Sinning Against the Remedy (Ps. 2)

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In my morning reading, I find myself in a section of 1 Chronicles and Psalms, as the Chronological Study Bible places Psalm 2 (penned by David ) with Solomon’s ascension to the throne. We have already studied Psalm 2 in our Wednesday night sessions at church this year, but as usual, the Word of God is alive and applies the scriptures I read to my heart on a daily basis. Hebrews 4:12 reminds me of this: “The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (NASB). Psalm 2:10-12 speaks not only to kings to be wise as they judge the earth but also to the rest of mankind, to me as both kings and ordinary people will stand before the throne of God. 


Verses 11-12 particularly spoke to my heart today: “Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him” (KKJV CSB).


Serving the LORD with fear seems to be mostly lost in America in our generation. There is a casualness in approaching the living God that terrifies me, lest I too be pulled into seeing God in any other way than described in His Word; lest I become too anything—full of myself, content in my situation, comfortable in my life, confident in my abilities—and incur God’s wrath instead of the mercy I desire. At the same time, the idea of rejoicing with trembling seems strange. Humans, in their times of joy and contentment, often forget the God who has given good gifts, thus, remembering in all situations that He is God, and I am not (Is. 44:6) is essential. Maybe it’s not so strange after all!


At first glance, “Kiss the Son” makes me think of Judas’s betraying kiss of Jesus, but that can’t be right in this context of an Old Testament king ascending to his throne while bending to the One who rules over all. Rather, this phrase is to remind Solomon that just as his father served the LORD with fear and trembling and a very healthy awe of God, he should do likewise. If Solomon is rejoicing at his anointing and ascension to the throne of David, he is to do it with an understanding that it is God “who sits in the heavens” and laughs at nations raging, at the vain plotting of peoples, at rulers counseling one another “against the LORD’s anointed” (Ps. 2:1-2). It is God who holds a kingdom together for a ruler, not the other way around.


As usual, Matthew Henry has much to say on this Psalm, but one thing that seemed to speak loudest about angering the Son who should be kissed: 


The Son can be angry, though a Lamb he is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and the wrath of this king, this King of Kings, will be as the roaring of a lion, and will drive even mighty men and chief captains to seek in vain for shelter in rocks and mountains. If the Son be angry, who shall intercede for us? There remains no more sacrifice, no other name by which we can be saved. Unbelief is a sin against the remedy.


Oh, that I would avoid sinning against the remedy that is Christ and embrace the discipline of the LORD lest I “perish in the way” (v. 12). 


We who have put our trust in Christ alone are blessed!

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