August 7 2025 - Special Speaker Mark Centers: King Installed: Exploring the Messianic Hope in Psalms

Music.

Mark, if you could introduce yourself and your wife and your kids.

Several of his kids are downstairs. You've got five kids.

And Mark and I go way back, ministry-wise. And so we're very excited about him being here today.

Mark, come and just take your time, sir.

Okay. Dusty and Zach will tell you, don't rush. Okay.

Well, I'm glad to be with you. We come from South Carolina, Greenville, South Carolina.

I'm a native to Michigan. I was born in Pontiac, Michigan and grew up in Oxford and Lapeer area.

And then I moved down to Greenville in 2008 for work, but also to be close to

Sarah, who was at college there.

And then we got married. We ended up staying, and I finished my education there,

both in history and a Master of Divinity that focused on Hebrew and Old Testament.

I work at the university now as a maintenance guy, and Josh is trying to get me to move up here.

So, we'll see what the Lord does.

I really appreciate basically the sermons I've heard this morning Through the

singing, the testimonies,

and the apologetics It was a debate within my soul to either do Exodus or the

Psalms Exodus is one of my favorite books So I really appreciate that,

Ron If you're in here, he's not in here, okay, whatever I'll tell him later.

My Spirit-filled, Spirit-led goal this morning is simply Christ exaltation.

I know that sounds generic, but Psalm 2 is all about the exaltation of the Messiah.

That's how it's used in the New Testament, and Psalm 1 is paired with it,

and you'll see why in a minute.

And I say that at the beginning, because when I taught through this the first

time, one of the elders in my church was the host of my class.

So each class has a host, and they open the class, and they greet people,

they do prayer requests, they do all that, and then I get up and teach.

He was the host of the class so i

taught through psalm 1 and 2 and i

thought i had done a decent job at exalting christ

in psalm 2 and when i

when i stopped i said you

know are there any questions and his first response

was so what and so

after i picked up my jaw off the floor i

said what do you mean so what and he goes well how do I

take what you've taught me in to Monday Tuesday and Wednesday while I'm working

and I just looked at him and I said don't get me wrong I understand that sentiment

but at the same time God doesn't always tell you what to do.

He doesn't need to tell you what to do because it's not about following a list

of rules in order for you to go in the week and be like, what am I supposed to do today?

Your daily task is to grow in a relationship with God.

And if that means you read a piece of scripture and the only thing it does is

exalt God in your heart, that was the goal.

So Psalm 1 and 2, Psalm 1 gives you a list of things that you should do, a way you should live.

But Psalm 2 is about exalting Christ

and that's what it's supposed to do okay

so my goal is to help you see him a lot more in Psalm 2 and how it's used in

the Psalter and in the Old Testament and in the New so we will be looking at

Psalm 1 and 2 but before we get there.

Have you ever noticed that Psalms is actually a book.

I'm sure you're very familiar with the book of Psalms, and you probably have

your favorite psalm that you go to all the time. I have mine.

But if you think about it just for a minute, it was, how do you,

why do you think the author or the editors of the Psalter put it together the way they did?

Chronology wasn't one of the criteria for putting the book together.

We know that because Psalm 90, which is the oldest, which was written by Moses,

is in the fourth book of the Psalter. There's five books.

And what do you think those five books mirror?

What? Pentateuch. The Torah. Five books of Torah.

So, it's not a mistake. Even the, there are even ancient rabbis and stuff like

that that have given testimony that say, you know, just as there were five books

of Moses, David gave us five books as well.

David's not the only author, but, you know, we equate it to David quite a bit.

So, the book is divided into five books.

At the end of each section, there is a doxology. So here, for example, is Psalm 41.13.

This is the end of book one. It says, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and amen.

Psalm 72.18 and 19. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous

things. Blessed be his glorious name forever.

May the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen.

Psalm 89.52. Blessed be the Lord forever. Amen and amen.

