Mike Bickle emphasizes the relevance of Psalm 2 in understanding the current cultural conflicts against Jesus' leadership. He explains how David prophesied about the opposition from societal leaders against God's Word and how God responds with authority and assurance of victory. Bickle encourages believers to stand firm in their faith, engage in intercession, and be bold witnesses of the truth amidst rising hostility. He highlights the importance of community and commitment to the body of Christ as essential for navigating these challenging times. Ultimately, he reassures that while darkness may increase, God's glory will also shine brighter through His faithful followers.

This is the clearest description in the Bible of what's happening right now in our nation today. And in Psalm 2, David described the cultural wars that would rise up by the leaders of society against the Word of God, and how God the Father responded to those cultural wars, and what Jesus, how He responds, and then what the people of God are supposed to do in response. This is, again, I believe to be one of the most relevant passages in the whole Bible for what's happening today in terms of understanding the conflict in society. There are many phrases in Psalm 2, and each one of these phrases have many implications. I mean, you could write a volume behind each one of these phrases. Now it's interesting that David was the great warrior king of Israel. He was known as the great warrior king. He had greater victories than any other king before or after him. And it's him, the warrior king, that's prophesying of a war. And this war in this hour is a cultural war, but it's going to escalate to a military conflict. I mean a global military conflict before it's over, where even the armies of the earth are withstanding God's purpose in a military way, not just at this point in time. It's the media, and it's governmental legislation, and those kinds of things, and educational systems that are resisting the Word of God and what God is wanting to do in the midst of His people, and it won't prevail. It is a vain thing. David even described it in that very way. He says, why do the nations rage? They're raging against God. And why do the peoples plot a vain thing? It's a battle that they're sure to lose. But the problem is, is that for a moment, for a short season, it appears as though the enemy is going to win. Because there's an unholy momentum growing in the culture and in the society, all throughout the western world and beyond the western world as well. And that unholy momentum that's building in the culture against Jesus and against His Word, it is a vain thing. It won't succeed. But many of God's people, as they look at it and they ponder, they respond in different ways. Some are very intimidated by the rising up of this hostility against the truth of God's Word. Many believers are wavering, and they're drawing back in intimidation, and they're finding ways to agree with what the enemy's doing, even using the Bible. Twisting and distorting Bible passages so that it accommodates what's happening in the larger culture, so they can feel good about their faith, where they say, well, it's still biblical what we're doing, but they're twisting and distorting the Scripture. Other believers are just trying to go silent. They're just saying, you know, I don't want to take a side. I love you, Jesus. I'm going to just be like a private, silent, secret disciple like Nicodemus was. Nicodemus was one of the leaders of Israel, and he would go visit Jesus at night so nobody would see him, and nobody would call him to account for his faith. So some believers, they want to draw back and be a secret disciple and say, well, you know, I'm not going to really weigh in on it. You know, my opinion doesn't really matter. But there's another group in the body of Christ, and this is the group we want to be a part of, and it's all over the body of Christ worldwide. They want to be bold, and they want to be clear, faithful witnesses to the glory and the beauty of Jesus and to the truth of His Word. And they want to, in love and tenderness, but in boldness, be faithful witnesses of the truth. Now, some folks think that if you're going to be bold, it means you've got to be a little bit brash or mean about it. Bold and brash are not the same thing. Because some people, they bolster their courage by kind of psyching up, and they get into a wrong spirit of brashness because that's the only way they can have courage, and they just kind of lash out against those that are standing against the truth. That's not the response the Lord is looking for. A faithful witness is not just someone who says the truth, but they speak the truth in the spirit of love. They not only say the content of the truth, but they say it in the spirit of truth, which is love, and it is humility. Well paragraph A, Psalm 2, King David prophesied of the kings of the earth being in fierce opposition against the leadership of Jesus. Well it's, he's describing the son of David, the Messiah of Israel. Now David prophesied, David lived a thousand years B.C., a thousand years before Christ, before Jesus' ministry on the earth and his death and resurrection. He was a thousand years ahead of time, and he was prophesying of the ultimate son of David, the greater son of David, his great, great, great, great grandson, who we know is the Lord Jesus, the ultimate son of David. Well the opposition against the Lord and his Christ was happening even in David's day three thousand years ago. But that opposition is escalating on a global level right now, and the goal, you'll see in a few moments in verse 3, we'll look at it, the goal of the leaders of culture, leaders of governments and the leaders of nations, their goal is to remove the influence of the Word of God out of the culture entirely. They don't want a peace treaty, they don't want a little bit of the Word of God, they want the Word of God utterly removed, its influence, from culture and from society. And David prophesied by the Spirit, he said, he peered into the, by the Holy Spirit's understanding, he's had insight into the enemy's strategy against the people of God. And that strategy would escalate into a fierce intensity culminating in the second coming of Christ. And the closer we get to the coming of the Lord, the more intense the hostility will be by the leaders of society against the