Psalm 2 – Why Do The Heathen Rage?

Psalm 2

Why do the heathen rage? Part 1

• 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,
•  Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
• He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. (Psalm 2:1, 2, 3, 4)

   The very first word in this Psalm is “why,” and then the Holy Spirit presents us with the question of “Why do the heathen rage?” To comprehend this raging enmity against God, one must understand what is truly in man, how and why man was created. We have to travel back to the garden God created, and the man He created, Adam. Adam was created in the image of God, and he possessed and was clothed with a God given glory. As Adam walked and talked with God this glory covered his being, and he was not frightened of the glory that God possessed, because God had given him his own personal glory.

   God gave Adam complete dominion over all. Adam was given sovereign authority and the intellectual capability to name the animals. He was made a caretaker, a sovereign and a ruler over a perfect creation. Even while man walked with and communed with his Creator, God knew that man had a need to walk and commune with another human being. Man was a uniquely created being and different from the animal kingdom and needed a human companion, a companion suited to his nature. Therefore, God caused a great sleep to fall upon Adam, and took one of his ribs, and from this rib a helpmate, a wife and a companion was formed, and Adam named her Eve. God graciously gave man a compatibly being to have fellowship with, and to love and to be loved, as God loved man. God’s order was set, as there could only be one sovereign and one authority, Eve was placed as a helpmate and a companion to Adam, the first of God’s unique creation, man. Adam is not to be thought lightly of as being merely a care giver, or authority over all that God had given him freely, for with authority came responsibility. Responsible for all under his sovereign care, all growing things, all animals, all of nature and responsibility to God for the protective care of the second uniquely made human, his wife, Eve. God gave man freely everything he would ever need or desire and set only one condition, the condition was obedience, the object of this condition was the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The first command given to man was based on a simple and easy concept — to obey is to love, and to love is to obey. The test of Adam’s obedience and love for his Creator was this ” but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

   Then the third being, the diabolical deceiver, Satan entered into this scene in the garden. He sought out the woman, not Adam, and the spiritual battle began for the souls of men. The first attack was on the Word of God, to throw doubt on the validity of God’s Word — “Yea, hath God said?” Then God’s truth is denied, and thus His grace is questioned, “Ye shall not surely die.” Finally, Satan questions God’s goodness by going to the heart of the matter, “and ye shall be as gods.“ The battle was lost at the very point of Eve’s listening to the assault against God and His Word and attempting to carry on a conversation of reason and falsehoods instead of using faith and the Word of God. This is the first recorded lie in the Bible and Satan proceeded not only to assure Eve of perfect impunity from death, but he continued to promise her great benefits from partaking of the forbidden fruit. He promised her that she would become as God, knowing both good and evil, and all of His wisdom and knowledge would be hers. Therefore, he promises her power, no longer subjects but sovereigns. Lured to the forbidden tree, Eve now desires to have want God has said she could not have. And she in turn lured her husband into partaking of the fruit of the tree. Scripture informs us that “Adam was not deceived.” Adam sinned against great knowledge, against light and love, against His Creator, against the God who walked with him and talked with him. When they had both eaten, man became sin, not only a sinner but his entire character, thoughts and actions became sin. Sin is not merely an act, it is being. The first act of rebellion by Satan and his angelic followers caused a war in heaven. The second act of rebellion of man caused a war on earth between man and God. Man’s act of defiance against his Creator caused a spiritual rift, not only through creation but even to the very inner sanctum of God’s heaven. For now, the eternal purpose of God was to be revealed, and the determinate counsels of God would one day send His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to die and to become sin for us. He who knew no sin, would become our redeemer.

   But, back to the fall of man. His glory departed, now both Adam and Eve knew that they were naked. Their hearts had also been changed, for now they had a heart that was enmity against God. They tried to disguise or put away their own sin by covering themselves with fig leaves. God already knowing of the fall, knowing what Satan had done and knowing where Adam was hiding, sought him out. The question he asked was “Where art thou?” And man reveals himself out of his hiding place to the Most High God. “Where art thou?” from outwardly walking with God to now hiding in fear. We do not read of Adam’s repentance, nor his begging for mercy and forgiveness, but with a stiff-neck attitude he attempted to justify his own sin and to place his act back upon God by saying, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” Then Eve followed his lead and without taking responsibility placed the blame for her disobedience unto Satan.

