Sermon Tone Analysis

He is Highly Exalted

The beautiful thing about Psalms is the repetition of themes.

Just as our songs have verses and choruses, Psalms also ideas and themes that recur.

Psalm 47:

Now lets take the Psalm and look at it section by section.

Section one is going to be verse one.

Today we would call this a call to worship

But it is interesting here, its not just a call to worship for some, its a call to worship to ALL people.

Whatever the reason is to be celebrating, its something that is joyful for more than just Israel.

Its everyone

So then we look at section 2

Here we get to the chorus, or the main theme of the Psalm.

God as the Most High King.

We can see that this is the reason for the clapping and shouting in verse one.

But what’s interesting is that the reason the Psalmist gives for praising God is one that I don’t think many today would use.

Look at verse 2, it says For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared.

When we do translation between languages, we have what we call a semantic range.

It means that we have the same word that can be translated differently depending on the context.

We have the same thing in English too

If I say that something is going to be lit, I could be talking about the amount of light, I could be saying that it’s going to be awesome, I could be saying it’s going to catch on fire.

We know what definition of the word fits by looking at the context.

That word there also means to inspire awe or reverence.

And this idea communicates about God that He is so holy, so different, so other than we are, that He it should inspire awe, and should inspire reverence and should invoke fear from His wrath.

And what’s so interesting in this particular case is that all of those definitions work in this context.

The Psalmist in this section is looking back on what God has done.

He is looking back at the works of God.

And there are two perspectives as we look at those works.

For those who are in the kingdom, it is a blessing to have a great king!

The psalmist recalls the Lord subduing the nations, and giving the promised land to the Israelites.

The picture of the Lord handing Jericho to the nation of Israel with the sound of the shouts and the horn blasts comes into mind.

If you are an Israelite, that’s a story of a conquering King!

That is a story of sovereign Lord.

Thats a reason to shout and clap!

But if you are an Assyrian, if you are a Philistine, If you are a member of any of the other surrounding nations, you have a totally different reaction!

The same action that invokes awe and reverence from His people invokes fear in His enemies.

And that is a good thing.

Remember, verse one calls all nations to rejoice!

So why would all nations rejoice when not all nations are going to be on the same side of this?

Because the Lord is good, and He judges righteously!

Remember last week we looked at Paul talking about human governments in Romans, and Paul says that governments are not a terror to good behavior, but to bad.

So my picture and understanding of authority has something to do with my own actions

If I am involved in something illegal, then naturally I am going to be fearful and weary of being around police.

However, those same police are a grace to me if I am being attacked.

And with God, this is even moreso, because unlike our police forces, He always judges righteously.

He is always correct in His judgements!

To have one being who is sovereign over all of the nations, over all of the world is only something to be celebrated if that being is worthy of that position.

And we know that God is, because we have seen His works!

We talked very briefly yesterday morning in the marriage study about how throughout Scripture we are called to remember the works of the Lord.

The word remember is used 245 times in the Bible.

That’s Old and New Testaments.

To give you a frame of reference, the word Wisdom occurs 245 times as well.

So remembering is a big theme in the word.

In just the Old Testament, there are over 50 commands to remember.

And that is only where the word remember is used, not including where we are warned against forgetting

So remembering the commands and His works is something we see over and over and over.

And its because when we think back on what God has done, we see rightly who God is.

How He exhibits both mercy on His people, and judgement on His enemies.

And both of those things are good.

Then we move on to the next section, where we get to what is currently going on

Psalm 47:

What is the current reason for this Psalm?

What is it that has inspired the Psalmist so?

Well in English, it may look like this is just more about the past.

Things God has already done.

But in the Hebrew, we see that verse 5 is a word for word recreation of the wording of

What has inspired the sons of Korah to write this Psalm is the scene playing out as the Ark comes into the City of David.

This is the same passage where David dances in the street in a linen ephod, and when he is challenged on it, gives us the line for one of the best David Crowder songs ever, where he says “I will become more undignified than this”

I will make myself a fool if I can celebrate the coming of the Lord!

To go back to use the word we used earlier, this celebration going on around them is lit!

The city is exploding in celebration.

And this is what is driving this whole Psalm.

They cry out sing praises, sing praises

But we see them go back into the chorus

Why should we sing praises?

Because God is King over all the earth.

He reigns over the nations.

He sits on His Holy throne.

And its because when we think back on what God has done, we see rightly who God is.

How He exhibits both mercy on His people, and judgement on His enemies.

And both of those things are good.

Again, all of the nations are being called to rejoice in this fact.

God’s sovereignty is good news for all people.

In Revelation we see the end of all things, and we see that all of creation is subject to the rule of Christ

And I think we can miss the fullness of this picture sometimes.

Because we love the Lord, and we look forward to that day, we can think forward to the day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess, and get the picture of the Lion King.

Remember at the beginning of the Lion King after Simba is born?

Rafiki lifts him up and all of the gathered animals gladly kneel down to the future King?

That’s the picture I have in my head alot of times.

Jesus up high, and all of us happy believers bowing to our conquering king.

But that misses part of it doesn’t it?

Not every knee that bows on that day will be in joy.

Not every tongue that confesses will be enthusiastically.

For some that will not be a day of victory, but defeat.

Philippians says that those in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

All people will bow.

Not all people will bow willfully.

And yet, God is Glorified in the end.

So then we come to the last section of the Psalm

So just as the Psalm begins by gathering the people to praise the exalted king, it ends the same way.

But here I have to say the ESV is a little clunky in how it puts this together.