Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] It's really a delight this morning to have the comfort of the word of God. Amen.
[00:00:07] To know that we praise the Lord because he is indeed glorious.
[00:00:13] And that's what we're going to spend our time thinking about today from Psalm 47. So if you'd like to turn there with me to Psalm 47, that's page 472 in your red seatback Bibles. If you're going to use one of those Psalm 47, I'd like to begin by reading that together with you as we look to our glorious God to give us encouragement, comfort, ultimately to lift our eyes to who he is for us, to us.
[00:00:45] So we're going to read Psalm 47.
[00:00:51] Psalm 47 says this to the choirmaster, a psalm of the sons of Korah.
[00:00:59] Clap your hands, all peoples Shout to God with loud songs of joy. For the Lord the Most High is to be feared. A great king over all the earth. He subdued peoples under us and nations under our feet. He chose our heritage for us. The pride of Jacob, whom he loves God has gone up with a shout.
[00:01:23] The Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
[00:01:25] Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises to our king. Sing praises for God is the king of all the earth.
[00:01:34] Sing praises with a psalm. God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne.
[00:01:42] The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham for the shields of the earth belong to God. He is highly exalted.
[00:01:55] Let me pray that God might help us as we dwell for a few minutes in the celebration of Psalm 47 together. Let's pray.
[00:02:04] Father in Heaven.
[00:02:06] Marvelous, majestic, merciful.
[00:02:13] We come now to delight in, to celebrate you in your word.
[00:02:19] We see in Psalm 47 a call to joyful celebration.
[00:02:24] While we may not all feel celebratory today, help us as those humbled by you, to hear how and why we have the privilege to celebrate.
[00:02:39] Cause our hearts to rejoice in your word.
[00:02:42] Counting Christ, our living word, as the greatest treasure, one that can never be lost.
[00:02:49] We love you, our Father, in Jesus name.
[00:02:52] Amen.
[00:02:55] Brothers and sisters, the Bible tells us that some celebrations cannot and should not and will not be contained or restrained.
[00:03:09] Two weeks ago at a conference, I had the privilege to talk with a Bible translator named Dave. Dave also serves as a translation coach consultant for GSI workers.
[00:03:21] Dave is. He's growing older. He's more frail, in fact. Dave and his wife Nancy were in training with my parents back in the 70s.
[00:03:32] And that dates me and him, right?
[00:03:36] So he knew me as a small Child. In fact, on one occasion not too long ago, he made the bold decision at one of these events to pull up a picture of four year old Mikey.
[00:03:45] That was me. That was me. And show that to the crowd. Some found that interesting and entertaining. I wasn't necessarily entertained, bless my heart, but I don't have that photo for you today either. So I decided to leave that one with Dave. But at the conference two weeks ago, Dave tearfully held out a beautiful Bible in his hands.
[00:04:07] Because he said that last month, after 45 years of investment, that he and his co workers had completed and presented a whole Bible translation to the Lamugai people of Papua New Guinea. Now, of the 7,393 recorded living languages in the world, only 800 have whole Bible translations.
[00:04:31] So the Lamugai of Papua New guinea have joined those of us who have the privilege, like in English, of translations of the whole Bible. So listen to Dave's words as he wrote about this event. He said, last month the Lamogai people received the first copies of the complete Bible in their heart language, the Old and New Testaments, in a single volume.
[00:04:55] It was a time of great celebration.
[00:04:58] We had a wonderful reunion with our precious Lamugai brothers and sisters in Christ. Some of them we have known for over 45 years. Many of our Lamugai friends have gone on to be with the Lord ahead of us.
[00:05:12] We look forward to joining them someday for a much bigger reunion, a much more magnificent celebration that will last forever. Amen.
[00:05:23] So I was intent on you understanding what I'm talking about. So I want you to watch, just for a minute, a clip. And I know this is controversial. I'm willing to take on the heat, all right. But to watch a video of the Lamo guy celebrating the arrival of the Bible in the communities where Dave and his wife work. This was just taken about a month ago.
[00:06:44] No, that's wonderful. Right?
[00:06:46] Amen.