   The penalty of that sin was given prior by God, if man partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in that day, in that moment, he would surely die. And that he did. For the real man Adam, lost the living glory that he possessed, and he was now dead spiritually and separated from God. Adam was merely flesh and enmity against God. He had been made a tripartite being, and willfully became sin. Adam was our first heathen, for nowhere after the fall is it mentioned that he sought after God. Both he and Eve were now sin and their offspring, Cain would exercise his humanity under sin by killing his brother Abel. We don’t understand all about Abel until we reach the Book of Hebrews, chapter 11. There we find that Abel offered a more perfect sacrifice in faith, that God one day, would send a redeemer. The blood of Abel’s sacrifice spoke of a much greater blood in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, for in His blood, we have atonement for sin. He who knew no sin, became sin for us. The Scripture by the Holy Spirit says “that the sin of the who world was laid upon him” at His death. From the garden through His crucifixion, when the rulers took counsel against Him and the kings of the earth set themselves against Him, into our present age and until the number of days that man has left on this planet: Christ has atoned for all sin.

   So why do the heathen rage? We have to understand the heathen mind. It can be a religious mind, a secular mind, a scholarly mind, a simple mind, but, nevertheless, it is a heathen mind and defines itself by its enmity against God. Scripture given to us by the Holy Ghost says, “let a man examine himself whether he be in Christ or not.” Jeremiah 17:9 The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it? Yes, man’s heart is wicked, deceitful, and full of vanity and evil. Man’s heart has no problem in condemning his neighbor, or the man down the street, his heart has no problem in rationalizing the brutality of man against man; but it is his own inward heart that he must examine to see that without Christ he is dead. Only Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, can give life to any of Adam’s race, by His life and death on the cross at Calvary, He only has created a new generation that transcends time and eternity. His generation are those who have trusted Christ for their forgiveness and for their salvation. God has declared to all man that Christ only is their Saviour, “who being the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of His person,” and the “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” that Christ “is the image of the invisible God.” And in Colossians 1:19-22, we read, “For it please the Father that in him should all fullness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things into himself, by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:”

   But the heathen will continue to deceive and be deceived by their own lust and their own perverse actions; thus, blinding them to the truth of God, for having eyes they will see not, and having ears they will not hear. But they will continue to boast themselves as being greater than God, and to deny the very existence of the One God, who holds their very life and breathe in His hand.

   God’s description of heathenism is that “the carnal mind is enmity against God.” So, where does this leave us? What Adam could not do — we must! Repentance must be towards God. Repent of your sin and cry out in faith to God and believe that God has sent His Son to die for you on Calvary’s cross.

   A man who was angry with God once said to me that “God took his son.” I replied, “No God did not take your son, Adam took your son, sin took your son. God is prepared, even in your anger to show mercy unto you.” He walked away, shaking his head in anger. I was saddened, for I could think that this could very well have been this man’s final call.

   The heathen takes many shapes and exists in diverse environments. He can be in the deepest jungles, or in a crowded city. He can be in the back wood farmland, or in the highest institute of learning, but without the desire to trust God he is a heathen, and he is without God and without life in the world. “As by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, So death has passed upon all man, for all have sinned.” “There is none good, no not one.” “And all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Of those who trust in Christ, the Holy Spirit tells them that they are dead to this world and “their life is hid in Christ in God.” Adam in the garden, had unsearchable riches, not in silver and gold, but in the presence of God Himself. The Christian has unsearchable riches in the person of Jesus Christ, but the heathen has nothing but self, self-interests, and self-desires. The heathen is empty and can only fill his emptiness with meaningless activities and busyness. No amount of activity or even good works can fill the emptiness within. I beseech you by the power of God to put your faith and life in the hands of the Creator of all things, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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,

 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. (Psalm 2:1-12)

© Copyright 2015, Michael Haigh

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All Scripture references are from the  King James Bible. (KJB)