That's not an accident. And the other thing is, if you read these Psalms and

then you get to this verse, it doesn't seem like it fits. Well,

that's because it's a tag.

They've tagged it at the end to show you that this is the end of book one.

And even though this is poetry, each book is telling a story.

Not in the sense of, you know, Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus,

you know, those, well, not Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy,

those narrative sections telling a story.

But within the poetry, the themes, the words, and all that are all grouped together,

for you to come away with an understanding of what the thematic journey is of each book.

So, one author put it this way, The overarching narrative of the Psalter is

the trajectory of the storyline is consistent throughout. Yahweh is king.

He has appointed an earthly messianic messiah, a vice regent,

who represents his heavenly rule on earth.

The earthly vice regent and his people travail against the rebellious of the

earth. That's Psalm 1 and 2.

Psalm 1 and 2 doesn't have a title and everything, nearly everything in book

1 Psalm 1 through 41 has a superscription, a title, a Psalm of David,

There's a couple that don't have it like Psalm 9 and 10 but that's because I

think and a lot of other people think Psalm 9 and 10 should be together read

as one psalm and it's just split at a certain point So you have book 1,

1 through 41 I don't expect you to remember all this.

If you want to remember it, I can send you these notes in email.

You know what? Forget that. I want you to remember it. I'm going to give you a quiz at the end.

Book 2 is 42-71. Book 3 is 73-89.

Book 4 is 90-106. And Book 5 is 107-150.

The easiest way to think about how the story progresses is to think about the

Davidic covenant and how the line of David is related to that and how the rest

of the world would be related to that So,

book one is all about the beginning of David's reign It's mainly focused on David and David's reign.

And how David is relating to the rebellious of the world.

So, I mean, you'll see these in Psalm 1 and 2. That's what it's all about.

Book 2 is more representative of Solomon and his kingdom.

And there's a lot of missional language in that book as well.

Meaning, there's a lot of call to the nations to join God's people.

Stop what you're doing and join God's people.

Book three is the shortest and most depressing of the whole Psalter.

It is mainly complaint and lament, and it represents the period of the exile.

There's a lot of exilic language in there of God's people being taken out of

the land and being harmed, and possibly never seeing their land again.

In fact, it ends with Psalm 89, which is the most depressing of all of a Psalter.

It's long, and the writer is rejoicing in all that God has done in the past,

but then he transitions really fast, and he is complaining and lamenting that,

God, you're not fulfilling your promises to David, your servant.

And I actually don't think you're going to.

And you were faithful in the past, and we need you to reclaim that.

So it seems like it's a failure of the Davidic covenant, which we know will

not ever happen. But the kingship has been lost.

Their way of life has been shattered. They've lost their land,

and they're going into foreign territory where the pagans worship these other gods.

And then Psalm 90 picks up with the song of Moses, essentially saying,

Yahweh's always been your king.

You don't need an earthly king to have an identity as God's people.

He has always been your king. And it takes them back to their roots through the author of Moses.

And then Psalm book 4 has a lot of Yahweh reigns at the beginning and at the

end of a lot of their psalms, bringing the people back to what they should remember.

And then book 5 is all about the coming Messiah who will reign,

who will conquer death and hell.

You have Psalm 110 that talks about God inviting the Messiah to sit at his right

hand who will be a priest forever, who will come eventually and destroy the nations.

I mean Psalm 110 is seven verses long It's

short But it's the most quoted and used in the New Testament And it's a fascinating

psalm I've done a lot of work with that psalm The last three verses of that

psalm Talk about the Messiah coming back as a warrior And literally it says

piling corpses up On the earth and then being victorious.

And then you have Psalm 118 Which talks about the resurrection of the Messiah

So the messianic hope is, it's all throughout the Psalms.

They're sprinkled throughout, but book five has the most when it comes to messianic Psalms.

So Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 are an introduction to the Psalter.

So like I said, there's no title.

They share a lot of similar words.

And if you look at verse 1, it starts with Ashrei, or blessed.

