The main theme of this psalm is very clearly the greatness and majesty of God. And the writer does not simply declare that God is great; he gives a number of vivid pictures which highlight various aspects of the greatness of God. We will look at each one in turn.

First, the psalmist says, “The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed; he has put on strength as his belt.” These verses provide us with a vivid picture of God’s kingship and sovereignty. The image of a robe conjures up the picture of a King. A robe is one of the things that a King would wear in order to clearly demonstrate his position as King. Indeed, the psalmist’s goal is to make clear that the Lord is King. And with what is the Lord clothed? The psalmist says he is robed in majesty and puts on strength as His belt. The idea of majesty is an ideal of glory and greatness. The Lord is great because He is clothed in greatness; He is the King seated on high.

Second, the psalmist says, “Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.” Here we see a picture of the Lord’s greatness in His status as Creator. The wording here is somewhat awkward – as if the psalmist is praising the earth for being established. The thrust of the passage, however, is not to exalt the earth but to exalt the one who made the earth. The fact that the earth is established and shall never be moved is not a reason to praise the earth but a reason to praise the one who established the earth. This idea is assumed in Hebrews 3:3-4, “For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses – as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor that the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)” So just as a builder is praised for a beautiful house, so the Lord is to be praised and exalted for establishing this world. The fact that He created something that is established and shall never be moved – unless He moves it – is a definitive sign of His greatness. In fact, the earth that god has established is such a mark of his handiwork that Paul makes clear that God’s “invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” The psalmist wants to make very clear that the greatness of the Lord is clearly seen in his status as Creator because the Creator is inherently greater than that which He has created – and God created all tings that have been made.

Third, the psalmist writes, “Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting.” Here is a direct reference to the greatness of the Lord in His eternity and infinity. It is extremely difficult for our finite minds to even think about eternity and infinity. And yet the psalmist clearly declares that the Lord is “from everlasting.” It is a distinguishing mark of God that He is eternal. If he is not eternal, then He is created and – as we just saw – that which is created is inherently inferior to the one who created it. Is God inferior to anyone? Of course not. The idea is absurd and that is what the psalmist wants to convey. The Lord is great, because He was before anything else. When Moses asks God what he will say to the Israelites to prove that god has sent him, God says to tell the people that I AM has sent you. It is a declaration of sheer existence. The Lord is great, because He is eternal, as is His reign.

Fourth, the psalmist writes, “The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring. Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier that the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty!” Here we see the psalmist declaring God’s might over all who would rise up against Him in rebellion. The obvious direct reference by the psalmist is to the seas and the might waters. While I do think God is mighty over the seas and mighty waters, I think the reference here is to something more. It is common in the Psalms, and elsewhere in Old Testament poetry, to use seas and waters as poetic imagery for all things that rear up in rebellion against God. So with that in mind, the psalmist’s declaration is that the Lord is mightier than all who rise up against Him. If you look back through history, there is at least on thing that all great empires have in common – they have fallen. From the Egyptians to the Babylonians to the Romans to the European empires, the thing they share is that they were eventually toppled. The corridors of time and the pages of our history books are full of kings, rulers, and dictators who fell. The psalmist’s goal with this declaration is to prove that God is not one of those dead, defeated rulers who litter the halls of time. Rather, some of those empires that fell were destroyed by the very hand of God himself – as in the case of the Babylonians. All of the empires I mentioned raised themselves up and eventually declared some human to be God. And now all of those empires are gone but the Lord still reigns. The Lord is mighty in that He rules over those who rebel against Him and will never be defeated by them.

At this point, you would almost expect the Psalm to close with a reiteration of verse 1. There are a number of Psalms that close with a verse which either closely resembles or exactly matches the opening verse. However, that is not the case here. In fact, at first glance, the last verse of this Psalm does not even seem to fit with the first four verses – it seems to have a different theme. After extolling the greatness and majesty and might of the Lord for the first four verses of the Psalm, the psalmist writes, “Your decrees are very trustworthy; holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore.” There is a stark shift in this verse from the might and power of God as Sovereign King to the trustworthiness and holiness of God. These are references to moral virtues rather than references to physical strength and position as we have seen in the first four verses. Why this shift? Why does the psalmist include these statements in a psalm about the greatness of the Lord. I think it is for this reason – the absolute greatness of the Lord rests just as much on the fact that He is holy and right and just as it does on the fact that He is mighty over all things. If God was absolutely mighty but not trustworthy, how could we ever believe what He had told us? If God was not absolutely pure and just, how could we be sure that He would not simply throw away all the promises He has made to His people? The answer there is that we could not. Our hope and faith and the psalmist’s hop and faith rest not on a God who is mighty and untrustworthy or on a God who is might and wicked but on a God who is mighty, trustworthy, and holy. Derek Kidner says this of this verse, “Here is God’s true glory, not of mere strength but of character: wholly reassuring, wholly demanding. ‘Thy decrees’ are literally ‘thy testimonies’ or ‘affirmations’, a term which emphasizes that Scripture rests on the integrity of God who vouches for its statements, promises, warnings and commands.”

So we see why this shift is important. The two things mentioned in this last verse of the psalm have just as much to do with the greatness of the Lord as the first four verses. The Lord is great because He is trustworthy. God cannot lie and He has made a great number of promises to His people that will be of inestimable value to us and to our faith if we would but know them and trust them. It is a clear sign of God’s greatness that we are able to trust that He will do what He has said He will do. We do not have to worry that we will get to the end of life and find that God has changed His mind or played some kind of cruel joke on His people. The Lord is trustworthy and, therefore, everything that He has said is trustworthy.