King, against the Lord and his Christ. Now having said that, that's a broad stroke statement, because at the same time that darkness is increasing and escalating, God has leaders all through society that are being faithful to His Word, they're vessels of His glory, and the light is getting lighter and the church will end up, before the Lord returns, in a glorious revival coming into power and victory and glory. And there will be governmental leaders, there will be marketplace leaders, there'll be leaders in education, in every sphere of society that will be faithful to the Lord. Even in the midst of the darkness, Isaiah 60 verse 1 says, while deep darkness is covering the earth, God's glory will arise in the midst of the darkness. The glory doesn't just arise after the darkness, the glory arises in the midst of the darkness, Isaiah chapter 60 verse 1 and 2. So someone says, is it going to get better or is it going to get worse? And the answer is both. The darkness will become darker and the light will become lighter. And David is talking about the kings of the earth and the rulers of society, but he's not talking about all of them, but he's talking about the broad strokes of the gentle response of the leaders of the nations, but God will have His leaders. I have no doubt there will be some kings, there will be some governors, there will be some senators, there will be some marketplace leaders, some billionaires and maybe one day trillionaires, who knows how far this thing is going, that will be faithful to Jesus and radically committed to His ways. While we see in the realm of media, great darkness and immorality and violence and murder and occult and satanic darkness coming out of the film industry, that's not all that's coming out of the film industry. God is raising up those filmmakers that are going to faithfully portray the truth of Jesus and the manifest glory of God will attend those different media productions as well. Well the internet is a great source of darkness, but I have good news for you, you already know it, Jesus is the Lord of the internet. Because the enemy is not only using the internet, the Lord is using the internet. And the Lord has great plans for the internet. And though the enemy is wanting to use great wealth to promote darkness, the Lord has promised to give great wealth for the prosperity and the increase of His kingdom as well. So when you're reading Psalm 2, David highlights the negative trend, because that's going to be the general trend of society across the nations. But there will be tremendous advancements in the midst of the darkness. And every sphere of society in the church will be stronger, though many will fall away. I believe there's a great falling away coming. I mean people that really profess Jesus will draw back and say, you know what, I was just being enthusiastic, I'm not going there. But there will be the greatest harvest in history coming as well. So there will be a falling away, but the numbers in the church will go far beyond any other time in history because of the great harvest as well. There will be a great deception of darkness with false signs and wonders. But there's going to be a glorious release of the true signs and wonders and a spirit of truth and revelation, dreams and visions, and the glory and the beauty of God revealed to His people and through His people like no other time in human history. So it is the most exciting times, the most dangerous times, the most important times, the most sober times, the most powerful times, all of these together could describe the hours ahead of us. This is not a time to draw back in fear, but it isn't a time at all to be dabbling with compromise and living with a dull spirit. This is a time where God's people need to be walking in the brightness of who they are in Christ and pressing to grow in faith to operate in the authority of the name of Jesus. He has given His authority to us and we are to use it boldly. This is a time where the first commandment will be restored to first place in the whole body of Christ. I mean, the church will love Jesus like no other time in history. They will love the Lord with all of their heart. The first commandment's not going to fall to the ground, but neither is the second commandment. There will be great love and unity in the church while there's great lawlessness increasing in society. I mean, the contrast will be so intense. I know a number of believers, they're trying to live on the fence. Beloved, this is the worst time in history to live on the fence. They're trying to get as close to darkness and dabble as much in sin as possible and still maintain their confession of faith in Jesus. That is an absolute dangerous place to live. Because as the intensity of the pressure increases, if they're not moving with a company of people that they're committed to and moving in agreement with the Word of God together, because we can't make it alone. This isn't a time for lone ranger Christians. This is a time for people to be committed to the body of Christ. This is the time to people, I don't mean just a little core little group of three or four that kind of us four no more. I mean for the body of Christ to function as a spiritual family in locations all over the earth. I mean many congregations. There's a thousand congregations in our own city. And I'm talking about all those as particular families, spiritual families that of course make up the one church in this whole geographic area. Every city, major city has many congregations, many spiritual families, but in reality there's one big one. But my point is this isn't a time to draw back, draw away, be isolated. This is the time to walk out deep New Testament love in body of Christ lifestyles, agreement with the Word, throwing out compromise, getting rid of anything that can cause our hearts to be dulled and darkened so that we're becoming more prepared as the battle becomes more intensified. Now someone says, well I'm not doing that great right now. Well we're all weak and broken in our humanity. Nobody's doing that great in and of themselves. But by saying yes, by continually, by feeding on the Word, I don't mean reading the Word all day every day, but having a regular diet on the Word of God, by an intention to be obedient, by an intention to use our time and energy to walk out committed relationships with one another in an ongoing way in a local body