battle,
king of Israel, and a prophet of God. In our last lesson, we saw that David was
also a sinner; that he did something which greatly
displeased God. However, we also saw how God forgave David his sins, because
David truly turned from his sins with a repentant heart and believed what God
had promised concerning the Redeemer who was to come into the world and bear
the punishment for the sins of the people of the whole world.
Today we plan to meditate on the wonderful book found
in the middle of the Holy Scriptures. Do you know the name of this book? Yes,
it is the Psalms {Zabur}. The Book of the
Psalms contains one hundred and fifty chapters or hymns. Over a period of
hundreds of years, God used several prophets to write the Psalms, including
Moses, Solomon, Asaph and the sons of Korah. However, David wrote more of the
Psalms than any other prophet. Today we want to immerse ourselves in the first
two hymns (or chapters) of the Psalms.
The first hymn shows us the two categories of people
that are in the world: Those who walk in the
way of righteousness,
and those who walk in the way of unrighteousness. In the first Psalm, it
is written:
(Psa. 1) 1Blessed
is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in
the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 2But his
delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3He
is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. 4Not
so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the
wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the
righteous. 6For the Lord watches over the way of the
righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish!
We see here the way of
those who are blessed and the way of those who are
perishing. Everyone
wants to be blessed. No one wants to perish. God wants everyone to be blessed.
But you must come by the way of blessing which God has ordained. What is that
way of blessing? This first hymn of the Psalms summarizes it in two thoughts. First: Do not follow in the way
of those who mock the Word of God. Second: Meditate upon God's Word
with the goal of understanding, believing and receiving the way of salvation
that God has established.
If you believe and follow God's way of righteousness,
the Scripture says that you will be "like a
tree planted by streams of water"; your life will be established in God
Himself, yielding "fruit in season" such as love, joy and
peace. However, if you do not follow God's way of righteousness, you will
perish like "like chaff that the wind
blows away."
Now let us move into the second hymn in the Psalms. In
this chapter, God inspired David to write about the
Redeemer who
was to come into the world. Let us listen carefully to the message that God has
spoken to us through the pen of His prophet, David. The Scripture says:
(Psa. 2) 1Why
do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? 2The
kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the
Lord and against his Anointed One (Messiah). 3"Let
us break their chains," they say, "and throw off their fetters." 4The
One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. 5Then
he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, 6"I
have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill." 7I
will proclaim the decree of the Lord: He said to me, "You are my
Son; today I have become your Father. 8Ask of me, and I
will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. 9You
will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like
pottery."10Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers
of the earth. 11Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with
trembling. 12Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be
destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all
who take refuge in him.
Do you understand what the Lord God has declared in
the second chapter of the Psalms? It is extremely important! In this hymn, God
makes known three wonderful names of the
Redeemer who would come into the world to bring
salvation to the children of Adam. Did you hear the three names? They are: The
Messiah, the King, and the Son. Let us think a little
about these three names by which God refers to the Savior of the world.
1.) First, we see that God calls the Redeemer "the
Messiah."
Messiah is a Hebrew word meaning the One whom God
has selected {Lit. the Anointed
One}.
With the name Messiah, God was announcing to
the children of Adam that everyone must believe and accept the Redeemer who was
to come into the world, because He is the One whom God Himself has selected as
the Savior and Judge of the world. However, in the first three verses of this
hymn, God predicted that most of the children of Adam would reject the Messiah
whom God was going to send into the world. Let us read those verses again.
"Why do the nations
conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers gather together against the Lord and
against his Anointed One (Messiah). 'Let us break their chains,' they say, 'and
throw off their fetters!'" (Psa. 2:1-3)
Why would the people of the world refuse to accept the
Messiah whom God sent? They would reject the Messiah because He would be a holy
person, unstained by sin, and the Scripture tells us that "everyone
who does evil hates the light and will not come into it because they
fear that their deeds will be exposed." (John 3:20) Thus, God
was predicting in these verses how the Jews and the nations of the world would
work together to try to destroy the holy Man whom God had selected as the
Savior and Judge of the world. But God knew everything which wicked men would
attempt to do. God planned to use the evil plans of men to accomplish His
righteous plan to redeem sinners. That is why we read: "The
One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them!" (Psa. 2:4) Thus, the
first name that God gave to the Redeemer in this chapter is the
Messiah. You
might be interested to know that the Hebrew word Messiah is the same as the Greek
word Christ. Both mean "the
One whom God has selected."
