Psalms 2:6

Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion.

The sovereignty Zion’s King

Christ is King in Zion, the alone Sovereign of His Church by his Father’s appointment and ordination.

I. This sovereign prince. The sovereignty and royalty appears--

1. From Scripture prophecy.

2. From types.

3. From titles.

4. From the concurring testimony of enemies and strangers.

5. From the badges of sovereignty everywhere, ascribed to Him.

See what happy persons the true and loyal subjects of Christ are. See the dangerous risk they run that invade His government and contemn His authority. Who are these? They that turn the authority derived from Him, to the hurt and prejudice of His kingdom and interest. They who venture to model His visible kingdom in the world after their own fancy. They who walk willingly after the commandments of men, in opposition to the commands of Christ. They will be found equally guilty who stand by and see those injuries done to the King of Zion by others, and are silent without witnessing against those things.

II. This kingdom and the administration of it. The kingdom of the Son of God is two fold: it is either essential or personal. His essential kingdom belongs to Him as to His Divine nature. His personal or mediatory kingdom belongs to Him as Immanuel, God-man. In this He acts by a delegate authority or a power committed by the Father for the salvation of the elect that were given Him. The mediatory kingdom is either more general or special. His general mediatory kingdom extends itself over heaven, earth, and hell. The kingdom or Church of Christ is sometimes called His “body” and His “flock.” This Church is either militant on earth or triumphant in heaven. Why is this Church called the “holy hill of Zion”? The literal Mount Zion had two heads, one called “Moriah,” the other “the City of David.” Zion was the place of public worship. All the sacred things of God were kept there. In Scripture an opposition is stated between Mount Zion and Mount Sinai. Consider some of the properties of Christ’s kingdom.

1. It is spiritual.

2. Of large extent.

3. Not populous. It is--

4. A kingdom of light.

5. A heavenly kingdom.

6. A regular and well-governed kingdom.

7. Much hated by the devil and the world.

8. A stable, firm, and everlasting kingdom.

9. A holy kingdom.

Consider the actual execution and administration of this kingdom. By the royal authority of Zion’s King He overrules and governs all creatures and all their actions, yea, the most dark and cloudy dispensations for Ills own and His Father’s glory. With respect to His invisible kingdom of believers, there are these acts of His royal power that He puts forth.

1. He subdues them to Himself.

2. He writes His law on their hearts.

3. He enforces subjection to His laws.

4. He casts a copy of obedience unto all His subjects, and calls them to imitate Him.

5. He actuates and excites all His subjects to obedience to Him by His own spirit.

6. He meekens the hearts of His subjects to a due regard to all the intimations of His mind and will.

7. He corrects and chastens His subjects.

8. He commands peace, quiet, comfort, and deliverance to them.

Prove that Christ has a visible Church from these considerations. He Himself is visible as to His human nature. The laws, ordinances, and officers of Christ are all visible. There is a visible difference between the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of the devil. The charge that is given to ministers in the dispensation of the solemn ordinances of the New Testament proves that Christ has a visible Church. And there is a visible and open war betwixt the seed of the woman and the serpent. Notice some acts of the royal authority of Christ ill His visible kingdom. Giving the lively oracles of His Word to His visible Church. Appointing the form of its government. Appointing its officers, and the way in which they are to be chosen. Appointing ordinances, such as preaching. Appointing censures for good discipline and order in His kingdom. Authorising the officers to meet in a judicative capacity in His name for the better and joint regulating of the affairs of His kingdom. Bounding and limiting all the courts and officers of His kingdom to govern His subjects, and to teach them no other thing than He has commanded. Giving express orders unto all His subjects to examine all spirits, doctrines, laws, impositions at the bar of the Word, and to contend earnestly for the purity of His truth and worship, ordinances and institutions.

