In the words of God, let us turn
again to the book of Psalms. That text tonight is found in
the 2nd Psalm and verses 6 and 7. The 2nd Psalm, verses 6 and
7. 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. You might say of whom does the
Psalmist speak these things and we can find the answer even in
this book, when we turn to the New Testament, because this psalm
is evidently a messianic psalm. In that remarkable sermon that
we read, the sermon that was preached by the Apostle Paul
at Antioch in Pisila, we see how
he makes a specific reference to this psalm. There in Acts 13 at verse 32
as he is preaching the gospel. He says, We declare unto you
the glad tidings, O that the promise which 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 not only so, but previously,
in the same Acts of the Apostles, we have the prayer of Peter and
John in chapter 4, Remember how they had performed a remarkable
miracle in the healing of that man who was lying at the beautiful
gate of the temple and how this had caused a great stir amongst
the Jews and they'd been taken hold of, arrested. But here in
chapter 4 we find these men now released and returning their
thanks unto God for what He had done on their behalf. And this
is part of that prayer as we have it recorded in that fourth
chapter of the Acts. And they lifted up their voice
to God with one accord and said, Lord, thou art God which has
made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is, all that
in them is, who by the mouth of thy servant David has said,
Why did the heathen rage? And the people imagined vain
things. The kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. They are quoting from Psalm 2.
For out of truth against thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast
anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and
the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings,
and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak
thy word by stretching forth thine hand to heal, and that
signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child
Jesus. Again then, here in Acts 4 we
have New Testament authority indicating who it is that David
is speaking of in the second psalm. This psalm is a Messianic
psalm. It's prophetic, it speaks of
the Lord Jesus Christ. 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. I want us to consider then some
three headings from these verses. First of all we have the proclamation
of God in verse 6 and then we consider the content of that
proclamation, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and then thirdly
I want to say something with regards to the people of God
spoken of here in terms of the holy hills of Zion. Zion of course is a typical name and the church
is God's spiritual Zion. Let us begin with the proclamation
that God himself is making here in verse 6. Yet, he says, have
I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. And you will observe
immediately if you have a Bible with marginal notes that The
Hebrew, we're told, that is rendered in the text as set, also has
the meaning of anointed. I have anointed my king. I have
anointed my king. And it is Christ, of course.
The very name Christ means the anointed. But who is the one
who is making this proclamation? Well, it is God Himself who is
speaking. speaking here by the mouth of
his servant David, as they say in that prayer in Acts chapter
4 and verse 25, who by the mouth of thy servant David spake. David in the psalm is but the
mouthpiece of God. All these holy men of God spoke,
we're told, by Peter, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And remember the testimony of
King David when he comes to the end of his days. And we have
the record there in the second book of Samuel of what David
said even on his deathbed. And now he is seen to be one
who acknowledges God and God's covenant. Now these be the last
words of David. David the son of Jesse said,
and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the
God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel said, The Spirit of
the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The Spirit
of the Lord spake by David. God's words was in David's tongue. What we have then here in our
text tonight is not so much the word of David. This is God's
proclamation concerning this man who is spoken of as my King. And it is not David, it is one
greater than David that is spoken of. Yet have I set my King upon
my holy hill of Zion. Now, in the original here, the
pronoun is quite emphatic. There's a repetition, it literally
says, I, even I have set or anointed my King upon my holy hill of
Zion. Observe then the power and the
authority of God as He is proclaiming the thing that He has done. He has all power, He has all
authority, He is God. He that sitteth in the heavens,
we read at verse 4, shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. There is a contrast in this psalm
between the Word of God and the power and the authority of that
Word of God and all the ravings and the ragings of the ungodly
who set themselves against God, the unbelievers. Why do the heathen
rage and the people imagine the 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, and then God, He that sitteth in the heavens, shall laugh.
For the power, the authority that belongs unto God. Heaven
is His throne, earth is His footstool. Why He takes up the nations of
the earth as a very little thing, even as a drop in a bucket or
fine dust on a balance. Our God is in the heavens, says
the psalmist elsewhere, he hath done whatsoever he pleased. And you see here in the words
of our text, there is some significance in this opening word, yet, Yet
have I set my king. It matters not. It matters not
how men might dispute the divine sovereignty. All is settled.
