Let us turn again to God's Word
and turning this morning to Psalm 2, the second Psalm, and I'll
read the Psalm through. Psalm 2, Why do the heathen rage
and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth
set themselves And the rulers take counsel together against
the Lord and against His anointed, saying, Let us break their bands
asunder and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the
heaven shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision.
Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath and vex them in
His sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my
holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree The
LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee
the heathen for thine inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth
for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a
rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's
vessel. 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 He perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in Him. And I want to centre your attention
on the words that we find at verse 7. 7 forms our text I will declare
the decree the Lord has said unto me thou art my son this
day have I begotten thee and this word decree I will declare
the decree it has an extensive meaning we're told and it's to
be understood in terms of that which abrogates all else, all
other laws. Well, what is it that has that
preeminence over every other word that has ever proceeded
from the mouth of God? And here we see that it is clearly
the doctrine of Christ. It's the doctrine of Christ in
particular, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're told
in the New Testament, neither is there salvation in any other.
For there is none other name unto heaven given amongst men
whereby we must be saved. just sang that 50th hymn concerning
Moses and Christ. Many ways we see there it's based
upon the opening verses of Hebrews chapter 3. The law by Moses came,
but peace and truth and love were brought by Christ, a nobler
name, descending from above. amidst the house of God their
different works were done, Moses a faithful servant stood, but
Christ a faithful son." And if we turn to that third chapter
in the epistle to the Hebrews, we see quite clearly the basis
of those verses that were penned by Isaac Watts. There in Hebrews
3, 5, Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant,
for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after,
but Christ as a son over his own house, whose house are we,
if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope
firm unto the end. The law was given by Moses. but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And coming back to the
words of the text then, and what David is saying here in this
seventh verse concerning the decree. It's the word of David,
yes, but it's preeminently, of course, the word of David's greatest
son. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. who
is speaking in the psalm and says, I will declare the decree
and then this doctrine concerning Christ. The Lord hath said unto
me, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Well as we come to look more
carefully and closely at the passage, I want to begin by speaking
of the psalm more generally, and to say something in the first
place then with regards to the incarnation. This psalm, the
beautiful psalm, and it appears here right at the beginning of
the Psalter, and it is evidently a messianic psalm. There's no
disputing the fact that it is a psalm that speaks principally
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We find quotations from the psalm
on four occasions in the New Testament. It's mentioned, for
example, in Acts chapter 4 after Peter and John had been imprisoned
because of their bold preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. When
they were released and they returned to their own company, we have
mention of prayer being made on that occasion. There in Acts
chapter 4, verse 23, we're told, being let
go, they went to their own company and reported all that the chief
priests and elders had said unto them. And hearing this news,
they then lift up their voices in prayer to God. And what do
they say? Verse 25, Who by the mouth of
thy servant David hath said, Why do the heathen rage, and
the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood
up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. They quote in prayer in the opening
two verses of the second Psalm. and they continue of a truth
against thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed as Herod
and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel who
are gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy
counsel determined before to be done. They are pleading then
with God, praying to God, returning thanks to God And they do it
in terms of this particular psalm that speaks so plainly of those
events that they are in the midst of. After Christ has come and
accomplished His great work, and died, risen again, ascended
to heaven, and shed abroad the Holy Ghost. And here they are.
They're in the midst of proclaiming this great message, this decree. this doctrine, I will declare
the decree the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son, this
day have I begotten thee. And the words that we have as
a text, verse 7, these words are found on three separate occasions
in the New Testament. We have the sermon that Paul
preached at Antioch in Pisidia in Acts chapter 13, and you will
find Paul in the course of that preaching referring in particular
to this seventh verse there in Acts 13.33. And then again in
the two passages that we read in the epistle to the Hebrews,
there in Hebrews chapter 1. 5 Unto which of the angels said
he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.
And again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.
