December 13
“He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: ‘Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion,’” Psalm 2:4-6.
Three times in the Book of Psalms, the psalmist speaks of God laughing; it is recorded in the text above, in Psalm 37:13, and in Psalm 59:8. In each instance, it is a laugh in derision, as the psalmist says: “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision.” It is a laugh of mockery, ridicule, and scorn. God is in the heavens; He is the Creator and Ruler of the whole universe. In another place, the psalmist wrote, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork,” Psalm 19:1. In another psalm, he wrote, “Our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases,” Psalm 115:3. Twice, the psalmist says, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good,” Psalm 14:1, 53:1.
The almighty Creator, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe sees and knows the people who are trying to dethrone Him. He looks down from heaven in derision, as if to ask, “Who do you little sinful weaklings think you are?” He especially holds in derision the proud, prominent, and powerful people whose positions have gone to their heads, and who think that they can defy the almighty God and do as they please and get away with it. All of people’s efforts to dethrone God make God laugh!
In dealing with these people, the patience of God will come to an end. “He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure.” The time will come when God’s wrath and displeasure will be visited upon the ungodly; it will be visited upon them for their unbelief and their rejection of God as being the only true God and their rejection of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior of all sinners. God will visit them with His judgment, perhaps to a degree in this life, but for sure in the life that is to come.
With a special word, the Lord calls the attention of sinners to the fact that there is One who is ruling. He says, “I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.” This is a reference to Christ the King, who rules with everlasting power. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. The statement that the King is on the holy hill of Zion refers to the holy Christian Church. Originally, the temple stood on the hill called Zion. It was the center of worship for Old Testament believers.
In the New Testament times, Christ the King rules with His Word and Sacraments in the holy Christian Church, which is an invisible body of all and only believers in Jesus as the Son of God and the Savior from sin, death, and the power of the devil. In his Epistle to the Colossians, the apostle Paul writes, “(Christ) is the head of the body, the Church,” Colossians 1:18.
May God keep us in the saving faith so that we will never try to dethrone Him and never deny Jesus Christ as the Son of God and our only Savior from sin, death, and the power of the devil!
“Help us to serve Thee evermore
With hearts both pure and lowly,
And may Thy Word, that light divine,
Shine on in splendor holy,
That we repentance show,
In faith ever grow;
The pow’r of sin destroy,
And all that doth annoy.
Oh, make us faithful Christians!” Amen.