Psalm 47

Clap Your Hands

9/3/2017

Lynchburg, Virginia

EXHORDIUM

         We continue our march through the Psalms in the 40s. God has revealed Himself as the true and Sovereign King. As we look at these Psalms in light of God’s revealed will in Jesus Christ, we see how these Psalms apply specifically to Jesus.

         Jesus is that greater David, the One who gained victory over His enemies. David did so in Israel, defeating His enemies beneath His feet, through the power of the sword. Thus, David would never build the Temple. For the Temple is not built with the power of the sword but with the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.

         Thus, it behooved God to bring Jesus, who with a Word, cast out demons and subdued the Earth. The Church now is that inheritance of the Earth, through which God subdues the Earth, through the homely means of fallible preaching. 
Jesus is ever on His throne and we will proclaim this truth until every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord.

         But do not underestimate the power of the preached word. This is the sword that comes from the mouth of Jesus Christ. It is mightier than any two-edged sword. The Word of God is the only necessary and sufficient means to save the world.

EXEGESIS

Psalm. 47 To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.

O clap your hands, all ye people;

         We should clap our hands at God’s wondrous works in the earth. We understand clapping for a performance. Sometimes we cannot clap hard enough or loud enough to show our appreciation. Sometimes a clap comes out of the blue, a clap of the hands, a slap of the leg because you are astonished at what you have just seen.

         Our Lord deserves that sort of recognition. What He has done from the beginning deserves a huge, Bravo and a desire to see more of His works.

shout unto God with the voice of triumph.

         Clapping and shouting go together. Have you been to a big time sporting event? There is lots of shouting and often a great deal of clapping. This is particularly the case when your team makes a go ahead or winning score. Sometimes it seems the shout is almost involuntary. Of course, you did man to shout but it seemed to bubble up from inside you as if it had to burst.

         God has triumphed in many ways. He continues to triumph. The last few years and even the last few months have given us reason to wonder if God’s will shall prevail in our country. The enemies of Christ have the seem to have the upper hand in the culture wars. The mainstream media, the entertainment world, sports networks, Hollywood, all seem to have embraced an anti-God and anti-Christian worldview.

Their leftist and liberal agenda is clear. But it is more than that. The real attack is at the core of Christian truth. They hate the Bible’s clear teaching on faithfulness in marriage, God’s Sovereignty in Creation, and even the fact that God is the sustainer of all things. Their worldview proclaims man as good at the center and leads to all sorts of evil at the edges.

But we are to shout with the voice of triumph? Why? First of all, because our God has triumphed. The Lord Jesus has defeated the world, the flesh and the devil. This has happened in real time and Jesus is the ruler of the nations. He rules over ALL of them from the right hand of the Father. Shall we fret when the Lord Jesus is reigning on high? Shall we wonder if Jesus will be able to defeat His enemies? Jesus has triumphed and will triumph. We who belong to Him must clap our hands at His victory and shout His victory from the roof tops.

² For the Lord most high is terrible;

         Part of the reason we can clap and shout for God’s victory in Jesus, is that we serve a terrible God. He is mighty in battle. When He comes upon the foe, there is no question about the outcome of the battle. He is a fierce warrior and none can stand before Him.

he is a great King over all the earth.

         A king goes out to battle to defend himself or to take land from his adversary. Throughout the course of human history, there have mostly been provincial kings. They conquer a neighbor or two but their kingdoms remain small.

         There have been a few notable empires. We think of the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans. In the modern era, The Ottoman Empire under 21 year old Mehmed II conquered a wide territory including Constantinople in 1453, the Soviet Union ruled over an empire for a short time period. But Empires are rare and hard to hold together.

         Contrast this with the reign of Jesus. He is the great King over all the Earth. Imagine the greatest empires that have existed. They conquered, perhaps dozens of their neighbors. But Jesus conquers all the Earth. He is the ruler over all the nations. There are currently 193 countries in the Earth and about 7.5 billion people, and Jesus rules them all.

³ He shall subdue the people under us,

         Israel knew that they advanced by the power, authority and might of Yahweh. Their strength was not their own and the surrounding nations were a great threat to them. Joshu had success against them when Israel entered the Promised Land. Israel fought many battles that the Lord attended with His might. In these battles, Israel often lost few if any men while their enemies sustained thousands of casualties.