[00:06:48] Wouldn't you think that, you know, I know that that kind of celebratory response probably wouldn't reflect what we will do next Sunday. Okay, I get that. But it's such a unique joy to see peoples who have been redeemed, who recognize where they came from, then to turn in ways that they know how to express, show that kind of gratitude to the Lord in celebratory worship of him.
[00:07:15] And so I'm asking us the question this morning.
[00:07:19] What is it that we celebrate?
[00:07:22] Why can we celebrate?
[00:07:26] Who must we celebrate?
[00:07:29] So even today, God's word is directing us, it's steadying us so that we prayerfully lift our eyes to the celebratory delight and hope and joy of the King in Psalm 47.
[00:07:45] So here's our big takeaway this morning.
[00:07:48] Celebrate our exalted, Enthroned and Everlasting King. Celebrate our exalted, Enthroned and Everlasting King.
[00:08:01] Now, we're going to take that main idea in three sections this morning. Three points, and you can hear them in what I've described. The Exalted King in verses two to four, the Enthroned King in verses five to seven, and the Everlasting King in verses eight and nine. And I'll repeat those as we progress.
[00:08:28] But before we dive into that first point, the Exalted King, it's important for us to set the context for what will come, because the SuperScript in verse 1 helped to establish the direction of this psalm.
[00:08:44] The superscript, if you look there, says to the choirmaster a psalm of the sons of Korah.
[00:08:50] Clap your hands, all peoples. Verse 1. Shout to God with loud songs of joy. Now, I want you to notice a few details about the opening of the psalm with that superscript and verse before we talk about celebrating the Exalted King. Our first point, the superscript and the verse should stir up for us questions about the setting, about the context for the psalm. For example, who are the sons of Korah?
[00:09:19] What does that tell us about the context?
[00:09:22] Well, let's find our historical place here. Let's find our bearings based on these original superscripts that were accompanying these psalms when they were written. This is one of 11 songs of the sons of Korah. So these men were temple musicians, primarily during the time period of David and Solomon.
[00:09:41] And they were those who, when they gave a command like this 1 In Psalm 47, they were reflecting their time period. So likely the psalm took place in the time of David or Solomon, either. Now, listen with me, either when the ark was first taken up to Jerusalem, the Ark of the Covenant, and it was taken to rest in the tabernacle or temple area under David or Solomon, or when the Ark of the Covenant, which was often taken into battle with the military, which was returning to Jerusalem as a triumph of celebration.
[00:10:18] So we have this idea of the potential for a great military victory for the nation that's being celebrated in an event like this. So either way, though, either way, we're Talking about probably 900 to a thousand years before Christ.
[00:10:33] So this song being sung while the ark is in ascension, that's going to be made more clear in verse five.
[00:10:40] So while the Ark is going up to Jerusalem. And you know that Jerusalem is always up in the Bible. It's always up. So remember, the Ark of the covenant is that supreme symbol of God's forever presence, his faithful person and his forgiving purposes for his people. So it's important for us to understand the context there because we. In verse one, we're left with a significant question that I think is even more striking then even more poignant.
[00:11:11] Verse 1 issues this call for all peoples to celebrate the king of the ascending ark.
[00:11:19] That's the theme of the psalm.
[00:11:22] That language, nation, peoples concept that we heard preached about from Genesis traces all the way back to Genesis 10 and 11, and it takes place actually a thousand years earlier than this psalm, that concept.
[00:11:37] So how can the sons of Korah, here's the question. How can the sons of Korah, during the time of David and Solomon, call and expect, command all nations, languages peoples to clap their hands and shout to God with joy. How can they do that?
[00:11:56] Because to be clear, up to this point in the history of the Old Testament, we have encountered many of those language nation peoples, but we've only seen them as the enemies of Israel.
[00:12:09] So let me name a few for you language nation peoples like the Egyptians and the Amalekites and the Amorites and the Midianites and the Arameans and the Ammonites and the Moabites and the Edomites and the Jebusites and the Philistines, right?
[00:12:24] And then after David's time, after this psalm is written, the Bible will describe other language nation peoples like those who will continue to oppose Israel, like Assyria and Babylon and Medo, Persia and Greece and Rome.
