God Is King

[0:00] Psalm 47, not a really long psalm. Luckily for you guys, that means I get to go through verse by verse and break it down.

[0:10] Can't always get to do that. I will do that, but it won't be as long and hopefully won't put you to sleep. But this is a psalm, whether written by David or written by the sons of Korah, which are a group of people who were, their job was to, they were the music ministry for the people of Israel.

[0:36] They were the ones who were responsible for calling them to worship, calling them together to sing, and then providing that in forms of songs or psalms or in their instruments that they played.

[0:47] So regardless of who wrote it, it was both for the same purpose, and that was to call the people of Israel to praise God. So in verse 1, clap your hands, all peoples, and shout to God with loud songs of joy.

[1:03] Just looking at clap your hands, you know, we commonly use that to express approval or applause for someone. And that's true, we are doing that, but this is kind of taking it to the next level.

[1:14] Not that level. Where clapping is just a natural and expressive way of rejoicing and showing gladness or excitement for someone.

[1:30] So you can just see that as we go through this psalm and why that's being done. God's people are called to clap their hands and to sing loudly and joyfully.

[1:44] And there should be times in our life, in our normal routine, where our praise and our worship to God is very celebratory. Not something that we just do because we're called to do it.

[1:59] Not just because we're approving of something that's being said. You know, we're not just clapping because something truthful was said at the pulpit or sung, but something that we can truly take joy in for the depth of what it actually is.

[2:15] We're taking delight and showing devotion to our King, which is God himself. And this is for all people, not just the Israelites. This was written to the Israelites, but it was also written to us as well.

[2:28] So the other thing about clapping is it transcends languages. It's something that everyone recognizes and understands so we can do it together.

[2:40] And then as we look at verse 2, For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a great King over all the earth. The Lord is to be feared because no one can resist his power or stand against his plans.

[2:58] He is feared. And if we look at verse 1, where we're called to shout to God with loud songs of joy. And then the second part of verse 2, a great King over all the earth.

[3:11] That fear to us is not a scary or dreadful thing. That fear for the Lord is for people or nations that are outside of his will.

[3:23] So for us, that fear is a good thing because that's a fear that's attributed to our God and to our King because of how great that he is. And then the second part of verse 2, he's a great King for those reasons and for many more.

[3:39] He's self-existent. He is the only God that's over all. His wisdom is not only greater than anything, but it's complete wisdom. There's nothing lacking.

[3:51] So add to that perfect, unmeasurable wisdom in which nothing is unknown by him. His power and his control over everything is complete and nothing is lacking.

[4:04] So when we think of a great King over all the earth, think of it in terms of over everything without anything left out. That's the kind of God that we serve.

[4:15] Verse 3, he subdued peoples under us and nations under our feet. Again, going back to his power, he can subdue, he can push down or bring up any nations he desires because that's his plan.

[4:31] His power is complete and unmatchable. So he can keep some nations subdued while he raises other ones up. The battles that he faces or his people face are not ours but his.

[4:51] The tribulations that we go through are also tribulations that he knows about and he's part of. So his unmatched power is a power that is available to us for anything that we have to go against.

[5:04] So all his victories are our victories. And so for that, we're able to clap our hands and we're able to rejoice. And then as we move to verse 2, he chose our heritage for us.

[5:17] The pride of Jacob whom he loves. Our heritage was chosen for us and he decided what that was going to be.

[5:28] He caused it to happen and then he gave it to us. If you remember the beginning of Ephesians that we looked at a couple weeks ago, verse 4 says, Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.

[5:41] So he chose a great inheritance for Jacob because he loved him. And if we apply that spiritually, God chose a heritage for us from that. He gave us an inheritance because he loves us.

[5:54] And through Christ, we've been given that unmeasurable inheritance that is incorruptible. It's never going away and no one can take it from us. That's the inheritance that we've been given.

[6:07] And then at the end of verse 4, we have this silah, which is a pause. It's a break in the reading. If they're singing, it's a pause in the singing.

[6:19] And it's looked at like a holy meditation. A time where if it was in the middle of a song, the instruments would keep playing and we would just be silent. And the purpose of that is just to allow the spirit to talk to us.

[6:35] To allow the words of the truth that we just sang to start to expound on themselves and grow inside of us. So as we just sang it, then we allow those truths just to grow and work on our lives.

[6:47] Allow the spirit to speak into us from what we just sang. And that is most often done, best done while we're singing, by taking a pause.

[6:58] So that's what we do. So since we have a pause, I thought we could pause and sing the next song. Amen.

[7:23] We look back at verse 5 where we left off. God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. But a specific reason or event that this song was written for was when the Ark of the Covenant was being brought back to Jerusalem.

[7:45] So if you remember, the Ark served as the place where God would come down and make his presence with his people. So if we're thinking of the Ark coming back to where it belonged, then God is going back up to where he would dwell with his people.

[8:05] And he's going up with a shout and with a sound of the trumpet. We also have, we can easily get this imagery of a king and his people coming back from battle victoriously.

[8:20] And the people of the, you know, inside the castle or the town, wherever they are, they're just excited. And they're just happy. They're just shouting and clapping because of this victorious battle that's taken place.

