About this sermon
Psalm 76 celebrates that God is known in Judah and dwells in Zion, where he broke the weapons of war. Knowing God personally, in covenant fellowship through Christ, is eternal life. God rebukes the proud powers of the world, and even the wrath of man will praise him. His people should fear only displeasing their heavenly Father, and Revelation 19 shows the final victory of the King of kings.
Sermon transcript
Please remain standing as we seek the Lord’s blessing upon the reading and the proclamation of his word this evening. Let us pray. We do bless you, Yahweh, Lord, true and living God, Heavenly Father, we bless you and praise you, O God, that you have forgiven our iniquities through the blood of Christ. We thank you, O God, that you have renewed us by your spirit. We thank you that you have called us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the son of your love in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of your sovereign, omnipotent grace. We thank you that we are secure in that love and that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. And we thank you that you build us up in that love as you build us up in Christ through the word.
We do ask that you would do that this evening, O God. We pray that by your spirit you would bless the reading and the proclamation of your word. May it be to our spiritual good and to your glory. We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said. Amen. Please remain standing for the reading of God’s word. As we continue our study of various psalms this evening, we are in Psalm 76, Psalm Seventy six. Let us hear God’s word. This is entitled for the choir director on stringed instruments, a song of a staff, a song. God is known in Judah, his name is great in Israel, his tabernacle is in Salem, his dwelling place also is in Zion. There he broke the flaming arrows. The shield and the sword and the weapons of war, Selah.
You are resplendent, more majestic than the mountains of prey. The stout-hearted were plundered. They sank into sleep and none of the warriors could use his hands. At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse were cast into a dead sleep. You, even you, are to be feared. And who may stand in your presence when once you are angry? You caused judgment to be heard from heaven. The earth feared and was still when God arose to judgment to save all the humble of the earth. Sheila, for the wrath of man, shall praise you with a remnant of wrath. You will gird yourself, make vows to the Lord your God and fulfill them. Let all who are around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared. He will cut off the spirit of princes.
He is feared by all the kings. of the earth. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. You may be seated. This evening, the title of my sermon is God is known in Judah. And again, there are a number of keywords you can be listening for. If you find that helpful following along in my sermon, and I especially encourage the children to listen for the words presence, protection, and judgment. Well, dear ones, there is no greater privilege, there is no greater blessing, there is no greater joy than knowing God. Not just knowing about God, not just having a theoretical or intellectual knowledge about God, although that is important, but a real knowledge of God. Not just having some vague subjective sense that some kind of higher power might exist, but actually knowing God, knowing the one true and living and triune God, the God revealed in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.
Knowing God in the sense of having personal spiritual, covenantal, communion and fellowship with God in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing God not merely as creator and judge, but as Savior, Redeemer and King. Even being able to say of God in Christ, what a friend we have in Jesus. Indeed, the Bible teaches that to know God in the sense of saving knowledge is actually to have eternal life. As our Lord Jesus himself has said in his high priestly prayer in John chapter 17 in verse three of that of that chapter, we read these words, the Lord Jesus says to his father, this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Notice as an aside that that Christ puts himself on the same level with God, for he is indeed God.
The importance of knowing God as he has revealed himself in his word and through the Lord Jesus Christ was powerfully brought home to me as a young believer when I read the late Dr. J. I. Packer’s now classic book, which is appropriately named and appropriately entitled Knowing God. It was one of the most impactful and influential books that I’ve ever had the privilege to read, outside of the Bible itself, of course, and I commend Packer’s book to you if you have not read it yet. And I’m not here to give a book report, don’t worry. But as Packer, in that marvelous Bible-soaked book, as Packer unpacked the biblical truths about the being, the character, the attributes, and the mighty acts of God, and expounded the gospel of Jesus Christ in a very clear and compelling way.
My heart was stirred. My spiritual taste buds longed to taste more of the goodness of the Lord, and I was driven back to the Word of God to learn more about the great God revealed therein. Now, friends, I bring up the importance of knowing God in a saving sense in introducing our passage for this Lord’s Day evening, because in this passage of God’s Word, The psalmist speaks of the knowledge of God that is enjoyed by the covenant people of God. He says in verse one, God is known in Judah. His name is great in Israel. Now, our psalm for this Lord’s Day evening is found in book three. This is the first psalm I have preached in this series from Book 3 of the Psalter, and Book 3 begins with Psalm 73 and goes through Psalm 89.
