Psalm 2
1 Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and against his anointed, saying,
3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 “As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
7 I will tell of the decree:
The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”
10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
In this Psalm, we find two responses to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is the King of kings:
REBELLION and RAGE
OR
REVERENCE and REJOICING
Those responses are a picture of the state of all mankind – because each and every one man, woman, boy and girl has either one or the other response to Jesus Christ.
There is NO middle ground.
We either disbelieve OR believe the Son.
We either rebel OR reverence the Son
We either reject OR embrace the Son.
We either kiss OR spit on the Son.
How we respond to the Lord Jesus Christ determines the destination of our eternal souls:
Those who do not kiss the Son will be cursed and PERISH.
Those who do kiss the Son will be blessed and LIVE.
I John 5:12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Those of us who have kissed the Son, those who have believed on Christ, have life. Why? Because we have cleansed from our sins by His blood and have been credited with the perfect righteousness of Christ. Therefore, by faith in Jesus we are delivered from the wrath to come; we will stand safe and secure in God's coming judgment and dwell with God forever and ever. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Christ was punished in our place and fully satisfied the wrath of God. There is no refuge from God's wrath apart from faith in God's Son.
Those who have not kissed the Son, those who have not believed on Christ, will perish under the just wrath of God. And perishing is not annihilation, but it is being sent away from the presence of God forever, and being punished with everlasting punishment of unquenchable fire in the place where their worm never dies. The word for eternal in Matthew 25:46 ("And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.") is the same word in both places: eternal punishment and eternal life is just that: eternal - you will be punished for your sins for all eternity unless you kiss the Son. Many people talk about Jesus being loving and kind, and yes He is, but when it comes to sin, He is coming again to judge the living and the dead, and Jesus Himself speaks of this punishment, e.g. - Matthew 25:46 and Mark 9:42-50; see also Isaiah 66:24; II Thes. 1:9. And in Revelation 6, we read of the wrath of the Lamb! Don't be deceived. Jesus came to earth and offered Himself as a sacrifice for sinners, so you might be saved from the wrath to come! Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.
In John 3, Jesus tells us that the default position of mankind, our natural state, the place in which each and every one of us has been born into is unbelief, i.e. - that position of rebellion and rage, in which we are perishing.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Similar to what we find in Psalm 2, Paul explains the only two responses to the preaching of the Gospel and to the only Son of God:
II Corinthians 2:14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.
And we find that marked contrast in the responses of the two criminals who hung on either side of Jesus at Calvary:
Luke 23:32 Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33 And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. 35 And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
The events at Calvary are an authoritative and stunning illustration of the souls of all mankind along with their responses to the Son of God.
The criminal who was saved feared God and humbled himself. He had come to see his position before a holy God, he acknowledged he was a sinner under condemnation, and he freely confessed his sinfulness and his inability to save himself, and embraced and worshiped the Son of God. As he kissed the Son, Jesus declared that man would be with Him in Paradise that very day. In contrast, the other criminal did not kiss the Son, and he would go away from the presence of the Lord and suffer the punishment of everlasting destruction for his sins.
What is your response to the Son?
Some of you may claim to have kissed the Son. You may be a church goer and/or you may have been born into a Christian home. You may even be active in ministry. But have you been born again, and are you bearing fruits worthy of repentance? Are you kissing the Son – or do you continue to manifest a rebellious spirit against the Son and His commandments – ALL His commandments? Are you picking and choosing according to your fleshly desires? Do you continue to make excuses for sin or attempt to justify yourself? Do you love the Lord? Is Christ at the center of all your affections? Do you love God's Word and the Gospel message? Are you seeking to guard it? Do you love the truth and hate falsehood? Do you love the people of God? Do you pray for the welfare of God's Church? Do you love your neighbor? Do you love holiness? Are you seeking to be holy and are you purifying yourself as God is pure? Does your sin grieve you and break your heart? (See First John.) Do you rage against God when you read God's Word – or do you bow yourself to Him and His teachings and His will for you and ask Him for power to submit yourself to His ways, however much they may cross your flesh and/or make no sense in comparison with the world's ways? Are you seeking to work out your salvation with fear and trembling? Know this: Jesus Christ knows every thought and intent of our hearts. We each stand naked before Him.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
You may be fooling your spouse, your children, or your friends; you may even be fooling your pastor or your elders, and you may even be fooling yourself, but know this: you will not fool God. God is not mocked. Your so-called kiss of the Son may be no more sincere than Judas' kiss in the garden of Gethsemane!
In Psalm 130 we read:
3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.
Do you know the fear of the LORD? Do you understand that you are an unworthy worm, that you are dust and ashes – and apart from God's love, mercy and grace abounding to you in Jesus Christ, you would be headed to everlasting destruction? Have you contemplated that both your person and your sin is wholly an abomination to God, for He cannot even look upon sin, much less abide sin in His presence?
Psalm 5
4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
6 You destroy those who speak lies;
the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple
in the fear of you.
Yes, true believers have come to Mt. Zion and not to Mt. Sinai, we have been redeemed from the curse of the law – Hallelujah! – and therefore we have every reason to rejoice! – but that doesn't mean we treat our relationship with God flippantly, and that doesn't mean we can ever be lax about personal holiness. Let us take heed we do not fall into the sin of presumption! We should have a holy fear of God because we are now in the family of a holy God, we are in the presence of a holy God – and we should be humbled as we realize we are sons and daughters of God through Christ's merit alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.
(from "Rock of Ages" by Augustus Toplady)
For the Christian, salvation is the gift of God! We are wholly undeserving of anything but eternal condemnation. Except for God's sovereign grace choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the world, we would remain under condemnation, headed straight for the Lake of Fire. Therefore, as we come to God, let us do so with a holy, reverential boldness, fully acknowledging we have come to kiss the Son by grace alone, and then we remain in Christ by grace alone!
Hebrews 12:18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
As we understand our depravity in light of God's holiness, as we understand that the Son had to be forsaken of the Father as He became sin for us... O! rejoice with trembling! That is our acceptable worship! What other response can we have to immortal, infinite love for mortal, finite man!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this
That caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul!
When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down
Beneath God’s righteous frown,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul for my soul,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul.
(American Folk Hymn)
Acts 17:29 Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, Acts he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
I John 5:11b ...Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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