Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
The raging of the heathen and the imagining of the people are vain, empty, futile plans and opposition against the Lord and His Anointed that no human power can make prevail, while God remains sovereign and looks upon them with laughter and derision. At the death of Jesus this was fulfilled in the sealing of the tomb and the setting of a Roman guard, when earthly kings and rulers, including the priests and the Roman powers, took counsel together to confine the Lord of life in the sepulcher. Roman guards and weapons set to hold Him there proved weak and foolish and powerless to do it. No human force could stop Christ or carry out its will upon Him who was slain for the sins of the world, for He had power to lay down His life and take it up again. His victorious resurrection was near, the plot to keep Him in the tomb could not prevent it, and the failed attempt itself became evidence that He had risen.
Behind the human opposers at the tomb stood the prince of darkness with his apostate army, who would have kept the tomb holding the Son of God shut forever if it had been possible. Their purpose failed because a heavenly host guarded the sepulcher. Those angels guarding the sepulcher had been unseen witnesses of all that took place in the mock trial in the judgment hall, where every action was noted and every taunt recorded.
The disciples applied the verse to Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and Israel united in opposition against Jesus, whose actions nevertheless took place within and fulfilled what God had determined. Seeing that former raging as vain gives confidence to ask for boldness when facing the same hostility in proclaiming the gospel. Peter's threatened execution illustrates this same futile opposition of the nations, which God was about to stop by His power. Against the raging, the unchangeable Lord who is good and greatly to be praised freely bestows mercies and surrounds His people with tokens of His love, and He has made the strength of the everlasting hills to be a safe retreat, preparing the mountains and the caves for His oppressed and persecuted children.
The raging of the heathen and the imagining of the people are vain, empty, futile plans and opposition against the Lord and His Anointed that no human power can make prevail, while God remains sovereign and looks upon them with laughter and derision. At the death of Jesus this was fulfilled in the sealing of the tomb and the setting of a Roman guard, when earthly kings and rulers, including the priests and the Roman powers, took counsel together to confine the Lord of life in the sepulcher. Roman guards and weapons set to hold Him there proved weak and foolish and powerless to do it. No human force could stop Christ or carry out its will upon Him who was slain for the sins of the world, for He had power to lay down His life and take it up again. His victorious resurrection was near, the plot to keep Him in the tomb could not prevent it, and the failed attempt itself became evidence that He had risen.
Behind the human opposers at the tomb stood the prince of darkness with his apostate army, who would have kept the tomb holding the Son of God shut forever if it had been possible. Their purpose failed because a heavenly host guarded the sepulcher. Those angels guarding the sepulcher had been unseen witnesses of all that took place in the mock trial in the judgment hall, where every action was noted and every taunt recorded.
The disciples applied the verse to Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and Israel united in opposition against Jesus, whose actions nevertheless took place within and fulfilled what God had determined. Seeing that former raging as vain gives confidence to ask for boldness when facing the same hostility in proclaiming the gospel. Peter's threatened execution illustrates this same futile opposition of the nations, which God was about to stop by His power. Against the raging, the unchangeable Lord who is good and greatly to be praised freely bestows mercies and surrounds His people with tokens of His love, and He has made the strength of the everlasting hills to be a safe retreat, preparing the mountains and the caves for His oppressed and persecuted children.