There’s a Cost
Psalm 2
1Why do the nations rage and the
peoples plot in vain?
2The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his
Anointed, saying,
3“Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
4He who sits in the heavens
laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.
5Then he will speak to them in
his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6“As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
7I will tell of the decree: The
Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.
8Ask of me, and I will make the
nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.
9You shall break them with a rod
of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
10Now therefore, O kings, be
wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11Serve the Lord with fear, and
rejoice with trembling.
12Kiss the Son, lest he be angry,
and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all
who take refuge in him.
Christians across the globe were horrified and deeply
saddened when ISIS chose to behead 21 Coptic Christians (Feb 2015) in an act of
terrorism. Of course, there were pictures and they are deeply troubling. Since
the media has chosen to splash those pictures across the internet and the news,
I will refrain. There’s no need. You already have the images in your mind.
Those same images rose in my own mind as I read our Psalm for this week of Lent.
There has never been a time since Jesus walked the earth
when He and His people were not persecuted. During His brief 3-year ministry
the opposition He faced was great, both from the governing Romans (who
ultimately killed Him), to the leadership of His own people, the Pharisees and
the Sadducees. Pilate and Herod hated each other, but they cooperated in
Jesus’ trial. The Pharisees and Sadducees were bitter enemies, but they agreed
on one thing—Jesus had to die.
Acts 4:26-27
26The kings of the earth set themselves, and
the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—27for
truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant
Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the
Gentiles and the peoples of Israel.
As our continuing struggle with
forces such as ISIS proves, nothing has changed. We still face alarming
opposition. “Such futile efforts to overthrow God’s royal reign have continued
throughout history. The Roman Empire tried to crush Christianity. The papacy
suppresses the truth in the church. Communist governments work to destroy the
church in their lands. All these efforts have failed. In spite of them, the
Gospel marches on, gathering God’s elect from every nation.”
Brug, J. F.
©1989. Psalms 1–72 (p. 46).
Milwaukee, WI: Northwestern Pub. House.
The Good News is that this Psalm does not leave us with
images of beheaded bodies on the beach. Psalm 2 declares that there is already
a victor in this battle and it is Jesus Christ. “He who sits in the heavens
laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.” God already has this well under
His control. This Psalm speaks of the coming Messiah who will take care of our
every battle. We are never called to rain down vengeance upon our enemies but
instead to pray for them. The Cross of Jesus gives us a place to run for
refuge. “Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.” This is where the
Psalm leaves us; firmly in the hands of an all-powerful and all-capable God. I
pray that those men were standing at His side in their spirits as hate ended
their lives. I pray that their families can find refuge in the Lord rather than
in a desire to strike back with vengeance. I pray that we can wisely rely upon
God rather than our own ideas and resources for retaliation. I pray.
I confess that I am not a very political person. But
sometimes I think that maybe that choice makes Satan happy as it keeps my mouth
shut. So today I’m going to stick a toe in the water and create a little
ripple. Some of the headlines in the U.S. (although not enough) are pointing to
an atrocity that is taking place against Christians in our world right now. As
a people group we are being targeted and killed in Iraq and other places across
the Middle East. This is nothing new. But with the new uprising that is
occurring in Iraq, the deaths are mounting. As a part of this war effort, ISIS
is marking the homes of Christians with the symbol below. It is the letter “N”
in Arabic which stands for Nazarene. If your home is marked with this letter,
you have been targeted for death.
If you want to learn more about this
war against Christians, you can look at the blog I’ve cited below. This guy
does a pretty good job of explaining the situation. There are alarming pictures
out there of men, women, and children being ruthlessly killed simply because
they belong to a Christian family. I won’t share those pictures here. Needless
to say, they are shocking and will break your heart. No one, Christian or
Non-Christian, deserves that.
May we join in the words of our text for today asking God to
make our witness bold even when faced with suffering and tragedy. God will
provide His presence even in the face of trial and that is all we can ask.
Comments
Post a Comment