The King of all the earth!

Sermon transcript

Please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word, my sermon text this evening, as we continue to work our way through various select Psalms. Tonight we consider Psalm 47, a jubilant psalm of praise. Let us hear God’s holy word, Psalm 47. It is entitled for the choir director, Psalm of the Sons of Korah. Oh, clap your hands, all peoples. Shout to God with the voice of joy. For the Lord Most High is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. He subdues peoples under us and nations under our feet. He chooses our inheritance for us. The glory of Jacob, whom he loves. Selah. God has ascended with a shout. The Lord with the sound of a trumpet Sing praises to God, sing praises. Sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth.

Sing praises with a skillful psalm. God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne. The princes of the people have assembled themselves as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God. He is highly exalted. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Please remain standing as we ask the Lord’s blessing upon the preaching of his word. Gracious Lord and Father in heaven, we ask that you would grant that we would truly hear your word this evening, that by your Holy Spirit, you would open our eyes to see and our ears to hear that which the Spirit is instructing us in. in this portion of your God-breathed, inerrant, infallible Word. We ask, Lord God, that you would cause your Word to find a lodging place in our souls and to bear much spiritual fruit in our lives.

We ask all of these things in Jesus’ name. Amen. Congregation, you may be seated. The title of my sermon this evening is, of all the earth. Well, dear ones, what do you think the central theme of this jubilant psalm is? Well, it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? The central theme of this joyful and celebratory psalm is clearly the theme of God’s universal kingship and sovereign reign over all the nations of humanity. As the inspired psalmist tells us in verse 7, God is the king of all the earth. I think the introductory note to this psalm in the NIV study Bible describes this psalm well when it describes it as a quote celebration of the universal reign of Israel’s God, a testimony to the nations. This psalm belongs to a group of hymns to the great king found elsewhere clustered in Psalms 92 through 100.

Here, it serves to link Psalm 46 and 48, identifying the God who reigns in Zion as the Great King over all the earth. The God of Israel, the God who reigns in Zion, is not limited to Zion. He is, indeed, sovereign over all the earth and over all of the nations. Another commentator states that, quote, this is a psalm similar to Psalm 93 and 95 through celebrating the enthronement of Jehovah as king of the whole earth. It is an eschatological hymn with a liturgical character. Now, what was the original setting, the historical setting behind the composition of this psalm, the historical setting that led the psalmist under God’s divine superintendence to pen this glorious poem, this glorious psalm to the Lord? Well, the original setting that led to the composition of this beautiful psalm is uncertain, and it’s unstated by the psalmist.

But while various historical and liturgical settings have been suggested by Bible scholars, it is quite possible that this psalm reflects a situation where God has granted his people a military victory over a hostile foreign power, thereby showing himself to be the great and universal king, the king who, as it says in verse three, subdues peoples under us. Now, if you are familiar with the history of Israel in Old Testament times, you know that sometimes in the Old Testament, when Israel went into battle against a foreign adversary, sometimes the priest would take the Ark of the Covenant from the tabernacle or temple and carry the Ark into battle along with the Israelite army. Now, what was the Ark of the Covenant? What did that symbolize? Well, remember that the Ark of the Covenant was a symbol of God’s throne, of God’s gracious covenant presence and royal reign in the midst of his people.

And so to have this symbol of God’s reign, God’s kingship, accompanying them into battle would have been very encouraging to God’s people. The presence of the Ark of the Covenant accompanying God’s people into battle in a sense depicted God leaving his palace temple and his throne to go with his people as their divine warrior to fight their battles as the captain of their salvation. Perhaps this psalm was sung at the return of the Ark into its place in the temple or tabernacle following a military victory, and if so, the return of the Ark to its place in the temple was like a symbolic enthronement of God, the return of God ascending back onto his throne after having left his throne to rescue and fight for his people. This may be reflected in the ascension language that the psalmist uses in verse 5.

