The Psalmist by way of emphasis announced the unsettled, agitated condition of the nations in the future in the form of a rhetorical question. From the context it is quite evident that the nations, according to this prediction, are astir over a religious question, as is set forth in the words "against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, let us break their bonds asunder." It is the topic of the hour, and throughout the entire world gatherings, which in most instances are more or less disorderly, are being held to debate the merits of the same. Not only will this religious issue be discussed in small gatherings throughout the world, but, according to verse 2, there will be held in some great city an International, Atheistic, Religio-Political Convention. As proof of these assertions study, dear reader, carefully and prayerfully, the words of each statement.

"Why do the nations tumultuously assemble, and the peoples meditate a vain thing?" The word רָגְשׁוּ is correctly translated "tumultuously assemble" in the footnote of the Revised Version. Therefore the prophet saw by the Spirit conventions, whose sessions will be stormy and tumultuous, held among the nations of the world. The expression "meditate a vain thing" confirms this position, namely, that these gatherings are deliberative ones. That this religious question is the all-absorbing topic of the hour in comparison with which all other questions, for the time being, pale off into insignificance, that it has permeated every stratum of society, and that the attention and interest of the entire world is focused upon the outcome of the issues at stake, are seen in the fact that "the nations" and "the peoples" are the ones who are considering and debating this international question and subsidiary ones involved in the same. Verse 2 predicts an International Conference in which the "kings of the earth" and "the rulers" gather together in conference to decide the issues which are agitating the world. It is a political gathering, for the delegates are "the kings of the earth" and "the rulers." The expressions "kings of the earth" and "the rulers" indicate that all of the rulers of the world sit as delegates at this convention; hence an international conference. The expression "take counsel together" confirms the interpretation placed upon verse 1, namely, that a world conference is in the prophet's view. The object of the conference is clearly seen in the statement, "against the Lord and against his מְשִׁיחוֹ anointed." The religious character of the assembly is seen in the expression "against the Lord, and against His anointed." This expression likewise indicates that the atheistic note is the dominant one in the conference, for no genuine believer in God would presume to take the stand which this convention takes. Among the various motives prompting the convening of such a conference may be discerned that of anti-semitism in the expression "against the Lord" Who is the God of Israel.

IV. WHO IS "THE ANOINTED ONE?"

The question arising at this point is, who is the "anointed" against whom the nations revolt? In answering this question various commentators have chosen different monarchs of the Davidic house, claiming in them the fulfillment of the passage. Among those suggested have been David himself, and Hezekiah. Some go to such an extreme as to refer to the blood-thirsty Alexander Jannaeus of the Hasmonean line (175-63 B.C.). It is true that each of the kings who sat upon David's throne was a messiah "anointed" of the Lord, when he had been anointed by an authoritative representative of God (see I Sam. 12:3; II Chron. 6:42). At various times in the past, as is shown in the historical portions of Israel's monarchial history, some of the surrounding nations formed an aggressive alliance against Judah and her king but none of them could in anywise be considered as the fulfillment of this prophetic picture. Evidently, then, the passage, though it may have had a partial and limited or typical fulfillment in the past, awaits its complete fulfillment in the future. The Messiah against Whom this International Convention raves is Israel's Messiah, par-excellence, the One for Whom the nation through the centuries has longingly waited and Who will be preceded by Elijah the prophet (Mat. 4:5,6).

In confirmation of the position that the Psalm awaits its complete fulfillment in the future is the political situation which is assumed by the Psalmist, namely, mutual understanding among the nations, adjustment of world problems by a world court or convention, and concerted effort on the part of the nations to put in effect the decisions of said court. Never in the past have such political conditions existed until in the most recent years. It is now considered an axiomatic truth in political economy that the day has arrived when no longer each individual nation can live its independent life irrespective of the other nations, but that there must be a league of nations, and a world court where all international problems are discussed, and whose decisions will be enforced by the combined forces of the nations. Therefore, since the world has only recently begun the development which is assumed by this Psalm, it is absolutely certain that its fulfillment lies in the future. From the seventh Chapter of the Prophecy of Daniel it is very clear that such a league or confederacy of nations is scheduled to develop in the end time; therefore it follows from the above facts that this Psalm will find its complete fulfillment in "the time of the end," which is the time of Jacob's trouble (Jer. 30:7).