And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world,
he saith, I let all the angels of God worship him. A tremendous passage at the beginning
of that epistle then, which so plainly declares the deity and
the eternal sonship of the Lord Jesus and Paul, in Hebrews 1.5
quotes from the second Psalm and then again in that other
chapter that we read in Hebrews chapter 5 where he speaks of Christ's priesthood,
a priest not according to the order of Aaron, he's not of the
tribe of Levi, Christ is of the tribe of Judah and his priesthood
is to be traced back to that mysterious figure Melchizedek
And what did we read there in Hebrews 5? In verse 5, Christ
glorified not himself to be made an high priest, but he that said
unto him, Thou art my son, today have I begotten thee. And then
he goes on to speak of him as one after the tribe of Melchizedek,
or after the person of Melchizedek. How this particular psalm then
is taken up there in the New Testament Scriptures. And we
cannot dispute the fact that it is a psalm that is prophetic,
in that it speaks of those days, the days of the Gospel, and therefore
the very day in which we are living, the last days. And we
see how that this Gospel so much centers in the person of Christ. And doesn't the New Testament
make that so plain time and time again? We make much of the work
of Christ, and that is right and proper. The work that He
came to do, that work that was committed to Him in the eternal
covenant, that work that He must accomplish here upon the earth,
He must fulfill all righteousness, He must honor and magnify the
law of God. There must be that justifying
righteousness to impute to his people to cover them because
God requires a positive righteousness but the work of Christ is not
only one in which he honors the Lord in terms of its precepts
but he also of course goes on to honor that Lord in terms of
all its penalties, he bears the punishment his great substitutionary
atoning death that holy righteous sinless man made sin for others
and bearing in his own person that punishment we make much
of these things the work that the Lord Jesus Christ came to
fulfill and the work that Christ has accomplished and pleased
the Father and now the Father has raised him from the dead
and he has ascended again into heaven but we're not to lose
sight of the significance and the importance also of his person. And as I say, here with regards
to this decree, it concerns the doctrine of Christ but it is
principally his person, his person that he's being spoken of. And
the gospel centers in that sense in a person. And Paul does make
it very clear in the opening verses of the epistle to the
Romans. And remember that this epistle
is so much a gospel epistle. The gospel as it really is. I often think of that little
title that was given to a popular commentary on Romans that was
written by Stuart Elliot. Some of you may have seen it
or read it. It's a profitable read. And I
like the title that he gives to that commentary, The Gospel
As It Really Is. Romans. And how does Romans begin? Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which
he had promised afore by the prophets in the Holy Scriptures
concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the
seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the
Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by
the resurrection from the dead." Now observe what Paul is saying here. He
speaks of his apostleship. And what does that entail? He's
separated to the gospel. And then we have this parenthesis
in the second verse, this bracketed verse, which he had promised
afore by the prophets in the Holy Scriptures. He had promised
afore, in the Old Testament, in such a psalm as Psalm 2. He's referring really to such
portions as we're considering this morning. And then, he defines
what this gospel is that he's been separated unto. He concerns
God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. And he speaks of the two natures
of the Lord Jesus, that he is both God and he is also man. And first of all, of course,
he speaks of the reality of the incarnation. the truth of the
human nature of Jesus of Nazareth. He says in verse 3, concerning
his son Jesus Christ our Lord, and then we mark the words, which
was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. With
regards to his human nature, he is of the line of David. He is of the seed of David. And that really emphasizes the
glorious truth that He is a man. Who a man there is. A real man. As human as any of us. That's
the wonder of the Incarnation, that God became a man. And these are David's line. Again
we have the prophecy of the Old Testament, Isaiah 11 verse 1
there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and
a branch shall grow out of his root. There is the root of his
human nature. Jesse the father of David. This man who Zechariah goes on
to speak of whose name is the branch. Now remember how the
New Testament begins. There, in the opening words of
the Gospel according to St. Matthew, what do we read? The book of the generation of
Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Oh, he is
that one, you see, who is the son of David, the seed of David.