All is settled. God has set his king. God has
anointed his king. This is the force of that opening
word in the text. Yet. Oh, there is such a contrast
between God and all the ragings of unbelieving men. All the inhabitants of the earth,
says Nebuchadnezzar, who himself was such a proud monarch, whom
God, of course, humbles to the very dust, as we see in Daniel
chapter 4, and he comes to make that acknowledgement, that confession,
all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. and
he doeth according to his will among the armies of heaven and
the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, or
say unto him, What doest thou? And here we have God's proclamation
concerning this particular person, my King, how God has set him
up and established him. All remember the words of the
Lord Jesus, As he comes to the very end of his earthly ministry,
there in the closing verses of Matthew's Gospel, here is Christ
now, He has come, He has fulfilled all righteousness. He came, of
course, to do the will of Him who had sent Him and to finish
His work. And now that work was a finished
work. Christ had been born in a state
of abject poverty, He had grown to manhood. He had submitted
to John's baptism of repentance. He had undertaken his earthly
ministry as that one who was a true prophet sent from God,
preaching the word of God, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of
God. But not only had he fulfilled his ministry as one who is the
true prophet of God, but also that one who is the great priest,
the great high priest. He had made that one sacrifice
for sins by His obedience unto death, even the death of the
cross. And then on the third day, He
had risen again from the dead, shown Himself to His disciples
by those many infallible proofs, and that's so much part of the
sermon that we read of Paul's error in Acts 13. there were
those men who were witnesses to the truth of his rising again
from the dead and he was about to ascend to heaven and what
does he sigh as he comes to the end of his earthly ministry the
closing verses of Matthew's gospel all power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth go ye therefore Oh, He is that One, you see,
who has authority. God says it in His proclamation,
Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. God hath put all things under
His feet, and given Him to be the head over all things, to
the church which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth
all in all. And friends, we live in this
Gospel day and it is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who is yet
the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He rules and He reigns
throughout this whole earth in this the day of grace and yet
we remember the way in which He came to this exalted position
or remember the language of the Apostle again writing in the
familiar second chapter of Philippians, he thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. Equality with God was not something
he needed to be grasping after. He was, he is, equal to God. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, took upon him
the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men,
and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Yet have I said, My King, saith
God, upon my holy hill of Zion. Here is the manner of it, by
his humiliation. Because Paul continues there
at verse 9, Wherefore, or therefore we would now say God also hath
highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things
in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father here is the way the manner of his
exaltation he is exalted and the Way whereby He has come to
that position is by that way of sufferings, by that way of
humiliation, obedient to all the will of His Father, even
to the death of the cross. Oh God, resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.
Thou Christ, you see, that One who so humbled Himself is now
the One so highly exalted. Yet have I set my King upon my
holy hill of Zion." We have the proclamation there. And it is
the Word of God. It's God's own proclamation concerning
Him to whom all power and all authority has been committed. Even the One who humbled Himself
as the Saviour of sinners. But let us turn to the other
part of our text, the seventh verse, where we have the response,
the response of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, I will declare
the decree. The Lord hath said unto me, Thou
art my son. This day have I begotten thee. Here is Christ's response. And
what does he say in his response? Why he speaks of his own person. It is the person of Christ that
he set before us in this seventh verse. This is what God says
concerning this king. Thou art my son. This does, this does, have I
begotten thee? And it was coming to this particular
verse that brought me to take up this particular text this
evening. In the earlier part of the week,
reading Martin Luther's commentary on the Psalms and reading his
comments on this particular psalm, the second psalm, I was so forcibly
struck by the remarks of the Protestant Reformer on this statement
that we have here in verse 7. This day have I begotten thee. Now let me try to summarize what
it was that Luther says, and the gist of it is this, he says,
the statements, this day I have begotten, neither implies yesterday,
