As we read through this psalm with only these five verses, you would think it would be easy, but as is always the case when we look at God's Word, it's not always obvious when we first read it, maybe even the second, third, or several times. But graciously, the Lord gives us insight as we think about what he said, sometimes think about it a long time.

And by no means do I expect that we'll be able to exhaust this psalm. We only have a few minutes together. But nevertheless, I think we have a better understanding of this psalm as we look at it tonight than I had last week or the last time we met together and even before that. So every time I look at these Psalms, I gain a much greater appreciation for the consistency of God's word, how that throughout his word, he's preaching the same message about the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. So let's read through this Psalm together and see if we can look at it more carefully.

He says in verse one, the Lord reigneth. He is clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith He hath girded Himself. The world also is established that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old. Thou art from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. Thy testimonies are very sure.

Holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, forever. All right, so just five verses. And let's take a look at this together and see if we can see this. Now, I'm going to use these five verses here as our outline. If you look at verse one, it says, the Lord reigneth.

And it's in the words in the King James Version, capitalized L-O-R-D. is the word Jehovah, and the King James Version translators, whenever they translate Jehovah, they always use all capitals L-O-R-D. So, really, it's the Lord Jehovah. The Lord Jesus is the one he's speaking about here, and we'll see that in a minute.

That's the first point. The second point is, it says, the Lord is clothed with majesty. He reigneth, that means he's sovereign, and he rules on the throne, but he is clothed with majesty. All right, so that's the second point we're gonna look at. The third is that he says, the Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself. And so that's the third point we wanna look at. The fourth one is next.

It says the world also established that it cannot be moved. So this is a statement God has made here, the world. And the word here means the world. It means the globe, the earth. And then verse two says, thy throne is established of old, thou art from everlasting. It seems to be a repetition, but it's not just a repetition, even though it is repeating the fact that the Lord reigneth and his throne is established of old. It means that his throne was not just recent, but it's been from everlasting.

And then it says in verse three, the floods, it speaks about the floods, and this will be the the sixth point actually, the floods. It says, the floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice. So this is a cry to the Lord about the floods. The floods have lifted up, they've lifted up their voice, they've lifted up their waves. But the Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.

Okay? And that's the sixth point. And then the seventh is in verse five, it says, thy testimonies are very sure. So here we have the sure testimonies of the Lord. And then finally it says, holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, forever. And that's talking about how God's, the holiness of God His holiness is in His house, and His house is holy, and it is holy forever. Okay, so these eight points, I want to look at the Lord Jehovah, His majesty, His strength, the world that He established that it cannot be moved, His throne, His of old, He is from everlasting, the floods, His testimonies, and His house that is holy forever. So first of all, I want to look at this first point, the Lord Jehovah reigneth, the Lord reigneth.

Now, David said in 1 Kings, at the dedication of the temple, he said, will God indeed dwell on earth? Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house that I have builded. So God, does God, can God indeed, will He indeed dwell on the earth? Will God dwell on the earth? And David had built this house for him, but David admits that the heaven cannot contain, even the heaven of heavens.

So we think about the earth, it's got an atmosphere, and around that atmosphere, it's all connected to the earth. We understand that by gravity, it's held there. Of course, gravity is held by the Lord's word. But then outside of that region of the atmosphere, there's space. And then there's the solar system and so on. You keep going out. It just goes on forever, it seems like. That's the heaven. But the heaven of heavens, that would be enclosing that heaven, if you could imagine what that might be.

It cannot contain God. And so David had no, he wasn't pretending as if the house he built could possibly contain God. But what he was saying here is that God would indeed dwell on the earth. And so if God is going to dwell on the earth, it's beyond our ability really to comprehend how God could dwell on the earth. But he dwells on earth in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It says, In John 1, the Gospel of John, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. We know the Word is the Lord Jesus. It says, the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. So Christ is the Creator. The Word is the Creator.

And in verse 14 of John chapter one, he says, and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And there you have it. So David's question, will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? The answer is yes. The Lord Jesus Christ is God, and he did dwell on earth.

He was made flesh, the word, the eternal word, the uncreated word, the creator of heaven and earth, who is God and was with God in the beginning. and all the beginnings, whenever God was God, whatever that is. As early as God was God, Christ was God. the word. And so he says also in 1st Timothy 3 verse 16, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.