And then if you look at 2.12, it ends with Ashrei, blessed.

Blessed who take refuge in him, blessed are the man who does not.

So, it begins and ends with the same Hebrew word, and most of the translations

have translated it the same way, to show you that the fancy word for it is inclusio.

It's an ancient way for an author to say, I want you to read this together.

I want you to keep it together. Because they didn't have chapter number and verse numbers.

So the way the people that God chose to write the Bible think of fascinating

ways for you and I to make sure we read sections together.

And a lot of the time they use that device called an inclusio.

So Psalm 1 and 2 is to be read together. But other words that they share are

yeshav, to sit, hagag, to meditate.

That one's used twice in both Psalms.

Yom, day, I mean that's not a huge one to give, way.

Durach, the way or perish is used in both psalms so as we go through I'll point

these out but the Psalter wasn't compiled until later in Israel's history so

if you're familiar with it the last book of the Hebrew Bible is what?

The last book of the Old Testament is what?

When you whisper I can't hear you no you.

That's the last book in our Bible. But it was written around the same time as

this other last book. So technically, yeah.

But do you know the other last book? What's that?

Chronicles. Chronicles 1 and 2 was written at the end, maybe around the 400s BC.

In our English Bibles, it's really unfortunate that Chronicles comes right after Kings.

Because we essentially, if you're reading through your Bible,

you get to that portion. and you're like, I just read all this stuff. Why is it repeated?

But in the Hebrew Old Testament, it's at the end because it's around the same time period.

The Psalter was compiled around the same time, maybe earlier in the 500s when

Ezra and Nehemiah come back because they train Levites to teach the people all this stuff.

So maybe at the same time they compiled it.

And I think Psalm 1 and 2 was written as an introduction and tagged on the front,

and then Psalm 146-150 is an ending.

That's the Hallelujah Psalms, and they're all tagged at the end.

So you have an introduction and an ending.

The introduction is supposed to give you glasses to put on as you read through the Psalter.

So there are themes, words, and ideas that you're going to see repeated constantly

throughout the Psalms that are introduced to us here.

So, blessed is the man who does not walk in the advice of the wicked.

I'm reading from the Lexham English Bible, by the way.

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the advice of the wicked,

nor does he stand in the way of sinners, nor does he sit in the assembly of the mockers.

The first word right out of the gate is a tricky one because it's translated blessed or happy.

It's the Hebrew word ashray which there are two Hebrew words for blessed.

There's barak and there's ashray.

Barak is basically something that God pronounces on you, a blessing on you or

it's you praising God for his blessing on you.

So my soul blesses the Lord. That's barak.

Ashray is more of a state of being.

So, it describes you as what you are.

You're either blessed or you're unblessed. In this sense, it's you're either

righteous or you're wicked. So, it's talking about you in a state of being.

It's very much like the in Christ passages that Paul uses in the New Testament.

He's describing a state we're in, a state we have. This is the same thing.

So blessed is the man, and then it talks about three things that we don't do.

And one thing that is characteristic of us.

So you don't walk, stand, sit with the wicked, the sinners, and the mockers.

And this is a very amazing poetic

way to capture something that

you don't do that you're not supposed to do a very poetic

way of describing the world is essentially

what it's saying you don't take advice from

the wicked you don't stand it could

say you stand with in the path of a path

with sinners and you

don't sit in the assembly of the

mockers and it seems like a progression you're walking you're standing

and you're sitting a progression of deeper

into you know down the slope whether

that's his purpose or not i i haven't made a decision yet

but it's it's not nothing so you are characterized the blessed person doesn't

do these things you're not attaching yourself to the world it reminds me very

much of what John says in 1st John that we don't love the world and then he

describes it but instead.

In the law of Yahweh is his delight and on his law he meditates day and night now I like the.

The CSB translation here has instruction. That's a lot better.

Law is a scary word. In fact, we tend to run away from it and shy away from it.