of believers. Again, not us four and no more over on the side. I'm talking about God is building His church and the place of safety is in the midst of the body of Christ, the local church, the family of God. I want to encourage everyone to have a genuine expression of their commitment to a local expression of the body of Christ. Because right now the church is kind of a little bit in the western world, out of style, but it's not out of style from God's point of view. That is still God's plan to build His church. It is still His plan to have safety in the midst of saying yes to the Spirit of God, even in our weakness, by feeding ourself on the Word of God and living out committed lifestyles together as the family of God in local churches. That is God's simple plan. And if somebody does those simple things in their weakness, in their brokenness, in their proneness to discouragement, they can walk in victory. Somebody says, oh, the deception will be so intense. It will. But it's not so intense that a believer that's committing to obey, that's feeding on the Word, that's walking out committed relationships together, honoring biblical authority, spiritual authority, is another thing. Because lawlessness is the enemy's plan. God's plan is to honor spiritual authority with humility. Now, there's a lot of abuses of authority, but the abuses of the authority doesn't cancel out the reality of the spiritual authority that's in the body of Christ. And so the weakest among us can prosper and thrive if they'll live in those, if they'll respond to those simple ways. Because Jesus is a much greater leader than Satan is a deceiver. Somebody say, well, Satan's a, I mean, the deception's going to increase. Well, he's a far better leader than Satan is a deceiver. And he knows that his people are weak. That's the only kind of people he has, are weak people in our flesh. But we commit, again, number one, to, Lord, I want to obey you. I'm committing to obey you. I'm not trying to cultivate a lifestyle of compromise where I can try to fake out the Holy Spirit and not really live in commandment but pretend like I am. That is a dangerous way to live. Yes, feeding on the Word of God regularly. Again, I don't mean reading the word hours a day, every day. Most people, the vast majority don't have, that's not a practicality. But they can feed on the Word as a regular thing in their everyday life. They're in committed relationships. They're honoring spiritual authority. Simple principles of the kingdom of God that are in the New Testament, that is the place of safety in the midst of encroaching darkness and greater conflict. So we don't need to be afraid. We really, really don't. Together, by holding on the Word of God, we can prosper, meaning prosper. I'm talking about walking in victory. Our souls prospering in the glory of God, as 3 John verse 2 declares. Well, this conflict has been going on since David's generation for 3,000 years, but it's going to reach its pinnacle in the end times. And it's my opinion we're in the early days of that generation of the Lord's return. We may not be, but I believe that we are. And I believe we are, not by a prophetic revelation, but by just observation of the biblical signs of the times. Nobody knows the day or the hour. Nobody knows for sure when the Lord's returning. But by looking at the biblical signs, it seems very believable to me that we're in the early days of that generation where things are going to escalate to the coming of the Lord. I believe there's people alive on the earth, maybe the two-year-olds, but alive on the earth now that will actually see it with their eyes. And maybe it's a little bit later down the road than I think. Maybe it's sooner than I think. But all I know is that the battle is intensifying. The Lord is calling His people to a greater sense of commitment to one another to walk out New Testament community and church life, a greater commitment to the Word, and a greater commitment to a spirit of obedience. He's calling us to that right now. And this is not a time to kind of waver between two opinions. It's a time to be clear that we're going to be faithful to the Word. We're going to be faithful. And I tell you, it won't be popular in many parts of our culture and society to be faithful to what Jesus said in His Word. And again, many believers are already drawing back and backpedaling and joining in the popular symptoms of culture, and they're already compromising the Word. But let it be true among us that we're finding grace to be faithful. We've set our heart to be faithful witnesses of the truth. Regardless what it costs us, God will have a people that there is no price too great to be faithful because they see His glory, they see His beauty, they see the majesty of who He is. And that's the glory of what's happening in this hour. Well, in Psalm 2, there's four parts. I've shared this a few times over the last year, but I really want you to get this really clear. I mean, to know Psalm 2, so familiar to where you can almost quote it verbatim, or at least you have the ideas crystal clear in your head because that's how significant Psalm 2 is to what's happening in our nation right now. I mean, again, I don't know of another passage that is describing the conflict as well as the victory that is sure to come forth than what David said in Psalm 2 by the spirit of prophecy. Well, the four parts of Psalm 2, the famous preacher, Charles Spurgeon, in the city of London in the 1800s, he wrote on Psalm 2. And, of course, London was the great theater capital of the world. And so he said, think of Psalm 2 as a great theater, as a great drama unfolding on the stage of history. When I read that many years ago, it just struck me. I mean, I read that about maybe 30 years ago. I love that. I went, yeah, and I've used it every since, and I've heard others refer to it as well. He says there's four great acts in this drama that David is unfolding by the spirit of prophecy. The first act, the kings of the earth, they rise up in hostility and opposition. They defy the authority of God and challenge Him to His face. We don't want your leadership. We don't want your word. We're going to bind together and cast the influence of your word entirely away from culture. We want nothing to do with you. That's the first three verses. Bold challenge. Well, the curtain closes, and then it opens up again. And as Spurgeon