1.4 Submission

Psalm 2:10-12a “Now therefore, be wise, O Kings; be instructed, you Judges of the Earth. Serve the LORD with fear (reverential 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.” The Admonition of God the Father is to the Kings and Rulers of the Earth, the Executive and Judicial Branches of Government. True wisdom is in submission while there is time and before the judgement falls. If the rebellious men do not bend, they will break. In the light of this, Five Important Instructions are given to the Totality of God’s Requirements:

1.4.1 Be Wise

Psalm 2:10-12a “Now therefore, be wise, O Kings; be instructed, you Judges of the Earth. Serve the LORD with fear (reverential 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.” The Admonition of God the Father is to the Kings and Rulers of the Earth, the Executive and Judicial Branches of Government. True wisdom is in submission while there is time and before the judgement falls. If the rebellious men do not bend, they will break. In the light of this, Five Important Instructions are given to the Totality of God’s Requirements:

1.4.2 Be Instructed

Psalm 2:10b “be instructed (taught), you Judges of the Earth.” – Be taught by experience, as addressed to the Judicial Officers – if they (Judicial Officers) are not wise enough to know beforehand, that opposition towards God, is futile. Learn the Divine Purpose and Plan concerning His Son, the Anointed One (Jesus Christ). Compare the advice of Gamaliel (Acts 5:38-39). A colloquial translation might render the first two instructions: “Wise up; get smart.” With such enlightened attitudes and divinely illumined spirits they then could Serve, Rejoice, and Kiss (pay homage) to the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

1.4.3 Serve the Lord

Psalm 2:11a “Serve the LORD with fear (reverential fear).” – The term “Serve” includes the surrender of the will and the submission of the heart. It means to come under King Jesus’ Rule and to obey Him. The NASB renders Psalm 2:11a: “Worship the LORD with reverence.” In the Old Testament and New Testament, Serve is often used in parallel with the attitude of “Worship” (Deuteronomy 6:13; Deuteronomy 10:20; Matthew 3:10; John 9:31; Romans 1:25):

• Psalm 100:2 summons us to Worship: “Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His Presence with Singing.”
• That Worship means Submission is seen in Psalm 95:6 “Oh come, let us Worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.”

The Fear (Reverence) in Service comes from a sense of awe and even terror before God’s Majesty, Power, and Holiness (Exodus 20:18-21).  If the Rebels will not Serve Him (Honour and Obey Him) from love, they will do it from fear, when God’s Wrath is kindled.

1.4.4 Rejoice

Psalm 2:11b “An rejoice with trembling.” – Worship includes joy; do not content with fear. Go on from fear to joy. A good Person “Rejoice in God always” (Philippians 4:4). This joy comes from the God’s Presence: “In Your Presence is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11). It is not sentimental, however; it includes the “fear” (reverence) of the previous phrase now manifest by “trembling.” So, such rejoicing must be “with trembling;” or, with reverence, since no service is acceptable to God, but such as is rendered “with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28). Fear (Reverential Fear) without joy is torment; and joy without holy Fear (reverence), would be presumption.

Perhaps the typical Charismatic Church needs: “Rejoice with trembling” underscored. We sometimes forget that it is possible to put these two things (“rejoicing with trembling”) side by side. Often when we rejoice, we lose our sense of dignity, and when we fear God, we forget to enjoy our positions of Sonship to rejoice.

1.4.5 Kiss the Son

Psalm 2:12a “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little.” – The attitude of submission to the Lord Jesus Christ and joy and awe in His (Christ’s) Presence leads then to an Act (“Kiss” = Honour) of submission. Kissing the Son is an Act of Worship and Honouring. It is the Sign of Surrender. Thus, the Greek word for Worship, Proskuneó, means “Come toward to Kiss.”

To Surrender to our Lord Jesus, to Rejoice in His Presence, and to Kiss (Worship) Him (Jesus) in an Act of Submission, means that Rebellion is over, and Reconciliation has taken place. Apart from this, there is only His (God’s) Anger, Wrath, and the Perishing.