But instruction, it's Torah, which means instruction.

And all you have to do is think through the book of Genesis.

Yeah, just think through the book of Genesis. Well, even the first half of Exodus,

there's not much law there.

But it's still Torah. It's still in the same section.

It's instruction. There are narrative stories that God is telling you how he wants you to live.

It's not law in the same way that we think of law.

In fact, most of biblical law is not in the same way that we think.

God has given you instruction through those five books and beyond to tell you

how he wants you to live, how he wants you to be in his will and grow closer to him.

Which is, according to the ancient Near East, they didn't have that privilege.

No other god came down and said, this is what I want you to do in the case of having slaves.

Or having, if you find someone who steals from you, this is what I want you to do.

In fact, there's a prayer called a prayer to any god that essentially says,

I don't know who I've offended.

I'm sure I've offended someone. I don't know what my sin is.

I don't exactly know what sacrifice to bring, but I'm going to bring something anyway.

And that is essentially the relationship of the ancient Near East to their gods.

Well, God gave you and I his thoughts.

You don't need to wonder. God has told you what to do, both in the old and both in the new.

He has told us how we should live, how to grow closer to him.

It was the same for the ancient Israelites. If they messed up,

they had a system of prayer, forgiveness, and confession the same way we do.

If they wanted to go to God's house, they took the right sacrifice to visit with God at his house.

They were saved by faith. same as

us so the righteous man

the blessed man meditates on that

torah on god's instruction day and night which describes us as if like a tree

a transplanted tree by streams of water that gives its fruit in its season and

its leaf does not wither and all that he does he prospers.

That kind of sounds scary. In all that he does, he prospers.

It almost sounds like prosperity gospel type of thing. That's not what's going on here.

Think of the beginning of Joshua when God said, do not let this law depart from your mouth.

Meditate on it day and night. It's the same thing.

And he says, if you do this, when you go forward to conquer the land, you will be prosperous.

Think through the book of Joshua for a minute. When they didn't ask God what

they should do, what happened?

What? Their enemies overcame him. Like when Achan took stuff that he wasn't supposed to.

God said, give me my stuff back.

That guy's going to die.

So prosper in this sense means that you're walking in step with God each and

every day of your life, and he is making your path clear.

And that doesn't mean there won't be hardship though, that things in life won't be hard.

That's not what that means. But it does mean that even in the hardships,

you're walking hand in hand with God and he's never leaving you.

So in all that he does, he prospers because you're walking close to God.

Not so with the wicked, but they're like chaff that the wind scatters away.

Therefore, the wicked will not

stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

So you have these two competing tracks, the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked.

There is one that you should walk and there is one that you should avoid.

There is a state of being that you should have, which is blessed,

and there is a state of being that you should avoid.

And that's the wicked. The path of the righteous and the path of the wicked.

Now that is going to come up time and time again.

And then you switch to Psalm 2, which on the surface seems very, very different.

And a lot of ancient interpreters, both Christian and Jewish,

read this Psalm, Psalm 2, and then looked back at Psalm 1, and they said,

the man of Psalm 2 is the man of Psalm 1.

He is the one who has done all of this.

So you could go back and read Psalm 1, Blessed is the Messiah who did not,

and then fill in the blank.

That is a very good way to read it.

And we are supposed to mimic our Messiah in all that he has done.

So, why do the nations rage? or

this translation says why are the nations

in tumult and the countries plotting in

vain there's a translation issue here I don't know if you know this but in Hebrew

there's a lot of parallelism that's one of the main things they use to communicate

in poetry so you'll have one idea that mimics one idea at the top,

one idea at the bottom that will mimic each other So if you look at this,

nations raging and countries plotting in vain, how does that necessarily mimic

one another? It doesn't seem like it does.

That's because there's an issue with the word that's translated rage or tumult.

It's either an Aramaic loan word, which would have been the modern language

at this time that this was compiled, or it's a Hebrew word which means rage,

tumult, being noisy, that kind of thing.

