Description
This psalm is a prophecy of God overthrowing earthly powers that rage against Jesus at the second coming. God installs Jesus on Mount Zion as king of the world, and affirms him as his Son, contrary to the lies of Islam.
Commentary
David prophesies the rebellion, or rage, of the nations against Jesus. Verses 1-2 are quoted in Acts 4:25-26 in a prayer by the early Christian church when it was being persecuted. First century Christians saw Psalm 2 as relevant to the persecution they were experiencing from both Jewish and Roman authorities.

The psalm begins in verse 1 with the question why there is such rebellion, "Why do the nations rebel? Why are the countries devising plots that will fail?".

Verse 2 then answers this, "The kings of the earth form a united front; the rulers collaborate against the Lord and his anointed king." The rest of the psalm expands upon this.

In verse 6, God declares, "I myself have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill." In scripture, Zion has two dimensions. It describes the earthly city of Jerusalem, where God's temple was located on his 'holy hill'. This location is known today as 'the Temple Mount' by Jews and Christians, and as the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound by Muslims. Zion also describes the heavenly city of Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22). From the perspective of heavenly Zion, when Jesus rose from the dead he ascended into heaven and was seated at the right hand of the Father, 'far above every rule and authority and power and dominion' (Ephesians 1:20-21). From heaven's perspective, Jesus, who is the eternal Son of God, has already been exalted as King of Kings. This reality enrages the demonic principalities and powers in the heavenly realms, who in turn cause unbelieving humanity to be enraged by Christian doctrine. As 1 John 5:19-20 says, "We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us insight to know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ." And as Ephesians 6:12 says, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens." Consequently, under the influence of these powers of evil, earthly nations and their leaders unite in rebellion against 'the Lord' (the God of the bible) and against 'his anointed king' (Jesus, the Son of God).

In Isaiah 66:1, God says, "The heavens are my throne and the earth is my footstool". More specifically, God's throne in heaven was understood to be supported by heavenly creatures known as Cherubim (Ezekiel 1 & 10). The Ark of the Covenant, which had two gold cherubim on its lid, was understood to be earthly footstool of God's throne. In 1 Chronicles 28:2-3, King David says, "…I wanted to build a temple where the ark of the LORD's covenant could be placed as a footstool for our God." In Ezekiel's vision of the Millennial Temple, in Ezekiel 43:7, someone speaks to him from the temple, saying, "Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will live among the people of Israel forever." At his second coming, when Jesus is installed as king in earthly Zion, the obvious location for him to be enthroned is where the Ark of the Covenant once stood in the Temple.

Verse 1b assures Christian believers that whatever persecutions we face, every rebellious plot against Christ will ultimately fail. At the second coming, Jesus will be installed as King of Kings on earthly Zion, and from there he will rule the entire world (see also Psalm 9:11; 110:2; 132:13-18, Isaiah 9:7, Obadiah 1:21, Micah 4:7). At that time, it is in Zion that Jesus will publicly proclaim the truth that he is the Son of God. "The king says, “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: ‘You are my son! This very day I have become your father!"(v7).

Given this prophecy of Psalm 2, that God will install the Messianic Son of God as King on Mount Zion, there is no more obvious location than the Temple Mount where Satan might wish to deny the truth about Jesus. In the 7th century AD, Islam arose as a new demonically inspired religion which expressly denies the core truths of Christianity. In 638 AD, Jerusalem, which was by that time a Christian city, was conquered by Muslim Arabs. Since 692 AD, the Dome of the Rock has stood at the centre of the Temple Mount as a monumental denial of Jesus as the Son of God. The Islamic inscriptions inside and outside its octagonal arcade repeatedly denounce the truth that Jesus is God's son, instead proclaiming that he was merely a servant of Allah. Allah, the false god of Islam, is proclaimed to be the one and only true God. As such, Allah usurps the place of Jehovah, the true God. The trinitarian nature of God is emphatically denied alongside the possibility that God could have a son. And 'the people of the book' (i.e. Jews and Christians) are expressly warned not to exaggerate their religion.

