Subscription Lists

Psalm 2 opens with a most contemporary and highly relevant question. "Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?"

Have you ever asked the question 'Why'? Why is this happening? Why O God, am I in this situation? Why are these things happening around the world? Why do people rage against God and conspire against the people of God? Why do people plan and plot to outwit God - and become furious with those who name the name of Jesus Christ? Rebellion is a fact of life. This is a vivid true description of the hatred of human nature - agitation and anger - against the Christ of God - and the people of God. We read of the kings of the earth standing against God, and the rulers of the peoples gathering together against the Lord and His Anointed One. It is what we would class as a clique. It is usually those who are against Jesus Christ who conspire together, and not those who are believers in Jesus. They say, "Let us break their chains and throw off their fetters." Let us get rid of this religious yoke, and free ourselves from all this slavery to God. They do it deliberately, but there is no safety in such numbers. We are reading of something that has not changed for hundreds of years, and it is very much the theme of many governments today. It is NOT temporary. It is not a passing phase. It is an obvious indication of the spiritual warfare in which we are involved and which we do sometimes even think that it did not exist - yes, even in the church. Here we see something of the hatred of human nature against the Christ of God. It is not who we are that matters - but whose we are. This was true in the days of the Psalmist, and so very true as soon as Jesus was born. Men's hatred was hot. They were so full of self-confidence that they could get rid of Jesus once and for all. That is why they plotted to have Jesus betrayed and arrested and crucified. Man actually thought it was possible to get rid of Jesus, and to be rid of GOD. He still does. There is a futility of fighting against the rule of God. It does not make sense, because it leads men away from God and His Ways. It is all so irrational. We read of it as soon as Jesus Christ launched and birthed the Church. Acts Chapter 4 verses 25,26 and in Hebrews Chapter 1 verse 5 - and of course in various other New Testament books. Man has had this desire to be independent of God, and to live without God and His Word. There have been times when restraint has been thrown off. Let us just live as we please, and believe whatever we choose to believe. So many have tried to shake off any dependence upon God, and giving any heed to God's ways. Roman Emperor Diocletian, in 313, tried to extinguish the name of Christ and abolish 'the superstition of Christ'. And so today we are moving into what the Bible describes as a reign of lawlessness. Resolutions of rebellion are doomed to failure. Rebellious men view submission to God as imprisonment, but it is the very opposite according to Jesus.

"'Winging It" from Stan Smith

Moralism

Read Article »