Now therefore, O kings, show discernment;
Take warning, O judges of the earth.
Worship the LORD with reverence
And rejoice with trembling.
Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way,
For His wrath may soon be kindled
How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

Psalm 2:10-12

We have been studying the 2^nd Psalm in our home group the past few weeks, using Walt Chantry’s book, “Praises for the King of Kings,” as a guide. When taken with the whole counsel of God, the Psalm seems to expand and expound the Gospel to the nations, who are described as mankind at war against the Lord and His Anointed, Christ. All are or have been members of this tumultuous and rioting army; the Lord makes it quite clear in Romans and many other passages that none of us are righteous and none of us seeks for God. We are His enemy.

As man rises up and shakes his fist at the God of all creation, the Lord laughs derisively in His throne room. It would be like the 3 year old child pummeling a grown man with the intent of getting his way at any cost. The grown man would laugh at the puny fists of the impotent child; a bear hug contains his struggles! The Lord, infinitely greater and more powerful than any man, has no worries about the threat of those who hate Him. He is, after all, creator of this entire universe and of all men.

God has crowned the King of all kings, Christ the Lord, and has installed Him upon His holy hill. Christ has been given the inheritance of all things, even the nations, and He will do with them as His justice demands. He will wield an iron scepter and crush the enemies of His kingdom. And of course, mankind is deserving of His righteous justice. Man has committed treason against the rightful King and has become His sworn enemy, refusing to acknowledge the authority of his Creator.

A true king would not allow such treason in his kingdom. Christ is a righteous and just king and He stands ready to judge. However, and thankfully for us, He is also merciful and patient, longsuffering. This stands out most in our study – the longsuffering patience and mercy of our righteous God! He waits; He holds His wrath to give every one the opportunity to repent, to turn to Him and to forsake the enemy.

The entire Psalm is written in language reminiscent of days gone by, when kings ruled kingdoms and certain protocol must be adhered to in the courts of the king. It is difficult for us Americans to truly understand this and we bristle at the thought of bowing the knee to any man. But, this is no mere man. This is the God-man, the Lord and King of all creation, Christ Jesus. He has done what no other man could or would do and certainly no king would do. He has paid the price of treason for those who trust in Him. Our sins against a holy God are blotted out by the One enthroned in heaven. Thank goodness – no, thank God! – this Psalm doesn’t end at verse 9!

On page 45, Mr. Chantry writes about those who do come to Christ in repentance. This paragraph made me have to do some soul-searching. It made me wonder about my own salvation . . . here is what he says:

“Most of us who are Christians can recall our earliest approaches to God’s Son in prayer. Because God’s law had done its work in our consciences we went to the Lord loaded with a great weight of guilt and shame. We trembled to enter the courts of His holiness, justice and power, knowing that we were deserving of His wrath. But we had heard that enemies of heaven could have peace with God through Him and that there was no other way to pardon and life.”

I did not experience this at the beginning – not in the way he describes it! I thought I was saved and needed to make things right. I started going to church and found myself agreeing with the preaching. I went to an SBC church for several months then to a Christian church for a while, about 2 years or so, never realizing that I needed to repent. Yet God was changing me. Then, we started going to a church where the focus was different than anything I had ever experienced. I began to learn about God. And He kept getting bigger and bigger.

It has been difficult to shake my Arminian roots. I believe, yes, I thoroughly believe the great doctrines. They make sense to me; they are just plain right! But the old patterns of thought and of response are deeply grooved into my mind and I have to make a conscious effort to deviate from them at times. Couple this with the fact that, naturally, man (myself included) always tries to work his way toward God, has to approach Him on his own terms, and – for me at least – it takes years of prayer, study, experience, under God’s patient and loving care to change at all.

I do believe He has saved me. But when I read stuff like Mr. Chantry has written, it shakes me up. And so then I have to do some thinking and wondering, “Am I saved?” But the evidence, I have to remind myself, does not lie within me. It is in Christ. Is there faith in that great work of His; am I drawn to Him? More than anything else? What captivates me most? This present world, my family, the horses, my homeschool? Or Him? If I lost it all – all these things that are meaningful and significant to me – would I still find hope and a future in Him?

Or, to look at it from another perspective, could I walk away from this new life? Could I live as if there were no eternity? Oh, no when I think that, there is this writhing within me, an agony of thought and soul, “NO! That is the lie! There is an eternity and it is ruled by God.”

Stripped of all the trappings and distractions of my life, there is this underlying faith that is stronger than even my will, my desires. I may be shaken, but this faith remains unbroken. Not because of me. Because of Him! For some reason that I can’t understand, He has given me His love, this faith, this great gift of mercy and grace. Oh, I don’t deserve it and I certainly don’t live as if I’m grateful for it. But look, look at that One seated on the throne in the courts of heaven. He paid for my treason, and when I deserved a common traitor’s death, He gave me His life and His love instead.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 5th, 2008 at 5:19 pm and is filed under Books, Salvation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.