Or it's the Aramaic word that means to conspire.

So, of the two, which do you think sounds more reasonable?

Conspire. Conspire. And the reason you can confidently say that is because at

the end of the psalm and in the middle of the psalm, he uses,

the author uses another Aramaic loan word.

That's just a little translation thing. So as you're reading different translations,

you can come to a better conclusion as to what it should be.

Either way, it doesn't really matter.

The nations are raging or they are conspiring.

They're doing both. but so why

do the nations conspire and the countries or

the kings plot in vain the kings of the earth

establish themselves and the rulers conspire together against Yahweh and against

his Messiah saying let us tear their bonds and cast their cords from us so the

beginning of the psalm opens with a question and the psalmist is,

befuddled why are the nations doing this So you have world leaders who are getting together.

Imagine a summit of world leaders getting together. They're all noisy. They're plotting.

By the way, that word plot there is the same Hebrew word for meditate in Psalm 1.

So as the righteous man is meditating on God's instruction and Torah on how

he should live, the leaders of the nations are getting together and they're meditating,

plotting together as how they can get away from God's rule, from Yahweh and his anointed.

How can we cast off their bonds and cast off their cords from us?

Which is surprising because God has given a lot of freedom to us to make decisions

on how to rule and how to have dominion over this earth.

It's not as constricting as people think but there are things that the world

leaders get together that they absolutely despise about God's created order.

I don't think I have to give you any illustrations.

Just think about what's going on in our world today. What has transpired in the last 10 years.

It's not hard to imagine that the world leaders get together and conspire to

get out from underneath God and his Messiah. It's not hard at all.

That is happening. If you want to call me a conspiracy theorist, fine.

But that is happening. They literally are conspiring together to do these things.

There are good leaders, but there are a lot of bad ones. And it's not just now.

It's been this way all throughout history. All you have to do is,

you know, think of a Hashmonian period when Israel was basically forced to the Herod.

The Herod line basically came in and stole the priesthood for its own political

gain with Rome. Think of the Roman Senate.

It's not hard to imagine that the world rulers get together and they want to

get out from underneath God's instruction, God's rules.

So they want to tear his bonds and they want to cast their cords and then verse

4 he who sits in heaven wrings his hands and is worried.

No he who sits in heaven so he's not standing,

he's seated on his throne he who sits enthroned in heaven he laughs he's not

bothered at the end of the day their goals their goals will be their own destruction.

Whether they go through with their goals and it harms people is another thing.

But at the end of the day when we stand at the final judgment those books will

be opened and they will be held accountable for what they have done.

And God laughs. And the second thing here the Lord derides them or he mocks them.

Their question here is do you have two people here or do you have one person here?

So it's already been introduced to us that we have two people Yahweh and his Messiah his anointed.

And in verse 4, you have one who's seated on the throne laughing,

and then you don't have the Hebrew word is vav.

It's and. You don't have it there.

There's no and. And the Lord mocks them.

You have just the Lord mocks them.

So if it was one person, I think there would be an and there,

meaning the one who is sitting in heaven is also mocking them,

which that could be possible but I think

the anointed there is with him and he's mocking

them so you have one enthroned mocking laughing and

the other mocking him then the Lord

speaks to them in his wrath and in

his fury he terrifies them and he says the one who's seated on the throne says

but as for me I have set my king on Zion my holy mountain so while you all get

together and you conspire to do whatever it is you want to do to gain influence, to gain power,

to gain money, to gain wealth, whatever this earthly thing you want,

and however you want to get it.

I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.

He is there and installed, and his rule is over all.

He is there. He is king.

So that brings up the question, is that now? Is it in the past? Is it in the future?

Yes. This isn't talking about a Davidic king.

The reason is God looks at this one who is installed and he says,

you ask of me and I will give the nations to you as your inheritance.

No Davidic king was ever offered that. So it's talking about someone who is

installed, who is going to exercise his reign from Zion, his holy mountain.

