The Bible Study Hour

Narrator: While it's true that we serve a powerful God, he doesn't rule by power alone. His reign is one of laws and is marked by holiness. And unlike the kings of the earth, his administration is unchangeable, and his dynasty eternal.

Narrator: Welcome to The Bible Study Hour, a radio and Internet broadcast with Dr. James Boice. Preparing you to think and act biblically. In a world of perpetual change and constant turmoil, our God reigns from heaven and keeps all things in order. Let's join Dr. Boice as he examines Psalm 93 and God's kingship from the theocracy of the Old Testament through the future kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Dr. James Boice: It's an interesting feature of the Psalms that they tend to develop themes or emphases as they go along. So to some extent, the character of the Psalms changes. All of them are hymns of praise in one sense, but as we move on toward the end of the Psalms, more and more of them have to do with direct praise. And at the very end, it would seem almost that that's all they're saying.

Now we have a special group here beginning with Psalm 93 that we're going to study today that deals with the kingly reign of God. In other words, with a theocracy. So I want to begin by asking two questions about that word theocracy. First, where did it come from? Who was the first person that used the word? That's just a note of historical interest. And then secondly, what does theocracy mean?

Well, it might interest you to know that the word theocracy was coined by Josephus, the ancient Jewish historian, not long after the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He used it to describe what was unique about the government of Israel, about which he was writing, over against the governments of the nations roundabout. They were, either said Josephus, monarchies, or oligarchies, or democracies.

But he said Israel is a theocracy. Now, a monarchy, arche has to do with the ruler and mono means one. So a monarchy is a rule by one individual, that is, by a king or by an emperor. And the word olos, or oligos, has to do with the elite few. So an oligarchy is ruled by an elite few, the upper crust, as we would say. And you know, of course, a democracy is based on the word demos that refers to the people. And so that's ruled by the people.

But said Josephus, Israel is a theocracy. Theos means God, so this is ruled by God. He says, that's what makes it unique. Now, there's a sense in which that's what these Psalms are describing from here through Psalm 100 with different variations. Franz Delitzsch is one who has given us a good, solid biblical definition of theocracy. So let me just tell you what he said.

Theocracy is a reciprocal relation between God and man exalted above all these intermediary forms. He means monarchies and democracies and such things. He said it had its first beginning when Jehovah became Israel's king, but it's going to have its final breakthrough when the king of Israel becomes king of the whole world. He's referring to the return of Jesus Christ.

So when we talk about a theocracy, we're talking about it today in a different sense. There you had an actual rule of God of an earthly people. Today, Jesus rules, but he rules in his church. And eventually, as he returns to rule over the whole world. So this is sort of the thing that St. Augustine was talking about years ago when he wrote his book on the two cities. There's the city of this world that operates by all the governments of this world, but parallel to it, and also within it, is the rule of Jesus Christ over his people.

Now the point I'm making is that that's what Psalm 93 is describing and so the Psalms that follow it. The keynote of these Psalms, you find it again and again of the two Hebrew words, Yahweh Melek. Melek means king or rule. So that phrase, which you find in all of these Psalms except 94 and we'll get to that in time, all have that phrase, Jehovah reigns or Jehovah is king.

They mean, however, more than Josephus meant because here it's not talking merely of the reign of God over the Jewish people, but over the whole of the universe. And it's very apparent in Psalm 93. McLaren says, this short Psalm is the overture to the whole. He's referring to all the ones that follow. Luebhold says, this brief Psalm is mighty in utterance, colorful in language, and a strong incentive to faith.

Well, it has three parts, and you see that even in the divisions in the New International Version. The first part has to do with the reign of the sovereign God, verses 1 and 2. Then there is the discussion of the turmoil of the world over which God reigns, verses 3 and 4. And then finally, in this last verse, verse 5, you have two additional characteristics of God's kingdom.

So if you outline that in your Bible, some people do as we go along, that's the best outline. The reign of the sovereign God, the turmoil of the world over which God reigns, and then two characteristics of God's kingdom.

Now, as I said, these first two verses describe God's reign and they do it by exhibiting four characteristics of God's reign which are at the same time four great attributes of God. They are stated in poetic language with Hebrew parallelism. Actually, very strong parallelism and we'll find that as we go along here. Sometimes three parallel lines all together and it makes the point very strongly.

Now here are these four characteristics. First of all, the majesty of God. You see in verse 1, "The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty." Then he repeats it in the next line, "The Lord is robed in majesty." Now majesty is a bit hard to define. It has to do with dignity of a ruler, with the authority of sovereign power, with stateliness, with grandeur.

