Christ Lutheran Church

Why do the nations rage
    and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
    and the rulers take counsel together,
    against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
“Let us burst their bonds apart
    and cast away their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
    the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
    and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“As for me, I have set my King
    on Zion, my holy hill.”
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
    today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
    and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
    and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
    be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear,
    and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss 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.

Meditation:

The subject of this psalm is fairly straightforward. In the very first verse, the psalm is addressed to the nations of the world and in particular the kings and rulers of those nations. It is the nature of those rulers and kings, the psalm tells us, to set themselves against the Lord and against the Lord’s Christ, his anointed one. The sinful corruption of the world is very often funneled into those who are vested with power and authority. The temptation to adore and worship money and fame and power is the great temptation for all rulers. We see this very clearly throughout history. And what does sin drive them to do? It drives them to desire what is expedient for themselves rather than to desire justice and righteousness.

And so the desire of the rulers is to cast off the bonds and cords that the Lord has put in place, that is, they desire to cast off the Law of God as their standard. St. Paul is very clear to us in Romans that the governing authorities have been established to reward those who do good and to punish and kill those who do evil. And how are the rulers to judge what is good and what is evil? They are to judge good from evil based on the Law of the Lord, summarized for us in the 10 Commandments.

But listen to the response of the Lord. He who sits in the heavens laughs, and he holds them in derision. The creator of all, indeed the one who has given authority and power to all who possess it, is in no way threatened. It is trivial to him, like a child who fights against his father. There is no comparison between the two.

For the Father has set his king on Zion. That is Christ. Christ is the one who is seated as King triumphant at the right hand of God, the seat of power and authority over all the earth, HE has set all things under his feet, so that the world is his footstool. The nations are heritage of the Lord Christ, that is, they are his. And those rulers who take counsel against him will be crushed with an iron rod, and it will be as easy for him to do this as a strong man smashed a pot of clay.
Now this brings to mind an important aspect of biblical theology and of our Lutheran heritage, and that is what is known as the doctrine of the two kingdoms. There are two kingdoms, both equally established by God, that is the left-hand kingdom or the governing authorities, and the right-hand kingdom, which is the Church of Christ. Now, this has often erroneously been taken or understood in the sense of our modern political conception of the separation between Church and state, in which the State and the Church operate completely separated from one another. God is the ruler of the church, and the government is the ruler of the state. And this has led some to believe that God and his Law have no business or bearing in the governing of a nation. Perhaps you have heard the popular phrase that you cannot legislate morality.

But this is actually nonsense, and this is not what the doctrine of the two kingdoms established. Rather, the doctrine of the two kingdoms says that in the left-hand kingdom of the state, God rules through kings and other rulers according to his Law. In the right-hand kingdom of the Church, the Lord rules and functions through his Word, both his Law and his Gospel, and Holy Sacraments. The left hand state curbs and punished wickedness according to the Law of God and in the right-hand kingdom, God’s grace is poured out and God makes for himself a faithful people to receive his grace.

God is equally at work in both the right-hand and the left-hand kingdoms. He is not at work in the exact same way, but his power and rule and authority is equal in both. We hear this in the psalm, “Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.” What is this if not the Lord commanding that every ruler of all nations owes to him the obedience of faith? What is this if not the Lord commanding every single ruler of the world that they are to kneel before him, and govern according to his will? Serve the Lord with fear, and kiss the Son of God, lest he be angry.

Now of course the church is not in the business of creating for itself a theocracy or establishing for itself a worldly rule. Christ’s kingdom is not of this world. But, it is the duty of every Christian to pray that all of our leaders would be God-fearing men and I think we may also say that it is incumbent upon every Christian to desire faithful Christian rulers, because this it would seem is the desire of the Lord himself, that all rulers would serve him and kiss in homage the Son of God. This is not putting our trust in princes, but rather this is praying that the will of the Lord would be done. We submit to the authorities regardless, unless we are commanded to sin or participate in sin. But nevertheless it ought to be our desire to be ruled by Christians, because our desires and wills should conform to the desire and the will of the Lord, as we hear in psalm 2.

So may our prayers ascend to God the Father, that his will would be done in the kingdoms of the world, and that we would be enabled to live in peace and quietness throughout all our days.

God go with you. Amen.