So yes, God was pleased to dwell on earth and he dwelt on earth in a tabernacle. The tabernacle is the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so in Colossians chapter 2 verse 9 it says, the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily. That's the Lord Jesus. And then in the Old Testament, it explicitly says that Jesus Christ is Jehovah.

In prophecy, in Jeremiah 23, it says in verse 5, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch. In other words, one who would, like a branch, spring out of the main stalk, Christ would spring from David. He would be the offspring of David, but he was also the root of David, because he was David's creator and Lord. But it says in the prophecy, in the days that come, the Lord says, I will raise unto David a righteous branch and a king, shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth."

Well, the king is the one who reigns, he says, and we know from Psalm 93, verse 1, the Lord reigneth. So, he's speaking about the Lord Jesus, who would reign and prosper. It says, in verse six of Jeremiah 23, in his days shall Judah, in his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name. This is his name whereby he shall be called, notice, Jehovah, our righteousness. So he is the Lord Jehovah, isn't he? It says so. It's incredible on two accounts.

First, because that God himself would be our righteousness and And that this righteousness that he would be for us would be through his substitutionary death on the cross, under the burden of our sins and the curse of God's holy law. And by that he would fulfill all righteousness, as it says in 2 Corinthians 5, 21. God made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He made us the righteousness of God because he took our sins and bore them under the law, the curse of the law in fulfillment of the law.

All right, so that's teaching us that the Lord that reigns was prophesied to be the Lord our righteousness and the offspring of David. And so, what we learn in this psalm, as we're going to see, as we said last time, knowing Christ, the Lord, as the Lamb of God and our great Savior, as the Sovereign Lord who by Himself accomplished our salvation, this knowledge of God, this knowledge we have of Him, which is a knowledge of faith, is to have Him and to enjoy Him in eternal life. Jesus said to know God and Jesus Christ is eternal life. So that's what the first point of this psalm is. The Lord that reigns is Jesus Christ, the Lord our righteousness. He is God.

It says this in Isaiah chapter 45. In verse 22 and following where Jesus Christ himself is speaking there and he says, look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else. And then it goes on and says, the Lord's people would say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. And in the Lord all the house of Israel would be justified in glory. So it's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. But in this psalm, he goes on, he says, he's clothed with majesty.

Now we talked about this last time. And I'm not going to repeat that, but I just want to remind you that majesty is uniquely God's character. No one has majesty but the Lord himself. And majesty is God's unknowable qualities. It's his perfections. We can't know God. He's invisible. We can't know him until he shows himself to us. And he does that from his word. God makes himself known from his word. But his word shows himself through the Lord Jesus Christ. And not just Jesus Christ as a person, but Jesus Christ in him crucified.

So that's called, when God makes known his majesty, that's the shining out, that's the radiance, the rays, as we would compare it to the sun. The outshining of God's majesty is his glory. So God's glory reveals God. And that revelation of God is his majesty.

Okay, so it helps, I think, if we understand this this distinction between glory and majesty. Glory is the rays of radiance outshining from God. That's his glory, and God has to make his glory known, and he's done that in the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified, which we'll see here in a minute in more detail. But I just wanted to remind you of that. God reveals himself in his son. His majesty is revealed in his glory. The glory of God is Christ crucified. Okay? We see God's glory in Christ.

Remember what Paul told the Galatians, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, which was, let's see, how did it go? I'm forgetting the exact words here. Let me turn to that. He says in Galatians chapter 3, he says, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes, notice, Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth crucified among you.

That's God's glory. Jesus Christ set forth evidently as if it was as if they saw him crucified and understood why he was crucified through the preaching of the gospel that Paul had preached to them. Another place this is seen is in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, and that chapter he says in verse 4, in whom, if our gospel is hid, the apostle says in verse 3 of 2 Corinthians 4, if our gospel is hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine to them." You see that? The image of God means God's expression of himself is his son. God's revelation, the revelation of the invisible God is Christ. It always will be. because there's no need for further revelation of God he's seen in his son.

