This Psalm is part of a group of theocratic Psalms (Psalms 93– 100). The general subject is the kingship of God the LORD (Yahweh),
and the praise derived from the fact that He reigns. OUTLINE
I. The LORD Is Holy in
His Being (vv. 1-3)
II. The LORD Is Holy in
His Justice (vv. 4-5)
III. The LORD Is Holy in
His Forgiveness (vv. 6-9)
This threefold repetition of God’s holiness reminds us of the angels refrain in Isaiah’s vision of God: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” (Isa. 6:3). Spurgeon calls it the “Holy, holy, holy Psalm”.[1] In Isaiah, the manifestation of God’s presence causes the thresholds of the temple to tremble (Isa 6:4); so here in Ps. 99:1b, the whole earth quakes.
I chose this Psalm for this evening,
because I wanted us to think about the attribute of God’s holiness. There is
probably no attribute of God which needs to be rediscovered more in our day
than His holiness. The modern church seems to be more enamoured with the
therapeutic and psychological uses of God to provide us with inner peace,
than with the fact that He is holy and therefore, having created us in
His image, He is calling us to be holy.
Holiness is what defines God’s
character most fundamentally. The holiness of God (Hebr. quodesh) is a quality which separates God from everything else He
has created. To use a German phrase - “ER
ist der ganz Andere” – He is the wholly Other. God’s holiness is closely
associated with His glory (Hebr. kabod),
a word which associates God with being
weighty. The point is that if we do not revere God as holy, then He rests
lightly on us. And that is the curse that we find in our modern church. God is
not seen and understood as holy and glorious. He rests lightly on us.We easily substitute Him for created glory, and that
is what causes God to hand us over to our depraved beings (Romans 1:8ff) - when we
are, as it where, left to our own devices and left to destroy ourselves. Oh,
brothers and sisters pray that the Lord would rend the heavens and come down … to make His name known to our
adversaries and that the nations might tremble at His presence” (Isaiah 64:1 ,2)
I.
99: 1-3 The LORD Is Holy in His Being
99:1 The Lord reigns. He is the Great I AM that I AM. YAHWEH is His Name. He is the undisputed Ruler of
the Universe – there is no one besides Him. He is the King of kings and Lord of
lords. He is the Alpha and Omega – the beginning and the end; let the people tremble[2]
(cf. 96:9)... let the earth quake.
He sits enthroned upon the cherubim (cf. Ps 80:1).
The allusion here is to the
Shechinah glory - manifested in the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, in the
holy of holies on the mercy-seat, between the cherubim. Here God promised to
have His earthly visible dwelling[3].
The cherubim are first mentioned as
guarding the gates of Paradise (Gen.3:24);
In Ezekiel
1 & Ezekiel 10 we find them carrying
the throne of God upon their wings through the clouds; But here in the tabernacle/ temple they are
made as statues overlaid with gold. They overshadow the cover of the ark of the
covenant. Between the two cherubim in the temple, the Shechinah, or visible symbol of the presence of God, rested and
therefore God is represented here as “dwelling
between the cherubim,”[4]
99:2 The Lord is great in Zion – (cf. Psalm 95:3).
We have already seen that the LORD reigns in the earth. That signifies His
greatness. But we see now in particular that He is great in Zion - in context Jerusalem, but beyond that this also refers to the manifested presence of the city of God, which is the church – His people, and ultimately the bride of the Lamb (Rev. 21:9). God is ever within the true Church. But
remember this – the greatness of the true Church is God. Not her wealth,
prestige, orthodoxy, culture, or intelligence, but His inhabitation – according
to the covenantal promise: I will be your
God- you will be my people!
And “he is exalted above
all the peoples” - Above all the nations. He has them under his control. He
rules over all. The God who rules in Zion – the church, also rules all the
nations of the earth. The peoples of the
earth do not bow to him now, but the day will come when every knee will bow,
and every tongue confess to God (Isa.
45:23 cf. Rom. 14:11; see also Phil.
2:10-11 – where this is applied to the Lord Jesus)
99:3 Let
them praise your great and awesome (being feared) name. The Name and the Being of God in its very nature evokes awe
and reverence. The word “them” here refers to both Zion and all peoples. The
entire world owes God praise by virtue
of who He is – and again , if they do not do so now, they will then, when He
appears in glory!
The first section ends, as the second and third do, by
stating, ”Holy is He! This fundamental attribute of God needs
to be meditated upon. We need to understand this. We need to see Him for who He
is, being absolutely distinct from all His creatures, and exalted above His
creatures in infinite majesty. His holiness is seen by us in His display of
holiness. No man can see God and live. The holiness of God is seen in His absolute moral purity. He is completely
without sin and apart from it. “God is
light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). This means that nothing unclean, defiled, sinful, dark
can enter His presence.
