“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying…” (Psalm 2:1-2)
The heathen mentioned above are rulers of nations and the vain thing is their pride, vanity and willingness to push forward their own agenda for their own self-gratification and control. In this Psalm, the first prophetic Psalm, the author implicates the rulers of the world as co-conspirators attempting to overthought God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. At this point of the Psalm God busts out laughing – as if the rulers of this pitiful planet have any power over Him – how hysterically ridiculous. Then God says that He will speak to them, and “vex them” (frustrate or exasperate them) by declaring Jesus as Lord and placing Him on the throne in Zion (Jerusalem). He will rule over the heathen and the saints in a united global kingdom. Then God instructs the kings of the earth to serve the Lord, honoring and respecting Him. Then God proclaims, “Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”
This Psalm speaks to all the rulers that would try to suppress the Gospel throughout history and today. It prophesies the coming judgement and the 1,000 year reign of Christ. It instructs the powers that be to honor, respect and trust the Lord. Well, the prophesies within Psalm 2 are not being heeded. The nations of the Earth are in active rebellion against God. Millions of people on Earth love and trust our Lord, but the nations (rulers) are in rebellion. The true freedom that Christ brings to our lives means less control for our governments. Trust me, control of their populations is what they are after – in a sick, twisted, prideful need to be in ultimate control – but Christ not only frees us from sin, but frees us from reliance on our government. We have a much higher authority to rely on and His authority is absolute and supported by omnipotence. The rulers of this world can’t compete with that, so they try to suppress the Gospel in a vain attempt to control us – and this is where God busts out laughing – we can laugh too. We just need to trust and obey the Lord and when the rulers try to take Him from us we can laugh at them and stand on the promises of God.
Ultimately, our Lord is and always will be the all-knowing, all powerful ruler of our lives, which grants us ultimate freedom through His grace, by our faith. This strikes fear and rebellion into the rulers of the world. Fear that they will not have control over us, which leads to their vain and impossible need to try to suppress God. The rulers of this world are seeking authority over and suppression of the one and only omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent Creator, Master and Sustainer of everything – our Almighty God.
God busts out laughing, and we follow suit, rolling around on the floor in hysterical laughter.