A Shadow of the Lord’s Anointed

Moses and the Burning Bush by. Arnold Friberg

Imagine for a moment that you are near a campfire during the night. Anything that walked past it would have its shadow cast behind it. Think about a dog for instance. Though it may be a lengthened shadow based on the angle of the light in front of it, you would clearly see a shadow in the shape of a dog. If you are looking at the campfire from a distance the dog may be covered from your view by a tree but you would still be able to see its shadow. However, anyone would without a doubt know that the shadow is not the dog itself but is just its shape cast by the light of the fire. This illustration is useful for describing something the Bible does all the time in the Old Testament and that is the concept of types and shadows. It is a commonly held belief in Christian orthodoxy that all scripture is pointing to Jesus Christ. Though he is not clearly manifested until the New Testament, the Bible nonetheless mentions him all throughout the OT. This often occurs via prophecy when talking about the coming messiah, as a matter of fact, the first instance of this happens in the Garden of Eden when God says to the serpent “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15 ESV). This refers to the coming messiah who will eventually destroy the work of the Devil. Other times, however, scripture points to Christ by a type or shadow. A type or shadow is usually an individual from the OT who represents key characteristics of Jesus throughout the redemptive history of Israel. This can be anyone from Noah to Abraham or Moses. David is frequently used for this purpose as well. In the same way, he was God’s chosen king and victorious over the enemies of Israel, Christ is victorious for his church in his resurrection over the bondage of sin and sets us free. It is very crucial to point out that just like in our campfire illustration, David is not Jesus just like the shadow of the dog is not the dog itself. Jesus is not sinful like David. Every biblical hero in the OT has a moral failure at some point. Also, just like we could not see the dog behind the tree, we know that he is still there by his shadow, in the same way, Jesus is referred to in the OT even though he is never mentioned by name. The reason I belabor this point is because in the following Psalm, while it is technically about David in its most basic sense, we will be looking at how the deeper meaning of this text is really talking about Christ. The New Testament clearly states this psalm is about Jesus when it says “For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’?” (Hebrews 1:5 ESV). This is referring to Psalm 2 verse 7. You will also notice from the text that much of the language used to describe “the Lord’s Anointed” is far too grandiose to only be referring to David.  

The Nations Rage

(Psalm 2:1-3 KJV) “Why do the heathen rage, And the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, And cast away their cords from us.” 

This psalm opens up the stage by pondering the motives and schemes of the nations. Originally, Israel would have understood this to be speaking of the neighboring nations that were at war with. However, In the context of this psalm being ultimately about Jesus, the entire Earth is in view here. Every nation and ruler takes careful counsel against God and “his anointed”; the Son of God; who again is typified by King David. The Hebrew word for ‘anointed’ is ‘Mashiach’ which is where we get the English word for ‘Messiah’. So even most Jewish scholars would say this psalm is referring to the messiah. Notice the word “rage” in the text. This word implies blind anger and frustration that can lead to ruin. As we will see in the next first verses it is folly to wage war against the creator of the world. In anger, they cry out against God to have their bonds broken apart. This is because they wish to live autonomously by their own man-made view of morality. If you break down the word autonomous, the Latin roots auto(self) and nomos(law), imply they wanted to live by their own law. Charles Spurgeon says it is as if they are saying “Let us be free to commit all manner of abominations. Let us be our own gods. Let us rid ourselves of restraint” [1]. Their lawlessness led them to slander the law of God as slavery [2]. This truly is blasphemy against a holy God. God as the creator of all things is the standard of good and morality. To create our own standard of morality is to try and be god's ourselves. And people have been doing this ever since the fall of man. We treat God like a harsh slavemaster when in reality we are slaves to our own sin. Spurgeon continues by saying “To a graceless neck the yoke of Christ is intolerable, but to the saved sinner it is easy and light.” [3]. Jesus himself tells us “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 ESV). When we as Christians feel any tension between what God’s law says and what we want to do, it would be wise to step back and ask by what standard are our desires correct. If there was absolutely no standard of morality and we all wanted to live by our own subjective autonomous rules, the whole earth would be chaotic. Paul in Romans 3 tells us that God’s law is written on our hearts, even for those who don’t believe in the God of scripture. That is why since the dawn of recorded human history different societies have had similar moral laws, do not murder, do not steal, and treat others the way you want to be treated. Anytime we advocate for anything else we are going against the law of God.

He who Sits in the Heavens Laughs

(Psalm 2:4-6 KJV) “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, And vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king Upon my holy hill of Zion.”

To say that God laughs may sound strange to us. God transcends what we are as humans since he is the one who created us, so when a human characteristic is used to describe God one must not think of it in merely human terms. The word ‘laugh’ is most likely getting across the idea that the schemes of man are folly against an all-powerful God and it is foolish to think that we can thwart his plans. Seventeenth-century pastor Thomas Adams says of this verse to not take the Lord’s laughter for carelessness, he laughs in scorn [4]. It was not a meaningless thing to God that Pharaoh killed all the firstborn of the Jews or for the Babylonians to sack his temple and carry his people away to Babylonian exile. However, in the case of Pharaoh, Moses still rose up as a deliverer and spokesperson for God while Pharaoh was utterly defeated and Belshazzar trembled before God’s writing on the wall in Daniel 5. In either case, these men thought that they had defeated the people of God yet his plans did not fail. The same is true for all those who rise against God. They may have their way for a while but God laughs mockingly at them from the heavens and eventually will bring them down. And as it pertains to the god of this world (Satan), he too will be brought low one day. God has set his king upon his holy hill, Zion. That King is Jesus Christ. That is to say that Christ already has victory over all who come against him. He is the king over the whole world, not just the Church. God does not take lightly those who would rebel against him.

