Psalms 47

Praise the Lord V1

The psalmist writes to clap your hands and shout to the Lord with joy. The picture hear is a celebration of victory. After a king wins a great battle or war, the people celebrate the sovereignty of their king. He is the dominant one who has proven he is supreme.

God is all sovereign. He holds authority over all. He created all things and therefore has authority over all things. For this reason we are to celebrate the sovereignty of our Lord.

This is applicable in our world today. We have many nations with many different leaders. They all have their respective sovereignty over the lands that they govern. They are limited in their sovereignty. This is why we see what is going on in Ukraine. Putin is trying to establish sovereignty over a nation that he currently does not govern. To what extent he will try to establish more sovereignty is yet to be determined. No matter what sovereignty any ruler may have they are all under the sovereignty of the Lord.

It is the Lord who causes nations to rise and nations to fall. Job 12:23

Job 12:23 NASB95

“He makes the nations great, then destroys them; He enlarges the nations, then leads them away.

The Lord controls everything and everyone. He uses the rulers to accomplish His will. He will even use wicked dictators to accomplish His will. We see in the Old Testament that God used wicked dictators to capture and punish the Nation of Israel when they rebelled against God.

The recognition of God’s ultimate sovereignty is cause for celebration.

The Lord Is To Be Feared V2

The Lord is to be feared because He is King over all the earth. There is no place that where God does not have authority. Contrary to popular belief, some may say that God has no place in their life, culture, society, or nation. They may live in rebellion to God and reject His sovereignty. However, everyone will be judged by God. Everyone will bow their knee and confess Jesus as Lord. Romans 14:11

Romans 14:11 NASB95

For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall give praise to God.”

Philippians 2:10–11 NASB95

so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

2 Corinthians 5:10 NASB95

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

If we are going to stand before the Lord one day we should be fearful of this judgment and seek forgiveness and salvation for it.

Where there is no fear of God you will find sin and destruction because there are no moral boundaries or accountability.

The fear of God enables us to live lives for God. It is the restraining factor of the Holy Spirit that keeps us from sin.

The Lord Determines Victory and Inheritance V3-4

The Psalmist writes that the Lord subdues people under the feet of the nation of Israel. It is the Lord who gives victory to nations that follow Him. 1 Kings 9:1-9

1 Kings 9:1–9 NASB95

Now it came about when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and all that Solomon desired to do, that the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. The Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. “As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ “But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will cast out of My sight. So Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. “And this house will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by will be astonished and hiss and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ “And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore the Lord has brought all this adversity on them.’ ”

God expects Nations to follow Him. As they follow the decrees of the Lord they will be blessed. When they turn away from the Lord, they are cut off from the Lord and cast out of His sight. They lose the blessing and protection of the Lord.

This is why it is important to live in the proper order. We are first citizens of Heaven. This means we live in accordance to the laws of God. Then we live in accordance with the laws of the US and then the state of Alabama, then local authority. Everything we do must be in accordance with the law of God. If there is ever any contradiction, we must defer to the Law of God.