Onething Conference 2014 – Mike Bickle

The End-Time Crisis: God’s Response to the Rage against Jesus (Ps. 2) Page 14

The End-Time Crisis: God’s Response to the Rage against Jesus (Ps. 2)

I.  introduction

The second psalm is one of the most relevant and descriptive passages in the Bibles for what is happening in this hour of history. In this very short passage of Scripture, King David, by the spirit of prophecy, described what I believe is happening in this very hour which is going to escalate into the full conflict that David prophesied, the full crisis that he describes here. It will also involve the fullness of the glory of God being released in the nations.

I believe we are in a very sober season in America. There is a crisis in the land that is escalating quickly. I believe that we are actually in a season in human history where we are entering a new hour. It is a very, very sober time. I believe we are at a crossroads. In the next few years, things will change dramatically, many ways negatively and in some ways positively in the sense of the gospel going forth in greater clarity and power. David prophesied of a great conflict. He prophesied of a great crisis that would culminate with the return of the Lord. I am going to identify four different aspects of the crisis and spend a little bit of time on each one of them.

A.  In Psalm 2, King David prophesied that world leaders would oppose the leadership of Jesus, causing a global crisis that would reach its pinnacle in the generation of Jesus’ return.

By revelation, meaning by the Holy Spirit, David prophesied there was coming a time across the whole earth when the top leaders of society would take a public, bold, fierce stand against Jesus and His truth. It is a very alarming prophecy. David described a storyline, if you will, a drama that will unfold, and I believe that drama is escalating both positively and negatively in this very hour of history. He talked about the world leaders being enraged, not just opposing, but raging, angry, mobilizing or utilizing the fullness of their resources of the state to come against Jesus and His truth. We are not in that place yet, but it is clearly escalating. I would say in the last five years things have taken many steps forward in a negative sense toward what David prophesied, but also in a positive sense that we will look at in just a moment.

B.  Psalm 2 has four parts:

  1. The kings’ opposition: Seeking to remove the influence of the Word from society (2:1-3)
  2. The Father’s response: Exalting Jesus as King and confronting rebellion against Jesus (2:4-6)
  3. Jesus’ response: Interceding in agreement with the Father’s decrees (2:7-9)
  4. David’s exhortation: Calling people to serve God in the fear of the Lord and joy (2:10-12)

Charles Spurgeon, a famous preacher in the 1800s in the city of London, described Psalm 2 by comparing it to a theater in London where a great drama, a play, was being enacted on a world stage. He described it as a drama with four acts. I want you just to get the feel of this psalm before we look at a few of the points in more detail. We will develop the crisis just a little bit. We will not have time to develop that fully. On the final night of the conference I will do a part two of this. What David prophesied, John the apostle elaborated on in the book of Revelation. John the apostle quoted David in Psalm 2 as he elaborated on the crisis that David prophesied, but first let’s look at the four-part drama.

Imagine a great drama, a great play. The kings of the earth have three verses. They come on the stage. The curtain opens. For three verses David describes their rage against God, against His Christ, the Anointed, the Messiah. According to David, what the rulers of society want to do is to remove the influence of the Word of God from society and away from culture entirely. That is their goal. You can see that trend escalating right now. Many of the kings or political leaders, but also the rulers of society, who are the leaders in industry and business and sports and media, are taking a bold stand and challenging the truths of the Word of God. They want to take the influence of the Word of God out of the culture entirely. That is what their design is according to David. The leaders are not fully there yet, but that is where it is going.

The curtain closes and opens up again upon scene two of the great drama. The Father now answers the kings of the earth. The Father speaks a very powerful message that we need to receive, lay hold of, identify with, and stand with. The message that the Father gives is in three verses, verse 4-6. He tells the kings of the earth, “Your plans will come to nothing, for I have already determined that My Son will be acknowledged as King in every nation of the earth. I am going to speak, move, and act against you, and I will break your powers so you will not be able to resist My King effectively.” They will resist for a season, but only for a short season.

The curtain of the drama closes, and it opens again upon the third scene. Jesus comes on the stage. Again this is Charles Spurgeon’s rendition, comparing it to the great theatres in London in his day. Jesus now has three verses, verses 7-9. He responds to the Father, and He responds to the rage of the kings of the earth against Him.

The curtain closes and opens up again. Now King David comes on the stage for scene four. He gets three verses, 10-12. Everybody gets three verses. King David says to the kings, “O kings, it is foolish what you are doing. You will never succeed. Give yourself to God. Serve Him with all of your might. Serve Him in the fear of God, for He is a mighty King. You will never, ever resist Him successfully. Yield to Him now.”

The reason this drama is so important to understand is because it helps us to interpret the crisis that is unfolding in our nation right now. Beloved, that crisis is escalating rapidly. It is not going to mellow out and go away. It is going to come to the full rage of the kings against the Lord. Much of what the Holy Spirit is saying and doing according to David in Psalm 2, much of what the Spirit is saying and doing now, the church is not celebrating. I do not mean all the church, but a good portion of the church. They are actually resisting it. They are taking their stand with the kings of the earth who are resisting the leadership of Jesus. As we read Psalm 2, we understand that this resistance is futile. This resistance will not succeed.

