Celebrate the Rule

Celebrate the Rule

March 13, 2017

Psalm 2:11 "Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling."

Rules and authority are like a constricting sweater. Rules keep you from doing what you want, from having fun, from being yourself. There is no one who ever celebrated having rules and authority over him. We like to chose our own life, our own path to do what we want, to be in charge of our own destiny. Scripture says, however, that we should celebrate the rule and authority, the Lord's rule. When Scripture said that it wasn't in celebration that the Lord is in control, but celebration of sitting under His authority and the laws of the land.

Kings in Biblical times, were more than the rule maker, they were the protector of those under the rule. The inhabitants of the Kingdom got the protection of the King. In order to be an inhabitant of the kingdom, you had to submit to the authority of the King, his rules. Enemies, when they came to attack any in the kingdom, they would start in the villages on the outskirts of the castle, killing and plundering the most vulnerable. They couldn't get to the citadel without first going through those considered unprotected. Upon hearing that the enemy was attacking, the King would dispatch the army. The army would defend those in the Kingdom in the name of the King. But again, the King only offered his protection to those who swore their allegiance to the crown, to those who kissed the son.  Likewise, if you didn't submit to the crown, you feared both the enemy and the king.

The Bible makes a kissing of the kings son analogy. If you kissed the king's son, you were swearing the king's authority over you and the future authority of his son. The Bible says you are to rejoice and celebrate the king's rule, for those who kissed the king's son. The king's son was heir to the throne, so kissing him was an act of submission to the forever reign of those on the throne. If you didn't kiss the king's son, you got the consequences, death. By not kissing the king's son it was an act of hostility, defiance. You received protection if you submitted to the rule of the land, and you received death if you didn't, death either from the enemy or the king himself. The Bible says you should rejoice in kissing the king's son, or rather submitting to the forever throne of the kingdom. While the analogy is about Jesus and receiving salvation, it is also about submitting to His rule and the laws of His Kingdom.

Submitting to the king's rule, is submitting to his authority and submitting to the laws of the land, the kingdom. The Bible says we are to submit to them, the authority and laws, with trembling. The trembling before the king is a recognition of him who holds the ultimate power over your life, its destruction or preservation. Do you celebrate that the Lord has rule over your life? Does it excite you in realizing there is sin you are not allowed to partake in, that there is a code of conduct for you?  Does it excite you in knowing the enemy cannot destroy you and that there is a future life for those in the Kingdom?  You cannot have one without the other. You cannot receive the benefits of the King's authority if you have not submitting to His throne, His protection, and His rules, the law of the land. You can't have it both ways, taking His protection from the enemy but living according to your own authority. Whose authority do you live your own life by, the Lord's or your own?

If someone surveyed your actions, would they demonstrate that you've kissed the king's son?

Don't take my word for it; look it up:  Deut 6, Psalm 2, Matt 28:20