The only explanation for this phenomenon was that God was fighting for them. God subdued their enemies. It is true that Joshua fought. Later on, God raised Judges to fight the enemies of Israel. God also gave them miraculous victory. Gideon conquered an entire army of tens of thousands with 300 warriors. They went up and blew the trumpets and three hundred attacked

Judges 7: ¹² And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude. 

But God subdued them under the feet of Gideon with 300 men, lighted lamps and trumpets of praise to Yahweh.

David gained great victory, over a lion and a bear and giant. God delivered Him and subdued His enemies beneath his feet.

and the nations under our feet.

         Not only were particular battles won or armies destroyed but God also subdued entire nations. Israel did this in part as they entered the Promised Land under Joshua. King Saul took up the fight against his enemies but David had the great victories. The nations that had subdued the land were brought low before God’s warrior. Peace ensued under Solomon, a picture of the Kingdom of Christ, that will subdue all enemies, not just those in Canaan, but throughout the entire Earth.

         This Psalm points to nations under Christ. The New Testament tells us that ALL things are in subjection to Christ. By this, he indicates all dominions, all powers, all nations, all creation. The Lord Jesus is ruler over all.

         This is important as we think about what the Lord Jesus rules. In modern evangelicalism, we tend to think that Jesus is Lord of hearts. He rules in here. Or, Lord of Spirits. He rules those who die and go to Heaven. That is certainly true. He does rule hearts and He does rule Spirits. But that is not all He rules. The Bible says that He rules EVERYTHING!        

Heb. 2:5   For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. ⁶ But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? ⁷ Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: ⁸ Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. ⁹ But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

         We really need to get our min ds around this truth. It will help us not fear. The Lord Jesus is ruling nations. He is ruling over kings, presidents, Corporate CEO, the major News outlets, missionary societies, anarchists, and white supremacists. They are all subject to Him, directly.

         This means that they are going to answer to Jesus. Our hope is that He brings those in rebellion to Him into submission, in this life. That is the only way they will have peace. But the Lord Jesus is not against ruling with a strong fist, either. He is a mighty warrior and no man, institution, or nation can stand against His might and fury.

         The Bible says to kiss the Son, lest He be angry. This means giving homage to Christ. Obey Him. Submit to Him. Listen to His Word and obey His commands. As we look around our culture, particularly in the evangelical and so-called or formerly conservative Christian church, there is much reason for Jesus to be angry. When Jesus is angry, He throws over tables and whips His enemies, driving them from the sanctuary of God.

         The Hurricane Harvey is a great human tragedy. We are humans and we suffer with our fellow citizens of the Earth. But we must remember Who is in control of the weather. The Bible says, quoting God, Himself,

ESV “Amos 3:1   ^jHear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:

Amos 3:2           ^k“You only have I known

                  of all the families of the earth;

         ^ltherefore I will punish you

                  for all your iniquities.

Amos 3:3           “Do two walk together,

                  unless they have agreed to meet?

⁴        Does a lion roar in the forest,

                  when he has no prey?

         Does a young lion cry out from his den,

                  if he has taken nothing?

⁵        Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth,

                  when there is no trap for it?

         Does a snare spring up from the ground,

                  when it has taken nothing?

^{6        m}Is a trumpet blown in a city,

                  and the people are not afraid?

         ⁿDoes disaster come to a city,

                  unless the Lord has done it?

         We cannot deduce from this Hurricane tragedy exactly what God is doing. Is He punishing a particular sin, for example, or a particular place. Well, we know it is a particular place, Houston and the surrounding area. But what is His purpose there? Why has this judgment fallen? We cannot know His specific purposes. But the Bible also tells us that the Tower of Siloam fell, not for certain particular sins, but to reveal the glory of God through repentance and forgiveness. Luke 13:⁴ Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? ⁵ I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

         We know that God does these things to bring men to repentance. He has revealed this time and again in His Word. Are the people in Houston greater sinners above all the people elsewhere in the country? No, but unless you repent, unless the rest of America repents, you shall all likewise perish.

⁴ He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.

Psalm 16: ⁵ The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. ⁶ The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

5   God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

         God is gone up with a shout. God has gone up at the sound of the trumpet. The trumpet is the call to arms. God goes up as the Captain of the Host. Do we think He shall gain the victory?

         The Lord Jesus has gone up into Heaven. He there receives all these accolades, clapping, shouting, triumph. The disciples did not see this clearly on the day of Ascension but it began to dawn on them at Pentecost. Jesus is victorious now and ever. Rest in this. Praise in this. Shout praises to God.

