I am feasting on God’s Word. And each dish can only hint at what is coming next. Since the feast is far more extensive than anything I am used to and is far more wide ranging than the best of Chinese buffets I’ve ever enjoyed, I'm constantly surprised at what comes next. Or to use another analogy, God’s Word is like a symphony but instead of only four movements, we are treated to practically innumerable movements and variations on the theme. We may focus on a phrase or verse that we enjoy and savour it each time we go to the Word of God but in fact we, given our preferences and finiteness, may be missing larger and more complex delicacies to delight in.
For the Lord Most High is awesome.
He is the great King of all the earth.
In Psalm 47 verse 2 God is King of all the earth. In verse 4 the text zooms into the Promised Land and the descendants of Jacob. God has not limited himself to the small nation of Israel or their rather insignificant tract of land sandwiched between the geographically unremarkable Jordan river and the Mediterranean coast. God is, as the Psalmist has already said, God of the whole earth. And though previous Psalms have looked at king David, God is owner of all the kings of the earth. It is possible to get hung up on Jacob and his descendants, but they are but one family tree in a nearly endless forest of God’s domain.
So it should be no surprise when the love of God for Israel in verse 4, that ends in an all-important interlude of contemplation and reflection, is once again expanded to reach all humans in all nations by verse 8, with everyone gathered together to honour God.
MAIN POINT: God’s kingdom covers all the earth so all people are called on to give the praise and honour due to God.
A curious biblical scholar who sought answers to his questions one night came to the King of all the Universe, and the King spoke of God’s kingdom as being somehow exclusive (Jn 3:3). But then without hesitation the King reminded us all that the message of Psalm 47 is not about exclusivity but expansiveness. This is what the King of the universe said to the curious biblical scholar that night,
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
He is the great King of all the earth. Psalm 47:2 (cf.v.2 & v.4)
He chose the Promised Land as our inheritance,
the proud possession of Jacob’s descendants, whom he loves. Psalm 47:4
The unpopular president or the prime minister who appears to be so godless, the country who seems so far from God or the people or generation that ignores everything good and pure are all God’s possession.
And God’s love and authority and honour are all--the entirety of His world--encompassing. Nothing that exists is outside the reign of God the King of all things, all peoples, all places, all powers.
Psalm 47 calls the reader to join in a royal mission of inviting everyone to praise and honour the God who is awesome. My King is king of all the earth. Your king, whether you recognise it or not, is king of all the earth. And you are being invited, I am being invited to worship, praise and honour the King of all the earth. And I am being invited to invite others to honour the Owner and Ruler of all nations and all rulers.
To ignore the King of all the earth is perilous. To deny His kingship and authority is a death sentence.
“There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. John 3:18
A great prophet was explaining the comprehensiveness of God’s reign through the King His Son, and that great prophet was no other than John the Baptist who said this when the author John (the apostle) was rounding off the discourse in John 3 about God’s awesome king or God’s awesome kingdom, who is revealed to be Jesus:
35 The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands. 36 And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.” John 3:35-36
1 O worship the King all-glorious above,
O gratefully sing his power and his love:
our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days,
pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.
2 O tell of his might and sing of his grace,
whose robe is the light, whose canopy space.
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
and dark is his path on the wings of the storm.
3 Your bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
it streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
and sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.
4 Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
in you do we trust, nor find you to fail.
Your mercies, how tender, how firm to the end,
our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend!
5 O measureless Might, unchangeable Love,
whom angels delight to worship above!
Your ransomed creation, with glory ablaze,
in true adoration shall sing to your praise!
O worship the King all glorious above
Robert Grant (1833)
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| Handwritten Psalm 47 |
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