1 Why are the nations in an uproar,
and the people mutter a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying,‎
3 “Let us break their bonds asunder,
and cast away their cords from us.”‎

Psalm 2 is one of the “royal psalms” (others are Psalms 21, 72, 101, 110, and 132), which are about the king of Israel or, after Israel had divided into two kingdoms, the king of the southern kingdom of Judah. Christians hear these psalms as speaking about Jesus. That Christian understanding is made more obvious here by the king being called God’s “Son” (verse 7) and God’s “Anointed” (verse 2). The titles “Christ” and “Messiah” given to Jesus are from, respectively, the Greek and Hebrew words meaning “anointed.”
We can call Jesus a “king,” indeed “the King,” but the kind of king he is makes the title at least problematic—not just because he said “My kingdom is not of this world” but also because of his response when two of his disciples started jockeying, through their mother, for the best seats in his kingdom (Matthew 20:20-21). He did not say, so far as we know, “C’mon, be a man! Don’t send your mommy!” But he did tell them that they were just not getting it about his mission or about their own future experiences (Matthew 20:23-28). I’ve said more about that incident in my post on this blog titled “It shall not be so among you.”
     So Jesus takes a complicated path toward the throne and gives time for repentance (Romans 2:4). Still today the nations are indeed “in an uproar,” and people are in fact in rebellion against God and his anointed. But God laughs at “the kings of the earth” already, looking forward to the end, as he did even back in the time of the Psalms:

4 He who sits in the heavens laughs:
the Lord has them in derision.‎
5 Then shall he speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his burning anger.
. . .
10 Be wise now therefore, O kings:
be warned, O judges of the earth.‎

• Psalm 2 is quoted here from The Koren Jerusalem Bible (1967, www.sefaria.org). I added the quotation marks around verse 3.
• These posts on the Psalms are in aid of the reading of the Psalms—one a day through the first five months of 2022—by members, attenders, friends, et al. of Together Church, Wyoming, MI.