The title of this psalm ascribes it to Asaph. Asaph was a leader of one of King David’s Levitical choirs, so we read in the title or superscription for the choir director on stringed instruments, A Psalm of Asaph. a psalm. Though some scholars suggest that this title could simply mean that this is an Asaphite psalm. In other words, this psalm may have been written by Asaph himself or by one of Asaph’s descendants. Whatever the case may be, whoever was the human author of this particular psalm, we know that it was penned by one who was carried along by the Holy Spirit, and so what we have here is with all of Scripture, the inspired Word of God. This psalm can be described as having the form of a victory hymn, since it depicts God as the divine warrior delivering his people by granting a great military victory over their enemies.
The New Bible commentary states that this psalm, quote, celebrates a victory in which Yahweh has significantly revealed himself. God has revealed himself significantly through this mighty act of victory over Israel’s enemies. In terms of the original historical setting that led to the composition of this psalm, it is a psalm, like many of the psalms, it’s general enough that its details could apply to any number of conflicts that Israel had with its enemies at various points in its history. However, as another Bible commentator has suggested, and I quote, the ancient tradition may well be correct that the psalm was composed after the Lord’s destruction of Sennacherib’s army when it threatened Jerusalem. You can read about that in 2 Kings chapter 19, and indeed that could very well be the historical background to the composition of this psalm.
But friends, whatever the historical circumstances that led to the composing of this psalm, and whenever it was written, It celebrates God’s great victory over the enemies of his people, a victory that reveals the Lord’s revelatory and royal presence and his faithfulness in protecting and defending his own. And as we dive into our passage for this evening, we’re going to look at three different sections of this psalm. The first section are the opening verses, verses one through three, and then we will consider verses 4 through 10, and then the final section, verses 11 and 12. And as we focus on the first part of this psalm, consider first of all, beloved, that we learn here that by His gracious presence and protection, God is known among His people. By His gracious presence and protection, God is known among His people.
In verse 1, again, It comes out of the gates. The psalmist writes, God is known in Judah. His name is great in Israel. Now here we have parallelism going on, very common in Hebrew poetry, where the psalmist says basically the same thing in two slightly different ways. But he mentions Judah and then Israel. Now, politically speaking, historically speaking, those designations, Judah is sometimes used in the historical books to refer to the southern kingdom. After the monarchy divided, after the united monarchy under David and Solomon, the kingdom was divided under Rehoboam, and so Judah was the southern kingdom, and Israel represented the northern kingdom. It would seem that in this particular passage, the psalmist is using those two designations for the people of God to be inclusive of the whole of the people of God, whatever their tribal affiliations may be.
We’re told God is known in Judah, his name is great in Israel. Now, of course, God is known through his law, his word. his Torah, his covenant instruction, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. We know God, of course we know God in a general sense through his general revelation, his revelation and creation, but that revelation only gives us enough information, if you will, to condemn us, to leave us without excuse, as we confessed earlier in the service from that section in the Belgic Confession. But God has made himself known in a way by which we can the saving knowledge of him through his word. But in this particular psalm, the psalmist is not focusing so much on God’s knowledge that comes to the people through the word, but his knowledge that comes to his people through his presence and his mighty works in protecting them.
In this particular psalm, the psalmist focuses on God being known by his special presence in the tabernacle or temple. As it says in verse two, his tabernacle is in Salem. Salem was the older name, the more ancient name for the city of Jerusalem. His dwelling place also is in Zion, Zion being the Temple Mount, the mountain on which the Temple was built. And the Tabernacle and later on the Temple, what was the significance of the Tabernacle and Temple? And why is it that so much ink was spilled by the various authors of of the Old Testament in describing the tabernacle. Well, because God redeemed and rescued his people so that he might dwell among them. And the tabernacle, and later on the temple, represented God’s dwelling place, his palace, where he was present and revealed his presence and covenant grace to his people, Israel.