The Begotten Son

(Psalm 2:7-9 KJV) “I will declare the decree: The LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, And I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, And the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

When we think of the word begotten, it has a very specific meaning. To be begotten of someone or something is to be the same type of being. Examples would be, birds beget birds, dogs beget dogs, and of course, humans beget humans. Our Relation to God is not that we are begotten by him, otherwise, we would be gods as well, but we are created by him. In John 3:16 we are told that Jesus is the only begotten son of God. For this reason, it would be strange if this verse is exclusively talking about David. Perhaps Jesus himself can clear this up for us. Jesus was questioning the Pharisees who they thought the messiah would be the son of. They answered “David”. Then Jesus responds to them saying: 

(Matthew 22:43-45 ESV) “‘How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet” ’? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”

Jesus is quoting Psalm 110 here. If you go to Psalm 110 you will see that the first “Lord” is typed as LORD. That means that in the original Hebrew it would have been God’s divine name YHWH. To be more clear you can read it as “YHWH says to my Lord...”. Jesus is telling us that YHWH is speaking of someone even higher than David. How can David’s son be greater than he is? Because David’s son is really Jesus, the Son of God, and therefore his Lord. Psalm 2:7 is really talking about the Son of God, the only begotten of God the Father. And as the only begotten son of the Father, he is given authority over heaven and earth. All he needs to do is ask and it will be given to him, including all the nations of the earth. And most importantly Christ is given divine authority to Judge the entire earth. When Christ in John 3:17 says “I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world” he was fulfilling what the Father sent him to do, to let the way of salvation be known. However, for those not following this way of Salvation, Christ will judge them at his second coming. This is what the text means when it says “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron;Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” In the words of Spurgeon “Those who will not bend must break”[5].  

Advice to the World

(Psalm 2:10-12) “Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, And rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, And ye perish from the way, When his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”

The Psalm ends with advice and a warning for those who are appointed to rule the nations of the World. Rulers and Kings, as well as everyone else for that matter, would be wise to serve the Lord with fear and trembling but at the same time to rejoice. This sounds like a contradiction in terms. But the fear and trembling here is a reverent fear of God. Scripture tells us that “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10 ESV). Spurgeon words this very well when he says “Fear, without joy, is torment; and joy, without holy fear, would be presumption” [6]. We do not need to worry that we will fall out of grace with God if we mess up sometimes, that is, if we have true faith. We are only told to have faith in him and serve him with fear and joy. Fear for his holy name but joy that he has saved us by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. This grace is not of our own works but is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). This is what it means to “kiss the son”. When we honor the son we honor the father as well (John 14:10). To exalt the name of Jesus above every name in heaven and earth is to worship and serve Him in the way he deserves. If we do not do this his wrath will be kindled against us on the day of judgment. Our intentions matter as well. Remember that Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Hypocritical service is not done with trembling but only to appear pious on the surface. Verse 12 ends with a benediction but I will save that for our conclusion.  

Conclusion 

Those who kiss the son, serving him with fear, trembling, and joy have the right to take refuge in him. Refuge and liberty from our sins that are truly the things that have kept us bound in slavery. A burden that none of us could bear was put upon Christ on the cross in our place. Christ does not expect us to be perfect otherwise he fulfilled the law of God for no reason. I would be remiss if I did not speak about how the NT uses Psalm 2. After Peter and John were speaking of Jesus Christ before the Council in Jerusalem, they were released and this is what they prayed to God:  

(Acts 4:24-28 ESV) “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, 

                  “‘Why did the Gentiles rage, 

      and the peoples plot in vain? 

            The kings of the earth set themselves, 

      and the rulers were gathered together, 

      against the Lord and against his Anointed’— 

for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”

It was absolutely no mistake that Jesus was sent to the cross. Isaiah 53 foretold that this would happen hundreds of years beforehand. There are those who call the crucifixion “cosmic child abuse”. The Pharisees, Herod and Pontius Pilate, though acting according to their sinful desires, were unknowingly carrying out exactly what God had predestined to take place even before the foundation of the world (Ephesian 1:4). This was no cosmic child abuse. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in one accord agreed to go through with this, that the Father may exalt christ above everyone in heaven and earth and that Christ through his substitutionary sacrifice on the cross in our place may give us the right to become adopted children of God through the Holy Spirit that we may cry “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8). Christ loved sinners enough to die for them and it pleased him to do so not only to please the Father but for our sake as well. Without the cross the phrase “gave his only begotten son” has no meaning. And if we put our trust in the son, if we kiss the son so to speak, and put away our own autonomous desires, Christ will break our bands of sin asunder and cast away the cords of iniquity that enslave us. Then we certainly will be blessed.

Footnotes

Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, (McLean: MacDonald Publishing Company), 11

1. Ibid., 14.

2. Ibid., 11.

3. Ibid., 15.

4. Ibid., 12.

5. Ibid., 13.

Bibliography

The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.