The sinners and wicked in Psalm 1, who are standing and counseling in the ways of the world, are here counseling against God and Jesus Christ, the Anointed.
In the perverted and inverted world of man's wisdom, white is black and black is white, good is evil and evil is good. And as they walk in this wisdom, they seek to eliminate the "negative" (that is God's word of righteousness) while spewing the "good news" of evil.
Are the "people" pushing their leaders to anti-God decisions (like Pontius Pilot) or are the leaders leading their people down that path, or both? Either way, it's just noise in the "vain" and evil system that will pass away.Vs.3 "Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us."
We see in other OT passages where the Hebrew word 'mowcer', that is here translated "bands", refers to the irons that were placed around the slave's neck leading them along a path according to the will of the master:
Shake thyself from the dust; arise, [and] sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
Is. 52:2
and "cords" were used to restrain hands and arms":Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines [be] upon thee, Samson. And [there were] liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread. Jdg. 16:12
To the unconverted, God's word seems like the bands and cords of a slave because it tells a man where his feet should and shouldn't walk and who and how their hands should serve.
vs 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.
God here turns the table on those who were mocking His word in Psalm 1:1.God is now the One doing the mocking. Why? Because God's words of freedom and life are being ridiculed by fallen man as bondage, while their bands and cords of spiritual darkness and sin are hailed as freedom.
Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, [and] he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. Oh that [men] would praise the LORD [for] his goodness, and [for] his wonderful works to the children of men! Ps. 117:13-15
Fallen man is born in spiritual death and darkness---held by bands in the way of sin and forced by cords to serve the world and Satan. God offers forgiveness and freedom in Christ---freedom to walk in God's way of righteousness, and power and authority to serve our risen King. But to the wicked, bondage is freedom and freedom is bondage.vs 5 Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying,
God's mocking turns to words of judgment---but judgment mixed with mercy, and a call to repentance, as we see in the remainder of this Psalm.---------------------------------------------------------------
(the following four verses is a dialogue between God the Father and His Son)
[God says]: vs. 6 "But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain."
In scripture, mountains often symbolize the centers of kingdom power. The world's mountains mostly consist of unholy rulers that counsel and mock upon unholy mountains. But God has appointed his Son to be a vastly superior King of a vastly superior kingdom---New Jerusalem.
Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." John 18:36
We see the place where God's King rules is mount Zion, a place of grace. The time is growing short but the door is still open for all sinners to repent and enter into God's holy kingdom.
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels,to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of {the} righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than {the blood} of Abel. Heb. 12:22-24[Christ says]: vs 7 "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.
Jesus was sent into the world to accomplish God's work of salvation by accomplishing two works:[God says]: vs. 8-9 "Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the {very} ends of the earth as Your possession. 'You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.' "
1) to proclaim the words of His Father (the "decree"):
Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say {correctly} that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." John 18:37
2) To become the Lamb of God, the only begotten of the Father, that would take away the sins of the world.
For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, "SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME; IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND {sacrifices} FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE. "THEN I SAID, 'BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.' "Heb 10:4-7
In verse six, we see Christ being appointed by God to be King over a spiritual kingdom, New Jerusalem. Christ's reign as King of Kings over the earth is to be part of an inheritance that will initially involve words of judgment (the symbolic meaning of a "rod of iron"), resulting in the destruction of "earthenware"---i.e. flesh.
In the foregoing dialogue we see the Son, as King of heaven and earth, being subject to the Father's plans and purposes.
- God appoints His Son as the King of God's "mountain".
- God begets His Son and gives Him a "decree" for the world to hear
- God offers His Son the earth and authorizes Him as Ruler and Judge
And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, "YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN." This {expression,} "Yet once more," denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Heb. 12:26-27 [shaking the earth may well be when the winnowing of the chaff occurs (Psalm 1:5) where only the righteous in Christ remain as part of God's Kingdom.]
vs 10-12 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish [from] the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed [are] all they that put their trust in him.This Psalm ends with God's merciful but urgent warning to his enemies who think themselves wise, but they are fools.
Kings are surrounded by servants all day long. But wise kings will become servants...servants of the Lord.
We see the phrase 'fear and trembling' several times in the New Testament where each time it carries the meaning of 'undivided attention'. A sinner can only kiss the Son when he has turned away from the world's ways that are perishing. Kissing the Son must mean to personally receive by faith the words of the Son of God---words that issue forth from the heart of God into the heart of whosoever will.
See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned {them} on earth, much less {will} we {escape} who turn away from Him who {warns} from heaven...Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;for our God is a consuming fire. Heb. 12:25, 28
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