end-times

Understanding Psalm 2 for Today

/ JSB / Leave a comment

The Drama of This Ancient Psalm/Prophecy Is Being Played Out Before Our Eyes. Are We Aligning Our Lives to Its 5 – Fold Exhortations?

Why do the nations rage, and the people plot 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 bonds  in pieces and cast away their cords from us.”

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them  in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: “Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.”

“I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of  Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You  shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ”

Now therefore, be wise, O kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and  rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled  but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. 

INTRODUCTION:
Psalm 2 is a 4-part prophetic drama about the Father establishing Jesus’ leadership over the earth. God intends for this narrative to help us cultivate an appropriate, prayerful response today so that we have the grace to stand with Him in the hour when these events are being fulfilled.

Most Christians live largely unsettled and a little apathetic about the major features surrounding God’s end-times’ storyline.

Without a clear understanding of these realities we live unsure of the purpose of our lives, foggy about our  calling, uncertain of our priorities, unconvinced of God’s loving presence, prone to distraction, with little  appreciation for what’s “at-risk”, and little perspective on just how prayer contributes to our vitality.

Gaining “living understanding” about these “plot-points” is like erecting a strong framework within which we can cultivate passion, exhilaration, wisdom, power, and strength to persevere in our daily relationship with Jesus.

Psalm 2 provides us with a 50,000 foot overview of the essential elements contained in God’s end-times’ narrative.

(Act I) The Rage of the Nations (Psalm 2:1-3)

Psalm 2:1-3 prophesies that the nations will rage in anger against Jesus’ leadership. His standards of morality, righteousness, and His right to hold every heart accountable to His order of love and justice will be deeply opposed by a world steeped in the curse of sin. It will also be a stumbling block to many within the Church.

People from every political stripe, on every level of society will plot strategies, and use their influence to mobilize the masses to rebel against God’s righteousness, and resist God’s loving leadership.

The rulers speak of the leaders of the “culture”: socio/political,  economic, spiritual, educational, military, entertainment, media, arts, athletics, etc. They will use social unrest, hardship, conspiracy and injustice to exert pressure on each other to make lawlessness the cultural norm.

The kings of the nations will set their hearts to fully influence the faithless ways of the people under them. The term kings includes the heads of state,  e.g., presidents, prime ministers, and legislators. The term also refers to believers; those who have been called to be kings and priests to God (Revelation 5:10), but who have fallen under the sway of false teaching, and strong delusions.

The kings, rulers, and people will conspire together against the values and plans of the Lord which will be portrayed as foolish, “unenlightened”, and even “dangerous” to the  well-being of society, and in some cases, the Church within a society.

They will also lodge hostile arguments against the Father and His anointed One (Jesus); protesting, and compromising with the idea that Jesus is uniquely the Jewish Son of the Father, and the only One worthy to rule every nation.

The plan against God will be focused on casting away the authority of His Word (v. 3) (either through rejection of the Word itself, or through perversion of the application of the Word) throughout all aspects of society. These people will see a literal understanding of God’s Word as if it were “bonds” that enslave them and “cords” that bind them from being “authentically human”, or “unrealistic to the human situation”.

(Act II) The Father’s Response to the Rebellious Nations (Psalm 2:4-6)

God laughs because He is confident in His ability to fully accomplish His plan in spite of humanity’s resistance. We are small creatures who live for a mere eighty years. God’s whole Person fills 300 billion galaxies, and He has no beginning and no end. His laughter denotes just how small our power is to overthrow the intent of His heart.

One of the chief ways that the Lord will express His intent is through end-time, friends of the Bridegroom, who will primarily speak of the earth’s need to be prepared for the coming of the Bridegroom in His anointed glory.

The Lord will also use these ones to express His “deep displeasure” over the nations’ fierce opposition to the preeminent plan to have Jesus, and His unique manner of leadership reign over humanity.

Beloved, it’s vital that we let the Holy Spirit develop a theology of the fear of the Lord in us today, so that we possess a holy respect for His judgments, His wisdom, His redemptive love, and His sovereign ability to rule the heart, in the hours in which the Lord is, in fact, expressing His displeasure in our world.

(Act III) (Scene 1) Jesus Recalling the Inheritance He’s Received from the Father (Psalm 2:7-8)

In these 3 verses we hear Jesus recalling the divine decree that the Father has declared over Him. Jesus’ inheritance from the Father is a redeemed Bride and a throne in Jerusalem, from which He will rule the whole earth.

As He recalls the eternal dialogue that He and His Father have had, He is also giving us revelation of the desire that burns in His own heart. Understanding the Father’s decree, and the Son’s desire are vital if we want to faithfully partner with Jesus in praying for God’s purposes on the earth. 

The apostles drew on these realities when they prayed about the hostile leaders in Jerusalem. They asked the Father to manifest His power on the basis that the world was opposing the reign of His Son, the One He had anointed to rule the earth.
“For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,  with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together…Lord, look on their threats and  grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your  hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done…” (Acts 4:27-29)

If we are to grow up in our prayer-lives, (indeed, if we are to grow up in our relationship with God) we must move from a “Jesus fix our lives” mindset, to a “Jesus, reign in my world” mindset.

One example of this mature intercession is found in (Acts 15:13-17) where God answers Cornelius’ prayer, and releases salvation to the Gentiles. This was God fulfilling one key dimension of His plan to have His Son rule the nations. In order to accomplish this, He actually looked for a human heart that was aligned with what He (the Father) had purposed to do on earth.

In (Acts 10:3-5) we hear about the Father responding to Cornelius’ prayers:
“About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!” And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter.”

When Peter arrives at Cornelius’ house, he is also in prayer and receives revelation of God’s intent to bring “the nations” (the Gentiles) under the covenant reign of His Son.

The point is:“Who is Cornelius? Who is Peter? On earth they were simple men uttering weak prayers based what they saw in the heart of God. In heaven God saw them as a vital allies, through whom He would fulfill one major component of the promise that He had made to His Son.

The story of Peter and Cornelius’ prayers are profound encouragements to our own prayers.

(ACT III) (Scene 2) Jesus Judges the Rebellious Nations (Psalm 2:9)

In verse 5  David tells us that the Lord will judge the nations with “WRATH” and “HIS DEEP DISPLEASURE“. What does “deep displeasure” look like in a trillion galaxy God???

Verse 9 tells us:
“You (the Son) shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.“

MOST of us western, Bible-believing Christians don’t have a theology of God’s WRATH that’s stable enough to keep our hearts secure in love through the “time of trouble” that’s erupting around us… What I mean by this is, when the judgments of God fully come upon the earth, they will stir up so much emotional hostility and accusation against others, and ultimately against God Himself. The essence of this hostility and accusation will sound like this in the human heart, “God isn’t fully just. His Word is too radical. His way needs to be more reasonable. All by itself, His plan is not good. It needs the help of human wisdom. His judgments are out-of-line with true love. etc.”

There will be SO MUCH HUMAN-CULTURAL PRESSURE to agree with these accusations against God’s character. If we don’t prepare our minds and hearts today for the social pressures we will face tomorrow, our “love” and “faith” in God will be severely crushed.

How do we prepare ourselves to face these social pressures?
David gives us four ways to prepare ourselves in Act IV of Psalm 2, but in a nut-shell, we need to pray-read the Word of God today with a spirit of humility and wonder.

(Act IV) David Prophetically Warns the Leaders of the Nations (Psalm 2:10-12)

In the final scene, King David issues a solemn, five-fold exhortation to the leaders, and all people of the earth. It’s wise for us to heed these divine admonitions as we prepare ourselves for the Day of the Lord. No one can say that they have not been warned, or don’t know how to respond to His purposes.

1. Be wise O Kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth
This is an exhortation to those believers, and unbelievers who think they already have enough information and “soul-resolve” to make sound judgments about God during the end-time pressures. We are wise to learn from our brother Peter, who believed he had enough inner fortitude to withstand the temptations to deny Jesus. We are wise to heed the Spirit’s warning now and cultivate humility, teachability; and seek the Lord (Psalm 27:5) for wisdom (James 1:5), divine might in the inner man (Ephesians 3:16) and grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

2. Serve the Lord with fear
This is a call to obedience. But it is based on the revelation that God is the eternal God and we are HIs creation made of dust (Psalm 103:14). It’s wise to cultivate the fear of the Lord regarding One Who is so holy, and greater than us, so that we can serve Him in the way that He has determined.
“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by  which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a  consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29) (For a more complete picture of the fear of the Lord  read Hebrews 12:18-29)

3. Rejoice with trembling
This is an command to mix our fear and awe with the joy and exhilaration that comes from beholding Him in His beauty (Psalm 27:4) and being made joyful as He engages us in His house of prayer. (Isaiah 56:7)

4. Kiss the Son, let He be angry and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled (in His judgment against evil) but a little.
a. One prominent greek word for worship is “pros-ku-ne-ow”. It literally means “to kiss toward”. To “kiss the Son” is an exhortation to live a life of adoration, worship and first commandment love.