It's a proper characteristic of earthly monarchs and sometimes earthly rulers go to great lengths to enhance the impression of their majesty. We call it the trappings of power. And so when you're brought into the company of a high government official, and especially if it would be a president or a queen or a king or some high figure like that, there are all these trappings of power that impress you with how important this person is.

Now, God doesn't need any of that. Earthly monarchs do because they have to kind of buttress themselves up after all, they're only people like we are. But God, you see, is the high and mighty, the exalted one.

Now, this idea of majesty is something that occurs in the Bible frequently whenever a human being is given an insight into heaven or has a vision of God in his glory. For example, there's that great example of Isaiah in the sixth chapter when he describes being taken up into the very throne room of God. He writes, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted. And the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying, and they were calling to one another, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory.'"

And then he continues, "At the sound of their voices, the doorposts and the thresholds shook. And the temple was filled with smoke." Well, Isaiah was so overcome with that impression of the majesty of God that he cried out, "Woe to me, I'm ruined. I'm a man of unclean lips. I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty."

You see, in that vision, the majesty of God is linked to the holiness of God. And Isaiah was very aware both of his sin and also his littleness.

Now, the second characteristic is the power of God. And that comes in in these parallel lines. Notice verse 1. "The Lord reigns, he's robed in majesty. The Lord is robed in majesty." And then as if that isn't quite enough, the psalmist puts in one more line, "Yes, and is armed with strength." So what he's saying here is that the majesty of God is also a majesty of power.

In other words, it's not a mere show of sovereignty, which might be true of some earthly person who thinks he or she is important. This is an actual sovereignty, as the psalmist is going to show in the next stanza. In other words, when he says, "The Lord reigns," he means that he actually does reign. It's not just that he appears to reign. He actually does reign, and he's sovereign.

Third, the immutability of God. That's the proper term for what he means by the word established in verses 1 and 2. The second part of verse 1 says, "The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved." He's talking about the world, but then he explains the reason it can't be moved is because God can't be moved. So verse 2 says, "Your throne is established long ago. You're from all eternity."

This is a quality that separates God from even the highest of his creatures because you and I are not immovable. We are very movable, vacillating as a matter of fact. And what's true of us as human beings is true of the whole created order. Everything is changing. It's not merely changing in the cyclical sense that the Greeks had in mind when they talked about the wheel of history, so that in time everything returns to being exactly what it was before and repeats that over and over and over again, which is sort of change in the midst of that which is unchangeable. It's not that at all. Actually, the universe is running down.

It happens over a long period of time, so it's not so observable to us, but that's what's happening. The sun is cooling, eventually it's going to go out. Energy is dissipating, that is, becoming less and less useful as it dissipates throughout the universe. Species have become extinct. And as far as human beings go, we are born, we mature, we grow old, and eventually we die.

Jude, in his letter, emphasizes the mutability, especially of the wicked. And he uses an abundance of images to describe it. He speaks of them as being clouds without rain, that is, just useless clouds being blown across the sky. Autumn winds without fruit, autumn trees without fruit and uprooted, wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame, wandering stars.

They a whole collection of images to say, that's really what the world is like. You see, but God is not like that. God is absolutely unchangeable and the characteristics of his kingdom don't change either. I sometimes say when I'm talking about the attributes of God that we would be glad in our sin to have God change in regard to his other attributes. He's sovereign, but we don't like that, and so we'd be glad if for him to become a little less sovereign.

And so we could get away with doing what we want to do. Or we talk about his omniscience, he knows everything. Maybe he'll begin to forget as time goes by, forget some of the things I've done. But you see, God is immutable, unchangeable. He's the one with whom we have to do.

And then finally, the eternity of God, and it's closely linked with his immutability. And you see, it comes in in the last phrase. "You are from all eternity." Now, that's another word that's kind of difficult for us to get a handle on because we are not eternal beings, and we don't know quite how to even explain something that extends our categories beyond their boundaries. But what it means is that not only is God existing, but that he has always been and that he will always be and that he's everywhere the same in his eternal being.

Now you find that throughout the Bible. For example, Abraham called God the eternal God way back in Genesis 21:33. Just a few Psalms before this, Moses gave a classic expression of it. "Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting, you are God."

And as I said, it goes all the way through the Bible. You find it in the book of Revelation because there God is described as the Alpha and Omega, that is, the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet, the beginning and the end. The angels that are before his throne cry out, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come," a statement of his eternity.

Now what does that mean for us? Well, it means two things. First of all, it means that God can be trusted to remain as he is. And so if God has revealed himself to be a God of love and mercy to you in Jesus Christ, which he has, if you've come understand that Jesus died for you and trust him as your savior, then you can count on God always to remain that way. He's not going to become less merciful as time goes on. None of his attributes are going to change. You can count on that.