said, Act 2 comes. God the Father, now He gets three verses. There's four acts in each of the four acts. There's three verses. The Father comes on the stage, and He says to the kings of the earth and the rulers of society, no matter how much unholy momentum is taking place, no matter how many people are in agreement, no matter how popular your sentiments are, no matter how much accumulated wealth, the power of your great army is all in unity. He looks at them in the next three verses. He said, Nobody can change that ever. My Son and His word, it will prevail. So now the curtain closes, and now Act 3. It's time for Act 3. The curtain opens again. Now Jesus comes on the stage, and He gets three verses. And it's so interesting that the three verses that describe Jesus, they don't describe Him. He's not described as the Savior with arms stretched wide with pierced hands. But in His three verses, He shows Himself as the great intercessor. And He says, Whatever My Father has declared, that is what I will decree in intercession. I will come in agreement in prayer, and I will declare everything My Father has promised. And Jesus, as the head of the church, is going to have His entire church worldwide in cooperation, in the spirit of prayer, agreeing with the head, Jesus the great intercessor at the right hand of the Father, declaring whatever God says is what we're going to declare in prayer. Now I find that just so amazing, because I would think that maybe a different face of Jesus. There's several very dynamic, quite a few very dynamic faces of Jesus in the Bible. There's Jesus the Savior, Jesus the Healer, Jesus the King, many different faces of Jesus that could be shown here. But He shows Himself in the great conflict as Jesus the great intercessor. As leading His people in intercession, they would stand true to whatever the Father's message is, whatever the Father decrees. Well, then the curtain closes again, and then Act 4, it's time for Act 4, David appears on the stage. And so David comes on the stage, and he says to all the kings of the earth, and all the judges of the earth, all the leaders of society, the governmental leaders, those with influence, he says, oh kings of the earth, oh leaders, if you have any wisdom at all, you will agree with the king who just spoke in intercession. You will serve the Lord. In other words, you will engage with Him. You will partner with Him. You will do what He's doing, not what the popular culture is doing. He goes, oh kings of the earth, be wise. Take instruction. Engage with Jesus. Agree with Him. Join His intercession. Stand with the Father's message, because there's great trouble coming to all who oppose His leadership. Well, those are the four acts of the great drama of Psalm 2. The kings of the earth, they present their hostile challenge. The Father says, it doesn't matter how much resource and people are behind you in unity. I've already determined my king will rule. Jesus enters into intercession and leads His whole church into intercession in partnership with Him, and King David warns everyone in the earth, you better line up with Jesus. He is the king, and when He's engaging in intercession, and all of His people are in unity with Him, the Father's will will be released on earth like it is in heaven. So that's a quick overview of the psalm. Paragraph C. Now you'll notice two things I want to draw attention to is in the midst of the hostility of the kings of the earth, that the Father has a message. It's actually a two-fold message in verse 4 to 6. He has a two-fold message that He wants to declare, and Jesus engages in intercession. The point that I'm making is the two of the most necessary activities in the body of Christ. We agree with the Father's message. We don't draw back in intimidation. We don't try to dumb the message down. We agree with the Father's message in verse 4 to 6. We say what He says. That's the first activity. And we don't do that just as preachers or singers. We do it as messengers. Whether you're a governor over a state, or a president over a nation, or you're the leader over a business, or you're in the public school system, or in the military, or in the police force. Whether you're leading a kingdom business, or you're just involved in it, not necessarily leading it. We say the message the Father declares in verse 4 to 6. We don't draw back in intimidation. We are messengers. The Father says through David, He says, we'll see it in a minute if we get to it. Sometimes I get so excited we never get around to the notes, but that's what the notes are there for. You can have them and read them later. But what the Father says, I mean what David prophesied, is the Father's going to speak to the kings. How is the Father going to speak to those kings? Through the mouth of His people. His messengers are all through society. It's not just the preacher on Sunday morning. It's anyone that are His ambassadors, that are born-again believers. We are all called to be ambassadors for the kingdom of God. We are all messengers for His kingdom. But it's not only that we are messengers, that we're engaging in the prayer movement. That doesn't mean it's your full-time job, or that doesn't mean you go to two hours a day of prayer meetings. That's not what I'm talking about. But you're engaged in the prayer movement in your generation, in your city, in your geographic area. You're engaged with Jesus, the great intercessor, because that's how He answers the conflict. Not only by intercession, but He starts with intercession. I mean the work starts in intercession. It doesn't end there. He does great works of service. He heals the sick. He has great demonstrations of power. But it begins in the spirit with intercession, and He wants His people in partnership with Him. The reason I say this, there's many believers, they go, well, I don't really do the prayer thing. Well, I tell you, the head of the church is doing the prayer thing in the great conflict. We want to do whatever the head of the church is doing. And prayer isn't the only thing he's doing, but it is absolutely foundational. And again, that will look different to everybody. In every season of our life, the way you'll walk out cultivating a life of prayer will be very different even from another season in your life. There are some seasons you'll engage in it in one way, in a greater intensity, and other seasons you'll engage in it