• Repentance – In Luke 7:38 it is a Sign of Repentance. The poor woman who came into the house of Simon and stood behind Jesus did five things: She wept, she washed His feet with tears, she wiped them with the hairs of her head, she kissed His feet, and she anointed them with the ointment. The tears and the kiss were evidence of true Repentance. Our Lord Jesus said, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much.”
• Forgiveness – The Kiss is also a token of Forgiveness (Luke 15:11-24) the Prodigal Son came back home to his father, and after his confession, received a Kiss of Forgiveness, a ring, a robe, shoes on his feet, and a welcome home banquet.
• Homage and Loyalty – (Genesis 41:40; 1Samuel10:1). The ARV renders the expression, “with trembling kiss His feet.” The Kissing of Royal feet and hands was a symbol of Homage. The negative example is Judas, who crowned his treachery with a kiss

To “Kiss the Son” means more than to pay homage to Him. It means to embrace Him, depend entirely upon Him; to kiss Him, and not be ashamed of that fact (Song of Sol. 8:1). “Kiss the Son” is the Old Testament way of saying: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31)

1.5 Son

Psalm 2:12a “Kiss the Son.” –  It is interesting to notice that two words for “Son” are used in Psalm 2:

• Psalm 2:7, the term “Son” is “ben.”It is the Jewish word “Ben-jamine”
• Psalm 2:12a, the term “Son” is “bar.”  It is a Gentile word “Bar-abbas.” 

Why the difference? The first “ben” (Psalm 2:7) is Christ relationship with God as the Son of His Right Hand; the second “bar” (Psalm 2:12a), Christ relation to the Gentile Powers referred to in Psalm 2. At the Crucifixion they cried, away with Him, give us Bar-abbas. The use of the word here would be a stab at their conscience. Judas gave Him the kiss of hypocrisy and treachery, but here the admonition is to Kiss the Son in true Contrition and Repentance. If Psalm 2 was written at the time of the Absolom’s rebellion, what a tragic local reference it has!

1.6 The Pleas

Psalm 2:12a “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little.” – Psalm 2 ends with two Powerful Pleas:

• God’s Anger – “Lest He (God) be angry” – The omission of a customary token of respect is an insult which naturally angers the object of it. The compassion, gentleness, tenderness of Jesus, are sometimes dwelt on to the exclusion of His (Jesus’) Majesty and Righteousness. There is no more greater Warning in the Scripture that the “Wrath of the Lamb” (Revelation 6:16-17).
• Perish – “And ye perish from the Way.” If an Individual refuses, he perishes from the Way (the Lord Jesus Christ – John 14:6); the Individual wanders; he misses the Way (Jesus) and is seriously lost; he perishes as the result of being lost. Professor Cheyne’s rendering is: “You (Individual) goes to ruin.”  To make the Son (Jesus) is to bring destruction on himself or course in life –because of God’s Wrath – “When His (God’s) Wrath is kindled but a little.”

1.7 The Blessings

Psalm 2:12b “Blessed are all they who put their trust in Him.” – Psalm 2 ends of “blessing” echoes Psalm 1:1 and links the two Psalms together. It ends with the phrase described the Believer’s Place of Blessedness. The Person arrives there by putting his trust in God. Psalm 2 ends with the Promise, using the same line of thought with which Psalm 1 begins: “Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.”

It is foolish to fret and chafe against God’s Government. All Mankind is under Christ, whether in this state of being or in any other. Christ has the Heart of Love as well as the Sceptre of Power; and He rules to Save. Those who will not submit to the Sceptre of Christ’s Grace must feel the weight of His iron rod. True Blessedness is found in submission to Christ; this Blessedness is Greater than Tongue can Express or Heart Conceive.

• In Psalm 1 we see the Wicked driven away like chaff (Psalm 1:4); in Psalm 2, we see the Wicked (Rebellious) broken in Pieces like the Potter’s Vessel.
• In Psalm 1, we beheld the Righteous, are blessed and like the Tree planted by the Rivers of Water (Psalm 1:3); and in Psalm 2 we contemplate Christ the Covenant Head of the Righteous, made better than a Tree Planted by the Rivers of Water, for He is made King of the whole Universe, and all the Nations and People will bow before Him (Philippians 2:10).

1.8 Evangelistic

Psalm 2 is Evangelistic. It is addressed to the Nations. It beats with Missionary Heart. It is the Nations who are in revolt against Christ (Psalm 2:2). It is the Nations, however, who are promised to Him (Psalm 2:8). And it is the Nations who are called to Him (Psalm 2:10).

Psalm 2 directs the Nations to the Son (Jesus), warns the Nations of God’s Judgement to come, and Promises the Blessing if the Nations Worship (Serve) Him. Thus, Psalm 2 is for all the Nations and People. It is for the Nations, the Gentiles who submit to God’s Son and King.

In Psalm 2, the learning is: “Serve the LORD with fear, rejoice with trembling,” and “Kiss the Son.” Psalm 2 is also structuring an Evangelistic Invitation. It defines the problem, the Nations’ Revolt.

Psalm 2 offers the Solution: “God’s Son (Jesus).” Psalm 2 warns of judgement to come and calls us to surrender to Him (Jesus) in Worship (Serve). The road back to God the Father is already marked and the Way (Jesus) is open. Christ who stands at the Way, we must come and receive Him….”Kiss the Son.”

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