Psalm 2 "God Laughs"?

Psalm 2:4-6

He who sits in the heavens laughs;
    the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
    and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“As for me, I have set my King
    on Zion, my holy hill.”

Comments:

Woody Allen is credited with saying, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." However, God is not spiteful and anti-plan. He is for an even better version of our plans than we can imagine (Psalm 20:4; Prov. 3:5-8; 15:22; 16:3; 21:5)! Proverbs 16:9 says,

The heart of man plans his way,
    but the Lord establishes his steps.

Note that the Lord “establishes” rather than “frustrates” these plans. The plans that God is against are the plans that intend spiritual, emotional, or physical harm to others (Psalm 14:6; 33:10; Prov. 6:18; 24:8-9). Woody Allen missed the point.

Psalm 1 begins by describing the words and actions of the wicked scoffing, mocking, and laughing at God. Psalm 2 tells us that God laughs at even the most organized efforts of human governments to rage against the just rule and gracious plan of God. People in power don’t like the idea of having to answer to a higher power. In this psalm we see God answering their mocking laughter with laughter and nations’ rage with wrath. Their efforts though painful, even to the point of death to both Christ and Christians alike, are ultimately futile for Jesus rose from the dead and freed his followers from the fear of death. The tomb is empty!

The question we need to ask is what do we do to control people who are not afraid of our power over their lives? The enemy of mankind has long raged against God, often using worldly leaders (from the whole range of governments) to persecute those who worship the One True God. We should not fight to keep our fleeting power, but like Christ be willing to lay it down. Jesus said some pretty radical things, such as, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." (Matthew 5:5) But we don't often realize that this is the consistent message of the Lord in the Old Testament? Here are some examples.

Psalm 37:10-11

In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;
    though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
But the meek shall inherit the land
    and delight themselves in abundant peace.

Isaiah 11:3-4

And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
    or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
    and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
    and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Isaiah 29:18-20

In that day the deaf shall hear
    the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
    the eyes of the blind shall see.
The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
    and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
For the ruthless shall come to nothing
    and the scoffer cease,
    and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off…

One of the first Christian apologists, Tertullian (ad 197), in protesting the raging laws against Christians being passed by the Romans, wrote that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” Any time authorities attempt to wipe out the church it only serves to drive out the pretenders and leaves behind a church that is faith-filled and willing to suffer and die for the sake of the gospel message. What is different between the persecuted Church and other religious and political factions is that the persecuted Church is willing to serve others and die for what they believe, but not willing to kill for it.

But the day of reckoning will come. God raises nations up to do his work and then tears them down when they oppress his faithful people. Nations and governments that attack God and his people violate the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12:3) and will be judged. From the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt to the Philistines whose champion's mocking power was broken in this very field by a shepherd boy slinging stones. 
The parade of powers continues down through the centuries: Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, Vandals, Mongols, Muslims, Spain, France, Britain, Germany, Russia, and even America. Political power is not permanent—God's power is. 
Isaiah 2:4 says,

He shall judge between the nations,
    and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war anymore.

May we not need to be plowed in the process! I am reminded of Percy Bysshe Shelley's 1818 poem Ozymandias, which describes the temporality of the pride of nations and rulers. See if you don't agree,

Ozymandias

I met a traveler from an antique land

Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,

Half-sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things.

The hand that mock’d them and the heart that fed.

And on the pedestal these words appear:

‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings.

Look on my work, ye mighty and despair!’

Nothing besides remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

The psalmist suggests that those in power would be wise to yield to God's lordship while they still have the power and breath they have been given. It really is in their best interest to stop trying to hold on to their power—at all costs—and plead for mercy for their sins like every other person in the world.

God is not a judge who loves when he can.

God is a lover who judges when he has to.
And that judgment fell upon Christ.

[ICYMI: Why did I start with verse 4? In the past, I have commented on social media three times on v. 1-3, once on v. 7-8, and once on v. 10-11. All of these comments were before I started blogging. While it would be easier for me to talk about the first three verses of Psalm 2, I picked the "untouched territory" of v. 4-6.]