The Lord's Ultimate Victory Part 2 of 2

by John Lowe
(Laurens SC, USA)

The Ten Commandments are another one of the bands God has placed around us. When someone says that we no longer need to keep the Ten Commandments, they are wrong. We are not saved by keeping them—you may have tried it, and found that it doesn’t work—but I’ll say this: God gave them, and He gave them to protect mankind. They are thrown out the door today, and right now we are experiencing lawlessness in this country, because crime is not being punished. There has been a terrible toll of lives that would not have been sacrificed if the laws were enforced. You see, we are living in a day when the prevailing philosophy is, “Let us break their bands asunder, let’s cast away their cords from us. We want to be free and do as we please.”

God says we can’t make it that way. It won’t work. We’ve got old evil natures that need to be restrained. But mankind is moving toward getting rid of all restraints today. It is disturbing as we look at the world in which we are living. In politics there is confusion. In the moral realm, there is corruption and scandal. In the spiritual sphere, there is compromise and indifference. And in the social sphere, there is comfort. This affluent society has never had it so easy, and their goal is to make it easier. We are living in that kind of day. It is disturbing, and I have to admit to you, I do worry about it just a little.

Next, I Want to Talk About the Calm Assurance in the Face of Opposition (vv. 4-6)

In the fourth verse, David presents the Lord as being “amused” at the foolish actions of his enemies, but it is the amusement of contempt. He said, “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.” What kind of laughter is this? Let me say at the outset that it is not the laughter of humor. He is not being funny. You can find humor in the Bible, but not here.

Folks, it’s going to be thrilling to be with Him someday. We’re going to have a wonderful time with Him. It’s going to be fun, and I am looking forward to that. I believe God does have a sense of humor, and there is humor in His Word. We are told, “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh…” Since this is not the laughter of humor, what is it? Well, look at it from God’s viewpoint—little man down there parading up and down, shaking his midget fist in heaven’s face and saying, “Come on out and fight with me! I am against You.” God looks down at the puny little creature. It’s utterly preposterous. It is so ridiculous! He looks down and laughs. “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.” It is so utterly ridiculous, folks. Little men putting themselves in opposition to God won’t be around very long. Mussolini did a lot of talking, and we haven’t heard from him lately. Stalin did the same thing, and he is gone. So are Hitler and the other God-haters. The little man plays his brief role here on the stage of life, and then his part is over. How ridiculous and preposterous for him to oppose God!

I am certain that when God’s hour comes (the Bible calls it “the Day of the Lord”), He will blaze forth in righteous anger. Verse 5 says, “Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.” This is the judgment that is coming upon this earth. What effect will man’s opposition have on God’s program? God is going forward to accomplish His purpose. What little man does down here will not deter Him at all. God did not read something in the morning paper that He didn’t already know about. There is nothing that has surprised Him at all. He is moving according to His program.

I believe He has a two-fold purpose in this world. I think He has a heavenly purpose and an earthly purpose. Right now He is working on His heavenly purpose. The writer to the Hebrews expressed this in Hebrews 2:10; it is “…bringing many sons unto glory…” God today is calling out of this world a people to His name. That is His present purpose. However, God has another purpose and it is stated in verse 6. “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” God is moving forward today undeviatingly, unhesitatingly, and uncompromisingly to establish the throne on which Jesus Christ will set on this earth. I hear folks say, “If the Lord delays His coming.” Where in the world did that idea come from? He is not delaying anything. He is going to come on schedule—His schedule, not mine, because I don’t know when He is coming. He is running on schedule and nothing will stop Him. Nothing can cause Him to change His plans.

Next, let’s consider the divine promise to the Lord’s anointed (vv 7-9).

Look at verse 7 again: “I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” If you’ve studied the Bible, then you know that the Lord Jesus executes all the decrees of God. This is a verse that the Jehovah Witnesses use a lot. I wish they would listen long enough to find out what it means. It would help them a great deal to find out that it has no reference to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ—which they would see if only they would turn to the New Testament and let the Holy Spirit interpret. This verse was quoted by the apostle Paul when he preached in Antioch. This was, I believe, one of his greatest sermons; and he was talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Acts 13:33 he said, “God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten thee.”

The reference in the second psalm is not to the birth of Jesus. He never was begotten in the sense of having a beginning. Rather, this is in reference to His resurrection. Jesus is the eternal Son of God, and God is the eternal Father. You cannot have an eternal Father without having an eternal Son. They were this throughout eternity. This is their position in the Trinity. It hasn’t anything to do with someone being born, but it does have something to do with someone being begotten from the dead. It has to do with resurrection. I’m afraid the Jehovah’s Witnesses have not heard this, but they could find, with a little honest searching, that the New Testament makes it very clear Jesus Christ is not a creature. He is the God-man. Psalm 2:7 maintains this doctrine. And, God the Father continues in verse 8: “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” This is God’s promise to David that the heathen nations that surrounded Israel would be subservient to him.

In verse 9 we see the ease in which the Savior will shatter His opposition at the end of time. “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Martin Luther made this observation in regard to our “wills” at the time we receive Jesus as Savior. He said, “For He slays our will in order to establish His own will in us. He puts to death the flesh and its lust in order to make alive in us the Spirit and the things He desires.” No one ever comes to faith in Jesus Christ on their own. The Holy Spirit comes first to prepare their heart for the call to salvation. It’s when we respond in faith to the pull of the Holy Spirit that we are saved.

Finally, Consider the Appeal to Submit to the Son of God as Savior (vv. 10-12).

In verses 10 and 11, David expresses his own feelings. “Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” Have you ever noticed that God in the history of this world has always gotten a message to the rulers of this world? There are no exceptions.

Down yonder in the land of ancient Egypt, there was a Pharaoh on the throne, and there was a boy named Joseph in prison. God kept him in prison so that at the right moment he could bring him out to make him the prime minister of Pharaoh at one of the most crucial periods in the history of the world. That is the way God does it.

Down yonder when the first great world power, Babylon, came into existence, God put the man Daniel at the side of Nebuchadnezzar. He not only became his prime minister, but also he brought him to a saving knowledge of the living God. And God kept him there until Cyrus, the Persian, came to the throne. And Cyrus even made his decree in the name of the living God. Napoleon said that he was a man of destiny, and that he was told that God had raised him up. It is interesting how God has gotten His Word to the rulers of the earth and to those who are in high places.

God the Holy Spirit says to the rulers: “Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” And he also says, “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” Folks, The Spirit of God is in the world today saying to mankind, “Kiss the Son before it’s too late. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ before it’s too late.”

He is coming someday, and He is going to establish His kingdom here on this earth. He is going to rule and He will put down all rebellion. He will bring peace and harmony to this little earth.

Conclusion

“Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” One’s faith may be as slender as a spider’s web or as small as a grain of mustard seed; but if it’s real, one is blessed by God. He honors any genuine faith expressed toward Him. If you will have faith in Him, then He will give you the greatest gift there is; the gift of eternal life.