in a different way, with a less intensity. But nonetheless, you understand that the head of the church is revealing himself as the great intercessor in the time of the end-time conflict, and you want to be partnering with him. You don't want to throw off the prayer thing and say, well, I'm not really good at that. Nobody is good at prayer in the flesh. Nobody is. I remember the first, the Lord, in the early days when I was in college, I was trying to grow and develop a prayer life, and read books on prayer, and they said pray an hour a day. Oh, it was miserable. I mean, I committed to pray an hour a day, and I would pray by the clock, and I mean at the two-minute mark. I thanked God for, you know, arms and legs and food, and I was at the University of Missouri. I was playing on the football team. I said, Lord, let me score touchdowns on the football team, and let me get the girl, and do good in school, and get anointed. Well, I never made the football team, but I did get the girls. That's good. She's just right over there. Where's the girl at? Where's that girl? Where's she at? She's somewhere. Anyway, she's, hi, girl. Anyway, I would be the boy. Okay. So anyway, in my early days, prayer was just, it was horrible to me. I just thought, I can't do this, and when the Lord 30 years ago told me I'd be involved in a ministry 24 hours of prayer, I said, you've got the wrong, there's no possible way. Wrong man for the job. Nobody is good at prayer in the flesh, but the Lord has a way to engage us and draw us out, but we have to be intentional about it. You don't wake up one day flowing in prayer, but it's something we say the head of the church is answering the great opposition and conflict by leading his people in prayer. I want to be a part of it. You don't have to be the greatest prayer warrior, but I want to be a part of what you're doing, and I don't want to just support prayer. I want to actually engage in it as well. I'm not going to just pay someone to pray or support the people that do pray. That's good, to support the folks that do, but it's more than that. You're going to actually participate to some degree yourself. So paragraph C, we embrace the message and we engage in intercession. Intercession is another word for prayer. It's just another way to say prayer. Okay, let's look at Roman numeral 2. We'll just go a few minutes here because you'll never exhaust the message of Psalm 2 in one setting. It's vast in its implications. David describes, again, this is 3,000 years ago it's happening in his day, but it's escalated globally to an intensity far beyond anything in his day. It's more intense in the culture, and it's global, and it's spreading very fast. He says in verse 1, Why do the nations rage? And I want to highlight the word rage. The nations aren't neutral. The nations aren't respectful. They're not tolerant about it. The big value in the culture is tolerance, but it's tolerance by the definition of people who don't love the Word of God. And I believe in tolerance in one definition, but the word tolerance in our culture basically means anything that's free of the Word of God is what tolerance is about. And so there's a twisted definition of tolerance, but even then, I'll use the word in a slightly different way, the nations are not tolerant. They're not saying we agree to disagree. You go your way, we go our way. We respect everyone's opinions. There is a respect for every opinion as long as it's against God's Word. It's not a respect for every opinion, and again, that's not my big point, like, oh, aren't some of us being mistreated? I don't even go there. My point is, it's not even a semblance of respect. It will be rage. It will be full engaged anger against the Word of God. Anger, and you can see that anger mounting up. You can see there's already pockets all over the culture that are rising up that are expressing this anger, but that anger is smoldering underneath the surface, and it's going to come to a full public display by multitudes in the cultures across the societies of the earth. So the people, they plot a vain thing, and David was clear that it's vain, that it will fail. The challenge to remove God's Word from society, it will not succeed. It will come to nothing. We don't have to be intimidated by it. We don't have to draw back by it. It will have a seeming success for a short period of time. It has this unholy momentum. It will fail, utterly fail, and the Word of God will fill the earth, and the glory of the fame of Jesus will fill the earth before the Lord's, as the Lord fulfills His master plan. Look at verse 2. The kings of the earth, they set themselves together, and the rulers of the earth, they take counsel together, and here's what they're against. They're against the Lord, and they're against His Christ. Now the Lord is the God of Israel. There's only one God. He's the God of Israel. He's not the generic God. A lot of celebrities and athletes and public figures, they will thank God. That's good. I appreciate that. That's better than defaming God, but I want them to thank the God of Israel. I don't want them just to thank God. I want them to thank the God of the Bible, not just generic God, although I'll take generic God as step one, but they're not only against the Lord, which is the God of Israel. That's who David's talking about. They're against His Christ, His anointed one, His Messiah. Now the word anointed and Christ and Messiah are all the same word. In Hebrew, it's the Messiah. The word anointed is the Messiah. In Greek, the word anointed is the Christ. So if you talk to a Jewish believer, they'll talk about the Messiah. If you talk to a Gentile believer, they'll talk about the Christ. They'll talk about one Jesus the Messiah, another Jesus the Christ. They're saying identically the same thing, or the anointed one, so you can use those words interchangeably. But the leaders of society are against the God of Israel, and they're against His Christ, the Son of David, Jesus of Nazareth. They're not against doing good. They're against the God of Israel and His Son. They will fully applaud standing against human trafficking. Fully. They will fully applaud the need to help the poor. They embrace many virtues of doing good, but they are against the God of Israel and against His Christ. Don't be confused about that, because sometimes we can see their embracing of good activities, which I appreciate