[00:12:40] So why would the sons of Korah in the time period of David and Solomon write to former and present and future enemies of the nation of Israel and challenge them, that they must all delight with joy. They must all delight with clapping and singing alongside Israel.
[00:12:59] So I'm asking you to stay with me because that's going to be an important question for us to answer today. Because as we answer that question from this prophetic psalm, we're going to know why we, as those among the peoples among the Gentiles, must also celebrate the exalted, enthroned and everlasting king.
[00:13:21] So that brings us to our first point in verses two to four. First in verses two to four, now that we have that context established, we're commanded verse one. To celebrate the exalted king. To celebrate the exalted king.
[00:13:35] Now, in these verses, I know sub points can make you Your hair stand on end. But just listen with me now. I got three sub points, believe it or not. Okay, so in celebration of the exalted king, in verses 2 through 4, the author gives three reasons why we celebrate God as the exalted King because of his. And I'm going to repeat these, so don't, don't lose your sanity here. Because of his majestic character, verse two, because of his mighty conquering, verse three and because of his merciful choosing, verse four. So his majestic character, his mighty conquering, his merciful choosing. Three reasons why we celebrate the exalted king.
[00:14:22] So let's walk through those briefly together. Okay, we first see celebration of this exalted king because of his majestic character in verse two.
[00:14:31] Verse two says there like we read, for the Lord the Most High is to be feared, a great king over all the earth.
[00:14:39] This unique Yahweh, all caps Lord there.
[00:14:42] This covenant keeper of Israel is also El Elyon.
[00:14:47] He's the most high.
[00:14:49] He reigns over the entirety of his creation. So even as the covenant God of Israel, his character is gloriously all encompassing. No people in any place at any time on this earth has ever escaped the domain of his majestic character.
[00:15:08] That's important because in other Old Testament animistic pagan systems, so many of the Old Testament peoples were animists. They believe in spirit forces in the world around them. They had these deities that were territorial, localized, national, they kind of owned them in a sense. Ones that you've heard of, like Dagon of the Philistines or Chemosh or BAAL or Ashtoreth, language nation peoples that we ourselves have worked with in places around the world.
[00:15:35] They have similar kinds of views of animistic local manifestations of feared deities. But those feared deities have limited purview, they have limited domain.
[00:15:46] So the Ata and the Yanamaimu have deities like the Lele that are peoples who exist around strange waterfalls and water in certain places and can impact the living and they fear them or the Yandama. We think about the Hekula. Who are these, these demonic figures who, who exist in the jungles and who, who oftentimes are inhabiting animals and can then affect the living.
[00:16:12] So most of these systems are like that. They're systems that have these possessed or personalized deity figures. But for the language nation peoples of the Old Testament, then a singular, unique, most high covenant keeping, redeeming king over all the earth.
[00:16:32] That's an interesting difference in what they would have expected. And then a call for them to all celebrate that king. Now that's unique for them.
[00:16:41] And in that majestic character, Yahweh is truly to be biblically feared. The verse says feared and therefore exalted. Right? That's unique too, because most of these peoples live in systems that are fearing those deities for different kinds of reasons.
[00:16:58] But when we talk about a biblical fear, we're talking about a profound reverence and deep respect for his absolute holiness, power and authority over all the earth.
[00:17:09] And so in verse three, then we see celebrating that exalted king for that second reason, his mighty conquering.
[00:17:17] His mighty conquering.
[00:17:18] He subdued peoples under us, verse three says, and nations under our feet.
[00:17:24] Again, the reference here first historically relates to Israel as a nation.
[00:17:29] The verb here that's used is subdued or subjugated, and it's used three times in the Old Testament. All of them have to do with the enemies being defeated by God.
[00:17:42] So picture with me this image of a victor who's standing over a slain or downed enemy with his foot on the neck of that enemy. That's, that's the picture. That's. That conjures and comes to mind when we read that verb.
[00:17:59] And so again, that begs the question. It begs the question, how does a mighty conquering of subjugation like that lead to joyful celebration?
[00:18:09] How does mighty conquering lead to all peoples joyfully submitting to this king?