III. Why has God the Father set and ordained Him to be King in zion? This flows originally from the sovereign love and good pleasure of God. It was for the Father’s glory and honour to set Him upon the throne. It was that He might bring about salvation to His mystical body, the Church. Because His shoulders alone were able to bear the weight of the government. Seeing Christ bought the Church to Himself with the price of His blood, it was fit that the government of the Church should be committed to Him. Application--

(1) Words of exhortation to all those who profess themselves the subjects of Christ’s kingdom. Imitate your King. Trust Him at all times. Be much at your King’s throne as supplicants. Obey your King’s laws. Keep His ordinances of worship. Stand up for the honour of your King.

(2) Words of exhortation to you who are yet strangers to Zion’s King, or enemies to His kingdom and government. Surrender your rebellious arms, and submit unto His royal authority. (E. Erskine.)

The royalty of the Son of God

I should question whether there could be produced from either sacred or profane literature a more remarkable instance of the power of putting a great deal into a few words than this Psalm. Its theme is “the glory of the Son of God.” But that is not set forth in abstract sentences that would be crude. This is a great poem, and the theme is painted pictorially. There is not one picture, but four. They are different, yet all closely connected, and at the end are brought together into dramatic unity. The artistic balance is perfectly kept, the same number of words being given to each picture. There is no hurry or overcrowding. Every picture is painted broadly and freely, and even with a great deal of elaboration, and yet the whole Psalm only contains twelve verses. Look at the four pictures.

I. Revolt. Painted in the first three verses. The nations crowded about the Holy Land have become restive under the yoke; a spirit of disaffection has spread. The movement has come to a head, and there has been effected an immense combination of insurgent states. The second verse takes us into the council tent. At last they come to a unanimous resolution (verse 8), “Let us break their bands asunder.” That was the form of the truth; but the truth itself is perfectly modern. It is the resistance of the world to the gospel of Christ; it is the attempt of the persecutor and the traditionalist to arrest the progress of the kingdom of light and love; it is the natural enmity of your heart and mind to God and His Christ.

II. Derision. At this point the poetic originality of this Psalm reaches its climax. This second scene is in heaven. Up in heaven there is seated One who is observing all this which is going on on earth. It is a very bold stroke of imagination to represent the Deity as laughing. It is not, however, unexampled. I want to say that we do not laugh enough; we do not sympathise enough with God’s laughter: we take some things too seriously, we tremble too much for the ark of God. When someone begins vainly to give us his opinions about religion, of which he has no experience, we ought to see the ludicrous side of the matter; we should not become too angry about it.

III. Interpretation. At this point the words of the poet become most pregnant and shorthand, so to speak. The scene is again changed. We are not in heaven now. Not among the insurgents, but in the opposite camp, because it is the Anointed, the Leader of the army, who is the speaker. He says, “I will declare the decree,” and then He begins not to repeat it in the exact words, but to give the drift of it and its meaning both to it and to them. “It means this,” He says, “The Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee.” Among the Hebrews the reigning sovereign was sometimes called God’s Son. No doubt all this referred originally to some Hebrew king and some crisis in his history. But beneath the words is a far more comprehensive reference to another. The reign of Christ is a reign of love. His kingdom is set up not upon the bodies, but in the hearts of men, and yet at the name of Jesus every knee must bow.

IV. Admonition. Who is speaking now? Probably the poet himself. Like the chorus in a Greek play, he draws the moral of the whole. He urges the leaders of the insurgents to pause and be admonished. They can see themselves that this enterprise of theirs is hopeless, and that it may be fatal to themselves. Therefore it pleases them to kiss the Son, that is, to give Him the sign of allegiance. It should be, “for His wrath is kindled at a little.” It is kindled by the affront shown to His Son; that He will always terribly avenge. (James Stalker, D. D.)

Christ’s kingly office

I. Christ is a King.

1. He was prophesied of in the Old Testament under this character (Genesis 49:10; Isaiah 11:1).

2. He was of old promised to His people under this notion.

3. He has all the ensigns of royalty, Sword, Sceptre, Crown, Escutcheon (Revelation 5:5), Throne.

4. He sealed this truth with His precious blood.

II. The nature of Christ’s kingdom. Christ has a two-fold kingdom. An essential kingdom, and an economical or mediatory kingdom. The administration is either external (general or particular) or internal in the hearts of. His people.