The Holy God came to rule over and dwell amongst his sinful people in the tabernacle in the temple. And so God is known to his people in this in his special presence. But God also makes himself known through his mighty acts, whereby he rescues and delivers his people. As verse three points out there, there where on Mount Zion, the temple Mount there, he broke the flaming arrows the shield and the sword and the weapons of war. When it speaks of God breaking these military implements, this is language of military conquest. God, the divine warrior who fights for his people and protects them from all of his and their enemies, conquered their enemies, Israel’s enemies, even at the very door of the temple. Again, as I mentioned, Judah and Israel are probably being used here not to refer to the southern and northern kingdom respectively, but to include all of God’s people.
God is known among all of his people and his name is known. What does it mean when it says his name is great in Israel? What does it mean to praise the name of the Lord? Why not just praise the Lord? Well, what does the name of the Lord represent, children? God’s name, children, God’s name represents who he is, his being, his character, and especially his character as he acts to deliver and bless his people. And again, God has blessed his people with redemption and deliverance, and he has come to dwell in their midst. This is seen throughout the scriptures, and here the psalmist is reminding the people of God of all that God has done for them to deliver them and dwell in their midst. Bringing this up to our present situation, living after the coming of Christ, living as we do under this new covenant situation, once again I would remind us, and I mentioned this this morning in the sermon, but it’s a very important and central biblical theme, that Christ as our Savior is the living temple of God who fulfills the symbolism and typology of the old covenant tabernacle and temple.
And we believers are a living temple in union with Jesus Christ as we are made in him a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. And I know I read this from this passage this morning, but I want to again read just a couple of verses from this very pivotal passage in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 19 through 22, it says this, Paul writes, so then you are no longer strangers, you Gentile believers are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, notice as an aside, not having been built on the foundation of the apostle Peter, but the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the spirit.
Praise be to God. We know, brothers and sisters, we know God’s abiding presence and protection because we are in Christ. We are in union with him, and he dwells among us by his word and spirit, and he indwells us by faith. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and the gospel shows us that Christ is in us the hope of glory. We know him in the ordinary means of grace that he is entrusted to his church, especially the word, the sacraments and prayer. Let us as God’s people, as we center our lives on Christ and on his word, as we gather together as covenant people around the word. Let us say with confidence, God is known in Judah. His name is great in Israel, and we, brothers and sisters, are in Christ, the Israel of God.
But moving on to the next section, we learn in verses four through ten, that the God of Jacob is the divine warrior who fights for his people by bringing judgment upon their enemies. God is the divine warrior who fights for his people by bringing judgment upon their enemies. The theme of God as a divine warrior is a very common theme in the book of Psalms, and we find that theme coming out and being expressed in our passage for this evening. In verse four and five, we read the following. The psalmist says, You are resplendent, more majestic than the mountains of prey. Again, there’s some question as to how to translate this verse. Sometimes the Hebrew is difficult, but more majestic. God’s majesty and glory is being instilled here. And he pictures for us mountains of prey.
The stout hearted were plundered. They sank into sleep. These are mighty warriors that threatened the safety, indeed the lives of God’s people. The stout hearted were plundered. In other words, they were defeated so that they could be plundered. They sank into sleep and none of the warriors could use his hands. These mighty warriors that threatened God’s people. They sank into sleep. In other words, God killed them. They could not use their hands. Their strength was sapped. They were unable to carry out their schemes against God’s people. And then verse six, at your rebuke, O God, both rider and horse were cast into a dead sleep. Again, verses four and five point to the fact that God had defeated a mighty, powerful army of Israel’s enemies. And the psalmist is remembering that and reflecting upon that mighty victory that God had given to his people.
And then in verse six, the God of Jacob again, God is described as the God of Jacob. In other words, the covenant God, the true and living God who make covenant with the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. At your rebukal, God, both rider and horse were cast into a dead sleep. Now, the language here in this particular verse may harken back to the Exodus event where God defeated the chariots and horses of Pharaoh in the Red Sea, but whether or not that is the case referenced here to rider and horse, or as the New American Standard Version translates it, horse and chariot. This is a metaphor for political power and military strength. Oftentimes in this fallen world, Political powers and military might have been used against the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, have been used against God’s covenant people.
