CHAPTER 9
TUNE IN TO HEAVEN’S FREQUENCY
The world hopes for the best, but Jesus Christ offers the best hope.
JOHN WESLEY WHITE
WHEN THE WISCONSIN BADGERS were playing the Michigan State Spartans in October 1982, Badger Stadium was packed with expectant fans. It began to seem, however, that Michigan State might have the better team.
Despite the uncertainty of the game, and at seemingly inappropriate times, the Wisconsin fans erupted in cheers and applause. How could devoted fans be so excited when there wasn’t any cause for celebration on the field?
On the same day as the Wisconsin Badgers game, the Milwaukee Brewers were playing the St. Louis Cardinals in game four of the 1982 World Series. Many of the Badgers fans that day were watching their team struggle on the field but listening to the Brewers win. While what they could see on the field at times looked grim, they were cheering a victory they could not see.[116]
This story resonates with me because it reminds me of our present situation on earth as God’s people. Let’s face it —here on earth things don’t seem to be looking too good for God’s team. As believers, it can sometimes feel like our team is losing . . . and losing badly. We see it around the world on many fronts. The church is suffering persecution in many places, where believers are severely mistreated and even martyred for their faith. Closer to home, believers are frequently the object of mocking and maligning. In courts, workplaces, schools, and the halls of government, people have become increasingly unwelcoming and even antagonistic toward those who follow Jesus. Watching the “game” as it unfolds in front of us can be difficult at times and can even diminish our hope and drive us to despair.
But like those beleaguered Badgers fans, while we’re watching the game in front of us, at the same time, we can tune in to another “game” and cheer on a victory that’s invisible to us now but no less real —a total victory in heaven that’s coming soon to planet Earth.[117]
This world needs hope. You and I need hope. And our only hope as the score gets more and more lopsided down here is to stay tuned in to heaven’s frequency, listening and looking every day for the final victory that’s coming through Jesus Christ.
IS THERE ANY HOPE?
On December 17, 1927, a US submarine off the coast of Massachusetts was attempting to surface when it was struck by a US Coast Guard destroyer and sank immediately. The crew scrambled to secure themselves behind watertight doors. The entire crew was entombed in a prison house of death. Every effort was made to rescue the crew, but nothing worked. Near the end of the ordeal, a diver put his ear to the side of the vessel and heard a faint tapping from inside. Recognizing it as Morse code, he heard the same question formed slowly over and over —“Is . . . there . . . any . . . hope?”[118]
That’s the key question people everywhere are asking today: “Is there any hope?” There’s a growing hopelessness out there today —even among some believers.
I like the story about the wife who said to her husband, “Should we watch the six o’clock news and get indigestion or wait for the eleven o’clock news and have insomnia?” That’s about how bad it’s gotten. Key questions on the minds of many people are “Where is everything headed?” “What’s the world coming to?” and “Is there any hope?”
One of the most quoted Old Testament passages in the New Testament answers this question as clearly and succinctly as possible. Let’s look now at Psalm 2.
LIFE’S TWO GREAT QUESTIONS
The first two psalms are the driveway into the Psalms. Their positioning in the book of Psalms is deliberate. They answer the two great questions of life. Psalm 1 answers the question, Where am I going? This is the most urgent individual matter. The psalm, in more traditional translations, opens with the word “blessed” and ends with the word “perish.” This psalm sets forth two paths for humanity —the way of the righteous (those who receive the Lord and are blessed) and the way of the wicked (those who reject the Lord and perish). Every person falls into one of these two groups. Every person needs to make sure he or she belongs to the community of the righteous through faith.
Psalm 2 answers the second great question: Where is the world going? Where is history headed?
That’s why these psalms are Psalms 1 and 2. We meet the two great issues of life at the front door of the Psalms. I need to know where I’m going, and I need to know where history is going.[119] I need to see the whole show. You and I need to have a biblical worldview in these last days to buoy our lives and fill us with hope. We need to know the end game.
Psalm 2 is God’s decisive declaration of the outcome of world events. There’s no greater comfort in the chaotic, uncertain times in which we live than to know where it’s all headed. Psalm 2 is all about hope for planet Earth. More specifically, it’s about hope for planet Earth in Jesus Christ. It tells us that the world has been promised to the Messiah. His triumph is certain. Here is Psalm 2 in its entirety:
Why are the nations so angry?
Why do they waste their time with futile plans?