[00:18:17] Because, so that we don't misunderstand, just to be clear, verse one is telling us that these peoples commanded to praise God are the enemies of Israel who've been defeated.
[00:18:26] And so both Israel and the subjugated peoples must celebrate the ultimate sovereign and kingship of Yahweh.
[00:18:35] Now, friends, I know we've all read ahead, right? We've read ahead.
[00:18:40] We read ahead this morning already in Revelation 19.
[00:18:44] So we know that somehow, somehow the pathway of salvation for language nation peoples like us passes through a valley of subjugation of judgment.
[00:18:56] We know that somehow God's subduing of ancient Canaanites is not his last word to the Gentiles, including us. We know that somehow this subjugation leads to the promise of universal celebratory worship for all language nation peoples. It was Charles Spurgeon who said this about the Psalm. He said, hearts that are the most rebellious and wills the most stubborn will submit to all conquering grace.
[00:19:29] And that leads us to the celebration of the exalted king in verse four, still under this first main point, that third sub point there, because of his merciful choosing. Because of his Merciful choosing, verse 4 says, he chose our heritage for us. The pride of Jacob, whom he loves, this ancient heritage that God chose, the merciful choosing, is called the pride of Jacob. And that's a short way of speaking historically about the promise to Israel that that Yahweh would give them and that he would be their glorious inheritance. So the giving of inheritance and the being of inheritance on the part of their covenant God, like Deuteronomy chapter 7, verse 6 says, for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
[00:20:28] And Yahweh loved them with an unfailing covenantal love.
[00:20:33] Well, why did he do that?
[00:20:36] Because of their inherent goodness.
[00:20:38] And you know the answer to that question. Because they were unique or special. No.
[00:20:43] Deuteronomy chapter 7, verses 7 and 8, goes on to say, it was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set His love on you and chose you, for you are the fewest of all peoples.
[00:20:55] But it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers. And I know again, we've read ahead, right? We've read ahead. We know we too get swept up in that privilege of merciful choosing, of unfailing love.
[00:21:11] First Peter 1:4 and 2:9, put together here as a chosen race. This is us, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. We have a priceless inheritance, an inheritance that is kept in heaven for us, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.
[00:21:33] So, brothers and sisters, despite circumstances that can indicate at times to the contrary, he is our exalted king in character, in conquering, and in choosing.
[00:21:48] So let me ask you a few of the questions that I've had to ask myself recently. Okay, I know we all tend to have inner dialogues, and here are some of the kinds of questions I've had to ask myself recently.
[00:22:03] Does my heart celebrate the exalted King?
[00:22:06] How often do I go through motions of praise while my soul is staying distant from him?
[00:22:16] And you may ask me, well, hey, listen, Mike, but why should I celebrate?
[00:22:22] Like, what do I have to celebrate anyway?
[00:22:26] And I'm just going to gently challenge you again through probing questions that I'm asking myself that there's a purposefulness to a psalm like this, that this psalm prompts us first, because of Yahweh's majestic character, to ask ourselves questions like when did we last petition, last plead with God to help Us exalt His character like this by meditating through psalms, maybe even like this one. You know, really what we're doing is just having an extended meditation right now on a way to use a psalm to exalt this God.
[00:23:02] So when did I last do that, to see his wonders?
[00:23:06] When have we let that awe of him then turn into private and public worship that stirs us with joy, and not only because of that majestic character, because of the mighty conquering. Where is God patiently at work to expose in us territory in our own hearts that is unique, that these days reveals a territory like old rebellions, stubborn unbeliefs, quiet self rule, that we may not yet have surrendered to Him?
[00:23:42] Do we often or frequently, or in these days, how often do we remember with real gratitude how his grace has indeed conquered us, how his grace has defeated our true enemies of ourselves, of sin, of death, of Satan?
[00:23:59] And how do those memories, those realities, stir celebration in us?
[00:24:06] And because of his choosing, his merciful choosing, since God's choice of us was never based on our own goodness or strength or merit, but purely on his love for us, can we celebrate and rest just for a moment, even today, in our humbled privilege as those he has mercifully chosen?
