The Bible says in Psalm 97:1, “The LORD
reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.” This verse
gives one of the many reasons to praise God: “The LORD reigneth.” The Lord is
in control. The Lord decides what will be the outcome of every human endeavor.
The Lord is responsible for the earth. The earth and everyone in it belongs to
Him. Every government, every leader, and every country belong to Him. He
decides their fate. He raises up and cats down. Jesus is the King of kings.
That should bring us great comfort, take away all fear, and instill confidence
in every believer. What a joy to know this truth.
The Bible says in Psalm 97:2, “Clouds and
darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of
his throne.” ”Clouds and darkness” represent the fact that God hides
Himself. We cannot see Him. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who see without
believing.” Every time that someone believes on Jesus without seeing Him, a
miracle takes place. Although, God can make His presence so real that it is almost as though we see Him when He saves our
soul. Think about how wonderful it will be when we do get to see Him in heaven.
That will be astounding. But until we see Him, there are many evidences of His
existence: “righteousness and judgment” are mentioned in verse two. God will
always do the right thing, and we see that in the world around us. Even with
all the evil that some people do, sometimes God overrides what is going on and
effectively says, “Not this time. I am going to make a good thing happen. I am going
to make the truth come out.” We see the same thing with judgment. No one will
escape God’s final judgment. And in this world God judges who He will and when
He will. That is why Christians should not judge anyone. That is God’s job, and
He does it very well. You can escape God’s judgment if you repent of your sins
and turn to Christ.
The Bible says in Psalm 97:3, “A fire goeth
before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.” This is
a vivid picture of the fact that Go brings His judgment when He wants to bring
His judgment, and He does bring it. His judgment is called fire because that is
what hell will be: eternal fire. If I were you, I would seek to escape the fires
of hell by repenting of your sins and turning to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible says in Psalm 97:4-6, “His
lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled.[5] The
hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord
of the whole earth.[6] The heavens declare his righteousness, and all
the people see his glory.” The powerful forces of nature were created by God, and God controls
them, and God uses them. We live in an amazingly beautiful world with great
displays of power and might. Lightening is a great flash of electrical power
that in an instant can bring light to the darkness, and can also destroy.
Sometimes a person’s life is touched like a bolt of lightening out of heaven. That
is the reason for dramatic conversions to Christ. The “presence of
the LORD” can do anything. Everything that God is doing is for this reason:
so that all the people of the earth will “see his glory.” If you are
in the blindness of the darkness of the world, it will take a flash of light
from heaven for you to see. Jesus is the Light.
The Bible says in Psalm 97:7, “Confounded
be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship
him, all ye gods.” If you do not turn to the Lord, then you will be “confounded.”
You will be confused. You will know only error and falsehood. Interesting that
the last part of verse seven says, “worship him, all ye gods.” Of course,
there are no other gods, but if there were, they would be commanded to worship
the LORD too. We are all headed towards the day when we will be bowed in the presence
of the Lord Jesus. The demons will be there too before they are cast into hell.
The book of Romans quotes from the book of Isaiah and says in Romans 14:11, “For it is
written, as I live, saith the LORD, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue
shall confess to God.”
The Bible says in Psalm 97:8, “Zion heard
and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O
LORD.” What did Zion hear? They heard that the LORD is Judge. Where
did they hear that important truth? They heard it from the Word of God and from
other believers. One of the many advantages of being a child of God is that we
know that God is Judge. He will decide everything. He will make the right
decision and the good decision. He is God and there is none else.
The Bible says in Psalm 97:9, “For thou, LORD,
art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods.” This is a
verse that honors God for who He is: His majesty, His glory, His love, His
power, His eternal existence, His knowledge. Because He is above everything and
everyone, He deserves our worship. Because He is above everything and everyone,
we are comforted knowing that He will decide and He will intervene in His way
and in His time.