The kings of the earth prepare for battle;
the rulers plot together
against the LORD
and against his anointed one.
“Let us break their chains,” they cry,
“and free ourselves from slavery to God.”
But the one who rules in heaven laughs.
The Lord scoffs at them.
Then in anger he rebukes them,
terrifying them with his fierce fury.
For the Lord declares, “I have placed my chosen king on the throne
in Jerusalem, on my holy mountain.”
The king proclaims the LORD’s decree:
“The LORD said to me, ‘You are my son.
Today I have become your Father.
Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance,
the whole earth as your possession.
You will break them with an iron rod
and smash them like clay pots.’”
Now then, you kings, act wisely!
Be warned, you rulers of the earth!
Serve the LORD with reverent fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Submit to God’s royal son, or he will become angry,
and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities —
for his anger flares up in an instant.
But what joy for all who take refuge in him!
Before we probe deeper into Psalm 2, let’s get a brief understanding of its background. Psalm 2 is one of the most frequently quoted psalms in the New Testament. According to Acts 4:25, David is the author of this psalm. It’s a messianic psalm. We know this because it’s quoted in the New Testament as referring to Jesus. It’s been called the Drama of the Ages. Psalm 2 outlines the agelong rebellion of mankind against God and his Son and how it all ends in God’s victory. At its core, it’s a psalm of hope.
Psalm 2 is divided into four parts or stanzas, each with a different speaker, but I want to look at it under two headings derived from our image of the Badgers’ football game: “The Chaos We See” and “The Conquest We Can’t See.”
Watching the game in front of us here on earth can push us to despair. Of course, we have to live here on this earth and watch the game on the field. But if we have no farther horizon, no outside perspective beyond this world, we will lose hope quickly. Our spiritual survival will be in jeopardy. We can’t survive long without hope. Tuning in to heaven’s frequency is our only hope. Listening and learning about the invisible victory going on far away is our ultimate encouragement. But before we consider what’s happening on heaven’s frequency, let’s begin by surveying the scene that’s unfolding before our eyes.
THE CHAOS WE SEE
The first stanza of Psalm 2 unveils a shocking, agelong, global insurrection and conspiracy against God. In this stanza the speaker or voice is that of the nations or lost humanity.
The first word of Psalm 2 is “Why?” or we could translate it “How could they?” The psalmist can hardly believe what he sees and hears. He sees “the rulers plot together against the LORD and against his anointed one,” which is a reference to the Messiah.
Here we witness the nations rising up in cosmic treason against God and his Messiah in rebellion against God’s sovereignty. The Bible says that lost humanity is against God and Jesus. I know that may sound strong, but that’s what the Bible says. In fact, that’s what Jesus says too (see John 15:18). The rage of humanity against God may not show up with the same fury at all times in all places, but its strong undercurrent is always present. The world hates God, detests his Messiah, and despises Messiah’s people.
Lost humanity may love the Jesus they’ve created but not the Jesus who is God in human flesh and the only way to God. The world is against the real Jesus.
What could possibly possess people to have such rage against the true God and his Son?
The defiant voice of sinners, banded together in their rebellion, speak with one collective voice in Psalm 2:3: “Let us break their chains and free ourselves from slavery to God.”
What lost humanity wants more than anything is freedom from God. This is the heart of sin, a rejection of God’s rule in favor of our own. The lost don’t want God to reign over them. People want what they want with no restraints.
The world wants sexual freedom. The sexual revolution began in the 1960s and was followed by changing attitudes toward homosexual behavior that continues today. The result is pervasive immorality, the pollution of pornography, and the peril of widespread gender confusion. Carl F. H. Henry once described the modern generation as “intellectually uncapped, morally unzippered and volitionally uncurbed.”[120] That’s what we see today.
The world also wants intellectual freedom. Against all reason, they hold doggedly to the notion that all the beauty, order, and constancy of creation came about by the collision of time and chance. And because the created order is the result of random chance, marriage can be redefined by judicial fiat.
Lost humanity wants spiritual freedom. They want to decide whether there is a God, and if there is a God, they want to decide who he is and how they come to him. I love the words of the Scottish theologian P. T. Forsyth: “The first duty of every soul is to find not its freedom but its Master.”[121] But lost humanity wants it the other way around. Yet sadly, the search for freedom results in deeper enslavement. It results in chaos. Because of unrestrained freedom, our world is a mess and reeling out of control. We live in a world gone wild. It’s tragic to see the resulting chaos and confusion in homes, schools, lives, and marriages.