And here he says that the gospel reveals God's glory in Jesus Christ, and this shines. This is a shining, bright shining, meaning the radiance, that's God's glory, you see. And then he goes on in verse five of 2 Corinthians 4, for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. See, that's the message, Christ the Lord. Jesus, the Savior. And he goes on, and ourselves, your servants for Jesus' sake, we make ourselves nothing. for the gospel for Christ's sake. He goes on in verse six, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, he's drawing a comparison, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. There you have it. The shining radiance of God is seen in the Lord Jesus Christ, and now because of the gospel, it's set forth openly. We see his face.

Okay, so I just want to point those out. Let me take you to one more section. I think I, I don't remember if I brought this up last time. In John chapter 12, the gospel of John chapter 12, Jesus is about to go to the cross and in his prayer, in verse 27, he says, Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say, Father, save me from this hour? No. Father, he says, for this cause came I unto this hour. This is the reason I came, for this hour.

He says, Father, notice, glorify thy name. That's radiate your majesty through this glory of the cross. He says, through me, he's speaking about himself there, glorify thy name. Then came their voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. and see God chooses to make known his majesty by shining out his glory. The people, therefore, that stood by and heard it said that it thundered. Others said an angel spake to him.

Jesus answered and said, this voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now, notice, now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to me. He just says all, really, he doesn't say men. This, he says, signifying what death he should die, okay? You see that?

This is the glory of God being set forth here. In fact, in the same chapter, look at verse 41. He says, these things Jesus said, these things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and spoke of him, speaking about Isaiah chapter six. So we can see that what the Lord is telling us here in Psalm 93 is that the Lord Jesus Christ reigns, he's the sovereign, and his majesty is like clothing. We know him because the outshining of his glory, the glory of his majesty is seen in his cross. It's not evident that he's speaking about the cross yet, but we know that from the New Testament, from John chapter 12, for example, where we just read. and where we read in 2 Corinthians chapter four and Galatians chapter three.

And we could go on and on. We read last time in Revelation chapter five about how the lamb was revealed to be the one who could open the book. He was the only one worthy. And when he opened the book and when he took the book out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne and John looked, it was the lamb on the throne.

And that's when the chorus of heaven broke forth to say, thou art worthy, you've redeemed us to God by your blood out of every kindred, nation, tongue, people and nation. So that was the subject, that was the song. And that's what they were singing about. They were singing about his majesty.

Now this is amazing because what we see here is that God's majesty is made known If it's made known in Christ and Him crucified, what does that say then about God's own character? What does it say about God's own character if His great glory is the glory of Christ in our redemption?

Well, it says that God is revealed in His grace and in His truth in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember John 1 verse 14, the word was made flesh. and dwelt among us, we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." If we don't know God in Jesus Christ, we cannot know God, and we certainly cannot know his grace and his truth. But knowing God in Jesus Christ, we know both his grace and truth, and therefore we know his majesty, because we see his glory. So the cross is that, the cross is that. Because when the Lord Jesus Christ purged our sins, that's when he took his place at the right hand of the majesty on high. Hebrews chapter one, verse three.

It's interesting that Christ laid aside his glory. He laid aside his glory. And his glory is God. Think about that. How can the sun hide its brilliance? Christ as God, much greater to accomplish, laid aside his glory. He made himself of no reputation. But when he laid aside his glory, it was the glory of the ineffable, invisible God in all of his brilliance. And yet, when he did that, when he laid aside his manifest glory, what did we see? We saw his grace and truth. So that this is something that we didn't expect at all. It's like when the lamb was seen in Revelation five. We didn't expect that God's glory would be seen in his loneliness, did we?

Especially in his compassion for sinners, in his mercy towards sinners to save them by his own sacrifice of himself. But this is exactly what the saints in heaven will sing about. They say, unto him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. This is the song of the redeemed, that he redeemed us to God by his own blood. And this is the proclamation of heaven. And this is why God exalted him, to show that God's glory is seen in his humility, his humility of his grace. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through his poverty, we were made rich because he made himself poor. What a majestic stoop this was. And so we read in Isaiah 12 how the Lord Jehovah has become my salvation. Fantastic, it's unspeakably fantastic. God the Father highly exalted him because he epitomizes, he expresses in his obedience this majesty, this glory of God.

In Proverbs chapter 13, And verse 7, Proverbs 13 and verse 7, it says this, there is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing. There is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches. Jesus said, whoever exalts himself will be abased, but whoever abases himself will be exalted. Now, who is the one who made himself rich?

