Why do the Nations Rage?

The conspiracy to unseat the Messiah is applied by the New Testament to the plot to destroy Jesus – Psalm 2:1-6.

The Second Psalm is a key passage that the New Testament applies to Jesus, but when were the Psalm’s predictions fulfilled? Is the Messiah reigning now on David’s Throne or is the world waiting for his enthronement at a future date? What is the revolt of nations and kings against the Son of God?

In the Book of Acts, the Temple authorities attempt to suppress the fledgling church. In reaction, Peter prays for “boldness” to proclaim the Gospel in the face of persecution, and in doing so, he declares that the same authorities that were venting their rage against the Church also plotted to kill Jesus. The Apostle applies phrases from the Second Psalm to stress the point:

• “O Sovereign! You are he that made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all things that are in it; Who, by our father, through means of the Holy Spirit, even by the mouth of David your servant, said, UNTO WHAT END DID THE NATIONS REVOLT AND PEOPLES BUSY THEMSELVES WITH EMPTY THINGS? THE KINGS OF THE EARTH STATIONED THEMSELVES, AND THE RULERS WERE GATHERED TOGETHER WITH ONE INTENT AGAINST THE LORD AND HIS CHRIST. For they were gathered, of a truth, in this city against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with those of the nations and peoples of Israel...” - (Acts 4:23-28).

• “Wherefore did the heathen rage, and the nations imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers gathered themselves together, against the Lord, and against his Christ; saying, Let us break through their bonds, and cast away their yoke from us” - (Psalm 2:1-3, from the Septuagint).

[Cross - Photo by Jonas Allert (Munich) on Unsplash]

Peter followed the Greek text of the Septuagint version of the Second Psalm. The verb translated as “gathered together” or ‘sunagō’ is the same term applied in the Book of Acts to the priestly leaders who examined the Apostles for preaching in the name of Jesus. This is the same Greek verb found in the Septuagint translation of Psalm 2:2:

• “It came to pass upon the morrow, that THERE WERE GATHERED TOGETHER of them the rulers and the elders and the scribes in Jerusalem” - (Acts 4:5-7).

The same authorities that conspired to destroy Jesus met once again, this time to stop the Church from proclaiming the Son of God. They continued their “revolt against the Lord and his Anointed.”

Peter attributes responsibility for the death of Jesus to Herod, Pontius Pilate, the nations, and the people of Israel. They forged a conspiracy to destroy God’s “holy servant” and anointed Son when they rejected the Messiah and became complicit in his death.

The same language is applied to the conspiracy to destroy Jesus elsewhere in the New Testament. For example:

• “All the High Priests and Elders of the people TOOK COUNSEL AGAINST Jesus to put him to death” - (Matthew 27:1-2).

• “You men of Israel, hear these words! Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, even as you yourselves know; him, being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you, by the hand of lawless men, you crucified and killed. <…>  Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified. ” - (Acts 2:22-23, 2:36).

To the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia, the Apostle Paul declared:

• “And we bring you glad tidings of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled the same for our children, in that he raised up Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, YOU ARE MY SON! THIS DAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU” – (Acts 13:32-33, citing Psalm 2:7).

ENTHRONED ON ZION

Thus, the New Testament uses the Second Psalm to link the enthronement of the Messiah to his death and resurrection. We find this again in the opening paragraph of the Letter to the Hebrews:

• (Hebrews 1:3-5) – “Who, being an eradiated brightness of his glory, and an exact representation of his very being, also bearing up all things by the utterance of his power, HAVING ACHIEVED THE PURIFICATION OF SINS, SAT DOWN ON THE RIGHT HAND OF THE MAJESTY IN HIGH PLACES, by so much becoming superior to the angels, by as much as, going beyond them, he inherited a more distinguished name. For to which of the angels said he ever, YOU ARE MY SON! THIS DAY, I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU?” – (Hebrews 1:3-5. Compare Hebrews 5:5-8. Note the allusions to Leviticus 16:16, Psalm 2:7 and Psalm 110:1).

Finally, the Book of Revelation declares that Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the Earth because of his faithful obedience in death (“faithful witness”) and his resurrection from the dead (“firstborn of the dead”). He is the Son and Messiah destined to rule over the nations and the Earth.

In the Second Psalm, God promised to give his Son the “nations for your inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron.” The Book of Revelation applies this promise to Jesus Christ:

• “He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne, as I also overcame, and SAT DOWN with my Father in his throne” – (Revelation 3:21. Note the echo of Psalm 110:1 [“Sit down at my right hand…”]).

• “And she was delivered of a son, a male, who is TO SHEPHERD THE NATIONS WITH A ROD OF IRON. Her child was caught up unto God and his throne” – (Revelation 12:5).

• “And out of his mouth proceeds a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations. And HE WILL SHEPHERD THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON. And he is treading the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty” – (Revelation 19:15).

The Book of Revelation links Christ’s present reign over kings and nations to his death and resurrection. Already, Jesus reigns over the Earth, and nothing in the visions of the Book occurs without his knowledge and consent.

The New Testament applies the predictions of the Second Psalm to the conspiracy by the Temple leaders with the Roman authorities to destroy Jesus of Nazareth. However, God was not taken by surprise. Did He not predict these events? God responded by raising Christ from the dead and installing him on the Messianic Throne as sovereign over the Earth.

And so, the reign of Jesus on the throne of David is a present reality that commenced following his resurrection.

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[Citations of Old Testament passages in this article are based on the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint (see the links here and here). Text printed in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS represents quotations and verbal allusions from the Old Testament. The Septuagint is represented by the Roman numeral for ‘seventy’ or LXX based on the Latin name of the translation, ‘Interpretatio septuaginta virorum’]

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SEE ALSO:

• The Salvation of the Lord - ('Jesus’ means “Yahweh saves.” In the man of Nazareth, the salvation promised by the God of Abraham has arrived)

• Christ is King! - (Jesus, the Faithful Witness, now reigns supreme over the Kings of the Earth, and he is shepherding the nations to the Holy City of New Jerusalem)

• The Ruler of Kings - (The faithful witness, Jesus, now reigns supreme over the Kings of the Earth and even over his enemies, and he is shepherding the nations)

• Ruling the Nations - (Jesus is the promised King from the Line of David who guides the Nations of the Earth to the Holy City, New Jerusalem – Revelation 12:5)