When people lose God, they lose themselves. That’s what we see in Romans 1:18-32 —the tragic consequences of defying the Lord and his Christ. Paul says of lost humanity, “Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. . . . Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness” (verses 22, 28-29).
As Frederick Buechner says, “The power of sin is centrifugal. When at work in a human life, it tends to push everything out toward the periphery. Bits and pieces go flying off until only the core is left. Eventually bits and pieces of the core itself go flying off until in the end nothing at all is left.”[122]
This ongoing, agelong rebellion of lost humanity against God and his Son began in the Garden of Eden, continues today, and will stretch all the way to the second coming of Christ.
According to Acts 4:23-31, the premier historical example of this rebellion occurred in the crucifixion of Jesus. The apostles quote Psalm 2 and fill in the blanks with Herod and Pilate.
Comparing the rebellion of modern man with what happened at the tower of Babel, Os Guinness observes, “In their vaunting pride, advanced modern humanists are competing with their ancient rivals in rebellion. They are straining every nerve and brain cell to make a name for their projects and themselves. But they too are driven by an insatiable need to succeed, for only success after success can allow them to avert their eyes from the strains and stresses on humanity and on the earth behind them.”[123]
We have front-row seats to this game as human rebellion is on full display. God has placed us here to live and witness for him. We must represent heaven here on earth. We’re not just spectators; we’re in the game. We’re ambassadors for Christ to this lost world (see 2 Corinthians 5:20). We’re to do all we can while we can. Individuals must be rescued from the uprising against God.
Nevertheless, Scripture tells us that the rebellion of this world won’t improve. It’s going to get worse as the end nears. But praise God! There’s a frequency we can listen to every day that inspires us with an invisible victory that is going on now in heaven and is coming to earth someday, maybe very soon.
THE CONQUEST WE CAN’T SEE
Tuning in to heaven’s frequency —the invisible victory —we hear about final victory on planet Earth from three sovereign voices: the voice of the Father, the voice of the Son, and the voice of the Spirit. What we have here is powerful inter-Trinitarian communication.
The Voice of the Father —Mockery
Heaven’s response to earth’s upheaval begins with the voice of God the Father. The response of the Father to humanity’s rebellion is laughter. Yes, God laughs: “The one who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them” (Psalm 2:4). This is the only time recorded in the Bible when God laughs. This is not the laughter of humor or hilarity but divine derision, mockery, and contempt.
God openly mocks humanity’s puny rebellion. God is not fazed in the slightest. He’s unimpressed. As the prophet Isaiah reminds us, “All the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket. They are nothing more than dust on the scales. He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand” (Isaiah 40:15).
But if God is sovereign over this world, we might look around at the mess we see and wonder, Why doesn’t God do something? Why doesn’t God fix it all right now? As I heard someone say, “I know God is in control, but sometimes I wish he would make it more obvious.” We all probably share that sentiment sometimes.
Psalm 2 assures us that someday God will make his control obvious. He will do this by installing his Son on a throne on earth: “I have placed my chosen king on the throne in Jerusalem, on my holy mountain” (Psalm 2:6).
Most scholars believe Psalm 2 is a “Royal Psalm,” that it relates to the coronation of the kings of Judah. Many see it as going beyond Solomon and his successors, ultimately pointing to the Messiah. While some reference to human kings is possible, I prefer to view this psalm as about Jesus only. Several things said here cannot be said of any king other than Jesus. For instance, only to Jesus will the whole earth be given as his possession. Christ is presently enthroned in heaven, but Psalm 2 looks ultimately to the return of Christ to earth and his glorious enthronement on David’s throne and his thousand-year rule of peace and prosperity over the earth (see Revelation 20:1-6).
Notice in Psalm 2:6 that the placing of Jesus on David’s throne to rule the world is stated in the past tense (“I have placed my chosen king on the throne”). It’s as good as done. Nothing can stand in the Son’s way.
The Voice of the Son —Victory
That brings us to the third stanza, where the speaker shifts from the Father to the Son of God —the Messiah. All that the Father has planned and purposed in eternity will be performed by the Son in history. The decree of Yahweh controls history. The Son says,
The LORD said to me, “You are my son.
Today I have become your Father.
Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance,
the whole earth as your possession.
You will break them with an iron rod
and smash them like clay pots.”