Jesus is worthy (Revelation 5:12) to be loved, adored and worshipped. But He’s also gloriously beautiful. Our hearts were fashioned to (kiss) “adore” the wonders of Who He is. (Psalm 27:4; Psalm 45:2; Psalm 50:1-2; Isaiah 28:5; Zechariah 9:17)

5. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.
It is supremely prudent to do the hard work of cultivating great trust in God today, rather than to allow the subtle, mounting deception of the world to gain increasing sway over our minds and hearts.
“And because wickedness will abound, the love of most will grow cold.” (Matthew 24:12)
“Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart.” (Psalm 119:1-2)

The Lord is gloriously orchestrating a prophetic voice in His Church that will amplify and give understanding to these 5 exhortations of verses 10-12. However, these voices will only be cultivated and strengthened through lifestyles that are plumb-lined to the priority of corporate prayer.

May God’s grace be upon us as we seek Him in the place of prayer, beloved.

____________________

JSB • November, 2019

Holy Hour

/ JSB / 3 Comments

“Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet… I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling… And I will cast those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds… and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts.” Jesus

Beloved. It’s a holy, holy, holy moment that’s engulfed our House of Prayer.

The One from Whom galaxies and black-holes flee away is in our front-yard, judging, pulling down, exposing sin, uprooting leaders, and uncloaking the thoughts and intentions of hearts.

This is an hour of Achan (Joshua 7), and Ananias and Saphira (Acts 5). This is GOD IN OUR CAMP with His jealous fury over thousands of His beloved sons and daughters in Kansas City, and Houses of Prayer around the world, who have made a pledge to the Living God to keep His fire, on His altar.

Imagine how the Lord felt about Joshua and Moses as they served Him inside the tent of meeting. Now imagine what Joshua and Moses experienced as the God of Mount Sinai Himself burned and thundered before them, face to face. This is where the House of Prayer is:

“Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door. So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.” (Exodus 33:7-11)

Can you envision it? – All the Israelites who got up one morning and approached the tabernacle, shaking as they put on their sandals, believing it was better for them to be incinerated in the pillar of fire than to spend the rest of their lives wondering what this God was like.

Now consider the millions around the earth, who, over the last several decades have responded to this same primary, priestly lifestyle of encounter with the living God of Job 37:

“At this also my heart trembles, and leaps from its place. Hear attentively the thunder of His voice, and the rumbling that comes from His mouth. He sends it forth under the whole heaven, His lightning to the ends of the earth. After it a voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, and He does not restrain them when His voice is heard. God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend.” (Job 37:1-5)

But it’s not an organization, or social fad that’s led their hearts to the House of Prayer. It was never about coming to a ministry leader, or a geographical location, or having a career. It’s been about responding to the Eternal God of Hebrews 12, Who, in a generation filled with gimmicks and options and endless opportunities for self-exaltation, issued personal invitations into intimate, purifying fellowship with Himself through nothing less than the blood of His own Son.

“For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”) But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:18-29)

How does this God “rumble” as He sees this sea of seekers, and worshippers, and elderly, and families, and young ones coming close to His Presence? How does He feel about the viral-thousands of simple leaders who have said, “We need the tabernacle of His Presence back home – in Russia, Nazareth, Florida, England, the Solomon Islands, China and Brazil?”

Can you for a moment conceive of the tempest that would burn inside this God toward any person, or group of people who would use these ones for their own lust and pride of life!? (If this doesn’t make you tremble – pray for yourself…)

Can you hear His flaming roar against those who would cry that this tabernacle, where millions are making melody in their hearts toward Him, must come down!?