them doing. I mean, I'd rather them embrace them instead of resist them, but that's not the same thing as honoring the God of the Bible and honoring Jesus Christ. And even some believers, they'll get involved in outreach to the poor, but as long as Jesus isn't mentioned. And I go, well, you know, I can understand you might do that and then witness to people one-on-one. I can imagine the Holy Spirit directing somebody that way. But at the same time, I'm nervous about justice endeavors that draw back on the name of Jesus. Well, we don't want to offend the people. What do you mean you don't want to offend the people? He became a man and died for us. I mean, He's our only hope. He's our glory. He's all that we live for. What do you mean I want to offend the people? That's what we're about. We're about the glory of this man. He didn't have to become fully God. He didn't have to become human and come after us and pay the debt of our sin. We are so grateful. Well, I don't want to be involved in a justice endeavor that doesn't want to do Jesus. Again, I appreciate any way that people help people. That's better than people hurting people. But there's something higher. And as believers, born-again believers, we want to connect justice with the Christ, with the name of Jesus. And if you want to thank the Lord, thank Jesus. I'm looking for celebrities that thank Jesus. Oh, that excites me. Every now and then one comes out, I go, yes, good. That's the man I love. I mean the Jesus, not the celebrity guy, but probably he's a good guy too. Now notice this, verse 2, the kings of the earth, they had come into agreement. You know, the kings of the earth rarely come into agreement. And even when they do, it's a very, very minimal agreement. They put in contracts. They make national covenants, you know, with very detailed defined agreements and very narrow and even limited. For the next seven years, we agree to this. The agreement's very minimal and normally very temporary. Because the kings of the earth are trying to maneuver so they get more from another king. They're trying to make a deal where their nation gets more from the nation that they're in agreement with. But there's one thing the kings of the earth will come into unity about. That's standing against Jesus. That's the one thing above all things. Multitudes, not all the kings, because there will be some kings that are faithful witnesses of Jesus. There will be some governors. There will be some senators. Or whatever the nation calls that particular kind of governmental official. There will be marketplace leaders radically committed to Jesus. But it says the kings of the earth, they set themselves together. And the rulers take counsel. Now the rulers, I don't believe, are the kings. I believe that's another group. I believe the rulers are the rulers of society. The economic leaders, the media leaders, the educational leaders, the military leaders. I believe the word rulers is referring to all of the others in distinction from the kings. Matter of fact, it's the rulers, particularly the economic rulers, who put the kings in place. Mostly it's the money people that put the kings in place. And the kings are mostly doing the bidding of the rulers. Because they need their money. They need their backing. They need their popular support. So the rulers, they're plotting together. They're gathering together in boardrooms to figure out how to remove the influence of God's word from the culture. It says in verse 2, they're actually, they set themselves together. They take counsel. They deliberately meet to plan and scheme ways to defy the word of God and to remove its influence from culture. Verse 3, here's what it says. Here's what they gather. Here's their master plan. Let us break their bonds into pieces and cast their cords from us. Now verse 3 is a negative description of their view of the word of God. Here's what the leaders say. Let us break God's bonds to pieces. God's bonds, it's a clear reference to the word of God. Almost all commentators are agreed. It's talking about the word of God right here. Because they see the word of God as enslaving them instead of liberating them. They go, God's word binds us from realizing our full human potential in our sexuality. I mean, if we could cast the bonds of God's words off, we could really be free and enter into the fullness of who we really are. They see the word of God as that which limits them. That which binds them. That which enslaves them. They hate the word of God. And they want to cast away another description of the word of God. Cast away their cords from us. Their cords, again, bind us and restrict us. I mean, if a person's held in chains and bonds and cords, they can't move. They have no liberty. They see the word of God as that which is undermining human potential and human liberty. Beloved, you know and I know the word of God is that which liberates us into our human potential and destiny that can only be realized in the grace of God under the leadership of Jesus Christ. Now in verse 3, this break God's word off of us, casting His word from us. That language, you can see the tone of aggression. They're aggressive about it. There's violence. There's energy. There's hostility. They don't want to just agree to disagree. They want to destroy every semblance of God's word from the culture. That's what's on their mind. Well, let's look at part 2. Well, the father curtain closes. Now it's act 2 of the great drama. Act 2. Now the father's response. In verse 4. The father has a message. It's a very clear message he wants to give them. Verse 4, it says, he who sits in the heavens laughs. Number, this phrase, he that sits in the heavens, that's a description of his sovereign power. Matter of fact, I mean they're on the earth running around, just scurrying around, just with this hyperactivity, drawing plans and counseling and meeting together. God says, I don't even stand. I sit. And I'm not confined to earthly limitation of power. I sit in the throne that's in the heavens. I have all the supernatural realm under my power. I have all the earthly realm under my power. My authority is supernatural, heavenly. And I'm not scurrying around in a frenzy, panic, trying to make alliances with everybody. I sit in total calmness, complete confidence. And I'm positive that my plans can never be hindered in any permanent way whatsoever. And he looks at their