Ancient Words for Modern Missions
This post by Joe Tyrpak comes from Gospel Meditations for Missions (Day 4: “An Overlooked Missions Hymn”).
“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?” (Psalm 2:1)
What are the most encouraging missionary hymns you can think of? Among the several you might list, I can almost guarantee that you wouldn’t include the favorite missionary hymn of the early church: Psalm 2.
The second psalm is a God-breathed coronation hymn. Its first stanza considers how world rulers are constantly plotting to subvert God’s chosen king (vv. 1–3). The second and third stanzas reflect on the Lord’s calm sovereignty (vv. 4–6) as He reaffirms His invincible plan to subjugate every nation under His anointed king (vv. 7–9). In the final stanza, the Lord advises every king in the world to submit to His anointed (vv. 10–12).
The people of Israel probably sang the four verses of this anthem at the enthronement of every king. It reminded them that their king was God’s anointed and that no enemy could overthrow his reign (as long as the king remained faithful to God’s law). Even more significantly, this hymn ultimately applies to Israel’s greatest Son of David, Jesus the Anointed, the King of kings whose reign would never end. These are grand themes, and they have missionary implications, as the fledgling church in Acts demonstrates.
This hymn comforts us in persecution.
Peter and John were imprisoned for preaching the gospel (Acts 3:1–4:4). As soon as the Sanhedrin released them from jail, they met with the church in Jerusalem. In the heat of the moment, the early church spontaneously prayed Psalm 2:1–2, word for word, as a group (Acts 4:24–26). It’s not likely that they all had their Bibles open in front of them. (The printing press hadn’t been invented yet.) Instead, they knew it from memory, probably because they had studied, sung, and prayed it so frequently. They had enjoyed the healing of this balm before. For them, persecution wasn’t rare, and this persecution wasn’t the worst. The worst raging of the Gentiles against God’s Anointed King had taken place at the crucifixion.
As we remember that God ruled amidst the injustice and bloodshed at Calvary, we’ll find His comfort amidst our own suffering for the gospel.
The cross was simultaneously the most heinous sin in human history and the climactic event in God’s sovereign plan for history (Acts 4:27–28). As we remember that God ruled amidst the injustice and bloodshed at Calvary, we’ll find His comfort amidst our own suffering for the gospel—the comfort that the second psalm intends to give.
This hymn emboldens us for proclamation.
As the early church reflected on the truths of Psalm 2, they prayed not for safety or political change, but for boldness in the face of certain opposition (Acts 4:29–31). The early church had “chewed on” Psalm 2 long enough to become convinced that it provided them with the right to proclaim the gospel to every culture. Because Jesus is God’s Anointed, the universal King, believers have His authority as His ambassadors to spread the news of His reign so that people from every nation will submit to Him.
There is immense comfort here for us. How it inspires our confidence in the Lord! We don’t have to fear people or their reactions. This inspired anthem should continue to be central in our prayers for the gospel’s advance. We, like the early church, should know it by heart, sing it often, and experience its power to comfort and embolden our gospel endeavors.
Let the gospel prompt your prayer for its bold proclamation amidst opposition.
Explore the whole book!
Gospel Meditations for Missions is a devotional book intended to stir ordinary Christians with the urgency for the Great Commission. Written by Chris Anderson (pastor, church planter, mission board executive), JD Crowley (missionary), David Hosaflook (missionary), Tim Keesee (mission board director), and Joe Tyrpak (pastor), each of the 31 articles is biblical, warm-hearted, and centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
