“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?” asks David at the beginning of Psalm 2. They were raging against God as they imagined something vain; the Psalmist implies that this was altogether foolish. And to do so is still altogether foolish, not least because God has infinite power. If the creature had a modicum of wisdom, he would not rage against his Creator; he should know that “the Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea” (Ps 93:4). It would be absurd for any human being to attempt to hold back the waves sweeping in from the ocean; he cannot do it. And it is altogether more absurd for anyone to think of resisting Almighty God.
Yet David continues, “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”; the leaders in various nations were plotting to cast off the restraints that God – and Christ, in particular – had imposed on them, and they have done so throughout the ages. In prayer, the Apostles applied these words to the way that “both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel” dealt with Jesus (Acts 4:25-27). They went on to refer to their own present position after being brought before the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem; when set free, they were commanded “not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus” and were threatened, presumably with serious consequences, if they did so. In answer to their prayer, God showed His power – physically, by shaking the building where they were; and spiritually, by filling them with the Holy Ghost and enabling them to speak the Word of God with boldness.
Rulers of various nations continue to throw off God’s restraints. They reject His commands and go on to pass ungodly legislation; in doing so they are imagining vain things. They forget, or do not wish to realise, that God has infinite wisdom, and that it is dangerous to ignore what He has revealed. People of influence, particularly in the media, use their position to spread unscriptural ideas, promoting a godless society, and then wonder that there are outbreaks of violence or other dangerous behaviour. They too have imagined a vain thing, and society in general is content to live without God but it does not recognise that this results in many living hopeless lives – for instance, in the abuse of alcohol or drugs.
Again, opinion leaders promote the idea of evolution as the one explanation for the existence of the universe and everything in it, human beings included. Perhaps more than anything else, belief in evolution has contributed to the godlessness that pervades so many parts of the world today. God has revealed in Scripture the truth that He created all things, but very many leaders in society and education have thrown off the bands that restrict their thinking, and imagine a vain thing. The result is that most people in the United Kingdom, for instance, feel free to live their lives without any thought of the God to whom they are responsible and to whom at last they will have to give an account for how they lived in this world.
And what is God’s reaction? It is to “laugh”; He has these rebels “in derision”. In his commentary on the Psalms, J A Alexander explains, “This figure, strong and almost startling as it is, cannot possibly be misunderstood by any reader”; it is “a vivid expression of contemptuous security on God’s part, and of impotent folly on the part of men”. They cannot take away from God’s authority or from His glory, and they are leaving themselves open to the outpouring of “His wrath . . . in His sore displeasure”. In spite of all the rebellion there has been in this world, since Satan first entered the Garden of Eden to challenge God’s authority, the Most High is still in control of everything, and He reminds us: “Yet have I set My king upon My holy hill of Zion” – His Church. The King is Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One; He rules over the Church of God, and neither Satan, nor those who serve him by casting off God’s restraints, can ultimately succeed in their aims. Christ will have the victory, in spite of all the rebellious activity of men and devils. But God will be glorified in His justice when He eternally punishes those who go on in their trespasses.
The apparent success of the ungodly in living in rebellion against God may cause His children much sadness. But there is much to encourage them in Scripture: in particular, those words of God the Father to the Son: “Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession”. We may not understand why the Lord allows the ungodly their apparent success, and why He allows that apparent success to continue for so long. Yet our lack of understanding should not surprise us, for our understanding is very limited, and God has not chosen to reveal answers to all our questions. But we can be sure that He is ordering everything according to His infinite wisdom.
However many, through the centuries, have been acting in rebellion against God, He will yet bring many to bow the knee before Him in sincere submission. We read of 3000 people being converted on the Day of Pentecost and we can be sure that the risen Saviour, now ascended to heaven, made intercession for them, presenting before the Father the merits of His redeeming work on earth on their behalf. And His intercession was heard; those 3000 became His possession.
But Christ’s inheritance was not to be confined to the Jews; it was to extend to the Gentiles, even to the uttermost parts of the earth. Accordingly He would have made intercession for Peter to be sent to Cornelius, so that this Gentile would understand the good news that the Messiah had come and so that he would receive “the gift of the Holy Ghost”. It was according to the Father’s invitation that the Son, as Mediator, made intercession for Paul and others to be sent to preach the gospel in such places as Galatia and Ephesus, not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles. Christ asked also for the gospel to be so applied that sinners would be converted and His inheritance extended to include these parts of what is now Turkey. When Paul and his companions were minded to preach in Bithynia, they were not permitted to do so, but in a vision Paul was directed to go over to Macedonia, a Greek province. It was for the salvation of souls in Macedonia that Christ had asked; and that, according to promise, was what the Father gave. Lydia had her heart opened and the jailor too received saving mercy; it was the beginning of the extension of Christ’s inheritance to include Europe.
We cannot follow all the stages by which Christ’s inheritance has been extended to the uttermost parts of the earth, in the sense that the gospel has been sent, not least through the pages of Scripture, to very many parts of the world and people there have been brought, by the work of the Holy Spirit, to trust in the Saviour. And whenever a sinner has been brought into Christ’s kingdom, it is because He has asked and the Father has given.
We need not despair because of the apparent success of the ungodly in cutting the bands of the Lord and His Anointed One. The Lord still has them in derision because of “their impotent folly”. They cannot prevent the fulfilment of God’s purposes for the whole earth to “be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Is 11:9). At every step by which this promise will be fulfilled, Christ will ask, and the Father will give. God will send out preachers; they will proclaim the everlasting gospel; the Holy Spirit will be poured out on all flesh; and multitudes of sinners will be gathered in to Christ’s Kingdom. It will become evident that the King whom God the Father has anointed is indeed ruling over the Church in every part of the world, and that He has indeed always been ruling. “He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet” (1 Cor 15:25).