There is a physical Zion, which is in Jerusalem. It's David's old city.

And there is a heavenly Zion as well. So you can imagine that Christ,

at his death, burial, and resurrection, and then exaltation,

is installed in the heavenly Zion, which he will eventually bring down to this earth.

So he exercises control now.

It doesn't seem like it sometimes.

It only seems like the bad things are winning a lot of the times.

But even the bad things are used for God's purpose to bring about his results all the time,

My life is a testimony of that I think of Jacob on his deathbed,

When he looked at his sons and was about to bless all of his children He said,

the Lord has been my shepherd all my days of my life.

I had a rough upbringing.

I had a Christian mom and a Christian grandmother who pointed me to Jesus.

My grandmother made it so that I could actually come up to the UP and go to

Gitche Gumi Bible Camp, which is in Eagle River, Copper Harbor area.

And I went up there for three years.

The first year, I believed on the gospel and accepted Jesus as my savior.

The second year, I felt called to ministry. I had no idea what that meant.

I thought it was missionary work, but I'm not quite built for that.

But I didn't have anybody in my family that was active in any kind of ministry.

So I went home, and I didn't have any discipleship forever, except through my

mom and grandma through certain avenues.

And then when I was in high school, I realized that I need to be in church.

I had my license at this point, so I picked a church that my step-grandparents

went to, and it was King James only, very legalistic, but I didn't know any better.

So I wanted to be discipled and

it just never happened I mean I'm the I was the

blue collar guy that didn't have any aspirations to

go to Jack Hiles college and I

had tattoos and all that so I didn't quite fit in and then after a couple years

I just realized that man these people are not accepting me so I'm just gonna

live my Christian life on the outside and I was connected to a An unbelieving family.

Worked at a small tree company. It was an unbelieving family,

but they took me in as their own, and the owner was like a dad to me. He was a great guy.

So I was like, these people are actually treating me better than these church people.

So I'm just going to stick closely to them.

And God let me do that for a couple years.

And as you can imagine, I went down the way of the wicked, and God spared me.

He only let my leash go so far until he would yank me back.

And I remember one night arguing with the Holy Spirit, telling him that I knew

he had sealed me and that he was blocking me from certain things. I was angry.

So in 2005, the Lord had to upend my family through some really harsh discipline

that involved national news,

involved some really heart-wrenching things.

But it was the catalyst for my mother and I to start seeking where to go to church again.

And so we chose a church in Lapeer, Michigan, First Baptist of Lapeer.

We just decided to show up and there was

a young adult a pastor there who just wouldn't leave me

alone he kept bothering me telling me that I needed to go to the young adults

thing in fact he had the audacity to call me in the middle of the week and tell

me that I needed to join him but that's where I met Josh and Christine and the

rest is history I joined the young adults.

And Josh had convinced, Josh asked me if I was going to do tree work for the rest of my life.

And at 23 or 24, my body was already wrecked because of it. And I was like,

well, I don't know what else to do.

And he's like, well, what about Bible college? And I was like,

my family's poor. We can't do that.

And no one in my family has ever gone to college. So he said,

let me talk to someone. and he talked to a deacon, a wealthy deacon,

who paid for my first year and a half.

And God used that first semester to open my eyes to interpreting the scriptures

on my own, how to properly interpret the scriptures.

And that set me on a course that has led me to this day.

I eventually helped Josh at Mount Pleasant and then stayed to work camp where

I was a camp counselor up at Northland Baptist Bible College.

I was a camp counselor there. My wife was there.

That's where I met Sarah. She was on the blue team. I was on the red team and

I stalked her all summer like a creep.

No, I think it was mutual stalking for sure. She was the first one to come up to me.

That's why my radar kicked on. so and we moved down to South Carolina and the

rest is history but it took God's harsh discipline.

To shake me awake to follow

the path of the righteous and it's not been easy since then I don't want to

give you that impression there have been some really deep valleys really dark

moments in fact one of the books that shook me out of my last dark period was

the book of lamentations.