The psalmist then closes the Psalm by saying, “holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore.” Again, the wording here is a bit awkward because the psalmist does not directly come out and say that God is holy. He says it in an indirect way – by saying that holiness befits God’s house. Just like the statement about the trustworthiness of God, this is a declaration about the moral character of God – that He is holy. In fact, God is so holy, that even His dwelling place is to be made holy. The psalmist, as he writes this, very likely has in mind the requirements for the tabernacle that traveled with the people of Israel and/or the temple in Jerusalem depending on when He is writing. There were specific requirements for the construction of those two things. The requirements were meant to make the place holy so that God’s presence could indeed dwell there. Understanding the reference then, we must understand what it means that God is holy. It is a sign of His greatness that He cannot simply overlook sin. If he were to do that, it would leave a gaping hole in His greatness because any sort of wrongdoing must be punished. It is a sign of the Lord’s greatness that He punishes sin because of His holiness.

Application

So how are we to respond to a text like this? There are no direct commands to be followed; the Psalm is simply a collection of statements about God. However, recognizing that right action flows from right belief, I think there are a number of things we can do in light of this text.

First, I will say, if you are not a believer – if you have never placed your faith in Christ – there is no part of this text that should be comforting or appealing to you. Because this God who we have talked about this morning is utterly holy, He will punish your sins. He cannot do otherwise because He is perfect and you are utterly sinful. Because this God is trustworthy, you can know that you can be saved and how it is to happen. God said, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” And the way that God has provided for us to call on the name of the Lord is to place our faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus himself said, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” The Lord is trustworthy and you can know that there is no other way to salvation than by repenting of your sins and placing your faith in Jesus Christ. And if you do not, remember that God – as we saw today – is mighty. You will not overcome Him and He will not make some exception for you – that would make Him untrustworthy. If you do not repent and believe, the wrath of the mighty God that we have talked about today will be poured out on you for all of eternity. Think of how mighty the Lord is, as we saw today, and think how terrible will be His wrath on all of His enemies. Repent and believe and be saved!

If you are here today and you are a believer, how should we respond to this text. First, think about and meditate on the great might and power of the Lord. Dwell on the fact that the Lord reigns and that He is robed in majesty. Why? Because there can be no right response to the King but unwavering allegiance. This is no mayor or governor with whom you can disagree and suffer no consequences because you live in a democracy, but this is the Sovereign King of all things who does whatever He pleases and answers to no one. Dwell on the fact that the whole reason the earth does not spin off into oblivion and chaos is because the Lord Himself has established it. Charles Spurgeon – writing on this Psalm – said, “Society would be the football of the basest of mankind if God did not establish it, and even the globe itself would fly through space, like thistle-down across the common, if the Lord did not hold it in its appointed orbit. That there is any stability, either in the world or in the church, is the Lord’s doings, and He is to be adored for it.” Were you able to arrive here this morning without floating off into the air? Praise the Lord for gravity. Are you able to hear and understand what is being said and sung today? Praise the Lord that you are able because the Lord fitted you together in your mother’s womb. All order, structure and cohesion in the universe is the work of the Lord. Dwell – as much as you are able – on the fact that the Lord is eternal and unchanging. There has never been a time when He was not. And dwell on the fact that the Lord will subdue all who rise up against Him. There will never be anyone who is able to overthrow the Lord. He will never be defeated or vanquished. Behold your Lord, and think on these things.

Second, trust in the Lord? Why? Because as we just saw, his decrees are trustworthy. He will be true to the promises that He has made. For the psalmist, God had promised ultimate deliverance for His people, Israel. He had promised – among other things – that a Messiah would come (the scepter of Judah in Genesis 49, the Prophet in Deuteronomy 18, and the Son of David who would rule on the throne in 2 Samuel 7). The psalmist knew that God’s decrees were trustworthy because, no doubt, he had seen some promises of God come true. And because of that, he had faith that the promises yet unfulfilled would come true as well. So with us, we have seen God fulfill a multitude of promises – most obviously, those regarding His Son, Jesus Christ. We live in a day in which it should be impossible and absurd for a Christian to wonder if God will fulfill the promises that He has made to us. We must trust that all that God has promised and said is true. Even when it appears that the whole world is against us and we have no idea how we will be delivered, we must remember Paul’s words in Romans 8:31-32, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who die not spare his own Son but gave him us for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” Trust in the Lord, brothers and sisters, because He is trustworthy and because He is mighty. He will be true to His promises, just as He has been true in the past.

Third, PRAY! Why? For the same reasons we have been mentioning – because the Lord is might and able to do whatever he pleases and because He is trustworthy. You might say, “But if God is mighty and does whatever He pleases, what effect will my prayers have on Him?” But God has said, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” God has ordained that our prayers be effective, so WE MUST PRAY. We have no choice but to pray, because are the exact opposite of God as we have seen Him today. We are in no way majestic or mighty. We are created and are inherently inferior to our Creator. We are utterly finite and we are easily overcome. And yet, the Lord has seen fit to allow us as finite, weak people to come into His throne room by the blood of Jesus Christ and offer up our prayers and supplications. Would we not do it.

Fourth, be holy as the Lord is holy. Just as we saw earlier, the psalmist declares that holiness befits the house of the Lord. That is why the temple had specific requirements when it was built – it had to be holy as God is holy. But what is the “house of the Lord” in the New Testament? 2 Corinthians 6:16-18 says, “What agreement has the temple of god with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.’” Ephesians 2:19-22 says, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of god, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” Hebrews 3:5-6 says, “Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.” Do you see? If you are a believer, you are the house of God and “holiness befits the house of the Lord!” Would you profane the house of God by giving your members over to sin? Fight for holiness, brothers and sisters, because we must do so as the household of God. Be holy as the Lord your God is holy! The Church is now the household of God. Christ died to redeem her and make her holy, so we must labor toward that end as well.

THE GREATNESS AND MAJESTY OF GOD