If you look at verse 5, it says God has ascended with a shout. The Lord with the sound of a trumpet. We can picture the Israelites bringing the Ark of the Covenant back into its place in the Temple and the people, after having defeated a foreign adversary, and the people praising God and blowing trumpets or ram’s horns in praise to Yahweh, their God, who has granted them this victory and acknowledging God’s kingship and enthronement. Well, friends, it is because of this ascension language that we find in this psalm and also because of the prophetic language at the end of the psalm which depicts the shields or kings of the earth assembling together as the people of the God of Abraham. It’s because of this that the great reformer Martin Luther viewed this psalm, and I think rightly so, as a prophecy of Christ.

To quote from Martin Luther, he says, the 47th psalm is a prophecy of Christ that he shall rise up and become king over all the world without a battle simply through shouts, songs and trumpet calls, that is, through the joyful preaching of the gospel, just as the walls of Jericho fell by trumpet blasts and shouts without any weapons at all. So as we as we turn our attention to this short but powerful and celebratory psalm, we notice, first of all, as we focus on the first four verses, is that in this psalm we have a universal call to praise in recognition of Yahweh the Lord as the great king over all the earth. The psalmist here issues a universal call to praise in recognition of Yahweh as the great king over all the earth. It says in verse 1, Oh clap your hands, all peoples, not just clap your hands and celebrate and shout for joy, you people of Israel, but clap your hands, all peoples, shout to God with the voice of joy.

Here again, we see this psalm beginning with a universal call to praise, summoning all peoples. The NIV reads, all you nations to praise the Lord with great celebration. Verse two, it goes on to say, it gives us the reason why All the peoples should praise the Lord and shout to God with the voice of joy. For the Lord Most High, Yahweh Most High, is to be feared a great king over all the earth. God summons all of humanity to come before God in praise, recognizing that he is the most high over all the earth and coming to him in a spirit of reverent awe. all of humanity is called to reverence and fear God, for he is a great king over all the earth.” And it’s interesting, this description of God as a great king over all the earth.

Dr. Willem van Gemmeren points out that, and I quote him, he says, “…kings in the ancient Near East loved to designate themselves by this title, because with it were associated superiority, suzerainty, and the power to grant vassal treaties.” any king, assuming this title, could not tolerate competition. So it is with Yahweh. He alone is the great king over all the earth. And so these ancient Near Eastern pagan kings liked to call themselves, like, for example, the king of Assyria, the king of all the earth, the great king, the God alone, Yahweh alone is the great king over all the earth. And as the great king of over all the earth, as Van Gemeren says, he alone He alone is the great king, and he will tolerate no competition. And then it goes on to say in verse three, he subdues peoples under us.

Yahweh, the God of Israel, the true and living God, subdues peoples under us and nations under our feet. What do you think the psalmist is talking about here? Well, if you know again, if you are familiar with Old Testament history, you know that God having rescued his people from Israel, he indeed did subdue multitudes of nations, many nations, under the Israelites in their conquest of Canaan. In Old Testament times, God subdued nations, first of all, by bringing judgments upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and especially through the conquest in the Promised Land. But this points us forward to Jesus. For Jesus Christ, by his resurrection victory and ascension into heaven, And his enthronement at the father’s right hand through this Christ himself is even now in possession or rather now in the process of subduing all things, even unto himself.

As we think about what it says in in verse three about God subduing peoples under us, the nations under our feet, keep that thought and turn into the New Testament to first Corinthians 15. And let’s let me read to you, beginning at verse at verse 20. The Apostle Paul picks up on this theme of God subduing the creation to the Lord Jesus Christ. It says this, and the topic here in 1 Corinthians 15 is obviously the resurrection of the dead and Christ’s resurrection in particular. It says, But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, that would be Adam, By a man also came the resurrection of the dead. That would be the second Adam, Christ. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