He's also the seed of Abraham. Go back further, he is the seed
of the woman. spoken of in Genesis chapter
3. But all of this is emphasizing
the blessed truth of his human nature. But we think in particular
of what it says there in those opening words of Matthew concerning
Christ and David's line. It's the generation of Jesus
Christ, the son of David. And then of course after that
we have the genealogy. And now it's worked out from
Abraham, through David, right the way through to Joseph, who
supposedly is the father of Jesus. There in Matthew 1.16, Jacob
begats Joseph, it says, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus,
who is called Christ. Now, in the genealogy, Time and
again, verse after verse it says, so and so begat so and so, so
and so begat so and so. We come to those words in verse
16, Jacob begat Joseph. But it doesn't say Joseph begat
Jesus. No. He was not the physical father
of Jesus. He was the husband of Mary, of
whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. Now, remember we have another genealogy
in Luke. It's in Luke chapter 4 that we
have the genealogy also as well as there in the opening chapter
of Matthew. But look at what it says there. I think it's chapter 4 rather chapter 3 not chapter
4 chapter 3 of Luke but it's a different genealogy when we
compare what we have in that chapter with what we find in
Matthew chapter 1 And the significant verse there is Luke 3.23. It says, "...Jesus himself began
to be about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son
of Joseph, which was the son of Heli." Now in Matthew's account
we are told it was a man called Jacob who begat Joseph. who was the husband of Mary.
But then in Luke, you see, it speaks of a man called Heli,
but it doesn't speak of Joseph as one who is begotten of this
man Heli. The wording is so different.
Jesus, about 30 years of age, being as was supposed the son
of Joseph, which was the son of Eli. He is the son-in-law
of Eli. And Jesus is the grandson of
this man Eli. It's a different line that's
being traced there. It's Mary's line. It's Mary's
line. But Mary also is of the same
line of David. So, Jesus of Nazareth is of the
line of David both through his supposed father, but more importantly
through his mother. Because that human nature that
the eternal Son of God takes to himself is derived from Mary. The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, says the angel, to the Virgin, the Holy Ghost shall
come upon thee, the power of the Highest shall overshadow
thee, therefore also that holy thing that shall be born of the
earth shall be called the Son of God." He is really born of
men. His very human nature is derived only from his mother. Well, that's the blessed truth
that we see then when we come to consider the great mystery
of godliness, how God was manifest in the flesh, the doctrine of
the incarnation. But, coming in particular to
the text, we've spoken in more general terms concerning the
incarnation and how this psalm, with other passages in the Old
Testament, speaks to us concerning Christ, it's prophetic, in that
sense it has its fulfillment in the Incarnation. But I want
to center my attention for a little while now upon precisely what
is being said here in verse 7. I will declare the decree And
then this doctrine, "...the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my
Son, this day have I begotten thee." And what is the truth
here? Well, it is that of the eternal Sonship of Christ. Yes, He is Mary's Son. He is the Son of Man. but He
is also the Son of God and He is the Eternal Son of God always
was, always will be the Son of God this day have I begotten thee
is what God has said to him in this decree, in this doctrine
Now, the expression this day, of course, and it's Luther who
says this, and I find this a tremendous statement. It neither implies
yesterday, nor tomorrow, but always a present time. Today. This day. And interestingly, isn't that
how it's rendered when it's quoted in Hebrews 5 verse 5? It says
there, Today have I begotten It's ever a present time. He is that one who is ever begotten,
eternally begotten of the Father. That's what's being declared
in the text. Again, look at the language of
the prophet, there in Micah chapter 5 and verse 2, concerning Christ,
whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. His goings forth is being begotten
from everlasting to everlasting again in the language of the
8th chapter of the book of Proverbs he says when there were no depths
I was brought forth when there were no fountains abounding with
water before the mountains were settled before the hills was
I brought forth he speaks of being brought forth that is being
begotten eternally begotten of the Father. He was not begotten
of a human father, there was no human father. He was born
of a human mother, yes, but he is the eternally begotten, the
only begotten son of the Father. In the language of John there
in his second epistle, The second epistle of John at verse 3, he
speaks of Christ as the Son of the Father in truth and in love. Oh, He is the Son of the Father
in truth, He is truly the Son of God. Now this is the great
doctrine, is it not? Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ, John says, hath not God? He that
