Psalms 2:2
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
The kings of the earth setting themselves and the rulers taking counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed means earthly rulers joining in opposition to the Lord and His Anointed, who is Christ. The disciples applied this to Jesus as fulfilled when Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel gathered together against Him. Even in opposing Him they carried out what God had determined beforehand by His counsel.
The verse also pictures the guarding of Jesus' tomb, where the rulers plotted to keep His body confined inside the sepulcher and to prevent His resurrection. At the tomb the kings and rulers were the Jewish leaders joining with Pilate to post Roman soldiers to keep the body of the world's Redeemer inside. Behind those human rulers stood the prince of darkness with an apostate army, which would have kept the tomb holding the Son of God shut forever if it had been possible. They could not carry out their will upon Him who was slain for the sins of the world.
Their preparations were weak and foolish and their work vain and empty in the sight of God and His holy angels. Roman guards and Roman arms were utterly powerless to confine the Lord of life. He had power to lay down His life and to take it up again, and the hour of His victory in resurrection was near. Their purpose was defeated because a heavenly host guarded the sepulcher. Those angels had been unseen witnesses of the mock trial in the judgment hall, where every action was noted and every taunt recorded.
The rulers' futile effort to prevent the resurrection instead strengthened the evidence that He had risen. The same puny human opposition to God is seen in Peter's case, where the Jews' efforts to have him killed and the soldiers guarding him were overcome when God's power intervened to prevent Peter's blood from being shed.