And sometimes it seems that the people of God, the faithful remnant, are so weak and so small and so vulnerable to attack from the mighty armies and mighty forces of the fallen world system. But we are reminded here, brothers and sisters, that we’re actually on the winning side. At the rebuke of our God, the God of Jacob, the enemies of the Lord will fall. They will either fall in repentance and come to faith in Christ, or they will fall under his judgment if they refuse the way of repentance. This should give us hope. This should give us strength. No matter how tenuous the state of the church seems to be, and oftentimes it seems very weak, yet Our Savior is a mighty Savior. Our God is a mighty God. He is our divine warrior. He fights for us.
He conquers all of His and our enemies. Let us pray that He conquers our enemies with His grace, bringing them to repentance and faith. But all of that brings us to verse 7, and many scholars seem to view verse 7 as really the thematic center of this psalm. In verse 7 The psalmist says, Asaph says, you even you are to be feared. And who may stand in your presence when once you are angry? Oh, these pagan armies had threatened the people of God, even up to the very doors of the temple of God, which represented God’s presence among his people. But they were not able to stand. God defeated them. Who can stand in the presence of God when once he is angry. Have you ever thought about that question? Praise be to God that that we who know Christ is our Lord and Savior that that we are not the subjects of God’s anger.
God poured out his anger upon Christ. His anger against our sin was poured out upon our substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, so that his grace might be poured out upon us. But imagine if you were apart from Christ and had to stand as a sinner before the presence of the infinitely holy God, a God who not only created you and held you and holds you in the palm of his hand, but the God whom you have offended, the God who views you from the standpoint of an angry judge who may stand in your presence when once you are angry. No matter. No wonder that The Ace of Apostles says here, you, even you, are to be feared. How often is it that we hear today people using the language of God-fearing man or God-fearing woman?
It used to be that if you wanted to compliment someone, you would say, oh yeah, such and such is a real God-fearing man or God-fearing woman. In our highly secularized culture, we don’t hear that kind of language. But brothers and sisters, among us as the people of God, that should be common lingo. We should aim to be a God-fearing people, not that we fear God’s wrath, but that we have a sense of holy reverence and awe for God. If we are in Christ, we need not fear his wrath, but we sure should fear the Lord in the sense of a faith-filled fear that trembles at his word and has a sense of reverence and awe and desires not only to please God, but fears more than anything else, displeasing the loving Heavenly Father who has sent his son to redeem us.
Oh, Christian, are you afraid of offending your loving Heavenly Father after all that he’s done for you in sending his son Jesus Christ to die for your sins, in sending the Holy Spirit to bring you to repentance and faith and to renew you in his grace, After all that he has done for you in justifying you by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, apart from your works and giving you a standing in grace that you cannot fall out of. After all that he has done for you, securing your eternal salvation through the life, death and resurrection of Christ. If we know the Lord and have tasted that the Lord is good, our greatest fear as God’s children should be displeasing our heavenly father. We should desire more than anything else to be well pleasing to the Lord and by his grace in Christ, we can rejoice because our father is well pleased with Christ.
Remember what the father said of his son at our Lord’s baptism as the spirit alighted upon our Lord Jesus at his baptism in the form of a dove. What did the father say? This is my beloved son. in whom I am well pleased. If you are in union with Christ, the son, the father is well pleased with you, not because of you, but because of Christ, your savior. So let us fear the Lord with reverence and awe and strive by his grace out of gratitude for his gift of salvation to be well pleasing unto him. And then it goes on to say in verse eight, you caused judgment to be heard from heaven The earth feared and was stilled when God moves in judgment, when he moves to act for his people. The earth is often depicted depicted as standing still as God does his act of judgment and deliverance.
Verse nine, when God arose to judgment to save all the humble of earth. And then verse 10, for the wrath of man, shall praise you. With a remnant of wrath, you will gird yourself.” Now, again, from what I can gather in my studies, this is a verse that presents some challenges to the translators, but if we take it as it is translated in versions such as the New American Standard Version, it indicates, as one commentator puts it, this indicates that Yahweh turns man’s rebellious expression of anger to his glory. Even the wrath of man shall praise you with a remnant of wrath. You will gird yourself. What is the wrath of man? The anger of man? This is simple. It is twisted. It is distorted. But God, because he is sovereign and because he is able to turn even evil things to his good purposes, even the Lord, our sovereign Lord, can cause even even the wrath of man, the sinful wrath of man, to praise him.
