Sermon: Psalm 47: Sing Praises To Our King

New Testament Reading: Revelation 4

“After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.’ At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.  Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’ And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, ‘Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.’” (Revelation 4, ESV)

Old Testament Reading: Psalm 47

To the choirmaster.

A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

“Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah God has gone up 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 psalm! God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne. The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted!” (Psalm 47, ESV)

Introduction

So you notice that we are not in John this morning. There are three reasons for this.

One, we have been in John for some time now, and I think the change of pace will be nice.

Two, I told you over a year ago that I intend to insert a few sermons on the Psalms from time to time. I doubt you remember the specifics, but we did look at four Psalms back in March of 2014 in between our study of the book of Galatians and James. We looked at Psalm 115, 42 – 43, 37, and 51. We will be considering four more in the month of July.

Three, I will be taking a couple of weeks off at the end of July and you will be hearing from Phil and Russell. I thought it would be nice if, instead of asking them to jump into our study of John, we worked on a mini-series together. I will take a Psalm this week and next, and then they will each take a Psalm to close out the mini-series.

I do love the Psalms. If had to choose one book of the Bible to take with me to a desert island it would be difficult to pass up on the Psalms. There are number of reasons why.

For one, the major teachings of the Bible are found here. The Psalms were written to be sung by the people of God. And the people of God, you will notice, were devoted to singing truth. The Psalms are the truth of scripture in song form. Athanasius called the Psalms “an epitome of the whole Scriptures’”. Basil, the Bishop of Caesarea in the fourth century, called the Psalms a “compendium of all theology.” And Martin Luther referred to the Psalms as a “little Bible”. These men were referring to what I am saying here – that the Psalms manage to gather up the major truths found throughout the scriptures in one place in a most beautiful way.

Also, consider the way that Psalms speak to the human soul. When you read them you notice that they engage the great variety of human emotions. They speak to the human soul in the midst of a diversity of circumstances. The Psalms speak powerfully to those who are happy and sad, joyful and angry, at peace and in turmoil. It has been said that there is “a psalm for every season of life” (Hubbard, 1973).

Calvin spoke of the Psalms as a mirror of the soul:

“What various and resplendent [sumptuous] riches are contained in this treasure, it were difficult to find words to describe… I have been wont to call this book not inappropriately, an anatomy of all parts of the soul; for there is not an emotion of which any one can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror.”

The Psalms do indeed minister to our hears in most powerful way.

Finally, consider this: Christ is present in the Psalms. It’s not that every Psalm contains explicate prophesies concerning the Christ. Some do. But all of the Psalms refer to Christ in one way or another. All of the Psalms anticipate Christ in some way.

Jesus himself testified to this truth in Luke 24, saying, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:44–47, ESV) Christ fulfilled, not only Moses and the Prophets, but the Psalms too!

Let’s turn our attention now to Psalm 47. Read the rest of Sermon: Psalm 47: Sing Praises To Our King »