Beloved. This is where we are: in the middle of this tempest – as God cleans His house, and fiercely defends what His Holy Spirit has established on the earth. He is dashing brothers against brothers, and sisters against sisters, as He “ruins our pride” (Jeremiah 13:9) and cultivates tempered, agape love in His family. He is standing in the center of His lampstands, purging hearts, relationships, conversations and jot and tittles with His Eyes of fire.

…(SELAH)…

“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: “Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it.” “Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me: “Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His? Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and array yourself with glory and beauty. Disperse the rage of your wrath; look on everyone who is proud, and humble him. Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low; tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together, bind their faces in hidden darkness. Then I will also confess to you that your own right hand can save you.” (Job 40:6-14)

While being confronted by the God of Job 40

…who would dare to remain hidden in the shadows, resisting the calls of brothers, family members, and the Father Himself, shrouding themselves with fig-leaves and pretensions?

…who would continue to stammer that they can redress their own soul and chronic sin issues?

…who would not lament the countless lives, families, and noble ones whose destinies are considered as pawns in a living self-saving chess-match?

…who would not see the prophetic significance of this moment, and believe it’s prudent to give themselves to organizational status-quo and damage control?

…who would continue to throw stone after stone against sons and daughters of the Father, and then claim “moral high ground”?

…who would incessantly stand in angry protest, condemning others within the tabernacle of the Lord?

…who would gleefully hope to see the Lord decapitate someone – or a dozen “someones”?? (C’mon now, let’s be honest…)

…who cannot wail with utter terror, under the weight of this sovereign hour of sudden destruction; trembling over the swiftness of His judgments?

…who doesn’t weep and weep and weep, hearing beloved priest after intercessor after musician bare their anguished, naked souls in the public square?

The Lord is in His house confronting OUR sin, and OUR ways, and so many of us are “slow-to-believe” this reality, treating it all like some video game.

The Lord, our Lord, will be exalted in His glory. But, by necessity, His exaltation will bring down everything else about us that we have exalted in our own selves.

“Now I will rise,” says the Lord; Now I will be exalted. Now I will lift Myself up. You shall conceive chaff. You shall bring forth stubble. Your breath, as fire, shall devour you. And the people shall be like the burnings of lime; Like thorns cut up they shall be burned in the fire. Hear, you who are afar off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge My might.” (Isaiah 33:10-13)

The Lord is bringing us into the strong bonds of His eternal covenant for this hour. But it requires that every part of who we are, pass under His rod.

“I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; I will purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 20:37-38)

There’s a great promise of new wine and abundant harvest. But it won’t come without His household going through the wine-press and the threshing-floor.

The threshing floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. (Joel 2:24)

Father. We humble ourselves before You. We need Your vision for this hour!!

____________________
JSB • December 19, 2023

FINAL NOTE:
I’ve been a pastor for 35 years, and have been connected to Mike, and the International House of Prayer in Kansas City since 2001. From 2001 to 2010 I personally took hundreds of individuals to IHOPKC, and their various conferences. In 2011 my wife, two daughters and I moved to Kansas City where I served as a senior pastor with Forerunner Christian Fellowship, and helped develop pastoral ministry and small groups within the community. In 2018 we moved back to Arizona, where my wife and I actually live in All Nations House of Prayer Southwest and maintain prayer with worship five hours per day, and six days per week.

I am overall appalled at the level of deceit, moral perversion and abuse that’s being “named among us”. When the “allegations” themselves came out, it should have led all of us to fall on our faces in the fear of the Lord. It grieves me to no end that the extreme holiness of what’s been/being desecrated simply doesn’t seem to be a thought among so many in our family. Leaders, prophetic leaders, in all sectors of the House of Prayer, and the Body of Christ, seem to have so little awareness of the significance of what the Lord has shaken over the last several months.

Beloved. The ONLY WAY our family will encounter “justice” and “wholeness”; the ONLY WAY we’ll remain faithful to the Lord through this “Holy Hour”, is by coming to Him in our own sackcloth and ashes, face-down on His threshing-floor. This is the only way that’s worthy of who we’ve been called to be, and Whom we stand before, in our calling.

But the window of opportunity is quickly closing. Thousands will trudge along, bruised and bruising others, without having availed themselves of the holy fire available for purging, healing and preparation for the future that awaits the Bride at the end of this age. Without collectively entering into this moment, we will remain self-made, impure, diseased, ill-equipped and disconnected from Him and His end-time purposes.