We’re looking at things that are happening in the world today in the light of Bible prophecy.
Before I speak, we’re going to just start off with a word from the Bible, Psalm 2:
Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing?
Psalm 2
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision.
5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure:
6 “Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion.”
7 “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.
8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’”
10 Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear, And rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.
The psalmist answers the question: “Why are the Nations raging and the people plotting a vain thing?”
Do you see Nations raging and people plotting vain things today? I think so.
The psalm speaks about the rulers of the earth who take counsel against the Lord and against His anointed. If read in Hebrew, it’s against His Messiah, His Mashiach. They’re making a council against the Lord and against His Messiah.
Who is His Messiah? Yeshua / Jesus Christ. Therefore, if they’re against His Messiah, they’re anti-Christ.
You’ve got these rulers who are coming against the Lord and against His Messiah and they’re saying: “Let’s break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us.”
I think the bonds and the cords speak of God’s Commandments, His Word, and the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit.
They’re saying: “Let’s cast those things away and do what we think is right, not what God says is right.
Basically, they’re working in a spirit of opposition to God and against His Messiah, against His Word.
What does God think about it? Is God phased by this opposition? No. It says:
‘God laughs at them’, “God has them in derision.”
God sees all these people shaking their fists at Him and strutting around in their pride and their arrogance; like Mr Putin and Xi Jinping and the Ayatollahs in Iran and even some of our own rulers, and the whole council of the World Economic Forum trying to bring the world together under their control. And they think they’re very powerful and they think they’ve got it all together.
But God is laughing at them. Because God knows the end of the story.
But it also says: ‘God will speak to them in his wrath.’ Because God is angry at what’s going on.
And, when you look at the news, sometimes, very often perhaps, one feels angry at the wicked things that are being done and the fact that people are suffering because of the cruel oppressions which are taking place in the world today.
Imagine then what God thinks when He sees all the pressure and the suffering, the evil that’s being done in the earth and the people who are suffering because of these things which are taking place.
God tells them that: ‘They should look to my Son, my Son who I have begotten.’ This is an interesting reference because this is in the Old Testament and the Psalms, yet it is talking about the Son of God.
It says later,
“Kiss the Son, lest He be angry.” This means ‘worship the Son’.
Therefore, here’s an Old Testament prophecy speaking about the Son as someone who should be worshiped. An interesting proposition.
Who is the Son who should be worshiped? Yeshua ha Mashiach.
This is one of the many Messianic psalms that tells you about the nature of the Messiah in whom we believe.
It tells you also that this One has been given “The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession”. It’s another reason why, if you see all these things happening, then, don’t get phased in despair because, in the end, the nations and the kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of our God, of His Messiah, and He shall reign forever and ever. Revelation 11
15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying:
Revelation 11.15-19
“We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One who is and who was and who is to come, Because You have taken Your great power and reigned. 18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth.” 19 Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.
Jesus is going to rule and reign and bring His peace and justice to the earth. He’s going to break the powers of darkness; He’s going to rule them with a rod of iron, it says. That means that, when Jesus is reigning on the earth, it won’t be a democracy and you won’t vote Him out of power. He’s going to rule with power, but it’ll be benevolent power. He will rule for good in the Messianic Kingdom that is coming.
I do believe there will be a literal Kingdom of God on the earth when Jesus the Messiah returns at His Second Coming. He’s coming this time, not to suffer and to die, but, this time, to judge the world in righteousness and to rule the earth and bring peace and justice to the world.
The reason why, when we see the things happening today, we can ‘look up and lift up our heads’ is the knowledge that our Redemption draws near and that we have a great hope in the coming of the Lord.
The psalm says: ‘If you are wise O Kings, you’ll be instructed.’ So, as a message to the rulers, take note of this, take note that if you rebel against God, you’re in trouble, but, if you worship the Lord and you do what He says, then, you’re going to be instructed and be led in the right way.
It also says:
“Serve the Lord with fear, And rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son”.
I said that idea amounts to worshipping the Son and to worship Him lest He be angry, and you perish in the way.
Again, God has His wrath which is against sin. Therefore,
we need to repent and to believe in Him and to be ready for His coming and to be a blessing to those who trust in Him.
I guess you are people who trust in the Lord, so you’re blessed. But there are a lot of people out there who are not trusting in the Lord and are therefore ‘not blessed’, who need to put their trust in Yeshua / Jesus the Messiah.
As we see all these things happening now, that’s the starting point. When we look at what’s really happening in the world today, you can see all kinds of catastrophic things happening as a result of the leaders of the world making wrong decisions and doing things which are wrong in God’s sight.
If you look at what’s happening in the world, without the Bible and without God’s help, you could get into a state of despair seeing the state of the world, and a lot of people are afraid of what’s coming and despair of what’s happening.