David calls on the people to serve God on God’s terms. A lot of people are using “Jesus language.” A lot of people are using Bible verses. A lot of people are using kingdom language, but they are redefining it. They are leaving out key components of the truth. They want to play it safe. They want the kings of the earth and the leaders of society to applaud them. They want their ministries to grow. They want things to go well. They are hoping the crisis will pass. They are posturing themselves, “Let’s be silent now, and let’s not take a stand on the issues. They are going to pass. Eventually everything will work out.”

King David tells us, “No, it is going to get more intense. It is not going to pass.” It is not the hour for silence. It is not the time to side with the popular statements in culture and resist the stigma of taking a stand with the Lord against what is happening in the culture.

II.  The kings’ fierce opposition to Jesus and His leadership (2:1-3)

A.  David prophesied that the nations would rise up in anger against Jesus’ leadership (2:1-3), seeking to remove the influence of His Word from society (2:3). Many rulers and leaders in society—economic, educational, military, sports, media, etc.—will resist Jesus and His Word.

1Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? 2The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, 3“Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.” (Ps. 2:1-3)

Let’s look at this now just a little bit. The kings of the earth get three verses. We have great insight into what is going on. They may not fully understand where this is going, but we do, by the spirit of prophecy. We understand where this is going.

David said in verse 1, “Why do the nations rage?” They are angry. “Why do the people plot a vain thing?” The people of the nations. Specifically, verse 2, “The kings of the earth.” They and the rulers of society meet together. They counsel and plan something together. They have plans against the Lord, against the God of Israel, and against His Christ, His anointed.” You know the words Christ, Anointed, and Messiah are the same word? They are planning against the Anointed One, the Christ, the Messiah. Again, they are interchangeable words.

Here is their strategy. Here is their plan, “Let us break God’s bonds off us.” They are talking about the Word of God. They are talking about the declarations, the commands, the standards, and the ways of God. “Let’s break them off us and let’s not be in bondage to God anymore. Let us cast God’s cords away from us.” God’s Word to them was like bondage and cords that enslave them.

Let’s read this again. We will look at a few of the phrases here, and then we will move onto the next scene, the Father’s response. That is really what I will focus on more–the Father’s response. Verse 1, let’s read it again, “The nations are raging.” Beloved, right now the nations are merely declaring their position. Many voices in the culture are declaring their positions, which are contrary to the position of Scripture. Right now it is mainly criticism. It is pretty mild. Embarrassing a little bit. People draw back. They do not like the stigma, the criticism.

The reason we care about Psalm 2 and what it says, it is going to go far beyond criticism. Right now a lot of believers are intimidated by the stand that the leaders are taking against the Christ. Many in the church are echoing the stand of these leaders. They do not know the Bible. They are biblically illiterate. They have Jesus language. They know how to say “grace.” They know how to say “the kingdom of God.” They do not know the details, not even the broad strokes, of what the Bible says. So the voices of the culture seem convincing. Many people in the church are confused. They are a little bit bewildered, “We do not know exactly what to believe.”

A lot of ministries are siding with the popular sentiments of our culture. They do not want to bear the stigma. They want their ministries to grow. They think, “We will bide our time, be silent. We will not address the real issues. We will just keep it positive. We do not want people upset.”

David said, “I want you to know this thing is going to come to full rage. It is going to escalate beyond the opinion of sports figures, movie stars, famous singers, famous actors, and political leaders. It is going to go beyond their opinions.” That is where it is at now. Those opinions have escalated in such strength of boldness against the Lord in the last five years. I have been a pastor for forty years now and based on what I have witnessed in the last five years, it is alarming where the culture is going and how the church is echoing agreement with the leaders of culture. They want to keep the crowds. The people want to keep it happy.

David says, “Don’t you understand it’s not going away? They are going to get more intense. They are going to take a bolder stand. It is going to go beyond their opinions, which cause a little stigma from their criticism. They are eventually going to use the power of the state to enforce their ways.” The days are coming when it will be considered a crime for a mom and dad to tell their five-year-old child, “There is only one way of salvation.” If they tell their child, “Homosexuality is contrary to the Word of God. The Bible calls it a sin,” they will actually go to jail for it.

More and more ministries are becoming more and more silent. The voices of culture are getting louder and louder. There are millions who are standing faithful, but there are millions more who are yielding right now in the church. This is an hour for us to understand that this is a full-on crisis. Those of you who are in your twenties and younger, maybe you cannot fully appreciate the escalation, the speed at which this is increasing like those of us who have a forty-year-plus point-of-view looking back. The escalation is so intense.

The phenomenon in the last five years of the gay agenda taking center stage in the conversation of our culture was unthinkable ten years ago. There were whispers ten years ago. There is the explosion of pornography in the last five years. Pornography has been going for a long time, but the explosion of the last five years is astounding. In ten years this will be is a moral crisis in our nation beyond anything we can imagine. Then imagine ten years after that, and ten years after that, if the Lord tarries.

Heaven is not silent. The Father has very strong feelings about what the leaders of culture are saying in defiance of His Son the King and His Word. The Father has very strong feelings about how many in the church are echoing the popular sentiments of culture, about the preachers who are telling lies about the Word of God to “keep it popular, keep it positive.” The young people who do not have a biblical foundation are seduced by the lies, thinking that the things they feel must be the standard of truth; they feel it, so it must be true. Their feelings are real, but are not based on truth. Many of them are crying out in the culture today in our nation. It is a full-on crisis.