charges. Because they have the largest coalition of nations, so therefore the largest military resource, the largest economic resource, the larger popular base. I mean they have a popular response. They have multitudes of people making up this popular support, grass root support. I mean what could kings want more than the largest coalition of armies, the largest coalition of finances and banking and industry, and the largest popular support in history. And they go, we can surely win with all of this resource. And God laughs. This is the, I think it was Spurgeon who said, this is the most terrible laugh in human history. Echoing through the corridors of history. Or maybe somebody else said that. But this laugh is terrifying. That God in heaven, he mocks. He goes, you think because you have more resources than any group of kings in any generation, that that would move me? That you could somehow overpower my word? And because you all get together and agree that immorality is okay, and you back it up with Bible verses that somehow it's going to work? He goes, my word is true. My word will never change. Never will my word change. There's one scripture that says he exalts his word even above his name. That his word is the ultimate like his name is. And that's what David is saying here, that God laughs. He goes, like, you can't be serious that mere human strength could overthrow the Father's throne seated in the heavens. And he says, the Lord, David says this by the spirit of prophecy, the Lord will hold them in derision. And the word derision means scorn or contempt. The Lord actually wants them to know. This isn't just the average sinner that's struggling in his sin. That's not the group. He doesn't hold them in derision. The average sinner struggling in his sin, the harlots and the tax gatherers, Jesus goes to them to win them. He's not talking about just the kind of the traditional view of the sinner stuck in their sin. And God says, I have derision. I have scorn towards you. That's not what the scripture says. He's talking about the kings who have made a deliberate final decision to resist the word of God with all of their resources and to make a mockery of the word of God. He says, I want you to know I feel scorn and contempt towards this whole plan that you have. In other words, it's not passive to me. It's not neutral to me as well. I am very engaged in the battle, very engaged. Some believers might think, well, where's God at? He's being silenced. He goes, trust me. My heart is deeply engaged with those that are set on removing the word of God and its influence from culture. But he goes on beyond that. He more than has an attitude of derision towards those who are intentionally involved in this. It says in verse 5, he'll speak to them in his wrath. Now how does God speak to these kings in his wrath? Through your voice. Through your words. Through your songs. Through your drama. Through your blogs. You're the ones that are giving expression to God's voice. Well, what we want to tell the nations is that God loves them because that's the primary message of the Bible, that God loves them. But verse 5 isn't talking about the primary message to the sinners of the earth. It's talking about to the leaders of society who are determined fiercely and in a final way to oppose Christ. And it's not a casual decision. It's not an unenlightened decision. They have a whole lot of information, and it's a final decision. He says, I want you to tell them, I want you to speak to them in my name about my wrath because I'm a God of justice, and before my wrath is poured out, I always give due witness and warning of my wrath before it comes. And because I'm a God of justice, I actually want you to tell them. Now that's really a cool verse. And tell you, tell the king yourself. Or tell you, go to the leader of commerce or the leader of industry or the media and say, just so you know, God is warning you, giving you a due witness that his wrath is being released upon this attitude. And maybe that particular leader, maybe they'll draw back from it. And many will be permanent in their obstinance, but we don't ever really know which are which. But verse 5 isn't talking about a message of wrath in contrast to the message of love. The message of love and grace is the primary message to the nations of the earth and the sinners of the earth, but verse 5 is a particular message to the conspiracy of the powerful leaders of society wanting to drive away the influence of God's word. In other words, God's saying, I'm not afraid. And I don't want my people afraid. I want them to tell those leaders what I think because I'm a God of justice, I'm going to give a just warning ahead of time, and I'm a God of mercy if perhaps some of them will repent. But again, he's aiming at those that are hardened in their obstinacy and their rebellion against him. He goes, and don't just tell them that wrath is coming. Tell them I'm going to distress them in my deepest anger, my deepest pleasure. I'm deeply stirred up and engaged about what they're doing. And I read the Father's message, His response. You know, if you have any temptation to want to join the popular chorus of culture to start dumbing down the word of God, beloved, read Psalm 2, verse 4, 5, and 6. Go the other direction. I look at that and I'm not even going to look that direction. I'm setting my face like Flint, the entire opposite direction of radical faithfulness to the word of God. I want to be a bold witness of the truth. Verse 6, now here's the ultimate message because the first part of the message is God is displeased, and He wants them to know. It's not a secret because sometimes God's anger, He hides it, but here He goes, no, no, I want it to be known for the sake of justice. I want them to have noticed, I mean, the warning served to them. Do notice. But I also want to warn them because some will repent under that message because it will strike them. But the ultimate message, not in the message of wrath, verse 6, it's the message of the victory of Jesus as a human king. It's not just that Jesus is victorious as God. I mean, He's always God. He's been God forever in the past and God forever in the future, and He's God now. The message isn't about Jesus as God. That's clear. God has authority. The message is about Jesus the man in His humanity being recognized and declared as God's king. The Father, the God of Israel