⁶ Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises.

         Our response to God’s victory is singing His praise. He repeats this four times in one verse! How important is our praise? It makes all the difference. How can we not praise our victorious God?

         If we do not sing His praises, we are in some level of rebellion against Him. We do not agree with His leadership. We are dragging our feet. We wish His rule was something different. We do not like His plan. We are refusing submission to His revealed will.

         God’s will is revealed two ways.

1.   His positive will is revealed in the Scriptures. This is who God is and this is what He calls us to believe and do. All true Chrisitans must absolutely submit to God’s written revealed will. The Church is gaining ground at apostasy in America. Many are refusing to submit to the Bible.

2.   In Whatsover Comes to Pass

Shorter Catechism

Q. 7. What are the decrees of God?
A. The decrees of God are his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass

This is hard. God’s divine decree is revealed in whatsoever comes to pass. This part of God’s will involves suffering, death, disappointments, and all manner of sins. But once it has come to pass it has passed into God’s will for our lives. We cannot change it. Thus, we need to submit it to God for forgiveness, healing, comfort, rest, peace. In His wisdom and prudence, this has become part of our story that reveals His glory. We may not know exactly why but we take it on faith that it is so. Any other position will only cause us unnecessary suffering and pain.

⁷ For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.

         How much of the Earth does God reign over? In David’s time, we might think it was a small portion of the Earth. He spoke a truth here and also a prophecy.  

         We are to sing praises with understanding. It is not just for our senses or our emotions. We must sing with understanding, that is thoughtfully. This is why we sing psalms and hymns. We worship God with our emotions, clapping and shouting are appropriate. But not without understanding. This holds us in check from submitting to our emotions. Our emotions must submit to our understanding.

⁸ God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.

Eph. 3:6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

Who is the ruler of Afghanistan? Of China? Of Bangladesh? Of India? The Lord Jesus rules them all. He will bring them into subjection beneath His feet. This is the glorious message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus really is ruling. As a ruler, He will not fail. So, do not lose heart but rather believe in what God is doing in the Earth.

Even this Hurricane should give us pause to consider. A week of rain has brought millions of people to their knees. Houston is at a standstill and America rushes in to help and deliver the suffering people. This storm is but God moving His little finger. We should be in awe of Him and call men everywhere to repentance.

As long as God sits on His throne of Holiness, the world will bow before His throne. The Lord Jesus is ruling from Heaven, and will rule forever and ever. Of the increase of His government, there shall be no end.

⁹ The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly exalted.

         We are a kingdom of princes and priests. We are gathered together. True worship in necessary to come into God’s presence. The culture battles we currently face are rightly  said to be worship wars. When we look at the sort of worship that has been embraced by a broad swath of modern evangelical Christians, it should not surprise us that we are in a battle for the Bible.

         Seeker sensitivity means that the Bible must go. Of course, we do want to be seeker friendly. We want visitors to see our love for God by our love for one another. This is the new commandment. But they also must see the terrible majesty of God. He goes up with a shout and His Word must be exalted in the presence of His enemies. This is truly awesome.

         When we acknowledge God as God, revere Him in His terrible majesty and submit to His revealed written Word, then we can expect God to go up with a shout of victory on our behalf. Jesus is the victor. The question becomes, “Whose side are you on?”

EXHORTATION

         To God Be the Glory

         What does all this mean? If God is for us, who can be against us?

         God chooses, that might frighten us if His choice was capricious or vindictive. But it is is not. He choose freely and full of grace. God owes us nothing but He grants us everything.

         Are you hearing this gospel message? Then believe in Christ and receive the good favor of His grace. God has ordained the preaching, the hearing, the respons and the salvation. Then come to Christ Jesus.

Eph. 1:3   Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: ⁴ According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

God has this under control because He planned it.

⁵ Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶ To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Our good and kind Father does this because it gives Him pleasure to call us His children.

⁷ In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; ⁸ Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; ⁹ Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

Again, God’s wisdom and prudence is towards us, particularly in the forgiveness of sins, because it pleases God to forgive sinners. Why did He do this? For His own purposes.

¹⁰ That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: ¹¹ In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: ¹² That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. ¹³ In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, ¹⁴ Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Our inheritance is eternal life in Christ Jesus after the Resurrection of the body. How do we know this? Because God has given us His Holy Spirit which is the down payment on the inheritance, the Resurrection of the Body.

The Resurrection of the Body means that God has the final victory over sin and death. We respond to Him with gratitude.