Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.09UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.05UNLIKELY
Fear
0.06UNLIKELY
Joy
0.65LIKELY
Sadness
0.1UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.39UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.93LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.77LIKELY
Extraversion
0.17UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.52LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.73LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Intro:
This psalm is a song about the Lord, the great King (cf.
vv. 2, 6–7).
It has been classified as an enthronement psalm, celebrating His universal reign.
Other enthronement psalms are 93, 95–99.
It should be understood as prophetically portraying the coming kingdom of God, manifestations of which were enjoyed by Israel.
In Psalm 47 the psalmist called on all peoples of the earth to pay homage to Israel’s holy Monarch—the Lord—as He assumes His kingship over them all.
When Jesus is King over all the earth, it will bring rejoicing like the world has never known!
Believe and seek first the kingdom of the Lord's righteousness with rejoicing!
Understand - the surety of Christ's reign, not only today in His sovereignty, but tomorrow in His Millennium
Obey - let that confidence bolster your boldness to spread the Good News of His Coming Kingdom!
Reproof - for the believer who is on the brink of losing hope in Christ's coming Kingdom
Rebuke - the wicked who think they will get away with unrighteousness
Exhortation - to be strong and of a good courage, looking for the fulfillment of God's promises
Main Thought: Retain courage and rejoice alway, with faith and hope waiting for the coming Kingdom of Christ's righteousness!
Sub-intro:
Connect this Psalm with 46-48 as the Songs of Zion.
Point out the Chiastic structure.
Give the possible historic backdrops: Ark's return; Jehoshaphat's battle; Hezekiah's battle against Sennacharib; the pillar of cloud in the wilderness...
A Few Observations
It will help to make a few observations about Psalm 47 and its place in the Psalter.
First, Psalm 47 follows quite naturally after Psalm 46.
Psalm 46 is focused on the security of God’s people, noting how God had delivered them from one of their great enemies.2
It challenged the nations to observe that deliverance and stand in awe before God.
Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth (v.
10).
God himself is speaking.
Now, in Psalm 47, the writer addresses the same people, saying, “Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.
How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth!” p 396 (vv.
1–2).
In other words, he is following up on what God had himself said earlier.
Some commentators also see another connection between these psalms.
They think that Psalm 47:5 may be referring to the same deliverance of Jerusalem from foreign armies that lies behind the writing of Psalm 46.
A second useful observation is that Psalms 46, 47, and 48 are what are often called Songs of Zion, because they focus on the city of Jerusalem and God’s protection of it.
Psalms 46 and 48 speak of Jerusalem explicitly, calling it “the city of God” (Ps.
46:4), “the city of our God” (Ps.
48:1, 8), and “the city of the Great King” (Ps.
48:2).
Psalm 47 refers to the city indirectly by speaking of God’s “ascending amid shouts of joy,” perhaps to Jerusalem, and of his being seated there “on his holy throne” (vv.
5, 8).
There is no general agreement regarding the overall outline of this psalm.
Since the word selah comes at the end of verse 4 and seems to indicate a break there, some writers see two stanzas of four verses each, followed by a final prophetic note in verse 9.
Body:
I.
The People Respond (Ps.
47:1, 9).
A. The People Clap (v. 1).
He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.
He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved.
Selah [Ps.
47:3–4].
This is the appropriate time to sing, “Joy to the World!”
Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heav’n and nature sing.
Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns;
Let men—their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy.
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love.
—ISAAC WATTS
As you can see, this is not really a hymn that speaks of the birth of Christ; but it speaks of His second coming.
There is going to be joy on the earth when He comes.
“Clap your hands; … shout unto God with the voice of triumph!”
What a wonderful day that will be!
Not long ago I preached in a church where the people clapped their hands and were rather vociferous.
Later someone asked me if all the noise did not disturb me.
I replied, “No, it helped a great deal because they were right with me.”
I think that what many people call reverence today is really deadness.
There is a lot of reverence in the cemetery—no one disturbs anybody or anything.
I believe we need a little life in our services.
B. The People Gather (v.
9).
Your Kingdom Come
In verse 7 we come to the part of the psalm that caused Derek Kidner to call it a prophecy.
It starts mildly enough, seeming only to reiterate what has been stated forcefully earlier: “God is King of all the earth” (v.
7) and “God reigns over the nations” (v.
8).
But it ends with the nations actually assembling before God as his people:
This has not happened yet.
That is why we call it prophecy.
But it will happen, and we look forward to it.
It is why we are so active in evangelism, bringing the gospel to the nations, and why we so often pray in the words taught us by Jesus, saying, “Your kingdom come” (Matt.
6:10; Luke 11:2).
This is a good place to remember the very different picture of the nations drawn for us in Psalm 2. In that psalm the kings of the earth are opposing the Lord and his Christ.
They are saying, “Let us break their chains … and throw off their fetters” (v.
3).
In that psalm God is laughing at such impotent folly.
He scoffs at it and rebukes the people, saying, “I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill” (v. 6).
He admonishes, “Be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth.
… Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way” (vv. 10, 12).
Psalm 2 reminds us that there are two kinds of compliance with the just reign of God and Jesus Christ.
There is a willing, joyful compliance on the one hand, but there is also an unwilling, forced compliance on the other.
Our task is to bring the gospel to the nations now so that, by God’s grace and by the power of the Holy Spirit, many might willingly bow before Jesus Christ and thus come under the banner of his blessed rule.
That is where history is going.
It is what life is all about.
I take you back to the early chapters of Genesis, in which God calls Abraham to be his follower, promising,
From the very beginning God had said that he purposed to bless all nations and all peoples through Abraham and his descendants, particularly through his one great descendant, the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
And that is what he has done and is doing.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9