The King the World Tried to Push Off His Throne

David knew what happened when a new king was crowned.
Oil was poured on his head in Jerusalem,
trumpets blew on Zion, the hill where the king's house stood,
and in every country round about,
the kings next door began to whisper.

So David made a song about the whispering.

"Why are the nations so angry?" he sang.
"Why do the peoples make plans that come to nothing?"

Picture them:
the kings of the earth in a huddle,
crowns tipped close together,
fists on the table, maps unrolled.

"The LORD thinks he can tell us what to do," one growls.
"And that king of his, the one with oil in his hair!"
"Let's cut their ropes," says another.
"Let's snap their chains and throw them away!"
"YES!" they all shout. "Nobody tells us what to do!"

(Not one of those kings had ever made a cloud, a mountain, or even a mosquito. They were very sure of themselves anyway.)

Up in heaven, God sits on his throne.
He hears the huddle.
He hears the shouting.
And God laughs.

Think of a boy on a beach with a bucket,
telling the ocean he will empty it by lunchtime.
The ocean does not pack its bags.

Then God speaks, and his anger rolls like thunder,
and the kings go pale under their crowns:
"I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill."

That settles it.
The King is already sitting where God put him.

Then the King himself sings out:
"I will tell what the LORD has decided.
He said to me, 'You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father.
Ask me, and I will give you the nations to keep,
all the way to the ends of the earth.
You will rule them with an iron rod
and smash them like a clay pot.'"

So be wise, you kings, the song says.
Be warned, you rulers.
Serve the LORD with fear,
and be glad with trembling.

"Kiss the Son," David sang,
"or he will be angry, and you will die on the way."

(In those days people kissed a king's hand to show they were on his side and would never fight him.)

And the very last line is an invitation:
"Happy are all who take shelter in him!"

But David's sons were crowned on Zion, one after another,
and sooner or later every one of them died.
No king in Jerusalem ever held the ends of the earth.
God's people kept watching for the true Son.

Then one spring in Jerusalem, rulers huddled again.
Herod and Pilate had been enemies,
and on that day they became friends.
Their soldiers tied up another King with ropes,
put a fancy king's robe on him to make fun of him,
and pushed him down onto a cross,
where he died.

But the One who laughed at the huddle was still on his throne.
On the third day God raised his Son from the dead,
and Jesus' friends understood David's song at last:
"You are my Son. Today I have become your Father."
God had set his King in his place,
and no huddle on earth could pull Jesus off it.