V. THE RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE CONFERENCE

The resolution which will be put before this world conference to be voted upon is, "Let us break their bonds asunder and cast away their cords from us." The pronoun "their" has for its antecedent the words "Lord" and "anointed" of the preceding verse. The words "bonds" and "cords" are evidently figurative expressions setting forth the obligations to and the restraining influence of both God and His Messiah. The supposition upon which this resolution is founded is that the nations have previously been brought under the influence and power, more or less, of the God of Israel and His Anointed One. Refusing to acknowledge allegiance to them, unwilling to tolerate any longer their influence among the nations, but determined to blot out every vestige of influence and memory of both the God of the Hebrews and His anointed, the nations through their representatives adopt this resolution. One cannot "break bonds asunder and cast away cords" from himself unless he has already been bound by the same. Therefore the attitude and actions of this conference prove positively that not only Israel, but the nations of the world have more or less been brought under the influence of Israel's God and her Messiah. The determined action of the nations in the person of their delegates in this world convention to blot out the influence of Messiah from the world is positive proof that He has lived and has gained a tremendous grip upon the world. These assumed facts are corroborated by the proof which is seen in an exposition of Gen. 49:10 and Dan. 9:26. Permit the author to paraphrase and to change the thought in two expressions of a noted Hebrew scholar concerning the object of this conference: "They are, therefore, at the time of their rebellion, subject to the Lord and His anointed; and that not simply because the whole world belongs to the Lord, but also because He has enabled his anointed to obtain a grip upon them. It is a contest for freedom upon which they are entering; a freedom, however, which is hostile to God."

Since the evidence, as set forth above, proves conclusively that the Hebrew Messiah has already been in the world and has obtained a grip upon the same, the seeker after truths and facts immediately will ask, "Where is he from the time of his coming into the world and gaining a grip upon it, to the time of this anti-religious anti-messianic world conference?" The Psalmist here omits the desired information on this point; but the inspired author of Psa. 110 supplies it, for he says: נְאֻם יְהוָה לַאדֹנִי שֵׁב לִימִינִי עַד־אָשִׁית אֹיְבֶיךָ הֲדֹם לְרַגְלֶיךָ׃ "The Lord saith unto my Lord, 'Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool.'" In this quotation the divine singer and seer claims that the Eternal God spoke unto His Lord, requesting Him to take a seat at His right hand until He יְהוָה makes His (Messiah's) enemies the footstool of His feet. [That the Psalmist is speaking of the Messiah in Psa. 110 will be shown in the exposition of the same in Chapter XIII.]

This passage shows clearly that יְהוָה the Lord, invited David's Lord אֲדֹנָי to leave the realm of those who were his enemies and to remain with Him, taking a seat at His right hand until the time arrives when He יְהוָה, the Lord, shall place the Messiah's enemies under His feet. The enemies of the Messiah are His personal enemies, for they come in touch the one with the other and they become hostile to Him. Who are these enemies? The second verse unmistakably identifies them: מַטֵּה עֻזְּךָ יִשְׁלַח יְהוָה מִצִּיּוֹן רְדֵה בְּקֶרֶב אֹיְבֶיךָ׃   "The rod of thy strength the Lord will send out of Zion: 'rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.'" The first half of this verse shows that Messiah reigns in Zion and the second half, completing a Hebrew parallelism, identifies the enemies of the Messiah as the inhabitants of Zion in the midst of which He eventually will reign. In a servant passage (Isa. 49) appears a statement concerning the servant of the Lord, which doubtless throws light upon this 110th Psalm, and which is as follows: "Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth ..." This question is proper: what nation? To Isaiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the word "nation" would have only one meaning, namely, the Hebrew nation, just as the same word used by one American to another would mean the American nation. Therefore this "servant of the Lord" is the one whom the Hebrew nation abhors and rejects. Being abhorred and rejected by her, God, according to the 110th Psalm, invites Him into the heaven of heavens (Psa. 115:16) to remain there until He, the Lord, makes the enemies of the Messiah His footstool.

When the Messiah comes the first time in fulfillment of the prophetic prediction, the Hebrew nation, not knowing its Scriptures and hence not recognizing Him, rejects Him for Whom she longingly hopes and prays. She as a nation continues to reject Him, even though there are individuals among them who accept Him as their Messiah and Redeemer. As the nation in the person of the Jewish Sanhedrin officially reject Him at His first coming, so will all nations through the League of Nations at the end time reject Him officially in its world convention in which they will utterly repudiate the idea of God's existence and of the Messiah's claims as to His own nature and prerogatives.

VI. GOD'S ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE SITUATION

In a most realistic and dramatic way the Psalmist in verses 4-6, having changed the scenery of the stage of the first act, presents in his second act a scene in the very heavens of God. "He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh, the Lord will have them in derision. Then will He speak unto them in His wrath and vex them in His sore displeasure." God throughout the ages has always permitted man to fill up the cup of his iniquity (Gen. 15:16) before bringing judgment upon him. Thus it will be in the end time. God quietly abides His time waiting for the "psychological moment" to arrive, at which time He will deal summarily with the atheistic, godless generation of that time.*

The attitude of the Lord now is expressed by the words "He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh." While the nations are astir, counting God out of His universe, so they think, He laughs, knowing what the outcome will be. "He who laughs last laughs best." "The Lord will have them in derision," that is, the Lord will bring the nations to a point when they will be bewildered and in a nonplused condition at which time He will speak in His wrath against them. His speaking may be literal (Joel 3:16), or it may be His speaking by sending judgment upon mankind.

Though man opposes God and His Messiah, substituting his own plans, which are futile, "The Lord bringeth the counsel of the nations to nought; He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect. The counsel of the Lord standeth fast forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations" (Psa. 33:10,11).

VII. WHO IS KING MESSIAH?