[00:24:29] Because we don't have to control or create the outcomes, do we not the ones that matter the most. He chose us, and we can plead for his grace to provide for our hardships.
[00:24:40] I think all too often I find myself trying to oblige him or oblige others, or oblige myself to arrange circumstances in my life and on my terms before I will celebrate Him.
[00:24:56] So, friends, that's what it means to celebrate the Exalted King, not a resentful or pretend enthusiasm. The last thing we and I are asking any of us to do is to pretend enthusiasm, but rather a heart that's humbly experienced his character, his conquering, his choosing, and responds in a simplicity of gratitude to him for that.
[00:25:23] And that leads us to a second point which is going to be a bit shorter.
[00:25:29] But not only do we celebrate because he's our Exalted King, because He's our exalted King, we also celebrate him because he's our enthroned King.
[00:25:39] He's ascended to the place of rule.
[00:25:41] Verses 5 to 7. Verse 5 is the high point of the psalm. It's like what scholars would describe as climbing the mountain to the apex, to the peak. It's that important point of.
[00:25:55] Of. Of climax in the psalm, if you will, the actual enthronement of the King in which the king is ascending to Jerusalem, to the honor of that throne. And. And after that, that verse five, we're going to see cascading waterfalls of commands to celebrate that follow in verses six and seven. So let me read verses five to seven again for you. God has gone up with a shout. Think about that image, the. The Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises to our king. Sing praises for God is the King of all the earth. Sing praises with a psalm.
[00:26:32] So remember the scene with me. Try to capture the scene here. Think about the symbol, that beautiful ark of the covenant that is being carried up toward Jerusalem. It's the supreme symbol of God's forever presence, his faithful person, his forgiving purposes. It's the. The supreme symbol of that.
[00:26:52] This ark carries the history of God's dealings with his people. Remember where the ark came from? It came through construction when the people were coming out of Egypt in the. In Sinai.
[00:27:02] And then that was 500 years before David. So the ark has been in place a long time.
[00:27:09] And then it was captured by the Philippines generations later. In fact, the old priest Eli, we won't look at the story, but he died from the shock.
[00:27:17] The ark being captured because it was such a significant symbol of God's presence with the people. And then there were decades of it being forgotten before David, where finally David brings the ark home through a miraculous military victory in 2nd Samuel chapter 5 and 6.
[00:27:34] So picture this celebratory process. Think about the images maybe we saw up there of the Lamogai priests with trumpets lifted, Levites bearing the ark on poles, on the shoulders. And behind all of them, Israel is dancing, the nation is dancing.
[00:27:51] David himself is dancing with all his might. Tambourines and harps and cymbals fill the air.
[00:27:57] The whole crowd is shouting and clapping and blowing the ram's horn as that procession climbs toward Jerusalem in 2nd Samuel 6. Just think about that celebratory reality. For them, that's not a parade over a piece of furniture.
[00:28:12] It's not. It's not even a parade of a human king.
[00:28:17] It's a celebratory coronation of Yahweh, of the One, the Lord Himself, going up to take up his throne in the city of David.
[00:28:28] That's the picture that's recalled there.
[00:28:30] In verse 45 of chapter 47, the same Hebrew words are used from 2nd Samuel chapter 6, talking about shouting and trumpets. It's the same imagery that takes us back to that original ark ceremony. So there's a forever present, faithful forgiving God, taking up his throne.
[00:28:48] And that's a true reason to celebrate.
[00:28:51] That's an enthronement celebration for an exalted king.
[00:28:55] Brothers and sisters, Charles Spurgeon said this. He said, God's service. And this was convicting to me. God's service is such a delight that it cannot weary us.
[00:29:06] That's an indictment, right?
[00:29:08] And that choicest part of it, the singing of his praises, is so pleasurable that we cannot have too much of it.
[00:29:15] Now, there are days for me and for you in which what I just said seems very counterintuitive.
[00:29:22] Okay. Contrary to what your reason would be telling you.
