White frame church building in Clifton, TX, was a landmark. One day, cut it in half, jacked up from foundation, put on trucks & hauled out of town. It had looked permanent, but suddenly it was gone. Here is a little parable of life. So often people & things seem enduring & then are "gone with the wind."We all face being destabilized not merely by one crisis, but by many: going to college, moving, getting a job, marriage, divorce, having children, buying a house, letting children go, dealing with death. All crises take their toll upon us. Where can we find stability? Is there an anchor to hold us? What can we count on when all else fails?* Psalm 93 addresses crisis of change. In the midst of chaos of this world, there is one fixed point: the living God. His kingdom is eternal (Psa_93:2). He establishes the world in Himself (Psa_93:1), and He reigns above the floods (Psa_93:4). His testimonies are certain, and the holiness of His house is forever (Psa_93:5). We must look beyond the flux of this life & see His glory. Since He cannot be moved, we cannot be moved either.
* When crisis comes, the best advice we can give is “Let go & Let God”
* Psa_93:1 opens with the joyous proclamation: "The LORD reigns." There could be no shorter or more powerful confession. NT equivalent lies in 1Co_12:3, "Jesus is Lord." That God reigns is at the heart of the Old Testament. He delivered Israel from Pharaoh's kingdom. He made a treaty with them at Sinai, giving them His law to govern their life in this world (Exo_20:1). He sits invisibly enthroned in Israel on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant (Exo_25:21-22). Thus when Israel asks for a human king, she is not rejecting the final judge, Samuel, but God from being King over her (1Sa_8:7). Yahweh, however, still reigns through the monarchy as His mediator.
Traditionally, “LORD of hosts,“ pictures the Lord as a mighty warrior-king who leads armies into battle.Who is this King of glory? The King of glory, identified here also as the Lord of Heaven's Armies, is the Messiah himself, eternal, holy, and mighty. This psalm, often set to music, was used in corporate worship. It may have been reenacted many times at the Temple. The people outside would call out to the Temple gates to open up and let the King of glory in. From inside, the priests or another group would ask, "Who is the King of glory?" Outside, the people would respond in unison, "The LORD, Almighty, He is the King of glory.” Then the Temple gates would swing open, symbolizing the people's desire to have God's presence among them. This would have been an important lesson for children who were participating.
Israel had become too complacent in its security to heed the warnings of God and too corrupted in its prosperity to escape the wrath of God. Not only that, but Uzziah, a good king for fifty-two years, had become arrogant, profaned the temple, contracted leprosy, and died in shame. All of Israel needed to be shaken by the vision of the LORD "sitting on a throne, high and lifted up" with the train of His robe filling the temple. Each of these symbols—the title LORD, the throne, the lofty position, and the all-encompassing robe—reinforced His sovereignty over all of the universe, over all its kings, over all of their nations, and over all peoples, including the chosen children of Israel.
We understand why the seraphim used their wings to cover their feet. Even without sin, they cannot stand to have the holy God look upon their created nature. He and He alone is holy.But the moral character of the holy God is more than a matter of "being" in His transcendence. Isaiah sees that His holiness is also a matter of "doing" in His immanence. As His transcendent holiness cannot tolerate sin among the people or the nations, wherever His immanent holiness touches down we see the ethical imprint of His character in the glorious work of God.So the seraphim must cover their faces because they cannot gaze upon His glory. Moses had a similar experience. When he asked God to see His glory, God answered, "I will make all My goodness pass before you [but] you cannot see My face … and live" (Exo_33:19-20).
But sovereignty is not the primary revelation of God's character in Isaiah's vision. First and foremost, it is the holiness of the Lord that Isaiah senses. Sovereignty is the powerful nature of God; holiness is the moral character of God. He is pure; He is complete; He is whole. Holiness is the only attribute of God that is presented in the Scripture in the superlative. When His holiness is extolled by the seraphim in antiphonal chorus, they sing "Holy, Holy, Holy." No other attribute is so praised. Angels do not sing, "Love, Love, Love" or "Justice, Justice, Justice"—they only sing "Holy, Holy, Holy."So, with Isaiah, in the sovereignty of the Lord we encounter the fact that His will cannot be known; in His holiness we learn of His purity that cannot tolerate sin; but in His glory we learn of His mercy that promises a remnant out of which will come a Savior who will redeem the world and all nations. No wonder Isaiah heard the song of the seraphim, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of Hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory!"
