The Laughter of God and the Coronation of the Son Text: Psalm 2:4-6
Introduction: The Impotence of Rebellion
We live in an age of high-handed rebellion. Our modern rulers, our senates, our presidents, our international councils, they all imagine they are playing a very serious game. They gather in their polished boardrooms, they issue their decrees, they move their armies, and they legislate their perversions, all under the delusion that they are in charge. They believe they are shaping history, that the future of mankind is being hammered out in their noisy, godless forges. They see themselves as the masters of the human story.
Psalm 2 pulls back the curtain on this entire charade. It shows us the frantic, scurrying activity of men for what it truly is: a vain thing. It is a cosmic joke. The first three verses describe this grand conspiracy. The nations are in an uproar, the peoples are plotting futility, and the kings of the earth are setting themselves, taking their stand against the Lord and His Anointed. They want to snap the cords of God's law and throw off the shackles of His authority. They want autonomy. They want to be their own gods.
But what is the divine reaction to this global insurrection? Is it panic? Is it concern? Does God wring His hands in Heaven, worried that His plans might be thwarted by a particularly clever scheme from Brussels or Washington D.C.? The text before us gives us the answer, and it is a thunderclap of glorious reality. The answer from Heaven is not worry; it is laughter. It is holy derision. This passage reveals the absolute sovereignty of God in the face of man's most arrogant defiance and establishes the unshakable foundation of Christ's present and total reign.
We must understand this if we are to live faithfully in our time. We are not called to a desperate, last-ditch effort to save a failing enterprise. We are called to live in the reality of a kingdom that has already been established, a King who has already been crowned, and a victory that has already been secured. The rage of the heathen is not a sign of our defeat, but the necessary backdrop for the display of God's sovereign, laughing power.
The Text
He who sits in the heavens laughs,
The Lord mocks them.
Then He speaks to them in His anger
And terrifies them in His fury, saying,
“But as for Me, I have installed My King
Upon Zion, My holy mountain.”
(Psalm 2:4-6 LSB)
The Divine Derision (v. 4)
We begin with the celestial reaction to the earthly rebellion.
"He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord mocks them." (Psalm 2:4)
Notice first where God is. He "sits in the heavens." He is enthroned. He is not pacing the floor. He is seated, a posture of settled, untroubled, sovereign control. The rebellion is on earth, a frantic, noisy, agitated affair. The response is from Heaven, calm, collected, and utterly secure. The distance between the two is the distance between omnipotence and impotence.
And what does He do from this position of absolute authority? He laughs. This is not the laughter of light-hearted amusement. This is the laughter of derision. It is the laughter of a master chess player watching his opponent, a toddler, plot a move that will supposedly trap his king. The plans of the kings of the earth are so far beneath Him, so utterly futile, that the only appropriate response is scorn. Their most sophisticated strategies, their most powerful alliances, are to Him a laughable absurdity. He "mocks them." The word is one of utter contempt. They are taking themselves so seriously, and God finds their seriousness comical.
This is a foundational truth for the Christian mind. When we watch the news, when we see the arrogant pronouncements of godless rulers, we must learn to hear the echo of this divine laughter. The United Nations does not trouble the decrees of God any more than dogs barking at the moon trouble the moon. Their resolutions are vanity. Their threats are empty noise. To fear them is to grant them a dignity that God Himself denies them. We must see them as God sees them: pitiable, temporary, and ultimately irrelevant to His eternal purpose.
Who would have thought of this divine laughter when the sun went dark at the crucifixion? When the disciples were scattered, when Peter was weeping, when the Sanhedrin was gloating, and when Satan thought he had won? Even then, at the very heart of the rebellion described in Acts 4, God was sitting in the heavens, laughing. For He knew that the very act of their rebellion was the instrument of His triumph.
The Wrathful Declaration (v. 5)
But the laughter is not the end of it. The laughter gives way to something far more terrifying: the voice of God in judgment.
"Then He speaks to them in His anger And terrifies them in His fury, saying," (Psalm 2:5)
The mood shifts instantly from divine scorn to divine wrath. If the laughter of God can accomplish such terrible things, what must His anger be like? The text says He speaks "in His anger" and terrifies them "in His fury." The rebellion of man is not just foolish; it is wicked. It is an offense to the holy character of God, and it provokes His righteous indignation.
Notice that it is His speech that terrifies them. Like in Genesis 1, God's Word is performative. It accomplishes what it says. When He speaks in wrath, terror is the result. He doesn't just threaten them; His very words are the instrument of their dread. This is not the empty blustering of a pagan deity. This is the holy fury of the living God, and it unravels the constitutions of His enemies. Their self-assured arrogance melts in the heat of His displeasure.
This is a necessary corrective to the sentimental, syrupy view of God that is so popular in our day. We are often presented with a God who is little more than a celestial teddy bear, incapable of genuine wrath. But the God of the Bible is a consuming fire. His love is a holy love, which means it must be set against all that is unholy. To remove the doctrine of God's wrath is to remove the very seriousness of sin and, consequently, to gut the gospel of its power. The good news is only good because it is deliverance from this very real and terrifying fury.
The Sovereign Installation (v. 6)
And what is the substance of this terrifying speech? What is the declaration that shatters their rebellious plots? It is the central, non-negotiable fact of all history.
"But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain." (Psalm 2:6)
This is the divine rebuttal to the entire conspiracy. The kings of the earth are saying, "Let us break His bonds." And God the Father replies, "But as for Me..." This is the ultimate trump card. Your plans are irrelevant, your rage is impotent, because I have already acted. The verb "I have installed" is in a past tense. It is a settled, accomplished fact. This is not a future plan that is up for debate. The matter is not being brought before a committee for consideration. The King is already on the throne.
The New Testament is clear that this King is Jesus Christ, the Messiah. And Zion, the holy mountain, is not merely a geographical location in the Middle East. It is the seat of God's government, the heavenly Jerusalem from which Christ now rules and reigns over all the earth (Hebrews 12:22). His coronation took place at His resurrection and ascension, when He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High (Acts 2:34-36).
This is the linchpin of a robust, optimistic, postmillennial eschatology. The reign of Christ is not something we are waiting for. It is the central reality of the current age. He is King now. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him now. He is ruling in the midst of His enemies now. The nations are His inheritance now. Our task is not to establish His kingdom, but to announce and demonstrate the reality of His established kingdom in every sphere of life.
This is why the rage of the heathen is ultimately futile. They are fighting against a settled decree. They are attempting to impeach a King who has been installed by God Almighty. Their rebellion is not a threat to His throne; it is an act of cosmic treason that ensures their own destruction.
Conclusion: Kiss the Son
So what is the proper response to this reality? The psalm goes on to give it. The rulers and judges of the earth are commanded to be wise, to be warned, and to serve the Lord with fear. And all of us are given the same command: "Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way" (Psalm 2:12).
The kings of the earth have two options. They can rage against the Son, or they can kiss the Son. They can plot against His authority, or they can submit to it in joyful fealty. There is no third way. There is no neutral ground. Every president, every prime minister, every judge, and every citizen will either be broken by the iron scepter of the King or they will find refuge in Him.
The laughter of God is a terrifying thing for His enemies, but it is a profound comfort for His people. It means that our King is secure. It means that history is moving according to His script, not the script being written by the talking heads on television. Our God is not flustered. He is not surprised. He sits in the heavens, and He laughs.
Therefore, we are not to be shaken. We are to be confident. The King is on His throne in Zion. His enemies are being made His footstool. And His Word of wrath and grace is going out into all the earth. Our part is to be faithful subjects of this King, to proclaim His decrees, to live under His law, and to joyfully anticipate the day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.