PSALM 2:7-9
When Jesus comes back to this earth, he will come as King of kings and Lord of lords to inherit a global kingdom, putting a sudden, sweeping end to the agelong rebellion of man (see Daniel 7:14, 27; Revelation 20:1-6).[124] Jesus will destroy rebellious humanity. He will do it with ease, effortlessly, like someone smashing fragile clay pots with an iron rod.
Josiah Wedgwood was an English potter, the founder of the Wedgwood company, and he is known as the one responsible for the industrialization of pottery. He would often walk through his factory in England and smash inferior pieces of pottery with his walking stick, saying, “This will not do for Josiah Wedgwood.”
There’s a day coming when Jesus will smash to pieces everything that is contrary to his will. He will, in essence, say, “This won’t do for the Son of God.” He will take the planet back and restore paradise.
Jesus is saying to us, “Don’t tolerate now what I won’t tolerate then. If it won’t do for Christ in the future, put it out of your life now. Don’t be ruled by the world that will someday be ruled by Christ.”
The Voice of the Spirit —Opportunity
The final stanza in this psalm records the message of the Holy Spirit speaking through the psalmist. The Spirit’s invitation goes out to all who will receive the Son. Instead of resisting God, sinners must turn from sin and self and serve the Lord with fear. The choice is clear. Those who fail to bow in submission to the Son have a rendezvous with judgment. As Old Testament scholar Derek Kidner says, “There is no refuge from him: only in him.”[125] One day, “those who worshipped him on earth will confess him gladly. Those who didn’t will confess him regretfully.”[126]
C. S. Lewis poignantly describes the coming of Christ’s victory to earth:
God will invade. . . . When that happens, it is the end of the world. When the author walks on to the stage the play is over. . . . For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. . . . That will not be the time for choosing: it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realised it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last for ever. We must take it or leave it.[127]
Jesus came the first time in mercy, to save. The second time he will come in wrath, to judge. The end-times events predicted in the Bible are all lining up. The stage is being set. We see the buildup all around us. The signs of the times point to the soon coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He may be coming soon. Our decision to submit to him is urgent.
Jesus is earth’s only hope. He is your only hope. He is my only hope.
Let me close this chapter with four simple applications or meditations to give us hope in a world gone wild and to ensure our spiritual survival.
1. YOU CAN’T UNDERSTAND HISTORY APART FROM JESUS CHRIST
Jesus alone holds the key to the meaning of history. The world has been promised to the Messiah. All of history is wrapped up in him. History culminates in his second coming to earth to rule and reign over the earth (see Revelation 19:11–20:6). George Eldon Ladd states, “Here is a simple but profound biblical truth which cannot be overemphasized: apart from the person and redeeming work of Jesus Christ, history is an enigma. . . . Christ, and Christ alone, has the key to the meaning of human history.”[128] James Hamilton adds,
We need Jesus.
We need Jesus not only for our own personal salvation. We need Jesus so there is hope for the world. By his death and resurrection Jesus has taken control of history. Jesus has seized destiny —not just his destiny —all destiny. Jesus is the one who ensures that the universe will have meaning. Jesus is the one who will judge the wicked and vindicate those who have trusted in him. Jesus is the one who will right the wrongs and heal the hurts and wipe away the tears.
We need Jesus. Without Jesus there is no hope.[129]
I like the story of a father who was intently watching the final minutes of a close football game on television, when his little boy came running in, asking him to play. The father sent him away with promises that he would play soon, but the son kept coming back at intervals and asking if it was time yet.
Searching for anything that would allow him to watch the game in peace, the father saw a picture of the world on a newspaper in front of him and tore it into pieces, like a jigsaw puzzle. The father gave the pieces to his son and said, “When you’ve put the picture back together, then it will be time to play.”
Thinking this task would take his son a while, the father settled in to watch the remainder of the game. But no sooner had he settled in than his son returned with the picture of the world reassembled. “I did it, Daddy,” he said. “Is it time now?”
The father couldn’t believe that his son had finished the puzzle so quickly, but there it was: the world was taped back together. “How did you do this so quickly?” the father asked.
“It was easy,” the boy said. “I saw there was a picture of Jesus on the other side, and when I put that picture together, the world came together too.”[130]
When Jesus is put together in his rightful place, the world comes together. Jesus is the only one who puts the world together. He is the Alpha and Omega.