The psalmist, after confessing God as King, describes His apparel: "He is robed in majesty ["exaltation"]," but His royal robe is not some flattering garment; it is His power. God creates, upholds, and rules the world. Listen to Moses sing of God's power: "I will sing to the LORD / For He has triumphed gloriously! / The horse and its rider / He has thrown into the sea! / The LORD is my strength and song, / And He has become my salvation" (Exo_15:1-2). The power of God is not merely a doctrine; it is an event, an experience of deliverance.
The psalmist introduces the figure of the "floods" (“seas"), which "have lifted up" in rebellion against God (Psa_93:3). The next phrase adds the metaphor of their "voice." Thus they represent more than natural chaos. Moreover, they lift "up [imperfect tense, “have continually lifted up"] their waves ["crushing," "pounding"]" as they batter the order of this world and threaten our life here.
Over against all of this confusion stands the Lord. He is "the LORD on high" (transcendent) whose "throne is established from of old" and who is "from everlasting" (Psa_93:2). He is "mightier than the noise ["voices," see Psa_93:3] of many waters." When Jesus speaks to the storm, "Be still!" (Mar_4:39, literally, "be muzzled," which suggests a demonic attack, compare Mar_1:25 where the same verb is used to command the evil spirit to leave the demon possessed man alone - Mark 1:25 NIV "Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!")His voice commands the voices of the waves. Indeed, God is mightier "than the mighty waves of the sea" (Psa_93:4).
God's stability is seen in His establishing the world "so that it cannot be moved." This probably refers to creation. Psa_104:5 speaks of God as "You who laid the foundations of the earth, / So that it should not be moved forever." The earthhas no autonomous existence. It is established because God is established.
Therefore, the psalmist quickly adds in verse Psa_93:2 : "Your throne was established ["fixed," "securely determined"] long ago." The throne of God represents the kingship and rule of God. This rule is "from old" because God is "from everlasting." Thus the world is established in the eternal God. He reigns as King (Psa_93:1) and manifests this reign through His faithful preservation of this planet and His powerful interventions in our lives.
God, however, preexists His creation in verse Psa_90:2. Karl Barth insisted that "God is God." By this he meant that the god that the church reveres is no god at all. This god is simply a construction of the modern mind and is, therefore, an idol. It is the secret way in which we have enthroned ourselves. Thus that which is called god is in truth humanity itself. (For example, the liberal says, "God cannot perform miracles," or in its dispensational form the church says, "God does not perform miracles today," telling God what He can and cannot do). If, however, Psalm 90 is true, then God is God because He is the Creator who has given the universe being. The life of the creation is always derivative from Him. There can never be a confusion between God and humankind. We have no independent existence, and since we cannot create ourselves, we must submit to "God is God."
As in verse Psa_93:2, now the psalmist addresses the Lord directly. He confesses that God's “statutes" ("decrees"), that is, His covenant promises and demands, “stand firm" ("steadfast," "trustworthy"). We can throw our weight upon them. They stand; the world does not (Isa_40:8). Isaiah 40:6-8 NIV A voice says, "Cry out." And I said, "What shall I cry?" "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. (7) The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. (8) The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."
Moreover, "holiness" [moral and ritual purity, "separateness"] adorns [God's] house," that is, the Jerusalem temple (1Ki_8:13) "forever." It is holy because the God who dwells there is holy (1Ki_8:6, 1Ki_8:10-11). For us, the eternal holiness of God's house refers to the risen body of Jesus.John 2:21-22 NIV But the temple he had spoken of was his body. (22) After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.Through which we have access into heaven. Hebrews 9:24 NIV For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence.Here is our ultimate stability in the storm, the risen, reigning Lord.