III. The acts of Christ’s kingly office. Subduing sinners to Himself, ruling and governing them, defending and protecting them, restraining His own and their enemies, and conquering them. Christ exercises His kingly office in ruling and governing His subjects: both externally, by laws, officers, and discipline; and internally, writing His law in their hearts, and persuading them by His spirit.

IV. Properties or qualities of Zion’s King. He is of ancient, glorious, and honourable extract. He is an absolute King, who makes laws for His subjects, but is not bound by any Himself, His will is His law. He is a wise, powerful, just, merciful, meek and patient, beautiful, opulent, everlasting King. Improvement.

1. The kings of the earth have no ground to grudge the kingdom of Christ its freedom in their dominions, seeing it is a spiritual kingdom.

2. There is a government of the Church distinct from and independent of the civil government.

3. The government of the Church is not alterable by any power on earth, civil and ecclesiastical.

4. The Church shall ride out all the storms that can blow upon her, whether from earth or hell. (T. Boston, D. D.)

Christ, King of Zion

Christ as Redeemer executes the offices of prophet, priest and king. As a king He applies the redemption He has purchased so as to secure the full and eternal blessedness of those for whom it was designed. There is a principle of aversion to the, truth that Christ is king in the heart of every regenerate man--a dislike of Christ’s spiritual authority.

I. The kingdom described as God’s holy hill of Zion. Zion was one of the hills on which Jerusalem was built. The name came to be appropriated to the temple and its courts. It is also applied to the worshippers in the temple if not to the whole inhabitants of Jerusalem. It is used to signify the Church of God. Sometimes it is applied to the visible Church, sometimes to the invisible, as Hebrews 12:22. In the text the whole Church is to be understood. The visible Church is as much Christ’s Church as the invisible. It owes its existence to Him. Christ is King of Zion, and as King of Zion He is head over all--exalted above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion.

II. The title by which He holds the kingdom. He reigns by the Father’s appointment. His dominion as King of Zion is delegated and official. It is not the dominion that belongs to Him essentially as God that is here spoken of, but the power with which He is officially invested as Mediator by the act of the Father. His dominion in this respect is the Father’s gift; bestowed on Him in fulfilment of the conditions of the everlasting covenant, as the recompense of His obedience and sufferings, as His reward for finishing the work which His Father gave Him to do. The dominion with which He is entrusted supposes His essential dignity as a Divine Person; for we cannot imagine that such dominion would ever have been committed to a mere creature. His appointment to His mediatorial throne was formally made when the covenant of grace was entered into in the counsels of eternity. It was not till His resurrection and ascension to heaven that His claim to royal dignity was fully recognised. But He exercised this authority from the beginning of time, in virtue of that atonement which He was to offer for the sins of men.

III. The administration of the kingdom. This may be viewed, either in reference to the outward organisation and arrangements of His Church or in reference to that spiritual power--that Divine resistless energy, by which He effectually accomplishes the great ends for which His kingdom has been set up, and is maintained in the world. Christ prescribes the laws and institutions of His Church, and appoints its office bearers. But outward arrangements would be ineffectual without a Divine efficacy--without the power of that Spirit who is sent by Christ, and acts in accordance with Christ’s commission.

IV. The peculiar properties of this kingdom.

1. It is a spiritual kingdom. The great design and purpose for which it has been erected is spiritual and heavenly. Human government views man in connection with this world. The kingdom of Christ views Him in connection with eternity. Its ultimate end is the advancement of the glory of God; its immediate end is the salvation of sinners.

2. It is destined to be universal. All adverse power and authority will be overthrown, all enemies vanquished, and nothing left which is not put under Him.

