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Reading Psalms 47, 48, 49, and 50, exalting God for being the King of kings and for the heritage He has chosen for us in Christ. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
Our God is a great King who has chosen our heritage for us, who has laid up for us a city in the heavens that all who believe in Christ will dwell with Him there forever when we understand the text.
This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.
Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the Psalms, and we'll begin today with Psalms 47 and 48. You've probably noticed as we've been going through the Psalms together, if you've been with us in this study for a little while, these Psalms tend to be grouped together.
One Psalm will have some similarities to the previous Psalm, while Psalms 47 and 48 are no different. We're going to start by reading about God's kingship in Psalm 47, and then praising God that Zion is His city, the city of the King in Psalm 48.
So here we are in Psalm 47, to the choir master, a psalm of the sons of Korah, clap your hands, all peoples, shout to God with loud songs of joy. For the Lord, the most high, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth.
He subdued peoples under us and nations under our feet. He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loves. God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises, sing praises to our King.
Sing praises for God is the King of all the earth. Sing praises with a psalm. God reigns over the nations. God sits on His holy throne. The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God. He is highly exalted. So you see, this is like a psalm that you would sing as the King enters into the city or as the people enters into the King's court. Does that not sound like that kind of a song?
Clap your hands, all peoples, shout to God with loud songs of joy. Singing and dancing before the King and our Lord, He is King. For the Lord, the most high, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth.
You know, it's in Proverbs 1 .7 that says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. When we're talking about fear in this sense, fear in Psalm 47 or fear in Proverbs 1 .7 or to the Philippians, where the Apostle Paul said, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
That's Philippians 2 .12. What we're talking about here is a reverent fear. It's not a fear in the sense of, oh, God, please don't hurt me, because we know that in Christ Jesus, we're no longer under the wrath of God.
Nevertheless, God is holy and he is the creator of all things and he is the judge of all things. So there should be a reverent fear there. We're not afraid of God destroying us because if we're in Christ Jesus, he has cast out that fear.
There's no fear of judgment in Christ. But we still recognize God as having such great power, we can't even approach him. He is so incredible that to stand near him would kill you. So there is that kind of reverent fear, that holy, respectful fear of God that we are to have.
And that's what's being talked about here. You shouldn't have this view of like the president of the United States as somebody that you can just kind of run up behind and mess up his hair, you know, and expect that the Secret Service is not going to tackle you to the ground and assume that you're not attempting to harm the president somehow, right?
We can't have that kind of irreverence with even a worldly ruler. So we should not have any kind of irreverent attitude toward God. Our approach to him must always be respectful and it must always be on his terms.
He loves us. He has invited us into his court. But we don't go praising God or worshiping God the way that we want to worship him. We worship him the way that he has said he is to be worshipped. And so in this way, we exercise that fear of God when we recognize him as a great king over all the earth.
Verse three, he subdued peoples under us and nations under our feet. The Apostle Paul said to the Romans, Romans 1620, the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. And as he wrote to the Corinthians in first Corinthians six on that day that we enter our Lord's eternal kingdom, we will sit upon thrones and judge even angels.
He subdues the people under us and nations under our feet. Verse four, he chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loves. He chose our heritage for us. Consider the way that Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians, Ephesians one, starting in verse three, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love.
He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved. There is just a hint of the heritage that God chose for us before even the foundation of the world.
Going on into verse five, God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with a sound of a trumpet, sing praises to God, sing praises, sing praises to our king, sing praises for God is the king of all the earth.
Sing praises with a Psalm verses five, six, and seven, simply demonstrating that we are to praise God because he alone is worthy of our praise. God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne.
Holiness, that word holy means to be set apart. So God is set apart and set higher than all others. He is the king above all kings. The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham for the shields of the earth belong to God.
He is highly exalted. By the way, all of us who are in Christ Jesus, we are likewise children of Abraham. As we read in Galatians chapter three, verse seven, it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham, verse 29.
And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. So this is certainly written in the context of national Israel. But all of us who are in Christ, we are the people of God.
We are Israel, the princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. And we are those princes, once again, who will sit on glorious thrones in God's eternal kingdom. Jesus said to the churches in Galatians chapters two and three, those who endure to the end, I will give to them a place to sit with me on my throne.
This is the heritage that God has chosen for us. How great a king he is. We go on to Psalm 48, a song, a Psalm of the sons of Korah. Once again, chapter 48, verse one, great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God.
His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation is the joy of all the earth. Mount Zion in the far north, the city of the great king with her citadels. God has made himself known as a fortress for behold, the kings assembled.
They came on together. As soon as they saw it, they were astounded. They were in panic. They took to flight trembling, took hold of them. Their anguish as of a woman in labor by the east wind, you shattered the ships of Tarshish as we have heard.
So we have seen in the city of the Lord of hosts in the city of our God, which God will establish forever. We have thought on your steadfast love. Oh God, in the midst of your temple as your name, oh God.
So your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with righteousness. Let Mount Zion be glad. Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments, walk about Zion, go around her number, her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels that you may tell the next generation that this is God, our God forever and ever.
