“Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession” (Psalm 2:8).

This colorful and comprehensive phrase, usually translated “ends of the earth,” occurs no less than thirty times in the Old Testament and five in the New. The verse in our text is God’s promise to His Son (v.7), and it appears again and again. For example: “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth” (72:8). “Now shall He be great unto the ends of the earth” (Micah 5:4); “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD” (Psalm 22:27).

This divine Son, whose future dominion will extend to the uttermost parts of the earth, is also the Creator of the ends of the earth. “Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? Who hath gathered the wind in His fists? Who hath bound the waters in a garment? Who hath established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, if thou canst tell?” (Proverbs 30:4).

He who both created and will ultimately regain all the ends of the earth will also be their judge. “The LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and He shall give strength unto His King, and exalt the horn of His anointed” (literally, Messiah; I Samuel 2:10).

For the present, however, He is still “despised and rejected of men” (Isaiah 53:3), both as Creator and as coming King by all the nations of the world. Nevertheless He has provided “salvation unto the ends of the earth” for all who will receive Him (Acts 13:47), and He has both commanded and prophesied that His followers must be “witnesses unto me . . . unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The great message we carry from Him is: “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 45:22). HMM