[8:32] And even taken further than that, we can see, we can see a glimpse of when Jesus comes back. And when he appears with the, with the shout of a trumpet as he's defeating Satan.

[8:46] And he's taken his people back for the final creation of setting up his kingdom. So there's a, there's a lot of imagery there.

[8:57] But God being, coming back up with a shout and with the sound of the trumpet. And just the celebration and joy that, that, that comes with that.

[9:08] And then verse six, sing praises to God, sing praises. Sing praises to our King, sing praises. For only having nine verses in this chapter, it's one of the most strongly encouraged or pushed heavily.

[9:25] In the early Psalms to praise God, to sing praises to him. And being human, where we can easily fall back and kind of grow numb to spiritual things at times.

[9:40] It's repeated all through the Bible, time and time again, to sing praises to God, to lift up your voice, to praise him. And so we, we do that because in our dullness or in sin that we may have fallen in or in depression, there, there isn't any greater thing that we can praise.

[10:05] There's, there's, there's, there's no advantage. It's only failure if we look at the world or things that are sadding, making us sad and focus on them.

[10:18] The only thing that could truly lift our spirits and encourage us are the spiritual things, the things of God. And so we, we get an idea, we get a pretty good understanding why God continually calls us to praise his name.

[10:32] Not because he's, has an ego problem, but because he's God and there is no greater power. There is no greater God or thing to put our praise into.

[10:44] And so he calls us to that. Verse seven, for God is the King of all the earth. Sing praises with a psalm. He governs and rules overall.

[10:58] We talked about this a few verses back. We sing praises with a psalm. So here we kind of pick up. It's not just singing, although we do sing, but there's singing that's done with more thoughtful praise, more intelligent, directed praise toward God for specific things that he does.

[11:22] And we get that from him telling us to sing praises with a psalm. A psalm was written with, with very detail, with a lot of artistic talent.

[11:34] Right? And so those are the type of songs that God calls us to sing. Not just, you know, there may be those feel-good songs that are good. But he also calls us to directly praise him for specific things that he does or that he is to us.

[11:53] And then verse eight, God reigns over the nations and God sits on his holy throne. So we know that God reigns over all nations and over all people.

[12:08] And this means even the ones, even the most debased, sinful, God-hating, God-denying people. Right?

[12:18] So for those people, there's this secret rule that's in force, that there will become a time where they will see that God even rules over them.

[12:32] And for that, there is something that we can praise and take comfort in. Not because those people will be destroyed, but because we know that God is over everyone.

[12:44] Even those who are adamantly against him or just blatantly as sinful as possible towards God. We know where they stand in relationship to their creator.

[12:58] And God sits on his holy throne. Charles Spurgeon kind of breaks this verse out a little bit more. He says this, Unmoved, he occupies an undisputed throne whose decrees, acts, and commands are holiness itself.

[13:18] What other throne is like this? Never was it stained with injustice or defiled with sin. Neither is he who sits upon it dismayed or in a dilemma.

[13:29] He sits in serenity for he knows his own power and sees that his purpose will not miscarry. Here is reason enough for holy song.

[13:40] So just realizing God sits on his throne and what that means far above the earth, far above anything that we have control or power over.

[13:54] And then verse 9, So here we see kind of a prophetic look into the future as the princes of the people.

[14:13] That is Gentile princes. Gentile princes. Because they weren't the people of Abraham. They were as the people of Abraham.

[14:25] So we have Gentile princesses. People from all nations gather as God's chosen ones. It's almost as if from the beginning they were sons and daughters of Abraham.

[14:37] So they're speaking of us. Of the people who came out after the cross. We were made like the tribe, the family of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

[14:53] It's as if we were part of that family back then. And he gathers us all together. The chosen family becomes God's family. Made up of people of all races and all nations.

[15:07] And that we are a part of. And then the last part of verse 9. For the shields of the earth belong to God. And there's kind of, there's two different ideas that I found with this verse.

[15:22] Two kind of different interpretations. But they're both true. So you can take whichever one. One of those is the shields of the earth could be speaking about rulers. Or people in authority.

[15:34] Whether in government or in the church. They belong to God. They're subject to him. And they have a duty to protect others. So the shields of the earth could be those people.

[15:45] Those rulers in authority. The other view is that it is God alone who defends. And preserves the world. From all the threats.

[15:58] Every danger that we could think of. That has to do with our existence. Whether it's other nations. Or sickness. Or death.

[16:08] Or name it. All of those. Those are all under God's authority. And God's command. And so it's understanding that our protection.

[16:22] Our shield. Is in God alone. So either one of those really fits. Whether it's people. We know that God puts those people in position of authority. He controls that. Even people who may not seem like they are following God's will.

[16:35] God still put them there. Or whether it's protecting us from just everyday things. Whether we walk out in the street and get hit by a car. Whether we die next year because of an illness.

[16:46] Those are all things that are under God's control. So just nine verses. But there's so much packed in. Because we see how much God is over all things.

[16:59] And sprinkled all through that. Is our command really. By God to praise him. And the benefits that come to us because of that praise.

[17:12] The benefits that we get to do. Because of who we are in Christ. That's why we get to praise him. So I hope that helped break down some of the verses.

[17:26] And just give you a little bit of encouragement. As to why God calls us to praise. And.