Well, Satan preeminently said, I will be like the Most High. I will ascend to sit on the throne. That's what he's had in his heart. And God said, you're going to be brought down to hell. But every natural man does this. We ourselves have done this. Pride is the heart of the natural man. Pride and lust. And so each one of us know what it means to make ourselves rich. We're grasping for recognition from God, from people. We like to look at ourselves, we like to consider ourselves. All these things speak of our own attempt to make ourselves rich. But we have nothing by that. Grasping for acclaim leaves us empty. But he says, there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.

Who is that? The Lord Jesus. If we were to stoop as low as we could go, we would still not reach the level of where we ought to be. But the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of the Highest. He occupied by right the highest possible place. For him to stoop at all is to go lower than he ought to be. And yet he stooped so low that he took on the place of a servant and fulfilled the role of a servant. He took on the nature of his people. He made himself one with them and he died for them. He gave himself for them. That's a stoop. He made himself poor, and yet he has great riches. He's magnified to the highest level. This is amazing, amazing grace, isn't it?

Okay, so the next point I want to speak about here is in verse one. It says, the Lord is clothed with strength. The Lord is clothed with strength. I said at the beginning here that this psalm is about the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's about His glory that is seen in His salvation of the cross, His work on the cross, the salvation of His people, and that it's in His glory that we see God and His glory. Okay, that's what this psalm is saying. So in this second part it says the Lord is clothed with strength. And so we want to see how this statement supports the claim that this psalm is about the Lord Jesus Christ and His glory in the cross and God's glory in Him and the salvation of His people. the strength of God.

It's a wonder to think about God being almighty, isn't it? The name almighty is something God himself ascribes, and people have used that name throughout history. And it always, even on, I've heard it spoken on movies, the almighty. And it always carries weight, doesn't it? It's a heavy word, carries a significance to it, the almighty.

It means he's mightier than any. There's none who has strength but what comes from his strength. He is the almighty. He's the sovereign and he's almighty. He can do his will, he does his will in all places at all times. So, but what we find is here in this Psalm is where do we really see the strength of the Lord? Is it in creation? Well, certainly we see it there.

For God to speak and everything be created, that's unbelievable strength, power. For God to speak and all the laws of nature to be upheld at all times, and so that everything is held in its place, that's strength, isn't it? For Him to speak and turn the hearts of kings wherever He will, like rivers of water, that's strength, isn't it? For Him to cause every outcome, even the casting of lots according to His will, that's strength, that's strength.

But here is where God's strength is really seen. Christ is the power of God. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. And the strength of God is his ability to put away the sins of his people. The strength of a man is his ability to obey God. How much strength do we have? None. We can't obey God. not in our own strength, but Christ was strong because by his obedience as a man, he obeyed unto the sacrifice of himself. He gave himself. That is strength. That's an obedience we really know nothing about except by the gospel. It was his offering to God, his offering of himself to God for us that put away our sins. That is strength.

When Adam and Eve fell by Satan's temptation, God pronounced a promise that Christ would crush or bruise the head of the serpent. But how did he do that? It seemed like a huge task. Jesus said no one can spoil the strong man unless he first bind the strong man. Remember in Luke chapter 11, for example, and other places throughout the New Testament? How did the Lord Jesus Christ bruise the serpent's head? Well, by getting his heel bruised.

And what was that? It was he would suffer and die in his body at the hands of wicked men. But his death on the cross, because it was an obedience, to God in love for a sinful people and obedience that cost him everything. He gave himself for us. He took our sins. He bore the burden of our sins before God as a sinner deserving the justice of God's wrath and he endured. In fact, he exhausted that justice. in his death. He fulfilled the obedience so much so in his obedience unto death that he established an everlasting righteousness for which we're giving everlasting life in him.

So that's strength, isn't it? He brought his people from death as a captor to life, to everlasting life, never to die again. He put away their sins, that's strength. He raised them from the dead, that's strength. He bruised, he crushed Satan's head, that's strength, isn't it? He delivered us from this present evil world, that's strength. And he delivered us from death and hell and the wrath of God.

And he not only did all that, but he delivered us to God as his children so that we would be brought to God in holiness. That is strength. That's the power that's spoken about here. He says, the Lord reigneth. He is clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength. It says, In Revelation chapter 12, it describes a scene in heaven. There's, in verse 7 of Revelation 12, there's war in heaven.