Do you now appreciate the atoning death of Jesus, whose blood
cleanses us from sin, and who presents us faultless in the presence of His
glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24)?
God is called holy more often than any other title. His name,
which signifies all his attributes is holy (Ps. 103:1). There is no
other attribute of God repeated three times in the praise of it. We never read
of the angels crying out, “Eternal,
eternal, eternal” or “Faithful,
faithful, faithful” or “Love, love,
love.” In fact, we can say that God’s holiness relates to all of His
perfections: His justice is a holy justice; his wisdom a holy wisdom; his love
is a holy love etc.
II. 99:4-5 The LORD Is Holy in His Justice
99:4 The King in his might loves justice. The word king here refers to God as a king, cf. 99:1. The word rendered “might” means strength
and the reference here is to what constitutes the main strength or power of His
character and the nature of His government. God’s essential character, and all
the displays of his authority, display justice.
You have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness
in Jacob. God is always on the side
of justice and always on the side of
that that which is right.
99:5 Exalt the LORD our God - Let his name be lifted up on high. Let it be seen from far
away. Let it be done with a raised voice!
Worship
at his footstool. Worship (Hebr. shahah here literally translates as “be
prostrated/ bowed down”). Exalting God as a human being relates to the act of lowering/
humbling ourselves – to see ourselves in proper relation to Him. To worship at his footstool. The reference here is to the footstool on
which the feet of a king rested when he sat on his throne (see also Ps. 132:7 ). It reflects a common
ancient near eastern practice of bowing at the feet of a king on his throne. Holy is he (cf. 99:3). The fact that God is holy is a reason for humbling
ourselves, bowing down before Him.
III. 99:6-9 The
LORD Is Holy in His Forgiveness
99: 6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among them that call upon his name. Moses, Aaron and Samuel were spiritual leaders. These three interceded for the people of Israel and at various times acted as guardians of the Lord’s testimonies and statutes that they had received. They were responsible for leading Israel in true worship. They called to the Lord and he answered them. They were the example, they were the custodians of public worship. They taught Israel how to approach God, as the elders of our church are also reminding you this coming week concerning how to approach God in prayer and fasting.
“And he answered them” - When they approached God, He heard their
prayers. „ “He”
is an emphatic pronoun: “They called on
the LORD, and He Himself answered them.”
It is not a useless thing to praise and worship God Him. In
fact, it is right and fitting for His creatures to do so! We must come to God
in prayer expecting to hear from Him. Indeed, prayer and praise is a right
response to a holy God.
99:7 In
the pillar of the cloud he spoke to them - the pillar which guided the
Israelites in the wilderness - the “Shechinah” - the visible symbol of the
divine presence. They kept his
testimonies ... They obeyed his
laws, and therefore God heard them and answered them. Note – “He
spoke . . . He gave . . . You answered (v.8)”. God is a prayer answering God.
9:8 O Lord our God you answered them. You were a forgiving God to them - They were not perfect; they were
sinners; they often offended the LORD ,
and yet He answered them, and showed
them mercy. He is a forgiving God. Only
God can forgive our sin.
“…but an avenger of
their wrongdoings” - their sins. There is no allusion to any particular sin here, and so we take it in a general sense.
God being holy does not overlook sin – whether it be the sin of these leaders
of the sin of this nation. Most
commentators believe that the reference is primarily to Israel’s sin.
99:9 Exalt
the Lord our God and worship at his
holy mountain - In 99:5, “at his footstool.” The “holy hill” here refers
to Zion, as the seat of the national worship. For the Lord our God is holy – cf. 99:5. This closes the Psalm with
the repeated fact he fact that God is a holy God This remains at all times the
highest reason for our praise of Him.
APPLICATION
·
The
Lord is King – let us tremble. This is true for all peoples of the
world
·
The
Lord loves justice
·
We
must abandon sin, because God is holy.
·
We
must praise Him because He is holy
·
We
must bring our petitions to God, because He answers prayer.
·
We
must exalt and worship God, because He forgives sin.
·
Our
prayer and praise becomes richer and deeper when we study the holiness of God.
[1]
C.H. Spurgeon : The Treasury of David, Vol II, p.225
[2] The
Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate render this, “Let the people rage” - or, be
angry: as if the idea were that God reigned, although the people were enraged,
and were opposed to him.
[3] Exodus
25:18, Exodus 25:22; Exodus 37:7; 1Sa 4:4; 1 Kings 6:25
[4] Exodus
25:22; Numbers 7:89; Psalms 80:1; Psalms 99:1
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