REJECTED OF MEN

The opening verses of Psalm 2 have yet to receive their complete and final fulfilment. This will come at the end of the age, in the period preceding the Lord’s return to reign.

The early church, however, saw a partial fulfilment of the passage in the rejection of the Lord Jesus at His first coming. Faced with fierce opposition from the Jewish chief council, the apostles quoted verses 1 and 2 in prayer, adding, “For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together”, Acts 4. 27. The four categories of men mentioned in the psalm correspond to those specified by the apostles. “The kings of the earth” were represented by Herod Antipas, Luke 23. 7-11, and “the rulers” by Pontius Pilate. “The heathen” denote the Gentiles who played a crucial part in the rejection of Christ, and “the people” indicate the nation of Israel, Acts 4. 10, 27.

The apostles took encouragement from the fact that those who opposed the Lord and His anointed were able only to “do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done”, v. 28. Even God’s enemies acted by His permission! The Lord informed Pilate that he possessed no power against Him except that which came from above, John 19. 11. He went to the cross only because “it was determined”, with His rejection taking place according to God’s “determinate counsel and foreknowledge”, Luke 22. 22; Acts 2. 23. God was in control of every event, and His foes were the unwitting instruments of His will and purpose. Praise God, He still reigns today! Without violating or destroying man’s free will and responsibility, He still works all things according to the counsel of His own will.

The Christian appreciates that the Lord’s rejection was no accident or tragic happening. It formed an essential part of God’s eternal purpose. The Lord was “delivered” not only by Judas, the Jewish leaders and Pilate, Matt. 26. 15; 27. 2, 26, but by God Himself, “for us all”, Rom. 8. 32. By God’s grace, we have renounced all association with those who were “gathered together” against the Lord and are numbered among those who “gather together” to Him and in His Name, Matt. 18. 20.