Psalm 97

When the Apostle Paul began preaching about Christ and the resurrection to some of the philosophers in Athens, the reaction was not entirely positive. We are told in Acts 17:18 that some said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities.”

Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew, but He was a Jewish Messiah who came not only to save Jews, but also Gentiles. Our God is the God of the whole world.

The Lord reigns over all the earth. That should not make the nations angry or envious. They should rejoice. They have not been excluded from the saving work of Almighty God. Wonderful!

The Lord is God of all the earth. In Psalm 97, we sing about His coming. He can make the mountains melt like wax before His presence.

When He returns, people will not have the strength to say, “He seems to be some sort of foreign deity.” The world will tremble before the presence of the Lord. But our trembling will give way to glorious joy.

Many people from many coastlands, from the shores of Israel, to the shores of New England, to the shores of Papua, will be exceedingly glad.

We do not have to wait until that great day to recognize that the Lord is God over all the earth. Since the moment that the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the heavens have declared His righteousness, and all the peoples of the earth have seen His glory. Already today, those who make their boast in idols should consider carefully that God is displayed in His own handiwork. All powers among men and angels should worship Him now.

But enough about far off nations and idols. What is troubling us so much today?

Whatever it is, it needs to melt away before the presence of the Lord. It is time for us to end our conversations with our own souls, one moment accusing ourselves again for old offenses, in the next moment excusing ourselves for the same sins based on old extenuating circumstances. We can talk to God now. We can hear His voice and be renewed by His majesty and love. We can thank Him for the cross.

The daughters of Judah can be glad today for the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We can thank Him right now for what He has done. We can hear His promise to come again. We can rejoice that Christ has already taken away our judgment.

When our own souls worry that others are secretly judging us with old news, (our shame, our portion of the curse, our griefs, and our failures), we can remember again that Christ has carried all of this far away for us on the cross. Then we can laugh with heaven's laughter. Our God reigns.

By the power of the cross, we can hate evil in ourselves and others, and look for the fullness of divine deliverance. By the power of the cross, we can thank Him that He has preserved our lives to this day and that He has delivered us from so many troubles already. By the power of the cross, we can rejoice again that Light has been planted in our hearts, and we can rejoice in the Lord.

And we can laugh. We can laugh when we remember that the God of the Jews is not some foreign divinity. He is our Savior and our God.