The Non-Negotiable Kiss Text: Psalm 2:10-12
Introduction: The Politics of the Son
We live in an age that wants a domesticated Christ, a Jesus who can be safely confined to the private sphere of personal piety. Our modern rulers, our judges, our kings of industry and culture are quite content to allow Jesus to be your personal life coach, so long as He agrees never to meddle in public affairs. They want a Christ who will save your soul but not claim your vote, a Christ who will cleanse your heart but not challenge the laws of the land. In short, they want a king who does not rule.
But the Christ of Scripture is no such neutered figurehead. The second Psalm is God's official coronation announcement for His Son, and it is directed squarely at the political rulers of the earth. The first part of the psalm describes their rebellious plotting, their vain attempts to snap the cords of God's law. God's response to their high-treason is not negotiation; it is laughter. He holds them in derision. He has already installed His King on Zion, His holy hill. He has given this King, the Lord Jesus Christ, the nations as His inheritance and the ends of the earth for His possession. He is to rule them with a rod of iron.
This is the non-negotiable political reality of the universe. Jesus Christ is Lord. This is not a future hope; it is a present fact, established at the resurrection and ascension. The question is not whether the nations will be under His authority. The only question is whether they will be under His authority as obedient sons or as shattered pottery. And it is to this stark choice that the Holy Spirit turns in our text. After declaring the absolute monarchy of the Son, He gives the rulers of the earth their only two options: wise submission or sudden destruction.
This is not a suggestion. It is an ultimatum. It is a command from the throne room of heaven to every city hall, every statehouse, every parliament, and every court on earth. And because we are citizens of this heavenly kingdom, we must understand the terms of surrender that our King offers to His enemies. It is a severe mercy, a gracious threat.
The Text
So now, O kings, show insight;
Take warning, O judges of the earth.
Serve Yahweh with fear
And rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest He become angry, and you perish in the way,
For His wrath may soon be kindled.
How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!
(Psalm 2:10-12)
A Call to Political Sanity (v. 10)
The psalm now pivots from declaration to application. God has spoken, the Son is enthroned, and so the conclusion is inescapable. Verse 10 lays it out.
"So now, O kings, show insight; Take warning, O judges of the earth." (Psalm 2:10)
This is a call to basic political intelligence. The word for "show insight" means to act wisely, to be prudent. After hearing God's decree, after being told of the Son's inheritance, the only sane course of action is to get smart. Rebellion is not just wicked; it is stupid. It is the political equivalent of arguing with a hurricane. To rage against the Lord's Anointed is to imagine a vain thing, which is to say, it is an exercise in futility. God is telling the rulers of the earth to stop being fools.
And notice who is being addressed. It is "kings" and "judges." This is not a quiet word whispered in the ear of the individual believer. This is a public proclamation to civil magistrates in their official capacity. The President, the Supreme Court, the members of Congress, the governor, the mayor, they are all being addressed here. God expects them to conduct their political business in light of the fact that Jesus is King. Foreign policy, domestic legislation, and judicial rulings must all be calibrated to this central reality. To ignore the reign of Christ in the public square is not neutrality; it is rebellion. It is to be an unwise king, a foolish judge.
The warning is clear: "Take warning." The Hebrew word here is related to discipline or chastisement. It's the kind of instruction a father gives his son, sometimes with a rod. God is saying, "Let yourselves be corrected. Learn your lesson before the final exam, because the final exam involves a rod of iron, and you will not pass." This is a gracious warning. God does not have to warn His enemies before He crushes them, but He does. He is giving them a chance to abandon their suicidal course.
The Nature of True Service (v. 11)
Verse 11 describes the proper response. It is not groveling, resentful slavery, but something far richer.
"Serve Yahweh with fear And rejoice with trembling." (Psalm 2:11)
How are these kings and judges to serve? They are to serve Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a direct assault on all forms of pluralism and secularism. The public square is not to be a naked, godless space. It is to be a place of service to the one true God. This means laws that are consistent with His law, justice that reflects His justice, and a public life that acknowledges Him as the source of all authority.
This service must be rendered "with fear." This is not the cowering terror of a slave before a tyrant. This is the awe-filled reverence of a creature before his glorious Creator. It is the kind of fear that banishes all other fears. If you fear God properly, you will not fear the polls, or the media, or the shifting tides of public opinion. This is the fear that makes a man courageous. It is the beginning of wisdom, and as verse 10 just told us, wisdom is precisely what these rulers need.