nor tomorrow, but always a present time, today. And he goes on to say this concerning
this person. He never began to be born. Nor will he ever cease to be
born. But he is ever being born. His is a present nativity. In other words, what Luther is
saying is that this is a wonderful statement concerning the eternal
generation of the Son of God. He is always being born. This
is the great mystery, you see, of the doctrine of God, the doctrine
of the Triniton. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is a Father because
He is always eternally begetting the Son. And the Son is such
because He is that One who is eternally being begotten of the
Father, eternally born of the Father. Again, remember what
we said concerning Luther's remark, it neither implies yesterday,
nor tomorrow, but always a present time, today. He never began to
be born, nor will ever cease to be born, but is ever being
born. He is truly the eternal Son of
God, and as such, as such, He is that One who is equal with
the Father. His sonship doesn't in any sense suggest some inferiority
to the Father. They are equally God. God the
Father, God the Son, and of course God the Holy Ghost. Now remember
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ himself in the Gospel when he
speaks to the Pharisees. and he makes reference to another
of the Psalms in the end of Matthew chapter 22. Here are the Pharisees
gathered together and the Lord asks them a question. And this
is the question, What think ye of Christ? What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? They say unto
him, the son of David. He saith unto them, How then
doth David in spirit call him Lord? Saying, The Lord said unto
my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies
thy footstool. He quotes from Psalm 110. And
he says, If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And
no man was able to answer him a word. neither doth any man
from that day forth ask him any more questions." Oh, you remember
John chapter 5, where Christ healed the lame man on the Sabbath
day, told him to take off his bed and walk, and that was a
great offense to the Jews. And they said of Christ, He had
not only broken the Sabbath tie, But he was also guilty, they
said, of blasphemy, because he said that God was his Father,
making himself equal with God. This matter, you see, of his
eternal sonship was a very real issue to the Jews and to the
Pharisees. And that's why Christ asks that
question. What think ye of Christ, whose
Son is He? He is the Eternal Son of God. Is that one who never really
began to be born. There was no yesterday wherein
he was born, there would be no tomorrow wherein he would be
born, if he is ever to die. He is that one who is eternally
begotten of the Father. Isaiah asks the question, who
shall declare his generation? It's impossible, it's a mystery.
the eternal generation of the Son of God, whose goings forth
have been from of old, from everlasting. We see it, do we not, when He
is revealed to us there in that 8th chapter of the book of Proverbs,
and revealed to us as that One again who is eternally begotten,
eternally brought forth. When there were no depths, He
says, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills was I brought forth. Before ever there was any creation,
He is that One who was brought forth, eternally begotten of
the Father. And so here he speaks of himself,
we see who this person is, that God has said, as king upon his
holy hill, I will declare the decree the Lord has said unto
me, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. But of course in the execution
of that great work of redemption, He who is the eternal Son of
God is also revealed to us as the servant of God. He is God's servant, is he not,
in terms of the eternal covenant. God says in Isaiah 42, Behold
my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth,
I have put my Spirit upon Him." Oh, this is that great counsel
between the persons in the Guardia that we know as the Covenant
of Redemption or the Covenant of Grace wherein the Eternal
Son, equal with the Father, equal with the Holy Spirit, willingly
agrees to become God's servant. And so when the fullness of the
time is come, God sends forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law. He comes as one who is subject
to God and He is subject to the Word of God, He is subject to
the law of God. He will come as a man and stand
in the very law place of all His people. Oh, he is that one
spoken of again by Isaiah. Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given. And there we observe again that
the son is not born, he doesn't become the son of God when he
is born of the Virgin Mary. He is the child born, but he
is the son given, he is the eternal son of God. who there in the
fullness of the time becomes the Son of Man. He is the Mediator. The Mediator of the New Covenant. And it is as the Mediator that
we see Him as that One who is the Servant of God. He comes
to serve God's will. He comes to do the will of Him
who has sent Him. He comes to finish the Father's
work. He's under the Lord, he must obey the Lord, he must honour
the Lord, he must magnify the Lord. And he must do that in
respect not only of its precepts, and he does it of course. Why
his life is a life of sinless obedience. Holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners. Ever pleasing the Father, the
