The Pillar That Proclaimed Too Soon

In 303 AD, the Roman Emperor Diocletian launched the most systematic persecution the early church had ever faced. He burned scriptures, demolished churches, and stripped Christians of all legal rights. Thousands were tortured and killed across the empire. When Diocletian believed he had finally succeeded, he erected a commemorative pillar in Spain inscribed with the boast: "The Christian superstition has been destroyed and the worship of the gods restored."

He retired shortly after, confident he had won.

Within a decade, Constantine stood in Rome wearing the cross on his armor. The Edict of Milan in 313 AD granted Christians full legal freedom. Churches rose from the rubble. The scriptures Diocletian had burned were copied by the thousands. And that proud pillar? It became a monument to the absurdity of fighting against the Almighty.

Psalm 2 asks why the nations rage and the rulers conspire against the Lord and His Anointed. The answer, it turns out, is that their conspiracy never had a chance. God "who sits in the heavens laughs," the psalmist writes. Not cruelly, but with the settled confidence of One whose purposes cannot be undone.