Introduction
The attributes of God is a recurring theme in sermons, as it
should be. Assigned this topic (God’s wrath) many years ago
(1997) for a Providence chapel. SMC is doing a series this summer, for which I
am assigned to speak on the Wisdom of God. Recently I preached on the way that we see God
through Jesus (“He is the image of the invisible God …), using the idea of
Jesus as the fractal (a recurring pattern on various scales from infinite to
microscopic).
One may ask why I come back to God’s wrath, when I could
reflect on many other more uplifting themes. A basic reason is that our world
is filled with so much anger and violence that we struggle to understand how we
are to live—or even how we can carry on with any hope in a difficult and
troubled world.
Text
With these thoughts in mind, we read Psalm 2.
Psalm 2
1 Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,
3 ‘Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.’
2 The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,
3 ‘Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.’
4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.
5 He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
6 ‘I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.’
5 He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
6 ‘I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.’
7 I will proclaim the Lord’s
decree: He said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have become your father.
8 Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.’
8 Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.’
10 Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling.
12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
11 Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling.
12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Comments
The flow of the Psalm is fairly clear.
1. Our world is full of rebellion. “The kings of the earth
rise up and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his
anointed”. Examples today:
·
Shootings of the past week in the USA.
·
The turmoil in Zimbabwe (hardly heard here, in
the clamour of our lives, but so difficult for those who live there).
·
We could multiply examples of personal
conflicts, broken families, and so on.
Clearly the rulers of our world—including each
individual—seek to throw off God’s rule (“let us break our bonds asunder”) and
run our own lives, with catastrophic results.
2. God’s response to human rebellion is what we call “God’s
wrath”.
As these words appear in Handel’s “Messiah”:
“He who sitteth in Heaven shall laugh them to scorn. The Lord shall have them
in derision.” “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them
in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
You see, God is the Creator, the one who made us. The image
of God as the potter and humankind as the vessel is used often in the Bible. If
the dish or pot or vessel that the potter is making goes wrong, the potter
destroys it and begins over again—like someone knitting who takes out the
stitches when a piece goes wrong.
The point? God is the Creator. God is the Ruler. God reigns.
3. Before this destruction takes place, there is an
important piece in verses 6 to 8:
6 ‘I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.’
7 I will proclaim
the Lord’s decree: He said to
me, ‘You are my son; today I have become your father.
8 Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.
8 Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.
You recognize
where these verses appear in the gospel records: “You are my Son. Today I have
become your father.” Matthew 3:17 records something like this about Jesus at
his baptism (compare Mark 1:11 and Luke 3:22). In Acts 1333 Paul applies this
Psalm directly to Jesus, as does the writer of Hebrews (1:5 and 5:5).
This psalm
was written originally about David’s line, but is fulfilled in the person of
Jesus, referencing the king directly as “God’s Son”. So God’s wrath results in
the giving of God’s Son.
You must
understand that this is the way God normally works: Judgment always leads to grace.
God’s wrath blazes out in service of God’s love.
4. The
closing verses of the Psalm call on the kings of the earth to cease their
rebellion and serve the Lord. “Serve the LORD with fear and celebrate his rule
with trembling. Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to
your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment.”
The Psalm
states an idea expressed in the hymn, “How Firm a Foundation”:
When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace all sufficient shall be thy supply.
The flame shall not hurt thee, I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
God’s wrath
is never intended to destroy us, even if our rebellion leads to our
destruction. God always desires our salvation and our good. So deep is God’s
love and desire for our salvation that God stepped in between us and the
destruction our rebellion merits (compare Genesis 15:17).
Application
How do we
live with these ideas?
·
God hates
evil (evil=rebellion against God). We also should hate evil. Compare the
response of my co-worker at Whistlestop, whose parents had separated. He hated
their conflict—and rightly so. Compare Lauren—“I hate poverty!”: her response
as a school nurse to seeing the effects of poverty in the lives of children.
·
God works to
destroy human rebellion. We also should work against evil.
·
We must be
careful in this work. We are not God. We are not the ones who should “dash them
in pieces like a potter’s vessel”. God is able to show wrath within the context
of perfect love. Too often our anger against wrong turns into anger against
people. We are also a part of the rebellion, so as we seek justice, we do so
with humility.
·
We can work
for God and for good in this world, confident that the final outcome is not in
doubt. Events around us may lead us to despair and apathy. God’s greatness and
goodness can restore our hope and love.
An example:
·
Soup’s On and
Community Outreach—both respond to the evil of homelessness, holding out God’s
love and grace.
You can give
your own examples. I think of Zimbabwe and my concern for her people. Despair
is always nearby, but God’s love and God’s grace are greater even than the evil
of the Zimbabwean regime.
Conclusion
When I spoke
on this topic in the Providence Chapel back in 1997-8, I asked Henry
Schellenburg and James Fast to sing the scripture, using the arias in Handel’s
Messiah, drawn from Psalm 2. The next chorus after these arias is the
Hallelujah Chorus, which answers the question from the first aria, “Why do the
nations so furiously rage together?” The answer: “Hallelujah! He is King of
kings and Lord of lords. The Lord God omnipotent reigneth! Hallelujah!”
The Gathering
10 July 2016
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