2.) The second name is "the
King."
The Messiah is also the King. Through that name, God wants everyone to know that
the Messiah will, in the end, be the Judge and Ruler of the world even though
most people would reject Him. On the great Day of Judgment, everyone will kneel
before Him, because He is the One whom God has selected to be the King of
kings, the Lord of lords. Consequently, the Messiah will be either your
Savior or your Judge-because,
like it or not, He is the Kingwhom God has selected to
reign forever!
3.) Third, we heard in this chapter another name which
God gives the Messiah. It is a name we must consider very carefully. It is
"the Son." Before we explain what this name
means, perhaps we should remember that everything that David wrote in the
Psalms, he wrote with the wisdom that God imparted to him. Also, we must
remember that in the Writings of the Prophets there are sometimes things which
are difficult to understand, but that does not prevent them from being true!
God warns us in His Word saying: "[The
Scriptures] contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and
unstable people distort…to their own destruction!" (2 Pet. 3:16) Ignorance
is a terrible thing, especially when it concerns the Messiah whom God has
selected to deliver the children of Adam from eternal destruction! The (Wolof)
proverb states it well: "Before you know it,
ignorance will kill you!" Let us keep that thought in mind as we
think about the third name which God Himself has given to the Messiah.
Now back to Psalm two. In verse seven we read that the
Messiah says, "I will proclaim the decree
of the Lord: He said to me, "You are my Son; today I have
become your Father." (Psa. 2:7) Did you hear what the Lord says
to the Messiah? He said,"You are my Son…I have
become your Father." Do you know why God called the Messiah His
Son?
Do you know what this name means? We hope
that all of you know what the name does not mean. It does not mean that
God took a wife to have a child by her! Never! Such a thought is blasphemy! God
is spirit and He does not beget a son as man begets one.
So then, why did God say to the Messiah, "You
are my Son!"? We can thank God, because the Lord God
Himself has told us why. We do not have time to go very far into this subject
today, but we would like to give you three reasons {Lit.thoughts} from the Writings of
the Prophets why God called the Messiah His
Son.
First, you must know that God
called the Messiah His Son, because the
Messiah came from above; from heaven. Everyone who believes the Writings of
the Prophets, knows that the Messiah did not come from a man, but from the
presence of God. As you know, the Messiah did not have an
earthly father.
Concerning His earthly existence, He came through the descendants of David,
because the Messiah was born of a virgin woman who was a relative of king
David. But on His Father's side, the Messiah came forth uniquely from the Spirit
of God. That is why God could say to Him, "You are my
Son; today I have become your Father!"
Second, God called the Messiah His
Son because
the Scripture says that God and the Messiah share the
same holy character.
Like father, like son. The promised Redeemer had to be pure and holy just as
God is pure and holy. We cannot go far with this now, but when we come to the
Gospel record {Injil}, we will see that the Messiah was not
like the sons of Adam who are stained with sin! As we have seen, even the greatest
of the prophets committed sin. However, the Messiah never sinned. He always did
the will of God. It was necessary that the Messiah be without sin since He came
into the world to save sinners from their sin! Can those with great debts pay
the debts of others? No, they cannot! The Messiah had no debt of sin. The
Scripture calls Him the "one who is holy, blameless,
pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens." (Heb. 7:26) Yes,
the Redeemer was holy, just as God who sent Him is holy! That is why God was not
ashamed to call him His Son.
Third, you should know that God
called the Messiah His Son to
distinguish Him from all the other prophets. We have already seen how
Abraham was called "the friend of God." The prophet Moses was
called "the man of God." Of David, God said, "I
have found a man after my own heart." But to which prophet did
God say, "You are my Son;
today I have become your Father"? That could only be
said to the Messiah, because the Messiah is the only one who came from above,
who was born of a virgin, and was unstained by sin.
You who are listening today, do you know the
Messiah, the King whom God calls His Son? God wants everyone to
know Him, listen to Him, believe in Him and receive Him. That is why the
prophet David finished this chapter with these words:
"Therefore, you
kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be
angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed
are all who take refuge in him!" (Psa. 2:10-12)
This is where we must stop today. Next time, in the
will of God, we will meditate upon another great hymn which the prophet David
wrote in the book of Psalms.…
God bless you as you give serious thought to what the
prophet David wrote in the Psalms saying:
"Be wise; be
warned…Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest
he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a
moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him!" (Psa. 2:10-12)
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