[00:29:26] But I am finding, and this is what the Lord's teaching me right now. I'm finding in my life, that the seasons that are the most distracting, the most disturbing, the most. That are deeply. The most deeply painful in my heart and in my mind are ones in which the Lord has to challenge me now, to really concentrate, that I have to listen to a fog of. Through a fog of distraction to the reality of who he is as this God, the one who's enthroned.
[00:29:59] The reality of his enthronement needs to become the confidence of my heart.
[00:30:04] His grandeur needs to move the eyes of my heart outward and upward.
[00:30:10] Like Isaiah 6:1 says, to see the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up.
[00:30:17] I gotta ask myself, and you need to ask yourself, do I believe that he truly rules and reigns from the position of greatest honor and authority and that in the process of doing that, he's pursuing my soul?
[00:30:30] In the process of doing that, he desires my attention and my affection?
[00:30:36] Or am I thinking and feeling and speaking and acting as though the throne is now empty, the enthronement ceremonies on hold or abandoned entirely, and I've got to wait now for other people or events or circumstances to take control, fix the problems. Because somehow this sounds ironic to say, but it's the way I often position myself. It's as if Yahweh lost track of his own glory, his own presence, person and purpose, as he lost track of that.
[00:31:09] And now he's on vacation and he canceled the celebration. He said, forget this. I'm out there. I'm just gonna take off here.
[00:31:17] You know, on vacation. Recently, as a family, I was reminded again of the power of singing. I don't know if you've had these kind of experiences or not, but after several consecutive years of vacation, when I pull up one of those songs, I don't know why that would make me tearful, but it does. It's just the reality of memories. Right. When I pull up one of those songs from the vacation playlist, you know, we all immediately join in because the family affection that we have is. Is made real through those recordings that everybody immediately connects to. And that's how our singing together should be.
[00:31:50] There should be a familiarity of affection for us. Like this psalm talks so much about the command for singing happens five times in verses five to seven. That's not an accident.
[00:32:03] So the heart rejoices with others in the singing act of repeating words that we know to be true.
[00:32:12] And that brings us to the third and final point. We not only celebrate the king because he's exalted and enthroned, but we also celebrate him because he's everlasting. He's everlasting.
[00:32:25] Verses 8 and 9. I want you to see how I got there. Verses 8 and 9.
[00:32:30] God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne. The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham, for the shields of the earth belong to God. He is highly exalted.
[00:32:43] Now, those verses do bring us back to that question we started with. How does God command celebration from all language? Nations, peoples? How is that possible? Well, I want you to see in verses 8 and 9 that these are all present tense images, which is strange.
[00:33:00] If you look there, they're present tense images, but they're all centered on God. So he reigns, he sits, people gather as his people. They belong to Him. He is highly exalted. Those are present tense images that connect every horizon across time, past, present and future together to an everlasting, therefore, conclusion, King right in the eye of God, his reigning over and his redeeming of the nations was always a forever reality, already determined but not yet fulfilled.
[00:33:34] And notice the statement about the peoples in verse nine. There, the princes with their shields, the symbols of their authority, they're bringing those shields to Yahweh to lay them down. They gather not merely as conquered subjects, it says, but as humbled people of the God of Abraham. Now that's an astonishing, strange placement of wording at this point in history.
[00:33:58] And so the conclusion I draw from that is that this has to be an everlasting picture because subjugated peoples do not clap and sing with joy because they've been crushed into merciless submission. They don't do that.
[00:34:11] No. This is the abundant fulfillment of the ancient promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 that in him all the languages, nations, peoples of the earth would be blessed. And so they clap and sing because they've been chosen, They've been gathered in, they've been adopted, They've been made full members of Abraham's own family.
[00:34:31] So listen, Israel's election back in verse four was not the end.
[00:34:37] It was not the end.
[00:34:39] Israel's election in verse four and the judgment of the name of the nations was the down payment on our salvation.
[00:34:48] The down payment on our salvation.
[00:34:52] And brothers and sisters, we have more reasons to celebrate.
[00:34:56] Here's why.
[00:34:57] Now, here we go. Because we know the Christ who made this possible.
[00:35:03] The pre incarnate Christ was fully present, fully relating, fully engaging, fully working even in the ark's procession.