Michael and his angels fought against a dragon, and the dragon fought in his angels and prevailed not, neither was their place found anymore in heaven for the devil. The great dragon was cast out. That old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out to the earth and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now, listen, now has come salvation and strength. and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, the gospel.

And they loved not their lives, even unto death." Even though our life has died, we've died with Christ, we don't care for that life anymore, do we? We're happy to have died with him. and we don't care about that life, we're happy to have died with Christ that we might live in him and live to God. The greatest spectacle of shame in the esteem of men was the greatest glory of God. which was the cross. That's why the cross is such a stumbling block.

It was by his humility, in his obedience of love, in the sacrifice of himself where he entrusted himself to God with his people, joined to him as one from everlasting. in a covenant of grace, and he entrusted himself with them for salvation and for life, and this Christ did in our nature as he bore our sins in obedience from his heart, in his mind, with all of his strength. by love, with understanding, and by faith in his God and in his Father. By all of these, the Lord Jesus Christ put away our sins, destroyed the work of the devil, delivered us from this present evil world, raised us from death, created us as new creatures, and brought us to God as children by a heavenly birth, by the Spirit of God, through the gospel."

That's strength. It says this, In Romans chapter one, he says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed. The righteousness of God, that strength. The Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself.

He says in 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 18, the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us which are saved, it is the power of God. The power to save us from our sins, to thwart Satan, to deliver us from death, to bring us out of this present evil world. He says in verse 24, 1 Corinthians chapter one, unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. And I would say than devils too. For you can see that the Lord Jesus Christ became weak in order to overthrow the works of the devil.

What a strong Lord. All right, the fourth point I want to make here is the world is established that it cannot be moved. All right, these things seem to follow, don't they? First, the Lord reigneth. He's clothed with majesty. He's clothed with strength. We see that now as his work on the cross. That's why he reigns, because he was victorious. That's his majesty. It's seen in his work there. And that is his strength and our strength and our deliverance and our salvation. It says in the last part of verse one, the world also is established that it cannot be moved. Now, In Galatians 1 verse 4, this present world is called an evil world.

And in 2 Peter chapter 3, it says the present world is going to be dissolved. And he also says in 2 Peter 3 verse 13, there's a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. This is the world. the new heaven and the new earth that has no end. Let me read those verses to you in 2 Peter 3, verse 10.

It says, the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up. That's this present world. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Read it in Psalm 93, it says, the world also is established that it cannot be moved. All right, so that can't mean this present world, can it? because this present world is destined by God for destruction. The world and everything in it, it's an evil world, it's going to be destroyed. It's evil because man, to whom the world was put into subjection, fell in sin and the world therefore was cursed. And the world, according to Romans 8, all of creation is groaning and travailing, waiting for the deliverance of the sons of God.

In Ephesians chapter 3 verse 21, the last verse of Ephesians 3, it says, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Isn't that amazing? That the world that God speaks about that's going to have no end is the world over which Christ rules, the new heavens, the new earth.

In fact, it's the church. That's the city. That's the new creation. Christ created a new creation, and that new creation is his people, his temple. He dwells in them. He dwells with them. And they're his body. He's the Holy One of God. They're joined to him. They're therefore holy. He made them holy when he shed his blood to sanctify them. And so this world is established. It cannot be moved. This is the world Christ died to save. This is the world of God's elect. And he did this when he rose from the dead in triumph over the world, over Satan, over death, over hell, over our sins.

And it is now in the church that Christ is the manifold wisdom of God and is seen in him, in his church. Now, even now, in this new creation, the church, the manifold wisdom of God is seen by the angels and everyone, really, it will be seen. In Ephesians chapter three, the apostle Paul verse eight says, to me whom less than the least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. To make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world has been hidden God who created all things by Christ Jesus to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Not only from eternity, but to eternity. All of the everlasting ages, the world is established that it cannot be moved because that world is Christ's body. All right, the next thing it says in verse three of Psalm 93, the floods. I'm sorry, it says in verse two, thy throne is established of old, thou art from everlasting.