But this is one of the most glorious paradoxes in all of Scripture. This fearful service is to be accompanied by joyful trembling. "Rejoice with trembling." Our worship, our service, our entire lives are to be lived in this happy tension. We rejoice because we are serving a King who is infinitely good, who died for His people, whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light. We are not serving a capricious despot. But we tremble because this same King is infinitely holy, infinitely powerful, and He is the judge of all the earth. His wrath is a consuming fire. To lose the joy is to fall into legalism. To lose the trembling is to fall into presumption. The mature Christian, and the wise Christian magistrate, walks this tightrope. He is profoundly grateful for his position, and he is profoundly sobered by it. He knows he serves a King of grace and a King of wrath.
The Kiss of Fealty (v. 12a)
Verse 12 brings the ultimatum to its sharpest point. It is a single, decisive command.
"Kiss the Son, lest He become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled." (Psalm 2:12a)
In the ancient world, to kiss the king was an act of homage, submission, and loyalty. It was a pledge of fealty. Think of Samuel anointing Saul: "Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him and said: 'Is it not because the LORD has anointed you commander over His inheritance?'" (1 Samuel 10:1). This is the demand. All kings, all presidents, all judges are commanded to bow the knee and pledge their political allegiance to Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
This is the central political act required of all nations. They must acknowledge the crown rights of King Jesus. And if they rankle at this, if they think it is beneath their dignity to submit to this Galilean, they should remember how He obtained His throne. He did not seize it through raw power alone; He obtained it through selfless sacrifice, through covenant love, through His own death for rebels like us. His conquering power is His grace.
The alternative is spelled out with chilling clarity: "lest He become angry, and you perish in the way." The anger of the Son is not a petty tantrum. It is the settled, holy opposition of the Creator to all that is rebellious and impure. And when His wrath is kindled, even a little, it is utterly devastating. Notice the immediacy: "you perish in the way." This is not a distant threat of hell. This is a promise of temporal, political, historical destruction. When a nation sets itself against Christ, it is signing its own death warrant. It will collapse "in the way," in the midst of its proud plotting. Its schemes will come to nothing, its empire will crumble to dust, and its vaunted leaders will be swept away.
The Only Safe Place (v. 12b)
The psalm, which began with the raging of the nations and the laughter of God, ends not with a thunderclap of judgment, but with a quiet, gracious invitation.
"How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!" (Psalm 2:12b)
This is the gospel in miniature. The same Son whose wrath is a terror to His enemies is a safe harbor for all who trust in Him. The only way to escape the wrath of the Son is to hide in the Son. The one who is the Judge is also the refuge. The one who wields the rod of iron is the same one whose arms are open to receive all who come to Him.
This blessedness is not just for kings and judges. It is for "all who take refuge in Him." The king on his throne and the peasant in the field have the same problem, which is sin, and the same solution, which is Christ. The invitation is universal. And the state of those who accept it is "blessed." This is the same word that begins Psalm 1, describing the man who delights in the law of the Lord. Jesus Christ is the ultimate blessed man of Psalm 1, and He is the ruling Son of Psalm 2. To take refuge in Him is to be united to Him, and to share in His blessedness and, ultimately, in His inheritance.
This is the choice set before every human soul and every human society. There are only two options. You can stand against the Son in your pride and be broken by His iron rod. Or you can bow before the Son in humility, kiss Him in allegiance, and find in Him a refuge of perfect safety and eternal blessedness. There is no third way. There is no neutral ground. You are either against Him or for Him. You are either being shattered or you are being sheltered.
Conclusion: A World Under New Management
The message of Psalm 2 is the fundamental political truth of the world. The world is not up for grabs. It is not run by chaos, or by the Illuminati, or by the World Economic Forum. The world is run by Jesus Christ. He has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. The Father has decreed it, the Son has accomplished it, and the Spirit is applying it throughout history.
Our task as the church is not to cower in the corner, hoping the world will leave us alone. Our task is to be the heralds of the King. We are to go to the nations, to our own kings and judges, and announce the terms. We are to tell them, "The management has changed. The world you thought you were running now belongs to Jesus Christ. Therefore, be wise. Serve Him with fear. Kiss the Son."
And we must do this not just with our words, but with our lives. We must show them what a people who have taken refuge in Christ look like. We are to be a city on a hill, a community that lives under the cheerful, trembling rule of the Son. We are to be the living demonstration that His rule is life and peace, and that all other rule leads to ruin.
So, whether you are a king or a commoner, the command is the same. The rebellion is over. The King has won. His wrath is kindling, but His arms are open. Flee the city of destruction. Run to the only refuge there is. Bow the knee, pledge your allegiance, and kiss the Son.