It actually shook me free.

So anyway, that's my testimony, and that's me.

Talking about God shepherding me in the same way that he's going to come back

to this earth and he's going to gather his people.

He's going to bring them to himself and he's going to have harsh discipline on the rest of the earth.

The nations that will one day gather together against his holy city, he will annihilate.

And the thing is, in the book of Revelation, when God brings plagues like he

did in Egypt, he brings plagues on the world.

They don't turn and say, you know what?

He's trying to get my attention. I want to accept God. No, they curse him even more.

So they have in their hearts already chosen to be wicked, and then it comes out in that manner.

So he will come back to this earth as the exalted king.

So when he says, as for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy mountain.

It is now and it is in the future.

And he says, I'll tell you the decree. Yahweh said to me, you are my son.

Today I have begotten you. Now this is quoted a lot in the New Testament,

the book of Hebrews, the book of Acts.

I think there's one usage in one of the gospels, maybe Mark.

And this brings up an interesting point because we are used to talking about

Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, as the Son of God, right?

What does that mean? Because we are accused of thinking that God the Father

has had a biological son.

People tend to think in biological terms. That's not what we're saying.

And this verse right here is an example of where we get our Son of God language.

It means he was installed as a king.

Hebrews says, to which of the angels has God ever said, you are my son,

today I've begotten you? None of them.

Angels held a high place in intertestamental period.

So the Apocrypha or the Pseudepigrapha, the book of Enoch, the book of Jubilees,

in the book of Daniel, Gabriel has a prominent position in that book.

And it's, they're surrounded by mystery. They are, they're powerful.

They bring God's messages.

And, you know, even Gabriel himself, he seems powerful, but at the same time, he shows up to Daniel.

He's like, we've heard you praying. And I was supposed to get here like three

weeks ago, except I was fighting against the prince of Persia,

and I had to wait for Michael to come in and bail me out.

Now I'm here. I will tell you the answer.

And then he says, but I got to be quick because I got to go back and help Michael.

Angels have a high position in a high, they have a high view of angels in the

intertestamental period. Naturally so.

Naturally so. They are spirit beings who carry out God's plan on our behalf,

they minister to us, and they do it for God to minister to us.

Flip around what I just said. They do it on God's behalf for us.

Anyway, we get that language of you are my son, today I've begotten you, from right here.

The Son of God language comes from right here, and it means he has been installed as king.

So if you think about it, Jesus has always been king, right?

Always. So how then can the author of Hebrews and the psalmist here say,

Today I have begotten you. How does that work?

What do you think? Because Hebrews makes a really big point of saying,

Today I have installed you as king.

But Jesus has always been king. How do you reconcile that? How would you reconcile

that if someone asked you that?

Remember, I can't hear you if you whisper. I'm telling you, God's decree.

Tease that out. Expand on... ...from eternity past.

His son would be king, and that's not necessarily today when the author's writing

it, but he's telling him the decree that God has made and that we're back,

you know, with the nations raising,

the king in heaven lapping.

And the king declaring, this is the ruler.

This is the one he's going to make. Okay. Sure.

Yeah, and you didn't quite say it, but I think it's what you said.

There's a historical point in time when Jesus was declared king on earth, actually installed.

So, eternity past, eternity future, eternity present, he's always been king.

But there was an actual historical moment when he was installed as the God-man,

as king on Zion over all the world.

Today I have begotten you that's how

you could reconcile that so when people talk to you

when you talk to people about the son of God think kingly

language it's not

biological it's functional he's functioning

as king and then Yahweh says to him ask of me and I will make the nations your

heritage and your possessions the ends of the earth so he's giving him everything

you will break them with a rod of iron and like a potter's vessel, you will shatter them.

There is language here from all over Genesis for all the promises given to Abraham.

If you've never done a study on.