2. HISTORY IS HEADED TO THE FEET OF JESUS
Have you ever wondered what the world is coming to? If Psalm 2 tells us anything, it tells us that the world is coming to Jesus. In spite of how things look on earth, Psalm 2 assures us that Jesus rules. His Kingdom is coming to earth, and all must bow to him. This is the ultimate worldview.
The sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen created a marble statue of Christ that was placed in the National (Lutheran) Cathedral in Copenhagen, Denmark. The figure’s arms are extended, welcoming all who will come. Yet the statue has an unusual feature. To look directly into the face of the statue, it’s necessary to kneel. It’s impossible to get a clear view from any other position.
A famous story recounted from English literature concerns the essayist Charles Lamb and a group of literary men who began to surmise what they would do if the noble and gifted men of the past were to enter into the room. They began to call out the names of various greats and what they would do if that person appeared in their midst. Lamb said, “If Shakespeare were to enter, we would rise to our feet in admiration for his accomplishments. But if Jesus Christ were to enter, we would fall down at His feet and worship Him in adoration.”[131]
Bertel Thorvaldsen and Charles Lamb were dead right. The only proper response to the person and presence of Jesus Christ —who is eternal God —is to fall on our knees or on our faces in wonder and adoration. We don’t rise in admiration to shake his hand; we fall in adoration to kiss his feet.
All of history is ultimately headed to the feet of Jesus Christ. If all history is headed there, that’s where we should live our lives now in humble worship as we await his coming.
The words of P. T. Forsyth capture the essence of our humble worship: “The world thus finds its consummation not in finding itself, but in finding its Master; not in coming to its true self but in meeting its true Lord and Saviour; not in overcoming but in being overcome.”[132]
We overcome, not by overcoming, but by being overcome in awestruck worship of our Savior.
3. JESUS IS IN TOTAL CONTROL OF THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE
Although it looks today like evil is unchecked and humanity’s rebellion is triumphing, the invisible victory in heaven today is real and will be manifest soon on earth.
There’s a great story about Ray Stedman when he was in England years ago preaching in some London churches. On one occasion he spoke in a Methodist chapel, and the congregation was singing “Our God Reigns,” which was a new song at that time. However, when Stedman looked at the song sheet the congregation was using, he noticed that the typist had made an error. Instead of “Our God Reigns,” the song was titled “Our God Resigns.”
That’s a funny story, but many Christians live that way today, as if God has resigned. All they can see is the game on the field in front of them. But God has not resigned. Rather, as the song says, our God reigns! Stedman writes, “This is what we must declare. We must show it on our faces, and let it be heard in our voices.”[133] Jesus is coming someday as King.
Every day should find us “Singing in the Reign” as we anticipate and celebrate the coming of Jesus to take his inheritance.
On April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died at 7:22 a.m. At that moment, the doctor whispered, “He is gone.” As others in the room knelt by Lincoln’s bedside, a minister prayed that God would receive his servant Abraham Lincoln into heaven. The room then fell silent until Secretary of War Edwin Stanton poignantly declared, “Now he belongs to the ages.”[134]
Some humans, like Abraham Lincoln, are so great in their impact that they belong to the ages, but only of Jesus can we truthfully say that the ages belong to him. Jesus controls the destiny of the ages. He will triumph over the world.
4. WE CAN REST TODAY IN OUR KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT’S COMING AND WHO’S COMING IN THE FUTURE
Kent Crockett tells this story: “A mother asked her son why he always read the end of the book first. The boy replied, ‘Mom, it’s better that way. No matter how much trouble the hero gets into, I don’t have to worry, because I know how it’s going to end.’”[135]
I like that. God has announced to us how the story will end. Jesus wins, Satan loses, and all who trust in Jesus will live happily ever after.
In the meantime, as we await the final victory, we live in a turbulent world. The chaos and rebellion in the world are real. There’s no way to mitigate the current condition of planet Earth. But we must not let the “game” we see dampen our spirits and plant seeds of hopelessness in our hearts. Don’t give in to despair and cynicism. As Corrie ten Boom reminds us, “Look at yourself, you’ll get depressed, look at the world, you’ll get distressed, look at Jesus, you’ll find rest.”
As the score down here gets more lopsided, tune in every day to heaven’s frequency and check the score up there. It’s all under control. The victory is sure, and all who submit to Jesus will share his triumph.
Today’s invisible victory will soon become his invincible victory.
Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Don’t give out.
The best is yet to come!