He will guide us forever. Again, such praising, exalting language to the king of kings. But notice here that it mentions that the people see the king and they tremble. His enemies tremble with fear. They they are in anguish as a woman in labor.
The ships were shattered. The ships of Tarshish. And as we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, the city of our God, which he will establish forever. I tell you, reading this, my mind goes right to the book of Revelation, because when they see Christ coming, the people are in fear.
They run and hide. They beg the mountains to fall on them, but they cannot hide from God. And then in Revelation 21, it says,. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more.
And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. That looks very similar to the kinds of things the psalmist is saying here, does it not?
And who is it? That is the new Jerusalem. We're not talking about a literal city here. We're talking about the bride of Christ, because, again, Revelation 21, too. I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, who is the bride of Christ.
The bride of Christ is the church. Yes, my friends, the new Jerusalem is not a literal place on planet Earth. It is the bride of Christ, purified, sanctified for the bridegroom who is Christ, and we will be with him forever.
Walk about Zion, go around her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels, that you may tell the next generation that this is God, our God, forever and ever. He will guide us forever.
He brought us to faith. He will keep us in faith. He will deliver us into his eternal kingdom forever. Praise the king of kings. Psalm 49, to the choir master, a psalm of the sons of Korah, and this is the last of the songs of Korah for a little while.
Verse one, hear this, all peoples, give ear all inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together. My mouth shall speak wisdom. The meditation of my heart shall be understanding. I will incline my ear to a proverb.
I will solve my riddle to the music of the liar. Why should I fear in times of trouble when the iniquity of those who cheat me surround me? Those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches, truly no man can ransom another or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice that he should live on forever and never see the pit.
Now, let's stop there for just a moment. Notice that the psalmist is saying here that a man cannot redeem himself. No man can ransom himself for his life is costly and can never suffice. You can't give your life for your life in order to pay the price for your life, for you will have given everything and have nothing left.
Furthermore, we have no holiness by which we can pay the price for the sins and the unrighteousness that we have committed against God. So no man on his own merit can pay his own ransom. It's too great a price.
No one can pay his price enough to live on forever and never see the pit. So this is all foreshadowing the fact that we need someone to ransom us for us. And who is that? That is Jesus Christ, who said in Mark 10, 45, even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
We go on verse 10, for he sees that even the wise die. This is again talking about the man who cannot ransom himself. The fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave their wealth to others. Their graves are their homes forever.
They're dwelling places to all generations, though they called lands by their own names. Man in his pomp will not remain. He is like the beasts that perish. This is the path of those who have foolish confidence.
Yet after them, people approve of their boasts. Selah. Pausing to consider what it is that the psalmist has said. Verse 14, like sheep, they are appointed for Sheol. Death shall be their shepherd and the upright shall rule over them in the morning.
Their form shall be consumed in Sheol with no place to dwell. But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. So who will ransom him? Man cannot ransom himself. So who will ransom me?
God. Again, God is the one who will pay my ransom. Jesus Christ gave his life as a ransom for many. Verse 16. Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases. For when he dies, he will carry nothing away.
His glory will not go down after him. For though while he lives, he counts himself blessed. And though you get praise when you do well for yourself, his soul will go to the generation of his fathers who will never again see light.
Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, is like the beasts that perish. We have that line repeated again. Man in his pomp, in other words, man in his vanity, who heaps praise upon himself, but he does not have understanding.
He's like the beasts of the field that perish. We are told in the scriptures that we are to get knowledge and we are to get understanding. And in Christ is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, as Paul said to the Colossians.
Let's go on here to Psalm 50. We'll finish up with this one. This is a Psalm of Asaph. And like the sons of Korah, Asaph was one that was appointed by David to be a singer or a songwriter in the court of God.
Psalm 50, verse 1. The mighty one, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth. Our God comes. He does not keep silence.
Before him is a devouring fire, around him a mighty tempest. He calls to the heavens above and to the earth that he may judge his people. Gather to me my faithful ones who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Hear, O my people, and I will speak. O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you.
Your burnt offerings are continually before me. I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds, for every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble.
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. But to the wicked, God says, what right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips? For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.
If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers. You give your mouth free reign for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother's son.
These things you have done, and I have been silent. You thought that I was one like yourself, but now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you. Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver.
The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me. To one who orders his way rightly, I will show the salvation of God. And that's where we will end for this week. Psalm 51 goes well with that, so that kind of preps us a little bit for this next Psalm.
But I want to spend one whole lesson on the 19 verses that make up Psalm 51, because it is such an important and powerful Psalm. This Psalm of mourning that David lifts up once it has been exposed in his heart the sin that he had committed against God by committing adultery, and then having the woman that he slept with having her husband murdered.
And you probably know what it is that I'm talking about, so we'll read about that in Psalm 51 next week. Let's conclude with prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gifts that you have lavished upon us through your Son, Jesus Christ.
You have chosen for us a heritage, and that heritage is Christ, sealed by the Holy Spirit, seated with Christ in the heavenly places. And so let us look toward heaven above, doing as Jesus instructed in Matthew 6.
Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all the things that we need will be added to us as well. Give us this day our daily bread. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
For yours is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast, or just send us a comment, email, whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com, and let your friends know about our ministry.
Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's Word when we understand the text.