says, I want my son declared as my king because His kingship, His enthronement, His victory is absolutely sure and nothing can move that, nothing can alter that. It's an absolute fact, His total victory, and I want His victory proclaimed alongside of my displeasure towards the obstinacy against Him. Let's look at Romans 4. Well, we're out of time, so I'll just bring this to an end here, just ever so brief. Romans 4, it's part 3, Jesus' response. And you can read this a little bit on your own. Jesus says, Father, I have, verse 7, I have one thing to say. I will declare whatever you decree. Whatever you say, I will pray. That's in essence. Whatever you say, I'll pray, and I'll get my people to agree with me. So you say that I'm king, then I'm going to pray for my kingship to be fully manifest on the earth. I mean, He's already king, crowned at the right hand of the Father in heaven. He's enthroned already, but this is talking about His enthronement before the nations for all to see. So in verse 7, Jesus is saying, whatever you say, I will pray. So whatever the decrees of the Father are, the Son prays them. Now it's interesting that the Son doesn't just say, well, Father, you said it, that settles it, I believe it. That's the end of it, although I like that phrase. God said it, that settles it, I believe it. But Jesus prays it then. When He actively believes it, He prays it. He doesn't just say, well, God, you're sovereign because you said it, it will happen. The Father says, no, it will happen to the measure that you, my Son, at my right hand, are engaged in intercession, which is imperfect intercession. But I want my people in partnership with you, I want you to answer the crisis in the nation, and I want you to answer my promise to exalt you in the earth by intercession. This is so remarkable to me, that intercession is what the Father wants the Son to respond. And therefore, as the head of the church, that's not all that we're doing with Jesus, but that is a priority. We're engaging in intercession for Jesus to have His inheritance in the nation. One preacher said, we don't just pray for the work, prayer is the work. And there's a whole lot of truth to that. The work of prayer, prayer is work. I mean, it doesn't just, I mean, there's those momentary phrases we say to the Lord throughout the day, which I love, just those, I like to just speak 10 and 15 second phrases to the Lord throughout the day. But the work of intercession takes time, it takes energy, it takes focus. We rein in our mind and we lock into God's promises. And it takes a resolve, because prayer is work. I'm talking about intercessory prayer. I don't mean communing prayer with God, where I love you and you love me. I don't find that to be work. But the work of agreeing with what the Father says in intercession is work. I think it's very significant that the identity of the redeemed forever is called the house of prayer. In Isaiah 56, he says, my house shall be called the house of prayer. That's not talking about prayer ministries like International House of Prayer. It's way beyond that. The whole redeemed community forever is our identity is the house of prayer. Meaning forever you will relate to God through prayer. I mean partner to God is a better way to say it. You'll partner with God through prayer. That's not the only way, but that will be one way. What I mean by that, but even when you have a resurrected body in the age to come, you will still be involved in intercession. Just like Jesus is involved in intercession right now with a resurrected body. What does it mean that my people shall be called a house of prayer? I believe that forever, even with resurrected bodies, our identity is to be the house of prayer. And here's what I believe it means to be the house of prayer in one sentence. It's that God speaks. He moves our heart. Then we speak it back in prayer and we move His heart. Then He opens His hand or releases His resources to the earth. I'm going to say that again. To be the house of prayer, it doesn't mean having a prayer ministry, you know, in a building where they pray 24 hours a day. I appreciate that. I mean, we do that. I appreciate that. But that's not what the house of prayer is far bigger than that. It's part of our eternal identity. God speaks. It moves our heart. God says, I'm sending revival to your city. It moves your heart. Wow! Then you speak and move His heart. God, send revival to the city you promised. Then God opens His hand and releases His resources to the earth. That's how we will even function in the age to come. It's not God in the age to come. God's not going to just wave His hand and everything is in fullness, even in the age to come. As He brings forth the glory of God on the earth in the Millennial Kingdom, the saints will be praying, releasing it, and God opening His hands, and the glory of God increasing more and more and more. Well, let's go clear to the end. At the very end, David's response in Psalm chapter 2, verse 10 to 12, he says, O kings of the earth, be wise, pay attention, engage. It says serve the Lord. Serve the Lord. Engage with Jesus. Don't neglect what He's doing. Don't minimize what He's doing. Prioritize it. Serve Him with the fear of the Lord. Don't be presumptuous. Don't misunderstand the grace of God and the love of God where you serve Him with presumption. Serve Him knowing He is God. I mean, He's not just a nice fellow who loves us. He does love us, and He's very nice. But He's God. He's God. Serve Him. Engage with Him. Partner with Him. Do what He's doing. One preacher said find out what Jesus is doing in your generation and throw yourself into it with all of your heart. Throw yourself into what He's doing. Now, again, prayer is not the only thing He's doing. By any means, prayer is where it starts. It's not where it stops. And prayer is before it and after the other things. Prayer is the beginning, the middle, and the end of all the other things that He's doing. We cover our works in prayer. And then it says, kiss the Son lest He be angry. In other words, pay homage to Him with affection. Come to Him with a heart of full submission to kiss the Son, meaning to kiss a king meant to bow down and pay homage to Him, and honor His authority, but with affection and wholeheartedness. I am fully yours. I'm fully surrendered to you is what He's saying there by kiss the Son. Well, amen and amen. Let's stand.