3. It shall last forever. It will not only continue while the earth exists; it will last through the endless ages of eternity. (James Ewing.)

Christ, the King of nations

I. Christ as King of kings, and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16). In these words we have an important part of Christ’s mediatorial character brought before us. When this name is applied to Christ we are to understand that power which Christ, as King and Head of Zion, has acquired over the nations and kingdoms of this world, The Church and the State being distinct institutions--the one being positive, expressly revealed, and exhibited in the Word of God; the other being founded on natural principles, and not on scriptural revelation--it is evident that as the rulers in the one hold their appointment directly from Christ as Mediator, so the kings and rulers in the other hold their appointment primarily from God as the Moral Governor of the world. But, whilst recognising this distinction, it does not follow that the powers which be and are ordained of God have no relation whatever to Christ as Mediator. Christ not merely the King and Head of Zion, but Christ the King of nations, by virtue of that power with which He is invested by the Father. Thus it is written, “The Father hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the Church.” Christ has power over all things. He has power and authority over societies and communities, and also over nations, which occupy so important a position in the social scale. Thus kings and rulers are spoken of as holding their appointment from the Father, but in subordination to Christ the Mediator, and subject to His control--“By Me kings reign and princes decree justice” (Ephesians 1:20). It is true that Christ, in a very special sense, is the King and Head of Zion, but it is no less true that, in a very important sense, He is King of kings and Lord of lords. Standing in so important a relation to the Church, it is on her behalf that He takes to Himself this universal power and reigns. Holding this appointment from the Father, Christ is now exalted to the right hand of glorious power and majesty in the heavens. There He is seated on the throne, and wears the crown and sways the sceptre of universal dominion, and we are assured that all kings shall yet fall down before Him, and all nations shall serve Him. But where, it is asked, is the practical importance or application of this truth? We look abroad upon the world, and we see many nations and peoples who have never been brought to the knowledge of the truth, and who are therefore ignorant of the homage which they owe to Christ. We still say the truth is here, and must remain forever. It remains not only an unchanging truth in the Word, but shall yet become an accomplished fact in the history of every nation. What a blessed theme is here set before us for our contemplation! The kings of earth no more combining and conspiring against the Lord and His anointed, but coming with Christian loyalty to pay their tribute at the feet of King Jesus (Philippians 2:10). The fulfilment of these words may be in the far distant future, but of their certainty we are assured by prophecy already fulfilled in the history of those nations that had to make way for the coming of Christ.

II. Duties devolving on nations under the kingship of Christ.

1. Christian nations are bound to frame their laws in accordance with the Word of God. Every nation ought to act according to that degree of religious knowledge which it may possess. The very claims of morality and justice, the best interests of society, the welfare of kings and rulers and of all classes of their subjects, and the claims of God, the Moral Governor, demand that the laws of nations should be regulated by the Word. Was the law to be honoured under the Old Testament dispensation by one solitary nation under a theocratic government, much more shall it be honoured under the New, by many nations under many forms of civil government, but all subordinate to Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. By obedience to the laws of the King eternal shall righteousness be promoted, and righteousness exalteth a nation.

2. Christian nations are to be interested in the advancement of Christ’s spiritual kingdom.

III. By way of improvement of the subject, let us see its great importance.

1. It is of the highest importance, because it is frequently and clearly revealed in the Word. Its certainty does not rest on a few solitary passages of Scripture, but large and consecutive portions are employed to describe the power and glory of Christ, the King of nations.

2. It has been important in the past history and contendings of the Church.

3. Nor is the truth of less importance in the present day. The Kingship of Christ over the nations has become a present truth. There is undoubtedly a spirit abroad in the land in opposition to it. Men in Church and State have condemned the very principle.

4. But in a word, it is of growing importance. It will become still more important when its certainty has been established and its application fully and gloriously carried out. As we have already seen, it is frequently the theme of prophecy. And so, fathers and brethren, believing as we do in the faithfulness of God and in the fulfilment of His Word, we must believe His own prediction--“In His times He shall show who is blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords.” The works of nature, the discoveries of science, the achievements of art, the efforts of earth’s mightiest nations and of the Church universal, shall yet combine to promote the interests of King Jesus. And in prospect of this happy period, shall we say the subject is of no importance? If we are to be indifferent to it, what is to become of the Church’s prayer, “Thy kingdom come,”? (C. S. Findlay.)

Christ’s kingly office

I. The nature of Christ’s kingly office.

1. It is not simply as God, but as Mediator--as God-man--that Christ executes the kingly office, and exercises supreme dominion, and is entitled to the profoundest homage and the most implicit submission. Christ’s kingship as Mediator is different from His eternal and unchangeable dominion as God, and rests upon a different foundation. We are to regard Christ’s kingly office as properly and fully developed at the time when God raised Him up, and gave Him glory, and seated Him at His own right hand. Christ has been invested with the uncontrolled administration of the moral government of the world. He exerts and displays His kingly power--

(1) by subduing His people unto Himself;

(2) by ruling and defending them;

(3) by restraining and confining their enemies, who set themselves in opposition to the accomplishment of His purposes.

II. Practical application. To receive Christ in His different offices is just to act in the manner in which the contemplation of Him in His different characters is fitted to lead us to adopt. Advert to the encouraging and consolatory reflections which the contemplation of Christ’s supreme dominion is fitted to call forth with reference to the general state of His visible Church, and the interests of religion in the world. (W. Cunningham, D. D.)

The King and the kingdom

I. The character of this King.

1. His sovereignty; as appears from prophecy, types, titles, enemies, and strangers.

2. His attestations of royalty; His enthronement, throne, coronation, sceptre, laws, courts, officers, power, and His universal sway.

3. His characters and qualifications. An ancient, wise, righteous, gracious, sympathising, rich, present, invisible and immortal, independent, warlike, glorious King.

II. The Kingdom. “My holy hill of Zion.” It denotes a place of safety; a place of society, of unity, of commerce; a free orderly, peaceable, warlike, beautiful kingdom. It is called Christ’s kingdom, because dwells there; He built it; He governs it; it is His property, and the inhabitants are His.

III. Why the Father constituted Christ the King of His zion. This springs out of His sovereign love to Him; to advance His own glory; to save His own people. Because Christ could sustain it, and when lost He redeemed it.

IV. The improvement intended.

1. To the inhabitants. Follow the example of your Prince. Trust your all in His care. Constantly surround His throne. Rejoice in His presence. Obey His commandments; and rest always in His love.

2. To His enemies. You oppose Him, but He will subdue you. You reject Him and He will reject you. You are miserable in this life, and will be in the next, unless His Spirit gain the victory over you. (T. B. Baker.)

Christ’s kingdom

Jesus is King as well as Saviour. He requires subjects. They must know something of the nature, as well as the duties, of His kingdom. Two important questions call for consideration: What are the characteristics of Christ’s kingdom, and what relation do we individually sustain toward it?

I. Christ’s kingdom enjoys the approval and sanction of God. He declares, “Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion.” Jesus comes to the throne in an orderly way. He is no usurper. He rules in harmony with the will, and by “the decree” of Him who is Lord of all.

II. Christ is King by inheritance. He is God’s “Son,” His “only begotten Son,” and so is entitled to rule,

III. Christ, as King, proclaims His authority: “The Lord hath said.” he administers the affairs of government as one divinely endowed. He is Divine, and so possessed of omniscience and omnipotence.

IV. His is an extensive kingdom: “The heathen,” or the nations, “are given Him for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession.”

V. His is a judicial, as well as a saving kingdom: His enemies shall be broken with “a rod of iron,” and dashed “to pieces like a potter’s vessel,” which, made of clay, cannot withstand forced contact with the hard ground.

VI. Earth’s forces antagonise Christ’s kingdom.

1. The heathen rise up in opposition to it.

2. It is subject to popular machinations for its overthrow.

3. Men in high station and leaders in public opinion conspire against it.

VII. Christ’s is a victorious kingdom. “The Lord” and His “anointed,” or the Messiah, are independent of hostile agencies. “He that sitteth in the heavens shall have them in derision.” He, however, gives them reminders of His presence and power, speaking at times to “them in His Wrath,” and at other times vexing “them in His sore displeasure.” A kingdom so Divine, so potential, so extensive, and so gracious is not to be treated with indifference. It bears upon every person in the wide universe of God. It concerns man’s weal or woe. Its proper consideration demands of us personally--

1. Wise action.

2. Due enlightenment.

3. Judicious service.

4. Considerate delight.

5. Timely subjection.

6. Implicit trustfulness. (H. M. Patterson, D. D.)

The King in Zion

The following points determine the principal features of the picture which the Psalmist draws for us. In the centre is the King of Zion. All around Him is the raging crowd of rebels and conspirators, who have set themselves against high heaven, and who will overturn His throne if they can do it. In His struggle with these enemies of righteousness He is to exercise a double power: a power of blessing and a power of condemnation. By the exercise of this dual power He is at length to conquer completely. It does not require a very vivid imagination to find in the history of the past eighteen hundred years the colours and the figures which are wanting to fill out, in part at least, this prophetic sketch of the progress of Christ’s kingdom here upon earth. Take, for example, the conflict which Christ has been waging against evil. It is evident that the Church has emerged from her darkest days into the first clear shining of her millennial glory. How has the King in Zion achieved His triumph? He was endowed at the outset with a power to bless and a power to destroy. His office was to be not only that of a Saviour King, but a kingly Judge. This is the dual character in which they who look for His second coming have always expected He would appear. With Christ came a new sense of sin and evil. Christ flashes His light into the soul, and there comes the discrimination between the good the bad. We are receiving approval or condemnation for every act done in the body now. The parable of the sheep and the goats is being enacted now, every day: Judgment is one of the most solemn facts of this present life. (C. A. Dickinson.)

The enemies of Christ

I. The enemies of Christ. Great men described here partly from their wickedness, and partly from their weakness. They imagine vain things, but cannot carry then: out.

II. Christ the Lord. The prophet brings in God the Father speaking, and the Son answering. The words of the Father are, “I have set My King”; where we have the inauguration of Christ, or His calling to the crown: the answer of the Son, “I will preach the law,” which sets forth His willing obedience to publish and proclaim the laws of the kingdom: the reply of the Father, containing the reward that Christ was to have upon the publication of the gospel; which was an addition to His empire, by the conversion and access of the Gentiles, and the confusion of His enemies.

III. Admonition to the princes and judges of the earth. What are they taught? To know their duty, and to do it. And the time for doing it is now. The reason is double, drawn from His wrath and the consequent punishment, and from the happy condition of those who learn to know Him, and fear, and serve, and adore Him. (William Nicholson.)

Christ the fulfilment of prophecy

On an artist’s table some colours are lying. You glance at them, and that is all, for to you they have no meaning. A month after you come in, and you are attracted by a beautiful picture. The picture has been painted with the colours you saw before, but how different it is now when they are harmoniously blended. So Jesus Christ gathers into harmony in Himself the before ill-understood prophecies and types of the Old Testament; only then we see what they fully rueful.

Christ the King

Dean Stubbs says, “When I was in Florence a year or two ago I saw on the outside of the town hall the sacred monogram, marking the spot where in former days were the words, ‘Jesus Christ, appointed by the Senate the King of the Florentines.’ And on the battlements of the tower I could still read the Latin inscription referring to the same event, ‘Jesus Christ, the King of Glory; He conquers, He reigns, He rules.’” By a solemn civic act the old Florentines chose Christ as the King of their city, and we shall never know personal, social, or civic progress until we too give Him the preeminence.