He can cause all things to work together for good. Think of this, the story of Joseph. Rejected by his brothers, sold into slavery, and yet, as Joseph tells his brothers, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. There’s an example of God turning the wrath of man, the sinful wrath of Joseph’s brothers to praise him, to display his marvelous, forgiving grace, even to the patriarchs who had done such an awful thing to their brother. Friends, this is comforting because it tells us that nothing can hinder his sovereign plan, not even the wrath of man, not even the powerful armies and of the enemies of God. The wrath of man shall praise him with a remnant of wrath. You will gird yourself. God is in control. Praise God that he is active in protecting his people from all of his and their enemies.
Let us rest beloved in his protective care. Well, in closing, as we look at the final section, the last two verses of this passage, let us consider the appropriate response to this knowledge of God, the appropriate response to the knowledge of God. As Asaph closes up this psalm, he says, Make vows to the Lord your God and fulfill them. First, he addresses the people of God, and he says, Look, mean business with God. You’ve made vows to the Lord. Fulfill them. Bring appropriate worship and honor to Yahweh your God. the God whom you know. God’s people are to bring him worship and to fulfill their vows. But then he also addresses all who surround his people. He says, let all who are around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared. See, God is not just to be feared among his people who believe in him.
God deserves to be feared among all the nations. All the peoples upon the earth are to fear and tremble before the true and living God, for he is the creator of all, and all will one day stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And that should strike the hearts of all with fear and reverence. And then verse 11 and 12, verse 12, rather, he will cut off the spirits of princes, the spirit of princes. He is to be feared by the kings of the earth. Even princes, even kings, even those in the highest position of authority in terms of human authority, even they owe God their reverence and their tribute. All people, even kings of the earth, owe him tribute and fear. God’s sovereign power and judgment should restrain the arrogance of his enemies and should cause even them to humble themselves before him and to bring their tribute.” There is a certain fear of God that falls short of saving faith.
There is a general sense of the fear of God that was experienced and known by some of Israel’s neighbors in the time of the Old Covenant, for example. There is a sense in which that fear of the Most High God restrained them. from carrying out their schemes and plots against the people of God. But that fear does not seem to be very common today. Let us pray that we would fear God in the sense of holy reverence and awe, but that God would also cause the fear of his holy name to spread around the world so that people would recognize their need for his grace, their need for his salvation before it is too late. because all owe him reverence, awe, all owe him their fear and their worship. Friends, ultimately, this psalm points us to the final victory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for he will one day return in glory as the ultimate divine warrior and ultimately, ultimately, excuse me, and consummately conquer all of his and our enemies.
And so I would leave you with a vision from the book of Revelation of this final victory of Christ. As we close our time in the word this evening, I’d invite you to turn to Revelation 19 and let me read verses 11 through 21. Revelation 19 verses 11 through 21. And I saw heaven opened and behold, a white horse And he who sat on it is called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems and he has a name written on him which no one knows except himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God and the armies which are in heaven clothed in fine linen white and clean were following him on white horses.
From his mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it he may strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. And he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, Come assemble for the great supper of God so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves and small and great.
And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army. And the beast was seized and with him the false prophet. who performed the signs in his presence by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone, and the rest were killed with the sword which came out from his mouth, the mouth of him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is what we look forward to. This is our hope. And if you are in Christ, you need not fear being on the receiving end of that wrath.
You know, the Lord, are you united to Christ? Make sure by the grace of God that you are right with him this evening. May God in sovereign mercy, open your heart to receive and rest upon Christ this evening. Let us pray. Our Lord and father in heaven, we thank you. that you are a sovereign God, that you are our divine warrior who fights for us. We thank you, Lord, that we can know you in your word, by your presence, and through your mighty acts in history and in our lives. We ask, Lord, that our faith would be deepened by what we’ve heard this evening, and that you would help us by your spirit to work out that which you have worked in us by your word and spirit. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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