But each in his own order. Christ, the firstfruits. After that, those who are Christ’s at his coming. Then comes the end when he hands over the kingdom to God, to the God and Father, when he has abolished all rule and authority and power. For he must reign until he has what? Put all his enemies under his feet, the last enemy that will be abolished is death. For he has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he says all things are put in subjection, it is evident that he is accepted who put all things in subjection to him. When all things are subjected to him, then the son himself also will be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him so that God may be all in all. Christ, our crucified, risen, ascended, enthroned, reigning Lord, reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

And he is even now in the process of subduing all things unto himself. And he will do that in a consummate sense when he returns in glory, raises the dead and judges humanity, separating the sheep from the goats and so forth. And so again, getting back to our psalm, he subdues peoples under us. and nations under our feet. And then verse four, he chooses our inheritance for us, the glory of Jacob, whom he loves. What inheritance did this psalmist have in mind when he says that God chooses our inheritance for us? Well, in terms of old covenant typology, this is obviously talking about the promised land. which God gave to his people Israel under the mosaic administration of the covenant. But ultimately, in terms of fulfillment, this is our inheritance of eternal salvation in Christ.

This inheritance language, for example, we find in the New Testament as well in places like first Peter one versus three through five, and I’ll again just read that passage briefly to you. First Peter chapter one. Peter’s opening doxology here. He says in first Peter one beginning at verse three, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his who, according to his great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain a what to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Brothers and sisters in Christ, our inheritance is not just the promise of a piece of real estate in the Middle East.

Our inheritance in Christ is the new heavens and the new earth wherein righteousness dwells. The inheritance that the Israelites received under the Old Covenant was a type of that, a picture of the ultimate Canaan, the new Canaan. the heavenly Canaan and the heavenly Jerusalem. And that is the inheritance that God has chosen for us, his believing people, and that we look forward to. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us heed the psalmist’s call of praise to recognize our great God and indeed to recognize his son, our Lord Jesus Christ, as the great king over all the earth. And let us also strive to honor our Savior’s Lordship over our own hearts and lives. For he is indeed King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So we see this universal call to praise Yahweh for his universal reign.

But next, in verses five through seven, we see the Lord’s ascension to his throne, Yahweh’s ascension to his throne. Verse five says, God has ascended with a shout, the Lord, with the sound of a trumpet. And that trumpet there is probably referring to a ram’s horn. And you know, if you know about the liturgy in Israel, they were to blow trumpets on particular special occasions. And certainly, if this is an occasion where God’s enthronement as king is celebrated, whether because of a military victory and the Ark being returned to the tabernacle or temple or some other occasion of worship. The people of God sound forth with trumpets and announced with the trumpet blast that the Lord Yahweh is indeed the king. He indeed reigns over all. Verse five, if this if this reflects the liturgy celebrating God’s enthronement over Israel, or perhaps, as I mentioned, the return of the Ark of the Covenant to its place in the temple. then this is but a picture and a type of Christ’s ascension and enthronement at the father’s right hand in heavenly glory, having as our divine warrior and the captain of our salvation, conquered sin and death and hell.

One commentator describes this verse, verse five, as the quote height and center of the psalm where the king who came down has, so to speak, completed his task and gone up to reign on his holy throne. Yet he is with his people. The same words are used in 2 Samuel 6, 15 to recall the ark of the Lord going up to the city of David, making it the place of God’s dwelling. Christ ascended to, quote, fill all things, as we’re told in Ephesians 4, verses 9 and 10, after once coming down to atone for sins when he ascended the throne on the cross. So we have God depicted as, in a sense, coming down from his throne to go and do battle with his people for his people as the captain of their salvation and having conquered all of his and their enemies, returning to his throne amidst shouts of joy.

Isn’t that a wonderful picture of what our Lord Jesus Christ did in his incarnation as he left his throne in glory, took upon himself our humanity, went to the cross and died for our sins? rose from the dead. And then what did he do after his resurrection? Ascended back to the Father’s right hand, where he was enthroned as King of Kings and Lord of Lords and where he intercedes for us. And it is from that throne of glory that one day he will return to judge the living and the dead. So this psalm, again, has an eschatological focus to it as well. So God has ascended with a shout. This God who is the King of all the peoples on earth. And as verse six points out, God’s ascension to his throne calls for jubilant praise, sing praises to God, sing praises, sing praises to our king, sing praises repeatedly over and over.