The Bible says in Psalm 97:10, “Ye that love
the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them
out of the hand of the wicked.” Until God does His final judgment and until
each of us is taken off the earth, there is something for us to do. Actually, there
are two things for us to do. The first is to love God. If you know that Jesus
died for you out of His great eternal love for you, then surely you love Him
back. If you do love Him, then this is the second thing for you to do according
to verse ten above: “hate evil.” One of the reasons that Jesus saved our souls is so that we
would become the human beings that He wants us to be. Are you improving your
life? Are you making it better? One good start to that is to “hate evil.” There is
evil in the world. There is evil that can come out of your own heart. Your job
is to love God and hate evil. If you are truly saved, you did not get saved by
faith in Christ just to stay out of hell, but you also got saved in order to
follow Jesus and serve Him in this life. What does God want you to do? He wants
you to do the right. Make decisions based upon what is right, not what is
profitable. Do right until the stars fall. That is God’s will. That is what He
does.
The second phrase of verse ten tells
us perhaps the most important benefit of being a true believer in Jesus: “he
preserveth the souls of his saints.” Once you get saved by putting your
faith in the Lord Jesus, you will end up in heaven. That is called eternal
security. It is expressed in many ways all through the Bible. Jesus said that
we are in His hands and in the Father’s hands, and no one can pluck us out.
That means that you cannot pluck yourself out either. We are told very clearly
that we are saved by grace through faith, not of works, in Ephesians chapter
two. One of the reasons for good works is not to help save your soul, but to
give you rewards when you get to heaven. First Corinthians 3:11-15 makes that
very clear. It says in verses fourteen and fifteen, “If any man's
work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.[15]
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall
be saved; yet so as by fire.” You receive eternal life the moment that you
believe on Jesus. Your eternal life starts the moment that you believe on
Jesus. How long does eternal life last? It lasts forever. Once you have eternal
life, that life lats forever and you will never perish. That is the grace of
God because of the blood of Christ.
Until we get to heaven, we are in a
world of spiritual opposition where people who are wicked are a danger to us.
How can we be protected in such a world: by the Almighty God. Once you believe
on Jesus and start following Him, God has a plan for your life. You will live
as long as God wants to use you on this earth. Live your life to the fullest
and do not fear. God will give you wisdom and will guide through the maze of
life and the dangers of life until God is ready for you to come up to heaven. It
promises at the end of Psalm 97:10, “he delivereth them out of the hand
of the wicked.”
The Bible says in Psalm 97:11, “Light is
sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.” What do
believers have that the unbelievers do not have? We have forgiveness of sins
and eternal life. We also have two things mentioned in this verse: light and
gladness. We have light because we have seen the Light of Christ. We have light
because we have the Spirit of God to show us the way in a dark world. We have
light because we have the Word of God which gives to us such a sure foundation
of truth. And we have gladness. Is there any greater joy than to know that the
LORD loves you, that your sins are forgiven through Christ, and that you have a
home in heaven that awaits you? One of the fruits of the Spirit is “joy.” Notice
that this gladness is promised to “the upright in heart.” Do the right
thing because it will bring you joy and gladness. Sin and it will bring you
sorrow and regret. The entertainment industry is often lying. Alcohol, and
drugs, and lust, and a wild life style do not bring happiness: they bring
destruction and regret and sorrow in heavy measure.
The Bible says in Psalm 97:12, “Rejoice in
the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.” That are
many things for which each of us have to be thankful. There is a great gospel
song that starts out: “Count your blessings, name them one by one.” Verse
twelve tells us to “give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.” One of the big
problems that any Christian can have is to look too much at people, and then
react the wrong way. People are sinners. People fail. People make mistakes. People
say things that they should not say. That is reality. Why should reality bother
you so much? Put your eyes on the Lord and you will not find any mistakes. Only
God is perfect. Only Jesus obeyed the whole law without fail. We can be
thankful to the Lord that there is goodness and there is holiness. He is holy.
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2019 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved