Psalm 2 is the first explicitly and uniquely messianic psalm. It is a royal psalm that shows the ideal and inviolable fulfillment of the Davidic covenant. The psalm progresses in four distinct movements or stanzas marked by four different speakers: rebels, the Lord, the Messiah, and the Narrator (ultimately, the Holy Spirit). Each stanza expresses a particular attitude about the Messiah with a climactic warning that our attitude toward the Messiah determines our eternal destiny.

Stanza 1: Rebels⤒🔗

In the first three verses, the rebels speak and oppose Christ’s authority. Although the rebels include every race and every class from every age who are naturally alienated from God, the raging, plotting, and general hostility against Christ found its most grievous demonstration in the strange alliances between Jews and Gentiles and between Pilate and Herod in the trial and execution of Christ. The object of all the scheming hatred was the Lord and His Messiah. Desiring freedom from divine restraint, the rebels combined their hatred in a futile attempt to sever the “bands” and “cords” of Christ’s authority by putting Him to death (see Acts 4:27–28). We know that God used their plot as the means of effecting His eternal plan for our redemption in Christ.

Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.Acts 2:23

That’s what Peter said right to the face of some of the conspirators.

Stanza 2: God←⤒🔗

In verses 4-6, God speaks and confirms Christ’s authority, thus highlighting the futility of any attempt to thwart God’s purpose in Christ. The contrast between the scheming agitation of world leaders and the serene, supreme sovereignty of the Lord (Adonai, the real King) who sits laughing at their efforts would be comical if it were not so tragic. His sitting in heaven testifies to His absolute authority to actually accomplish whatever He pleases (Ps. 115:3). God is not just a passive witness to what takes place in the world. He sits on a throne to rule, not “in the stands” to watch. His laughing at those who conspire against His purpose is a bold statement emphasizing the absurdity of their futile efforts. His holding them in derision is literally “to stammer disrespectfully in their face.” What a vivid image of God’s “getting in the sinner’s face” to ridicule him and establish His infinite superiority and power to consume the rebel in a moment were it not for His longsuffering. After He mocks, He speaks. Notwithstanding the rejection of Christ’s authority by sinners, the Lord declared that He had set His king on the holy hill of Zion. The word “set” literally means “to pour out” and refers to God’s consecrating and exalting Christ to the position of authority. That is His resolute purpose, and nothing could or ever can alter it. The kingdom of God and His Christ is not a democracy. Whether men submit or not, Christ is the King.

Stanza 3: Messiah←⤒🔗

In verses 7-9, Christ Himself speaks and affirms His own authority. This indeed is holy ground as the Messiah reveals what the Father, in the privacy of eternity, had promised Him. Three truths stand out in Christ’s speech. First, Messiah-ship is based on God’s certain decree (“I will declare the decree”). The word “declare” includes the idea of detailing, listing, or enumerating. He is going to detail some of the elements of the decree, the obligations and rules that defined the covenant agreement between Himself and the Father concerning the whole mediatorial work of redemption. This is language of certitude, and it should generate confidence and joy that God’s decree concerning Christ and, consequently, concerning salvation is irreversible, irrefutable, and unfrustratable.

Second, Christ stood in a unique relationship with God the Father (“Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee”). This was not a prophecy to Christ that He would become the Son at the Incarnation; it was the eternal declaration of the existing Sonship. Although this statement has direct bearing on “official” messianic Sonship, I believe that the language demands that this be viewed as a direct statement of the essential trinitarian Sonship of the Second Person of the Trinity, the eternal Son of God and chosen Mediator.

The statement “this day have I begotten thee” has caused some confusion, but it is a key statement for proper understanding of the psalm’s intent. The problem is that we tend to think of something begotten as having had a beginning. That Christ is the eternal Son of God and begotten at the same time seem to be mutually exclusive. How can both be true? The problem is more apparent than real. Although the word “begotten” can be used metaphorically, it usually refers to a familial rather than official relationship. This is why I say that the focus here is on the eternal trinitarian relationship. Again, the word usually – though not consistently – takes a distinct form depending on the subject of the verb (whether the mother, father, or midwife). In this text, the form used usually refers to the mother’s giving birth. It would be ludicrous and blasphemous even to hint that God the Father was the mother of Christ. The point is that the word is used not to suggest in any way a beginning of existence, but rather to underscore the existence of a Father-Son relationship.

Happily, the New Testament uses this verse in such a way as to confirm this interpretation: that the word speaks of the existence and not the inception of a relationship. In his sermon at Antioch in Pisidia, Paul specifically alluded to the second psalm and appealed to the statement “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee” as biblical proof that God had raised up Jesus from the dead (Acts 13:33). The fact that the Father had already spoken from heaven declaring Christ to be His Son at the baptism and transfiguration precludes interpreting the resurrection as the beginning of Sonship. Romans 1:4 explains why Paul used Psalm 2 in connection with the Lord’s resurrection: by the resurrection God declared in power that Christ was His Son. The resurrection was the conclusive, irrefutable evidence of who Christ was. It vindicated and confirmed His every claim, not the least of which was that God was His Father (see, for instance, John 8:16-29).

The third truth in Christ’s speech concerns His universal inheritance and unwavering authority. One of the details of that eternal agreement was that the Father would give a people to His Son. This same promise is in Isaiah 53:10. If the Servant would offer Himself for sin, He would see His seed. So according to the passage here, the heathen throughout the world would be Christ’s for the asking. This divine offer of a people throughout the world evoked David’s acknowledgement that the Seed promised through his family line was a revelation of truth for all mankind (2 Sam. 7:19). The promise of Messiah in the Old Testament was never a uniquely Jewish promise. Knowing what the Father promised the Son heightens the significance of the Great Commission that Christ gave His church to evangelize the world. Evangelism is the divinely intended means of claiming all that belongs to Christ. That ought to increase zeal and boldness in every evangelistic effort. All will in one way or another submit to Christ’s authority. He conquers either by grace or by the rod of iron. Sooner or later, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is the Lord, the only Christ of God.

Stanza 4: The Holy Spirit←⤒🔗

That threat is a fitting transition to the climactic final stanza in which the narrator recommends submission to Christ’s authority (vv. 10-12). If anything is clear from the last stanza of this song, it is that eternal destiny is linked to relationship with the Son. Since it is impossible to frustrate God’s eternal purpose in Christ, the best thing to do is to submit to it. With a series of five imperatives, the narrator appeals to men to submit to Christ. Being wise means to act wisely, setting aside the foolishness of rejecting Christ. Being instructed means to become teachable, setting aside the arrogance and obstinacy of self-will. Serving the Lord with fear means to surrender humbly to His authority, recognizing that He is the Lord, the Sovereign. Rejoicing with trembling means to find contentment and true happiness, in the awareness and fear of the Lord. Kissing the Son means to embrace Him in homage and worship. The consequences of obeying or disobeying this gracious invitation were and are fixed. Irresistible wrath is on those who do not submit, and indescribable blessing is on those who do. Those who refuse Christ will perish. Those who seek refuge in Christ as the only place of safety are saved. In the truest sense, it is Christ who rescues the perishing. Note that these commands to trust Christ or else suffer the consequences are not prophecies of how men would be saved after the Incarnation. Christ was the only object of saving faith in the Old Testament dispensation just as He is the only object of saving faith now.