What is our response? What is the response of God’s people to be in light of Christ’s ascension? Christ having conquered sin and death and hell and the devil and ascended into heaven and reigns at the right hand of the Father. What is our appropriate response? As the psalmist says, sing praises to God, sing praises. But as we consider the final verses in this beautiful and brief psalm, we see in verses eight and nine God’s universal reign and the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. We see here God’s universal reign and the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. Again, the psalmist asserts God’s universal reign in verse 8. God reigns over the nations, not just over his holy nation, Israel, but over all of the nations of humanity. God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne.

The picture of God sitting on his throne means that his reign is a settled reign. It cannot be challenged. He indeed is sovereign. He indeed is in control, and he is working all things according to the counsel of his sovereign will. But then we have these mysterious and beautiful words in verse nine. The princes of the people have assembled themselves as the people of the God of Abraham. The princes of what people? Is this speaking specifically or only of God’s people? Well, in light of what the statement in verse 8, it would seem contextually to make sense that the psalmist here is speaking of the princes of the nations, the rulers of the nations, and that is underscored, that interpretation is supported. When we look at the language of the shields of the earth belonging to God, Some of your translations may say the rulers of the earth belong to God.

That’s because the term shields is probably referring to the rulers of the nations. The rulers are represented by their shields. And they are assembled together as the people of the God of Abraham. This is an eschatological and prophetic statement. This is a statement where the psalmist, through the spirit of prophecy, points us forward to a time when the covenant that God made with Abraham would reach its fulfillment, which of course it does in Christ. For what did God promise to Abraham back in Genesis 12, verse 3? God said to Abraham, and in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. In you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. God didn’t just say to Abraham, Abraham, I’m going to make you into a great nation, but too bad for the rest of humanity.

No. In you, all the nations of the earth, all the families of the earth will be blessed. And that, of course, is fulfilled in Christ. This covenant, this covenant promise that God made to Abraham is ultimately fulfilled in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and in this new covenant era when the gospel is to be preached to all the nations of the earth. The Apostle Paul in many places, but especially, for example, in Galatians 3 speaks of this. If we turn, let me just review a few verses from Galatians chapter 3 that are pertinent here. Galatians 3 Verses 7 and 8, the Apostle Paul writes this, speaking of the covenant that God made with Abraham. It says in verse 7 of Galatians chapter 3, Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.

Remember that little Sunday school ditty? Father Abraham had many sons. Many sons had Father Abraham. You don’t have to be of Jewish descent. to be a child of Abraham. It is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. And then it goes on to say in verse 8, the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, all the nations will be blessed in you. And then skip down to verse 13 and 14. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone. who hangs on a tree in order that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

And then again, skip down to verses 26 through 29, a wonderful summary of this teaching of this covenantal unity that is revealed throughout redemptive history. It says, For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who are baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, notice verse 29, if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. Praise be to God. He keeps his covenant promises, and he’s able to do so, for he is the God, the great King of all the earth. In conclusion, beloved, God is indeed the great King over all the earth, and Jesus Christ is Lord of all.

Let us recognize and submit to his universal reign, and let us praise God for his covenant mercies to us in Christ our Savior. Amen. Let us pray. Our gracious Lord and Father in heaven, sovereign and eternal God. We thank you, O Lord, for the unity of Holy Scripture, which leads us to and anticipates and reveals Jesus. And we thank you, Lord Jesus, that you are indeed King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We pray, Lord Jesus, that you would reign as King and Lord of our hearts and lives. May you be King and Head and Lord of this church. May you be king and head and lord of our families. And we ask, O Jesus, that we might honor your lordship and seek to honor it in every area of our lives. In your name we pray.

And all of God’s people said, Amen.

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