Technical term is intertextuality. The Bible's use of the Bible,

the Old Testament use of the Old Testament, it's a fascinating study,

and you will see how all these different authors throughout time are being led

by the Spirit to talk about what has come before.

It is very enriching.

But there are callbacks to Genesis 49 and all the Messianic prophecies there,

and in Numbers 22 through 24.

Ask of me and I'll make the nations your heritage, your prized possession,

your prized possession, the ends of the earth.

You will break them with a rod of iron and like a potter's vessel, you will shatter them.

So then, this is a strong, a strong word here.

So then, or therefore, O kings, be wise.

Be warned, O rulers of the earth.

Serve Yahweh with fear and rejoice

with trembling pay homage to the

son or kiss the son lest he be angry and you

perish in the way for his anger burns

quickly blessed are all those who take refuge in him so your state in Christ

is blessed because you are taking refuge in him so if you think about it The

first psalm is focusing on you as the righteous.

And in the background is the wicked. They're viewing what we're being told.

And then in Psalm 2, it switches.

It is being talked to the kings of the earth. And we are in the background.

And we are the blessed who are taking refuge in him. And we're basically nodding

our heads being like, yeah, he's installed.

He mocks your plans. yep, yep, does all that, while the kings of the earth are being warned.

It's a strict, harsh warning.

Choose wisdom, be warned, serve Yahweh with fear and trembling.

Pay homage to the Son, lest he be angry and you perish on the way.

That's another use of a word in Psalm 1 as well. for his anger burns quickly.

There is a long period of grace. Church history has been a period of grace where

God has been gathering in the nations according to the Abrahamic covenant.

He's been gathering in people from all the nations for his name,

and it has been a period of patience and a period of grace.

But that period will stop when he turns back to bringing and gathering in is people.

Will turn to the nations who have hardened their hearts like Pharaoh,

and he will turn to them, and he will respond in anger.

So in this period, the kings of the earth have a choice to not throw off the

bonds of the Messiah, but to pay homage to the Son,

to fear Yahweh, and to rejoice with trembling, lest he be angry.

In the New Testament, Paul uses this passage to say,

to argue, at the end of each sermon, there is something to the effect that the

Son of God has been installed as king, and there is a final judgment coming.

You can go in the book of Acts and look at each sermon, and either Psalm 2 or

Psalm 110 is used to say he has not only been raised from the dead,

but he has been raised and installed as king at the right hand of God.

And he is reigning from that throne. He is watching.

He mocks the plans of the wicked.

And he will come for his people and he will gather them in. There is a path

of the righteous and there is a path of the wicked.

So may the Spirit help you discern

which path you're on and which path you should stay on. Let's pray.

Our Lord Jesus, we are thankful that you, at one point in time.

Made us a part of your flock You do shepherd us every day of our life No matter

where we're at I pray that you would continue to shape us and mold us into the

image of you Gracious Father,

thank you for installing your son Because without him, we would be lost,

and thank you for giving us the spirit who lives in us,

who gives each other to one another and we're just very grateful for all that

you've done we serve you Lord Jesus we pray in your name Amen.

Music.

We thank you for being our king always and forevermore.

Jesus, we thank you for that, what that means for us, that we are your children,

and you have granted us that through your blood.

I thank you for Mark and just what you've done in his life these last 20 years.

It's That's very exciting to see His, your sovereignty Your power What you are

doing I thank you for his passion For your word.

Jesus, we love you And we thank you that you are our king You are our lord,

you are our savior God, if there is someone here today That came struggling, they came Worn down,

I pray that they Know that we want To talk to them,

We want to explain and break down what grace looks like, what it looks like

to be a follower of the king, to actually have a real relationship, not religion,

not doing stuff, but actually have that real relationship with you.

Jesus, we love you and we thank you for your kingship and your lordship in our lives.

Pray this week as we go out that we would meditate on what you've done for us and who you are.

We exalt you, Jesus. We exalt you. In Christ, we pray, and God's kids say, Amen.