The Temple Mount is considered the third most holy site in Islam, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. Sura 17 of the Quran, along with passages in the Hadith, tell the story of Mohammed's mythical night journey, when Mohammed was supposedly transported from Mecca to the 'furthest mosque' (understood by Muslims to be the Temple Mount in Jerusalem) on the back of a heavenly winged creature that Mohammed called a 'buraq'. Mohammed claimed that after leading prayers in this 'mosque', he ascended to the highest heaven and met face to face with Allah. The location from which he supposedly ascended is understood to be the rock, known as the Foundation Stone, that is now enshrined in the Dome of the Rock. This same location is believed by many Jews to be the location where the Ark of the Covenant once stood in the Holy of Holies in the Temple, and is also identified with Mount Moriah where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son. It was during Mohammed's alleged meeting with Allah in the highest heaven that he received the requirement for Muslims to pray fifty times per day. However, with help from Moses, he managed to negotiate with Allah and reduce the requirement to five times a day.

So on the site of 'my holy hill' in Zion, where Psalm 2 prophesies that God will install Jesus, his true Messiah, as King, and where Jesus will declare himself to be God's son, Islam has erected a gross blasphemy, denying the truth about Jesus, and exalting Mohammed in his place. This is all part of the rebellion of the nations, inspired by Satan himself, of which this Psalm prophesies. In the end times, before the great Day of the Lord when Jesus will judge the world, the bible describes how man's rebellion will reach a great climax. As 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 says, "Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not arrive until the rebellion comes and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, and as a result he takes his seat in God’s temple, displaying himself as God." Like Antiochus Epiphanes in the 2nd century BC, Mohammed is a proto-type of the end time Antichrist who will desecrate the site of the Jerusalem Temple, setting up the Abomination of Desolation and declaring himself to be God ((Matthew 24:15, Daniel 9:27; 11:32, 2 Thessalonians 2:4). Antichrist will unite the nations of the Islamic World against Jesus as he prepares to take his earthly throne in Jerusalem.

What does God make of all this? Psalm 2:4-6 says, "The one enthroned in heaven laughs in disgust; the Lord taunts them. Then he angrily speaks to them and terrifies them in his rage, saying, “I myself have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill.” God the Father says to Jesus in verses 8-9, "Ask me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth as your personal property. You will break them with an iron scepter; you will smash them like a potter's jar!"

If Christ's rule were merely ceremonial, you would expect him to have a gold sceptre. But the iron sceptre is a clear declaration that Jesus will rule the world and crush all opposition. Consequently, in verses 10 to 12, the rulers of the earth are warned to repent and serve Jesus with fear, to give him sincere homage lest he become angry and destroy them. Psalm 2 is closely related to Psalm 110, which prophesies that Jesus will "strike down kings in the day he unleashes his anger."

God is not intimidated by man's rebellion against him, and against Jesus, his Son. He is merely awaiting the appropriate time to judge the world and to destroy all who oppose him. The time will inevitably come when, according to Revelation 11:15, an angel will proclaim, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.” The nations of the world will be enraged, but their rebellion will be short-lived and in vain. Jesus will emerge victorious, and will firmly establish his rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Tags
Places: Jerusalem, Zion, Temple Mount
Symbols: Sceptre
Tags: Coronation of Jesus, Jesus establishes his kingdom, Jesus fights muslim nations, Nations rage against Jesus, Jesus rules in Zion
1 Why do the nations rebel? Why are the countries devising plots that will fail?
2 The kings of the earth form a united front; the rulers collaborate against the Lord and his anointed king.
3 They say, “Let’s tear off the shackles they’ve put on us! Let’s free ourselves from their ropes!”
4 The one enthroned in heaven laughs in disgust; the Lord taunts them.
5 Then he angrily speaks to them and terrifies them in his rage, saying,
6 “I myself have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill.”
7 The king says, “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: ‘You are my son! This very day I have become your father!
8 Ask me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth as your personal property.
9 You will break them with an iron sceptre; you will smash them like a potter’s jar!’”
10 So now, you kings, do what is wise; you rulers of the earth, submit to correction!
11 Serve the Lord in fear! Repent in terror!
12 Give sincere homage! Otherwise he will be angry, and you will die because of your behavior, when his anger quickly ignites. How blessed are all who take shelter in him!
(NET)