abideth in the doctrine of Christ, He has both the Father and the
Son, the Eternal Father and the Eternal Son. If there's no Eternal
Son, there could never be an Eternal Father. Now, it's true
that believers are the adopted sons of God. That's a great wonder,
is it not? That we, who in our very natures
were alienated from God, enemies in our minds by wicked works,
we who were conceived in sin-shaping and iniquity, and in the eternal
purpose of God that such sinners should be the adopted sons of
God. It's a great doctrine, the doctrine
of adoption, and it's rooted and grounded in the Lord Jesus
Christ, that one who is the only begotten, He is the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. And when we come to
consider that doctrine, the doctrine that is being stated in this
text, wasn't this the real cause of his crucifixion? Why was Jesus
of Nazareth condemned to that cruel death of the cross? It
was all at the bidding of the Jews, we know that. but what
was it that they accused him of? The accusation was that of
blasphemy and it's evident early in his ministry in the fifth
chapter of John where he performs a miracle upon the lying man
at the pool of Bethsaida remember what happens there how
he performs a miracle on the on the Sabbath day and that's such an offense to
the Jews but there's something even more grievous and we see
it in what's written there in verse 18 of that fifth chapter
it says the Jews thought the more to kill him because he not
only had broken the Sabbath but said that God was his father
making himself equal with God Oh, when He said that God was
His Father, when He said that He was the Son of the Father,
the Eternal Son of God, they were more enraged, and they were
determined to kill Him. And eventually the time came. Eventually the time comes. There
were other occasions when they would have stoned Him, but His
time was not yet come at all. But the time did come, and Jesus
knew that time would come, and He determined to go up to Jerusalem
knowing full well those things that would befall Him there.
And what is it that they accuse Him of before the Roman governor? We have a law, they say, and
by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God. Here is the cause then of his
cruel death upon the cross. What we have in this very verse,
I will declare the decree the Lord hath set unto me, thou art
my son. This day have I begotten thee. What matters it? That it's an
offence to the Jews. It must be stated. And being
stated, it is the very cause of Him dying there upon the cross
at Calvary. What a doctrine is this! The
doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ in His person. Who He is, you
see, His person is bound up even with His work, His obedience
unto death, even the death of His cross. And that's why I want
to labour this point this morning, the importance of us having a
right understanding of the person. of Jesus of Nazareth, that He
is the Son of Man, but He is also the Son of God. And what
does Paul go on to say there, in the
opening verses of Romans, where he's defining the Gospel? He speaks of Him as the Son of
David, according to the flesh. made of the seed of David according
to the flesh but then he goes on to say this declared to be
the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by
the resurrection from the dead and see the difference you see
is made of the seed of David but he is declared to be the
son of God. And the word that is used there
is a very strong word and it's a word that in some ways is very
difficult to translate if we're going to bring out the force
of what is being said. J.C. Philpott himself of course
a classical scholar makes this remark, he says this word, this
verb to declare literally means to distinctly mark out and to
clearly define to distinctly mark out and to clearly define
as the Son of God and I say now that The text is quoted not only
in Hebrews 1 and Hebrews 5, but it's also quoted, remember, in
the preaching of the Apostle Paul there in Acts 13. He's in Antioch. And this is what he says. Acts
13.32, We declare unto you glad tidings, O that the promise that
was made unto the fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto
us, their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again, as
it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art my Son, this
day have I begotten Thee. And if that statement is read
superficially, it's so easily misunderstood. Some would say,
you see, that what Paul is saying there is declaring blood tithing,
he's preaching the gospel. we declare unto you glad tidings
it's the gospel he's preaching and he speaks about God hath
raised up Jesus again from the dead and then he refers to the
words of our text and some say oh well what he's saying is it
was in the resurrection it was in the resurrection that he became
the son of God he wasn't the son of God previous to that those
who deny eternal sonship They'd say, oh he was the Word of God,
he was always the Word of God, in the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. You know the language there in
John chapter 1. They say he's the Word of God, and what is
Paul saying in his sermon? When God raised him from the
dead he was the Son of God then. But he wasn't the Son of God
previous to that. But I say, that's a superficial reading.