[00:35:13] So when we ask how this psalm reaches its fulfillment, we watch King Jesus stepped fully into view.
[00:35:21] Now we have full answers to our questions. Because Jesus is first the exalted king.
[00:35:27] Only Jesus could fulfill the promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed in him. Paul makes that explicit in Romans 4 and Galatians 3 when he talks about the Gentiles as Abraham's true children through faith.
[00:35:43] Jesus himself. In John, chapter 11, verse 52, here's what he said. He said he would give his life, he would die to bring together and unite all the children of God scattered around the world.
[00:35:57] So through Jesus, this very merciful choosing of Psalm 47, verse 4 reaches every language, nation, people, and not only that, but Jesus is the enthroned king. He's the enthroned king.
[00:36:11] He's the king who ascends in verse 5.
[00:36:14] And that that finds its fullest echo in Psalm 68, verse 1868. 18 says this. You ascended on high. Sounds a lot like the same kind of language. You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.
[00:36:35] That's a verse that's quoted by Paul in Ephesians 4 to describe Christ's ascension.
[00:36:40] So Christ's enthronement is already a reality, since he sits at God's right hand with all things put under his Authority. Ephesians chapter 1. Even while Christ's ultimate universal acknowledgment awaits the sure day that every knee bows. And that's Philippians chapter two.
[00:37:00] So, friends, and I must say also this morning, in the midst of thinking about Christ's celebration, that maybe you're here at UBC today and you're not a Christian, well, I hope you see the delight that you miss, the privilege that you miss in celebrating with the people of God, the ceremony that you don't have the joy to participate in yet, because through his death for your sin, his burial in the tomb, his resurrection to new life, defeating sin, death, and Satan for you now, Jesus offers you the privilege of inclusion, of joining into the celebration of that eternal enthronement.
[00:37:38] At the right hand of God. Jesus sits and he gives us. He extends to you that privilege. And so I'm encouraging you to come to him, to place your sin at his feet through repentance and trust in him to bring you back into the family as one who's been scattered, come home to the family of faith.
[00:37:59] Because Jesus is not only exalted and enthroned, finally, he's also the everlasting King.
[00:38:06] A thousand years before Christ, David wrote in Psalm 16:10, you will not leave my soul in shale, nor let your Holy One see corruption. Both Paul and Peter quoted that to illustrate that David wasn't writing about himself. David knew that he would die and be buried and that his body would decay. But David was writing about another king to come.
[00:38:29] Jesus did not remain in the grave, but he lives to reign in an unbroken and unending rule. And he stands at God's right hand to guarantee as the first fruits that same incorruptible life for all of us who are His.
[00:38:48] So that everlasting kingship of Jesus now reaches outward into all the earth, exactly as verse nine promises to us.
[00:38:57] Spurgeon said it this way.
[00:38:59] It's the best hope of all nations that Jehovah rules over them if they cannot all speak the same tongue. Listen to this. They all share the language of the hands, right? That's the language we all share.
[00:39:11] Even if we don't speak the same tongue, we can share the language of the clapping hands. And we saw that in Dave's lamogai video.
[00:39:18] Calvin gave a wonderful explanation to this as well. He said, because Christ rules, God himself will cause the beams of his grace to shine into distant lands, so that kings and nations may be united into fellowship with the children of Abraham.
[00:39:36] And yet. And yet, the fullness still waits ahead of us, right?
[00:39:42] One day, not so far away, the remnant of Israel, with all the world's peoples, will together recognize the king to whom they belong.
[00:39:53] So, brothers and sisters, some of us may feel like we're living an extended, maybe solemn season, but we do have reason to celebrate Jesus kingship.
[00:40:06] He is exalted, he is enthroned. He is everlasting.
[00:40:11] And we know that last day is coming. So I'm asking us today, and this is an image that stuck with me, to let that inexhaustible ocean of future, certain celebratory joy, that inexhaustible ocean of future joy to overflow back into today.
[00:40:28] We know it's there.
[00:40:30] Let's let it overflow back to us.
[00:40:33] Because Christ is the exalted King. He's gathering the scattered children of God into one family. Let's rejoice in that reality together.
