You are my son

The king proclaims the Lord's decree: "The Lord said to me, 'You are my son. Today I have become your Father. Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth as your possession. You will break them with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots.' " Psalm 2: 7-8 NLT

Today's reading is very much like the report of some kind of inheritance ceremony, almost as if it was an adoption. What the Lord says in the Hebrew actually translates to: Today I reveal you as my son.

This is a huge announcement!

God has declared this ruler (we know the original writer of the psalm meant King David) as God's son! This is the heir who has been given power and authority over everyone else. But that isn't all. The Lord God says that, if the son will only ask, the Lord will give all the nations and kingdoms of the world over to him - he only had to ask and God would take an iron rod and smash them all like clay pots!

I wonder how much of this was part of  Hebrew blessing or legal announcement of a man's heir. It certainly has a lot of trust behind these statements. I don't think any man of authority and means would want to destroy all he has just on the word of his heir. And I don't think a newly proclaimed heir would want to be about that same destruction. But if you have claimed someone as your heir, then you are willing to do what they have asked of you. "I trust you implicitly with all authority and power just as I have. In fact, if you asked me, I would destroy everything just to prove my words as true."

The real power behind all of these words is that there can only be one heir. There is only one person who can ask for this destruction. There is only on who has been given the nations as an inheritance.

And there is only one to whom we can give our allegiance and support.

God, in Christ we find the one to whom we give our allegiance and support. We know that he is your son and you are his Father and our Father. We praise you and give Christ the glory! In His name. Amen.

Copyright 2011 Amelia G. Sims