Father declares it. This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. But he not only serves the will
of God in terms of the precepts of God's holy law, but he serves
God also when he bears in his own person that penalty, that
punishment that was due to the transgressors of the holy law
of God. He dies as a substitute. He dies
in the room, in the stead, in the place of his people. He is God's servant. in terms
of that covenant and see what it says here in verse 6 yet God
says I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion you see
he is a king in the most singular fashion he's a king not by succession
and that was of course what happened with the Kings of Israel evolved. When one king died, there was
one to succeed. And so, the cry was, God save
the king. There was never a time when there
was no king. There was a succession of kings. But this one is not
a king by succession. He is a king by appointment. By appointment. God set Him,
God anointed Him. And He's not only appointed as
that One who is the King, but He is also appointed to be the
Judge of men. Verse 5, Then shall He speak
unto them in His wrath, and vex them, or trouble them, as it
says, in the margin, in His sore displeasure. to speak to them in wrath. Oh yes, in this day of grace,
his lips speak the sweet words of the gospel, the gracious promises
of the gospel. But he is that one also whom
God has appointed as the judge of me. Judgment has been committed
into the hands of the Son of God, does it not? In John chapter
5, verse 22, we are told, the Father
judges no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. Verse 26, as the Father hath
life in himself, So hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself,
and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because
He is the Son of Man. And now, as we see in the book
of the Revelation, in that awful day, that dreadful day of judgment,
they'll be hiding themselves from the wrath of the Lamb. What
an expression! Oh, the Lamb of God! nor that
we associate with the Lamb. Gentleness. And yet, there in
the Revelation, he speaks of the wrath of the Lamb. He is
that one, you see, to whom God has committed judgment. He's appointed the Judge, as
well as being appointed King in Zion. But he is also that
one who is evidently appointed, first of all, to be the Savior. Verse 8, ask of me, and I shall
give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost
parts of the earth for thy possession." Here is the promise you see.
That He will not shed His precious blood in vain. That He will have
a blessed, a glorious inheritance. Dear dying Lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power, till all the ransomed Church
of God be saved. To sin no more. Is he not appointed
to be the Saviour of sinners? Him hath God exalted with His
right hand the Prince and the Saviour, to give repentance to
Israel and the forgiveness of sins. Oh, He's able to forgive
sins. Who can forgive sins but God?
this one can. He's a God man and he has authority,
he has power even to forgive sins and to give repentance because
repentance is the way of forgiveness is it not? How then Christ is that one who
is the subject matter of this great proclamation that comes
from God. I will declare the decree the
Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
thee. We consider then something of
the proclaimer, the one who is speaking here in verse 6 and
the response of the Lord Jesus here in verse 7 where we are
directed to consider who He is, the wondrous person of the Saviour,
none other than God manifest in the flesh. And then thirdly,
to consider His people, the people of God, the people of Christ.
Look at where God has set this King upon my holy hill of Zion. Zion's a hill of my holiness,
as it reads in the margin. As a king, as a king is that
one who comes to demonstrate power in the lives of his people. He comes to so work in their
hearts that they're brought to the place of submission. to His
commandments, to His precepts. And who are these people who
are set before us in the expression Holy Hill of Zion? Well, they are the heirs of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And who are they? Who are these
that He brings to Zion? Well, in one sense are those
of the outcast. We saw it there in the 13th chapter
of the Acts, how the Jews, refusing the Gospel, Paul and Barnabas,
at God's direction, turned to the Gentiles, the unclean Gentiles,
or the outcasts. And it's there, is it not, in
Old Testament prophecy, that Christ must be a light to lighten
the Gentile nation. Look at the language that we
have, for example, in the 56th chapter of Isaiah. There at verse
7 he says, Even them will I bring to my holy mountain. These are
the ones who come to Mount Zion. His holy mountain. Even them
will I bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house
of prayer Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be
accepted upon mine altar, for my house shall be called a house
of prayer for all people. The Lord God which gathereth
the outcast of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him
beside those that are gathered unto him. Or these are the ones
that the Lord gathers to his Mount Zion. And they come, they
come to him, they come to Manzion, why? Because they are given to
him. And how are they given to him?
