Are you frustrated with politics?  Maybe the politicians you prefer are not currently in power and you are disappointed or angry.  Maybe you are just tired of political divisiveness.  Maybe you are tired of the 24/7 barrage of bad news online and on TV.  There are many ways politics can be draining and rob us of peace and joy, and a lot of it seems very un-Christlike.

One of my favorite Bible passages to read when I feel this way is Psalm 2, which begins with these verses (1-3):

“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
            against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
Let us burst their bonds apart
            and cast away their cords from us”

The Psalm refers to the rebellion of nations, peoples, kings, and rulers against the “bonds” and “cords” of “the Lord” and “his Anointed”, or God the Father and God the Son.  All nations have always been rivals, not just with each other, but also with the kingdom of God.  Within nations, political parties also have fierce rivalries.

The ultimate example of the nations’ rebellion is referenced when the first two verses from the Psalm are quoted in Acts 4:25-26, followed by: “for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and our plan had predestined to take place.”  The crucifixion of Jesus was the result of a massive conspiracy, including possibly six separate trials by both Jewish and Roman authorities.  The Jews hated Him because He was not the political messiah that would lead an insurrection against Rome.  The Romans, led by Pilate, answered the call to crucify Him, to avoid a Jewish riot that would result in their punishment or removal by higher Roman authorities.  So Jesus, who was not guilty of what He was charged with and also is the only human to never participate in insurrection against His Father, was crucified and died.

Jesus was a threat to Jewish and Roman authority and had to go, and they literally succeeded in killing God.  Brutally.  Imagine if you saw that on the news.  There’s nothing worse than this on today’s news or happening in the world today.  But then Psalm 2:4 tells us:

“He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.”

A Surprising Victory

Surprising even His followers, on the third day, Jesus was resurrected from the dead, and after a few weeks, was raised “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”  (Ephesians 1:21).  This Jesus is the one laughing in heaven, and He can laugh because He knows any and all nations are no threat to Him and His kingdom.

All rulers and nations opposed to God are doomed to fail, because even killing God was not good enough to keep Him down.  Jesus laughs because He knows His plan will work.  In Matthew 16:18, Jesus told Peter that “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

In Acts 4 above, Peter and John quote Psalm 2 after they were released by the religious rulers of Jerusalem, and they testify that Jesus’ enemies only do “whatever your hand and our plan had predestined to take place.”  Peter and John were eyewitnesses to the resurrected Jesus and knew that all the powers of the world could not keep Him down.  They knew that Jesus was exalted and laughing at any opposition to Him, and therefore, to them.  They rejoiced that the same God who had resurrected Jesus had freed them from prison!

Therefore, take comfort that Jesus, knowing all the evil and rebellion of the world that we may feel threatened by or anxious about, laughs.  All who challenge God are ultimately powerless even if they once “succeeded” in killing Him.

“He who sits in the heavens laughs” reminds us that Jesus is laughing with supreme confidence at whatever political mess we find ourselves in – He is not threatened, and He is in charge.  We can trust Jesus, our King laughing in heaven, who says: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” – John 10:28-29.

Amen