Now, what Christ did to set forth God's glory in his saving work on the cross was definitely according to God's eternal purpose, as we just read in Ephesians 3. So in God's eternal purpose, he made an everlasting covenant with his son and with his people who were chosen in him.

This covenant, one covenant with Christ and his people, but Christ as the head. He made it with Christ, but with them as the head. So he was really the covenant, but they were in him, so it was made with them. They didn't personally make it. He made it with God the Father himself. He pledged himself to do everything God required in order to bring his people to God. as children. So this is God's purpose. And it was not with him as a private individual, but with him as the head of his body, the church, his people, his bride, his wife, God's elect.

So from old, God set up Christ as the head of the covenant and the church in his everlasting purpose of grace. And therefore, from everlasting, Christ's throne has been established. It was established before time. And he, as the Lamb of God, was slain before time. Therefore, God had exalted him in his purpose, in covenant, as the Lamb of God. That's the one who's spoken of here. He says, thy throne is established of old, thou art from everlasting. Hebrews 7 describes Christ's priesthood as being an everlasting priesthood. No mother, no father, no beginning of days, no end of life. But like Melchizedek, he was the eternal high priest.

As early as God was God, Christ was chosen to be Christ. The Son of God was chosen as Christ. And God made him the head of his people. He's the head of the body, the new creation. He's the firstborn of creation, he's the firstborn, the preeminent over all providence, and he's the head of the new creation, the head of redemption, the firstborn in redemption. He's the firstborn from the dead. Because he rose from the dead, all of his people rose with him. And they're created. And he's the head of that creation. That's what we just covered about there. The world he established. He's the one who's reigning over. It's the kingdom. The kingdom of Christ, isn't it? All right.

So you can read more about that. as you think about these words. But going on, it says in verse three and four, the floods. Now the floods here, he says, the floods have lifted up, oh Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. They've lifted up their waves. The floods in scripture are usually destructive. Remember the flood of Noah? It destroyed everything. It destroyed absolutely every living thing on earth, except those in the ark.

God chose Noah. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and God chose Noah, and his wife, and his sons, and their wives, and put them in the ark, and he had Noah cover the ark with pitch, within, without, to signify the atoning work of Christ. Because the ark was really a picture of the atoning work of Christ for his people, and them being delivered from the judgment of God's wrath in him. All right? So the flood normally describes this destructive thing. And God destroyed everything in the flood of Noah's day.

But later in prophecy, in 2 Samuel 22, and verse 5, and also Psalm 18, verse 4, it says this. David says, the floods of ungodly men have made me afraid. So we understand then that God also uses this this term floods to signify the floods of ungodly men, the wave after wave, the noise that rises up as a stormy sea, tempestuous, against Christ, against his gospel, against his people. So this is true. This is just so. Scripture says this throughout. It describes the wickedness of men coming against the Lord and his people as a flood.

I was looking to see if I can find this reference in Psalm 29. I probably won't be able to find it here. So I'll just abandon my search for it right now. But in Psalm 32, I want you to look at that. Psalm 32, he says in verse five of Psalm 32, I acknowledge my sin to thee, and my iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord. And thou forgave us the iniquity of my sin. Selah. He says in verse six of Psalm 32, for this, shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found. Surely, here it is, in the floods of great waters, they shall not come nigh unto him.

You see that? So here, the floods have lifted up. The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods have lifted up their waves. And yet, in verse 4, the Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. You can see this, can't you? The Israelites passed through the Red Sea. There was water on the right, on the left, but that was the judgment against the Egyptians.

They were delivered through that water, so we're delivered through Christ. from the floods. It says, repeating what we've already looked at, the strength of the Lord. God, through Christ, has delivered his people from the floods of the destruction that should have come upon them and the floods of ungodly men who will oppose Christ in his gospel and his people. He delivers them because the Lord Jesus Christ is mightier than the waves of the sea. And you see this in the New Testament. And it helps us to understand with more clarity why these things are recorded in the New Testament. Remember in Matthew chapter eight, where the disciples were in the boat on the sea, and there was a great tempestuous sea. The sea was tossing. They were striving, rowing, trying to get out of it. They were making no progress.

And Jesus was asleep in the boat. And then as the disciples were rowing, they cried out, and Jesus says that he rose up, he rose up. And when he rose up, he rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. The Lord on high is mightier than the waves of the sea.

A great calm. A similar thing happened. Jesus was coming to the disciples one night, and it was dark, and they couldn't see, and he was walking on the water toward their boat. And there was a storm, another storm. The waves were lifted up. The opposition to his disciples, he had sent them to the other side, and here the waves are against them. And they're rowing, they're making no progress. They see the Lord walking on the waters. They're afraid, they think he's a spirit. And Jesus speaks to them. He said to them, don't be afraid, it is I. Be of good cheer. Be of good cheer. It's I. And remember the story, and this is in Matthew 14.

Peter said, Lord, if it's you, command me to come to you on the water. Because Jesus was walking on the sea. signifying his dominance, his rule. He's the firstborn of creation. He's the head of all principalities and powers and dominions and every name that is named because of his victory, because of his saving victory over the destruction that should have come upon us through his death on the cross. And so he hears walking on the sea and he says to Peter, come.

Peter gets out of the boat, he steps out and he's walking on the water to Jesus. But then it says in Matthew 14 in verse 30, when Peter saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid and he began to sink. And he cried, Lord, save me. Of course, the Lord Jesus reached down his hand, grabbed a hold of Peter and he snatched him up out of the water. I like to think about that. What was happening here?

Again, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord is mightier than all the waves of the sea. The Lord was teaching his disciples that when he sends them forth with the gospel from his exalted throne in glory, having saved them from their sins on the cross, that all of the opposition of ungodly men will oppose them. and not to be afraid because he is the Lord mightier than all the waves of the sea.

And what they are to do is to know that he, when he arose, he spoke to the winds and spoke to the sea and they were calm. And Peter was to keep his eyes fixed on Christ and not look at the wind, boisterous or the waves, tempestuous, but looking unto Jesus, he would walk onto him. And even when he failed, he said, Lord, save me. And the Lord reached down and saved him. This is the Lord. He's mightier than the waves of the sea.

One last thing here, one last point, and I'll have to jump through this too quickly, but the last point is, he says his testimonies and his holiness of his house. He says in verse five, Thy testimonies are very sure, holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, forever. Jesus said in Matthew 24, verse 35, heaven and earth shall pass away. So that's not the world that is established forever, is it? Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words, my words shall never pass away.

His testimonies are very sure. What he says here about his work on the cross and his victory and his sovereign rule and his power over all of his enemies, it's true. He goes on, he says, I'll have to skip on to the next part. That's a great assurance, isn't it? It's an assurance that Christ's strength in his obedience unto death is our strength. He has made us righteous before God. It's our deliverance from sin and everything, death and Satan and hell.

But it says then in that last part, holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, forever. Now, the word becometh here, it means at home, at home with. You know, it's comfortable. It's right there where it ought to be. Holiness is at home in his house, oh Lord, forever. What is this saying? It's saying that the Lord's people are a holy people because Christ made them holy. And His holiness becometh. It's a beautiful thing. And it's at home there, because they're where He put them, in a relationship to God, by His blood, as children of God. They belong there, and they are made holy. He now presents them to Himself, holy and without blame, in love, you see. This is what God the Father did when He preserved us in Christ Jesus. He sanctified us, Jude 1 verse 1. And what Christ did when He shed His blood, Hebrews 10 verse 10. He sanctified His people by the will of God when He offered Himself to God.

And he says in 1 John 3 verse 9, whoever's born of God doesn't commit sin, his seed remains in him. He cannot sin because he's born of God. What is born of God is holy. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 23, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. the Spirit of God by the Word of God.

There's such a union between the Spirit of God and the Word of God that they're inseparable in the operations of the Spirit. He applies the Word concerning Christ to us and that makes us his children and makes us holy. It's incorruptible and he lives and abides forever. We are to live to God through Christ as Christ has made us and taught us in the gospel.

We were a sheep going astray, but we're returned to the shepherd and the bishop of our souls because He, his own self, the Lord Jesus, bear our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose stripes we're healed.

It's at home. His holiness is at home with us. He himself lives in us. He's made us holy before God. He will present us as holy. We're to live according to what we are in Christ. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Give us grace to believe. Give us grace to love you. Help us, Lord, to walk with you by this faith in your word, in yourself, in your work, in all that you are, in all of your glory and majesty showing forth in the gospel. In his name we pray, amen.