They are given to him as his heirs. They are his people. And we have that promise, we
have referred already to the 110th Psalm, thy people shall
be willing, says David there, in the day of thy power. All
thou made is willing people. They come. And we have the contrast between
the mounts, do we not, in Hebrews chapter 12. The contrast between
law and gospel, Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. There in Hebrews
chapter 12, having spoken of the mount that
may be touched, and the awfulness of the giving of the holy law
of God. And now even Moses himself says,
Paul, exceedingly feared and quite, but he says, Ye are come. But ye are come unto Manzion,
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly
and Church of the Firstborn which are written in heaven, and to
God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made
perfect, and to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the
blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel. Now see who they are that come
to Mount Zion. They are spoken of here as the
General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn, which are written
in heaven. They're all written in heaven.
They're all chosen before the foundation of the world. But
what a description we have of them. They're all the firstborn.
And the firstborn is the appointed heir. Is that not the case? They're
all heirs. All that the Gospel is, all the
richness, all the fullness of the Gospel belongs to them. It
says, by right, they are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. To use the language of Paul in
Romans. Or as James says, they are heirs
of the kingdom which you have promised to them that love you. They are heirs of all the promises
of God. all that fullness that is laid
up for sinners in the Gospel. This is the people you see. That
the Lord Jesus Christ is set as the King over. I have set
my King, he says, upon my holy hill of Zion. They're heirs. Heirs of God. Joint heirs with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Why there is a union between
him and them? There's an eternal union. They
were chosen in him before the foundation of the world in that
eternal covenant. They were committed to his charge.
In all that he did here upon the earth, he did it for them,
he was their head. When he lived his life, he lived
it as that one who is their steward. when he comes to die upon the
cross, he's their substitute dying in their room and in their
stead. Oh, they're such a union, you
see, an eternal union. And of course, they come in the
fullness of time to experience something else, a real union,
an experimental union, a vital union. And they're brought to
faith in Him, to trust in Him. And they know that they're one
with Him. and He is their all in all. This is the people. And
we have to examine ourselves of course. We have to look to
ourselves, prove ourselves, know ourselves. Is this true of us?
Are we those who are Christ's subjects? Or are we those who
desire that He should rule over us, reign over us as King? Accomplish thy will and powerfully
bring us forth from all ill says Joseph Hart. Is that our prayer?
That we want Him to ride over us. We want Him to subdue every
iniquity within us. We want Him to deliver us from
all our cursed unbelief. We want Him to work that true
faith in our hearts. We want to know Him as our King.
But here is the mark of them, you see. They are His heirs,
yes, but they are also that people who are holy. Look at what it
says in verse 6. It is my holy hill of Zion. It's a holy hill. As he which
hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation,
because it is written, I am holy. Therefore be ye holy, saith the
Lord. This is the calling of these
people. And is this our desire tonight, friends, that we would
be holy? That prayer of McShane, that he prayed many times, he
wanted God to make him as holy as a pardoned sinner could be.
All we longed, he yearned after holiness. Are we those who yearn
that we might conform the more to the image of the Lord Jesus
Christ? Is our chief grief this, that we fall so far short of
that? Are we those who grieve over
our sins? We want to be delivered from
our sins. We want to be those who are truly
the sanctified people of God. And when we come under the Word
of God, that's our prayer. Though we might feel the sanctifying
effect of it. We want to be that holy people.
It's a mark of the grace of God in the soul of a man, is it not?
Here then the Lord Jesus Christ is that One who is set before
us. And He is that One who rules on the holy hill of Zion. And He is a King. He is that
One who has all authority in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore
and teach all nations, He says, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo,
I am with you always, even to the end of the world, he says.
That's his great word of promise at the end of Matthew's Gospel. What are we to do? Look at verse
12, it says, kiss the son, lest he be angry and he perish from
the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Bless it! are all
they that put their trust in Him. Oh, let us be those friends
then who desire that above all else that we might be found trusting
in Him. To be found in Him, not having
mine own righteousness which is of the law, says the Apostle,
but that righteousness which is of God by faith, or that righteousness
which is found only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, says God,
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. The Lord be pleased to grant
his blessing upon his work.