Paul is not saying that. He is declaring the fact that
in the resurrection there's simply a demonstration of the truth
of his eternal sonship. That's what he's really saying,
in line with what he goes on to say there in Romans 1-4. Those verses at the beginning
of that Roman Epistle are so significant, so important with
regards to our understanding of this doctrine, the doctrine
of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, turning again
to those verses, look at just what he is saying. This Gospel that he's spoken of in verse
1, then we have the parenthesis in verse 2, so really the line
of his thinking runs from the end of verse 1 to the beginning
of verse 3. The parenthesis is that. It's a thought introduced, but
he says he's separated out of the Gospel of God concerning
his son, concerning God's Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which
was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared
to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. Let's just examine it for a short
while. He says of Christ that according
to the flesh according to the flesh he is of the seed of David. That's the human nature. And then he goes on to say this,
according, he speaks of Christ being declared as the Son of
God according to the spirit of holiness. According to the spirit
of holiness. That's referring to his divine
nature. David's seed according to the flesh, the Son
of God according to the Spirit of Holiness. Now, here the word
Spirit of Holiness isn't referring to God the Holy Spirit. It's
really referring to His divine nature. With regards to His human nature,
He is David's seed. With regards to His divine nature,
He is the Son of God. And it's interesting because
there are occasions in the Scriptures where this expression in relation
to Christ the Spirit doesn't refer to the Holy Spirit, but
refers to Christ's divine nature. We have another example in Hebrews,
in Hebrews 9 and verse 14. Paul speaks of Christ, who through
the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God. When he
dies, he offers himself through the eternal Spirit. Now, Some again speak of the
death of Christ in these terms. They say that what died upon
the cross was the human nature. The divine nature, they say,
that could never die. If He's the eternal Son of God,
if He's very God of very gods, that divine nature could never
die. It was simply the human nature,
but we cannot reason like that. It wasn't a nature that died
upon the cross, it was a person. We cannot divide the natures
in Christ. Those natures, human and divine,
are joined together. The apostatic union, as they
call it, He is one person, and when he dies, he dies as God-man. And when he speaks there of the
eternal spirit being offered, he refers to the divine nature. It's a mystery. We cannot begin
to understand or to explain it. But so is the truth. It's the whole Christ who dies
upon the cross. It's the God-man. and so coming
back to these words in in Romans 1 and verse 4 he's
declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit
of holiness, that's his divine nature just as he is the seed of David
according to the flesh and his glorious divine nature is evidenced
in his rising again from the dead. Death could not hold this
one. This is the God-man, he vanquishes death because he has
vanquished sin and sin is the consequence of death. He is that
one who has triumphed gloriously and this is the doctrine you
see. What does God say in the context here? Yet have I set my King upon my
holy hill of Zion." It is God who is declaring that truth that
we have in verse 6. God says He has set this King,
this God-man upon the holy hill of Zion. It's a psalm, it's a psalm of
David, David is the human author, we know that. What does it say
there in Acts 4? We referred at the beginning
to Acts chapter 4, where in that prayer in the early church, rejoicing
over the release of Peter and John from the prison, where they'd
been confined because they'd been preaching Christ, as they
begin to pray and give thanks to God, by the mouth of thy servant
David, they say. and then they quote the words
at the beginning of the psalm, remember? They're in Acts 4.25
following. It is God speaking by the mouth
of his servant David. It's not David's words really,
it's the words of God by divine inspiration speaking through
a man. Well, when David comes to the
end of his life, what does he say there in the opening words
of 2 Samuel 23? These be the last words of David. The sweet psalmist of Israel
said, The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me. His word was in
my tongue. It is God who is speaking here
by the mouth of his servant David. And what is God speaking of?
He is speaking of this one who then goes on to declare the decree. The Lord hath said unto me, Thou
art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And there we have such
a remarkable contrast here in the psalm. The words that God
speaks How contrasted are they not? Verse 4, we read, He that
sitteth in the heaven shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in division.
Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in
his sword his pleasure. Yet have I set my King upon my
holy hill of Zion. All of that contrasted with all
the ragings of men. Why do the heathen rage? And
the people imagine vain things, the kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
his anointed saying let us break their bands asunder and cast
away their cords from us. All men reject the message you
see. But what does it matter? The ragings of unbelief, what
does it matter? God says the heaven is my throne,
the earth is my footstool. Our God is in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever He pleases. This is our comfort. We might
just be a handful. Ah, but we have God on our side. And they that know their God
shall be strong and do exploits. Yet have I set my King upon my
holy hill of Zion. Oh, remember the words of the
Lord Jesus when he comes to the end of his ministry. He humbled himself. He was truly
of the seed of David according to the flesh. He knew all the
humiliation of a human life here upon the earth. But when he's
accomplished all that great work and he comes to give commission
to his Apostles there at the end of Matthew, all power, he
says. All authority is given unto me
in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto
the end of the world. Oh, he is that one who has authority,
he humbled himself, and what has God done? God has exalted
him. This is the way of God. Oh, this
is the way of God. We see it so wonderfully in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know the language of
Philippians chapter 2. And he speaks there, it's a remarkable
passage, Philippians 2, concerning the person and work of Christ
but it's in the whole context of lowliness of mind let this
mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus our Lord and
you remember how he goes on he speaks of Christ being in the
form of God he sought it not robbery to be equal with God,
he's equal with God but he made himself of no reputation, he
took upon him the form of a servant He was made in the likeness of
men being found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore,
Paul says, God also hath highly exalted him, given him a name
which is above every name, that is the name of Jesus. Every knee
should bow of things in heaven and in earth and under the earth
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father or the way whereby Christ was exalted it
was by his humiliation it leads ultimately to his exaltation and that authority
that he exercises head over all things to the church which is
his body the fullness of him that filleth all in awe. And what are we to learn? The
importance of humiliation. God resisteth the proud. God
giveth grace unto the humble. Humble yourselves therefore unto
the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due season. in the language that we have
there in the epistle of James. James 4.10, Humble yourselves,
he says, in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up. Oh, what does this doctrine of
Christ teach us? Does it not teach us the importance
of humility? He is that one who is to receive
all the honour and all the glory. Isn't that what Paul is saying
there in that opening chapter of the Hebrew epistle that we
read and those words that we find at verse 5 where he's quoting
the text unto which of the angels said he at any time thou art
my son this day have I begotten thee and again I will be to him
a father and he shall be to me a son and again when he bringeth
in the first begotten into the world he saith and let all the
angels of God worship him the angels are to worship him and
yet the angels have no interest in this great salvation that
he came to accomplish he came to accomplish salvation not for
fallen angels but for fallen men for sinners such as we are
Or the angels worship Him? Are we those also who desire
to worship Him? What a gracious word of invitation
does the psalm finish on? Oh, it says to us, kiss the psalm. Kiss the psalm. Oh, the intimacy
you see of that kiss, not the kiss of a Judas who betrays the
Lord, but a case of real and true affection. Are we those who can say that
we love Him? And we love Him so much we want
to understand all these profound truths. I fear that this morning
in some ways I've been dealing with things that are altogether
out of my depth. I trust that they've been something
of some prophet, but there's so much to consider, is there
not, when we think of the glories that belong unto the person.
of our Lord Jesus Christ kiss the Son lest he be angry and
he perish from the why when his wrath is kindled but a little
all we read in the Revelation do we not somewhat of the wrath
of the Lamb strange imagery we have there the wrath of the Lamb
that creature that is such a tender creature really kiss the Son
Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him. Or that we
might know that blessing being those who as we love Him so we
trust in Him. Or we look to Him by faith and
we trust Him for all our salvation. It's all bound up in His person. It's all bound up in His work,
or that the Lord then might come and make these things real to
each and all of us. May the Lord bless his word today.