[00:40:41] Let's rejoice in the fact that every language and culture and geography is being drawn together into one family.
[00:40:48] And I'm asking us if we can help one another. Many times we as individuals get bogged down in ourselves.
[00:40:55] Can we encourage one another in our focus? Can we pray, prompt one another toward that one day all nations celebration, even as we together celebrate today?
[00:41:07] And as Christ enthroned like that, he's already seated in the place of highest honor, can we by faith encourage each other that the outcome is indeed settled?
[00:41:20] Encourage each other that just because today has unfinished battles, Christ's throne is still occupied.
[00:41:28] Christ is the everlasting King.
[00:41:31] He could not see decay and not lose his reign. And so, as we face our own losses, our own griefs and sorrows, and I know we have them, can we let that perspective of his incorruptible life anchor our hope?
[00:41:44] Not grieving as those who have no hope, right, who grieve as if loss and decay have the final word.
[00:41:51] Even as Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 6:10, right? He said, in the midst of great affliction, we're sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. Isn't that a peculiar reality for the Christian?
[00:42:04] That's what it means to celebrate the exalted, enthroned, everlasting King Jesus.
[00:42:10] Not to deny our present weakness and sorrow, but to have a settled confidence and abiding assurance that his reign, unlike every reign before it, will never end.
[00:42:24] Brothers and sisters, I have a longtime friend in Southeast Asia whose name is Sam, and his grandparents were a language and Bible translation consultants, translation helpers for my parents. So he has a multi generational heritage. In fact, I went in Brazil, I went to high school with his wife Julie, and he and Julie have been in southeast Asia for 15 years now.
[00:42:49] They run a business and live among an unreached Muslim language nation. People like I've been describing. They've learned two languages.
[00:42:55] He's now involved in working on Bible translation and teaching. And here's a great connection for all of you to be encouraged by. This is the Sam whose Bible translation the men's retreat sponsored specifically the book of Luke translating the Book of Luke just this year, and he's been working on that translation with a local man. And at the same time, one of the benefits of Bible translation is you can teach through that material as you're translating it. So he's been teaching this Muslim man through that translation. So far up to this point, none from the language group had come to faith. And here's what Sam wrote this past week. And yep, it's a good punchline. All right. It's good.
[00:43:35] I just finished another Bible session with Aaron. That's the pseudonym he's using for this man from Luke 23.
[00:43:43] When we got to the part.
[00:43:46] I'll try to get through with this here. When we got to the part where the people mocked Jesus, saying he saved others, if he is the Christ, let him save himself.
[00:43:56] I asked Aaron, why didn't he save himself?
[00:43:59] I could tell that the pieces were starting to snap into place.
[00:44:04] When we were done, Aaron said, my whole life I have believed that the way of salvation was by doing good deeds.
[00:44:11] Now I understand it's only in Christ. Now I can tell Jesus, I am trusting only you to bear all of my sins on the last day.
[00:44:20] And Sam said this. He said, I copied down Aaron's phrasing because it was such a clear expression of the good news in his language. Aaron's eyes glistened with tears as he told me that at night he has been thinking about the things that we have been reading together.
[00:44:34] I told Aaron that Julie and I have been praying for him for many days.
[00:44:38] I told him that I have been wanting to tell him these truths for a long time, but I knew he wasn't yet ready.
[00:44:45] I can tell he is already wrestling with a host of issues.
[00:44:49] There is so much growth ahead of him, so much to learn, so much sweet truth to savor.
[00:44:55] Oh, what a great. Listen to this statement. You don't always feel this way in ministry, but listen to this. Oh, what a great privilege our good God has given me and Julie to be here.
[00:45:09] So, brothers and sisters of ubc, what do we celebrate?
[00:45:15] Why do we celebrate?
[00:45:18] Who do we celebrate?
[00:45:20] We celebrate our exalted King Jesus because of his majestic character, his mighty conquering and his merciful choosing of us.
[00:45:31] We celebrate an enthroned King Jesus because he's ascended to the place of honor.
[00:45:38] And we celebrate an everlasting King Jesus because his reign will continue forever over all.
[00:45:48] Will you pray with me?
