Taking Council Against God

The word council means an advisory group or meeting. Our world is full of those who meet and plot their plans against an Almighty God. They do not believe in Him, yet they are angry and agitated at the thought of Christians who teach and uphold God’s word. Their goal is to oppose anything that Christians stand for. When it comes to the life of a baby, they refuse to believe it is a life that deserves to live. They scream loudly against those who pray in school or take their Bibles to class. They are for anything that is against God. They are so opposed to God, and form organizations against Christianity.

In Psalm 2:1, the psalmist asks the question “why do the heathen rage?”  The word heathen is referring to nations. The word rage is what we would call a mob or angry crowd acting as if in a frenzy. They are not just a few people, who want their sinful ways to be treated as ok or normal. They are involving entire nations and the rulers of those nations. Here they are called kings because that was the common rule for that time period. Today we could include presidents, prime ministers, and any other ruler with great authority. The leaders of the nations have a fixed determination that the Lord will not be Lord of them or anything they have rule over. They are taking counsel together against God. The people are so worked up that they have become violent. Is this not a picture of our society today? Everyone has convinced themselves they are right, and they have the right to do as they chose. The law of the land means nothing to them. They are not only against the Lord but also against His anointed. Their plan is to break any ties to God. The idea that God would have any authority over them angers them.

Psalm 2:1-3 “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” 

This anger against Christians is as real today as it was when Jesus was crucified. In Matthew 27:22-23, the angry crowd had the opportunity to do the right thing and choose Jesus to be released, but they chose a common criminal instead of the King of Kings. The influence of angry men can be great. It can cause those who seemingly have a heart for God to follow the crowd. They become controlled by their emotions rather than the word of God. This is why it is so important that we study, pray, and obey. When we wait until the heat of the moment to decide, we will usually make the wrong choice.

We need to know God’s word and determine how we will respond in situations where wrong is made to seem right. We need to make up our minds long before the situation occurs that we will stand for the truth of Christ even if we are alone. If we wait until the situation arises to decide, we stand a 50/50 chance we will make the wrong choice.

Matthew 27:22-23 “Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.” 

While Psalms 2:1-3 describes the desires and purpose of those who are against God and His kingdom, verse 4 describes how God will respond. While the nations act in rage and frenzy, God sits calmly in control in the Heavens. God is amused at their vain attempts to rise up against Him. While it may seem to us that God is silent in our world, that He is overlooking the wrong around us, He is not. There is nothing that catches Him by surprise or changes who He is. Those who are sold out to Him will be opposed by Satan, his demons, and those who are not yielded to Christ, until Christ return. However, we can have victory in the midst of all the evil and chaos because “greater is He that is in me than He that is in the world.”

Psalm 2:4 “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.” 

Do not grow weary in well doing. Do not allow those who yield to the flesh to draw you into their wicked ways. Pay attention to those who walk on the edge of wrongdoing because they are one step away from falling off the edge. Have no part with those who are opposed to the things of God. While we are to be an example of the love Christ has for them and the lifestyle God approves of, we are not to be like them. Romans 12:1-2 teaches us that while we are in the world we are not of the world. We have been bought with a price and we are not our own. Those who oppose God and council against Him will have their part in the lake of fire one day if they do not repent and obey. They are no match for God. He is God and they are not. He is in control and always will be. No matter how much they oppose Him, it will not change His plan for salvation and what is required for eternal life in Heaven.

Romans 12:1-2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”