The second thing it means is that God is inescapable. You see, you might try to ignore him and think that maybe if we turn our backs on him, he'll turn his back on us, but we really can't do that. It's God's universe and sooner or later we have to face him. So on the one hand, when we talk about immutability and eternity and all of those things, we're speaking words of comfort to those who have come to God through Christ Jesus.

And at the same time, we're speaking words of warning to those who have not. Because sooner or later, you're going to stand before the eternal, immutable, righteous, majestic God of the universe. And how are you going to do that unless you stand clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ?

Now, when the psalmist was introducing the idea of God's immutability in verse 1, he said the world is firmly established because the throne of God is established. But you might well want to pause at that point and say, is that really the case? Is the world really established? Is it as solid as that statement seems to indicate? We talked about God being immutable. We mentioned that by contrast, none of us are immutable. Isn't it true then the world is not established?

Instead, it's running down. Well, that thought must have occurred to the psalmist too. So in this next stanza, beginning with verse 2, he writes about the surging, pounding, changing character of the world. And he uses an image for it. It's the image of the sea. The sea which is always in a state of fluctuation. "The seas have lifted up, oh Lord. The seas have lifted up their voice. The seas have lifted up their pounding waves."

Now that's been understood in different ways by scholars. Today, a lot of the scholars are impressed by what they perceive as parallels between the Hebrew Psalms and some of the literature from the ancient world from Ugarit and Babylon. And in some of the Ugaritic literature especially, there is a mythology that involves a struggle between God and the cosmic powers of the deep, often pictured as a sea goddess or something of that nature. Marduk or Tiamat are the ones that struggle.

And so they suggest that what is going on here is a statement that God is the one who has overcome these sea goddesses. The problem with that, of course, is that there's nothing like that in Jewish literature. Maybe in Ugaritic and Babylonian, but it doesn't mean that it's in Jewish literature. As a matter of fact, we have to approach this in an entirely different way.

Now, in all probability, that stanza has to do with one of two things that really are possibilities. It could have to do with God's sovereignty over nature itself. He's talking about the seas. God controls the seas and the land and everything else. Or it could have to do with his power over the Gentile nations, which are often pictured that way.

Now, if it's the first, it's talking about God's power over nature, then it follows from what was said in verse 1. Where it spoke of the world being firmly established. It would be a way of saying that the world of nature is indeed in constant turmoil, but that God's in charge of it. In other words, that would be the Bible's answer to the question that plagued Greek philosophy. The Greeks saw all this change and they said, if everything's changing all the time, why isn't everything in a state of constant chaos? And the answer they gave is because there was a word or a logos. The word logos means word. A word of God that kind of sort of stood behind it and ordered it all and kept it all in line. That's what Heraclitus and some of the other Greeks came up with. Now, that would be the equivalent of that.

Only what the psalmist would be saying is that that word of God is actually God, actually the God of the Old Testament. That's perfectly good theology. On the other hand, and in my judgment this is best, it's hard to think that this is all the psalmist has in mind, especially when you remember that this idea of the sea, the surging sea, is often used in the Old Testament as an image for the nations of the world, which are always surging, you know, one more powerful than another one and the peoples back and forth and so forth.

Let me give you some examples. Isaiah 17:12. "Oh, the raging of many nations, they rage like the raging sea." See how that works? Or Jeremiah 6:23, "They sound like the roaring sea as they ride on their horses." Well, I mentioned Delitzsch earlier, one of the great commentators. That's what he thinks. He says, "The sea with its mighty mass of waters, and with the constant unrest of its waves, with its ceaseless pressing against the solid land and foaming against the rocks is an emblem of the Gentile world alienated from and at enmity with God."

Now, I think that's probably what he's getting at here in poetic language. And if you need an additional reason for it, it's that threefold repetition of the idea, "lifted up." You notice that in verse 3, "The seas have lifted up. The seas have lifted up. The seas have lifted up." Usually that phrase when it's used lifted up, that verb, has to do with lifting up our hearts or our hands against God. Sometimes the phrase is, "We've lifted up our horn," a symbol of power, "against God." Or in a positive sense, "Oh, Lord, you have lifted up my horn." You see, you've exalted me in the world.

And our equivalent would be to lift up your fist, you see, shake it in God's face. That's sort of what it's saying. And the psalmist in that case would be saying, "God is in charge of history." All of this is going on around us, the nations rise and fall, there are wars and rumors of wars. Don't be troubled because God has his hands upon it all. And in the midst of all the turmoil, God takes care of his people.

Well, you move to the last verse. One of the interesting things about the Bible is just when you think something is about to end or you think you've got it all figured out, you get a surprise. And that's what happens here in verse 5. What you would expect when you get to verse 5 is maybe an encouragement to the believer to stand firm. That's the way we'd finish up a sermon. You see, you talk about the immutability of God and the changing, surging sea of the nations. And then you'd say to people, "Now, don't be troubled by that." I said it a moment ago, "Stand firm, God's in charge." You'd expect something like that.

Or maybe it would go back to praising God as king. It started out that way. You are the king. You got all these surging nations roundabout here, but you're still King, oh God. You expect it to end up that way, but it doesn't. What we find here instead is two unanticipated characteristics of God's kingly rule. Namely, that it's a kingdom of law. That's the first thing. And secondly, that it's a kingdom of holiness or justice.

Now, up to this point, we've been thinking of this theocratic rule of God as a rule of power because that's what he said in the first verse. God is majestic and he's majestic in his power. But what we are reminded of here is that God's rule is not a rule of power alone. The Greek word for it is kratos, which is where the words democracy, rule by the people, power in the hands of the people, and theocracy come from. But what he's saying here is that this rule of God is also a rule of law.

Which is what that important word statutes in verse 5 refers to. God's statutes are his decrees. You find that word all the way throughout Psalm 119, for example. I'll give you one example. "Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart." Now, I ask this question, where do we find God's statutes? Since that's the word that is used. Or where do we find his laws? The answer is in the Bible.

They're written down, you see. If you have a law, you have to write it down. Somehow you have to write it down. It's true of human laws and it's true of divine laws as well. So you have it in the Bible, and if you understand that, then you ask, "Well, then what are we to do?" And the answer is, "We're to stand firm on those statutes." In other words, we're to obey them.

The psalmist is saying that those of us who profess to know God and confess him as our God, must know and obey his statutes too, if we really are to be ruled by him. Now let me put this in other terms and ask this question. How does the Lord Jesus Christ, our King and Lord, how does the Lord Jesus Christ rule his church?

Well, he does it by guiding it sovereignly, of course. He orders the events of history. Nothing surprises him. He guides everything, sort of in a way that doesn't touch us directly or that we're not directly aware of. That is true. But more importantly, he does it through his word. In other words, he rules his church by the scriptures.

Revelation says, 11th chapter, verse 15, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and they will reign forever and ever." But there's also the specific rule of Jesus over his people, which has to do with his direct commands of us. I'll give you an example of that. When the Apostle Paul was reached by God on the road to Damascus, and the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him, first of all, he wanted to know who he was, "Who are you, Lord?" As he asked the question, he was acknowledging it. The answer is, "Jesus Christ is God." Then the next question was, "What will you have me do?"

You see, and then the Lord spoke. And the word said, "I'm going to use you as my servant to go and reach the Gentile nations." So that's what we have to do also. We can't claim to be ruled by Jesus Christ unless we know what he has told us to do in the Bible and are actually doing it.

And then the final thing, it's also a rule of justice, and the word that's used here is holiness. That's important because there are two obvious ways that rule can be perverted. It can be perverted by becoming the mere whim of those who are in power. You know, the king does what he wants to do. Who can say anything against him? He's stronger than you are. Or it can even be by those who have law but who establish unjust laws.

You can be in power and rule by law by establishing laws that give you all the power and oppress the poor. That's happened again and again in world history. So what the final verse says is that God's rule is not like that. It's a rule of power, it's a rule of law, but it's also a rule of holiness or justice. "Holiness adorns your house for endless days, oh Lord."

Now everything associated with God is holy. And from thus it follows that we have to be holy too. If we are not holy, how can we adorn the house of God? That's the word he uses. "Holiness adorns your house." The answer is, "We can't. We do the exact opposite. We dishonor it and the God we profess to serve." But if we live holy lives as we must, then we honor God and prove that he's indeed ruling us as his holy people.

Here's a verse on which to end. 1 Peter 2:9. "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. A people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." That's a great privilege. It's also a great duty. May we do it and do it well.

Let's pray. Our Father, we're thankful for this Psalm with its instructions of who you are, to expand our mind and lift our eyes to see something of your glory and majesty. And also what that means to us, that we as your people are to be ruled by you and are to obey what we find in scripture that we might be holy. Give us grace to do just that for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.

Narrator: Thank you for listening to this message from The Bible Study Hour, a listener-supported ministry of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. The Alliance is a coalition of pastors, scholars, and churchmen who hold to the historic creeds and confessions of the Reformed faith, and who proclaim biblical doctrine in order to foster a reformed awakening in today's church. To learn more about the Alliance, visit AllianceNet.org. And while you're there, visit our online store, Reformed Resources, where you can find messages and books from Dr. Boice and other outstanding teachers and theologians. Or, ask for a free Reformed Resources catalog by calling 1-800-488-1888.

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