Psalm 99, p1 of 2

Q: What does the Bible say about God's holiness?

The Bible reveals that God is holy, set apart from all creation, and this holiness compels a reverent fear in His presence. The holiness of God is a core theme throughout Scripture, underscoring His unique nature as separate from sin and imperfection. For example, Psalm 99 repeats the declaration of God’s holiness multiple times, emphasizing that He is not just a being among others but the thrice holy God, as seen in Isaiah and Revelation. His holiness incites awe and reverence in believers, leading them to approach Him with a recognition of His majesty and their unworthiness. This calls forth a deep respect and worship, as it highlights God’s perfect justice and love, demonstrated through the sacrificial work of Christ who reconciles sinners to this holy God.

Q: How is God's sovereignty portrayed in Psalm 99?

Psalm 99 beautifully depicts God's sovereignty by affirming that He reigns over all creation and that His holiness demands respect. The sovereignty of God is a prevailing theme in Psalm 99, introduced with the powerful proclamation, 'The Lord reigneth.' This assertion not only establishes God's rule over all creation but also calls for a response from humanity—specifically, reverence. The trembling of the earth and the people signifies the rightful fear due to the recognition of God's supreme authority and holiness. As the Sovereign, He is portrayed as executing judgment and establishing righteousness, demonstrating His justice in the world. This sovereignty is ultimately expressed in the person of Christ, who fulfills God’s redemptive plan, ensuring that His rule encompasses both authority and grace for His people.

Q: Why is the sacrifice of Christ important in understanding God's holiness?

Christ's sacrifice is crucial for understanding God's holiness as it satisfies divine justice and reconciles us to a holy God. The sacrifice of Christ holds paramount significance in relation to God's holiness. It is through Christ's propitiation—His offering of Himself to satisfy God's justice—that sinners can approach Him without fear of wrath. As noted in Romans 5, we are justified by His blood, which removes the grounds for God's judgment against us. This act of sacrifice not only underscores the severity of sin and the holiness that cannot tolerate it but also showcases the depth of God's love and grace. Christ embodies God’s holiness, allowing believers to be made holy as well, thus transforming our approach from one of fear to one of love and reverent worship.

Q: How does Psalm 99 teach about worship?

Psalm 99 teaches that worship should stem from recognizing God's holiness and sovereignty. In Psalm 99, worship is intricately connected to the recognition of God's holiness and sovereignty. The psalmist emphasizes that God's holiness demands an exalted response from believers, urging them to worship at His footstool, which symbolizes coming to God only through Christ. This principle is not isolated to one stanza but is woven throughout the text, calling for a response of praise in light of God’s character and actions. The emphasis on worship in this psalm reflects the understanding that true worship springs from seeing God as He is—supreme, holy, and just—and responding with reverence and adoration. This worship is not merely ritualistic; it is an acknowledgment of God’s greatness and grace in our lives as demonstrated through Christ.

Okay, Psalm 99, I want to read through this Psalm with you. Psalm 99 is actually the ninth in a series of a sequence of Psalms that begin with Psalm 91. And I won't take a lot of time to do this tonight, but maybe next time I'll look at the sequence. I'll just briefly mention it tonight so that you see as I have been given this to recognize the sequence that this is a prophecy and the prophecy is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. So let's read Psalm 99 together and then we'll get started. He says in verse one, the Lord reigneth. And this is a constant theme in the last few Psalms that we've read here, the Lord reigneth.

He says, the next part, let the people tremble. He sitteth between the cherubims, let the earth be moved. So those two phrases, let the people tremble and let the earth be moved, are saying the same thing in a different way. The reason is that the Lord reigns and the Lord sits between the cherubims. In verse two it says, the Lord is great in Zion and He is high above all the people.

Verse three, let them praise thy great and terrible name, for it is holy. The king's strength also loveth judgment. Thou dost establish equity. Thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool, for he is holy.

Moses and Aaron among his priests and Samuel among them that call upon his name, they called upon the Lord and he answered them. He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar. They kept his testimonies and the ordinance that he gave them. Thou answerest them, O Lord our God. Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance on their inventions.

Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His holy hill, for the Lord our God is holy. You can see that three times in this psalm, at least three, actually more than three, it says that the Lord is holy. Look at verse number, Let's see, verse 3, it says, Let them praise thy great and terrible name, for it is holy. And then in verse 5, Exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his footstool, for he is holy. And the last verse we just read, it says, For the Lord our God is holy.

I want to use that as sort of a springboard to take a very brief excursion into the sequence of these psalms from Psalm 91 to Psalm 99. It turns out that these three, these nine psalms together are a prophecy and a prophecy that develops in the prophecy itself to an ever-expanding revelation, and then we see the real consummation, the fulfillment of that revelation in the New Testament. And the prophecy begins in chapter 91. With these words, let me just read them to you in Psalm 91. We've studied this psalm, but we could study these psalms probably over and over without really getting everything out of them.

He says in Psalm 91, he says, he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. So the secret place of the Most High is God's presence. It's actually the bosom of God. That's where the Son of God dwells. It says in John 1, verse 18, he is in the bosom of the Father. He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty, under God's protection.

And he goes on to develop that. He says, I will say of the Lord, and I'm gonna skip over the words in italics to emphasize what's said here, because the words in italics are inserted for clarity, but it says, I will say of the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom, in him will I trust. My refuge, my fortress, in him will I trust.

And the rest of the psalm talks about being delivered from all these troubles. And so we see in Psalm 91, if we were to summarize this, God reveals himself to us as the God in whom we dwell, by Christ, in Christ, we dwell in the very bosom of God in his presence. And in that place, we're completely safe from all the harms that would come upon us if it were not for him. And those harms, of course, come upon us because of our sins, and all of our enemies come against us because of our sins.

So here he's emphasizing that the Lord is his refuge, his fortress, his God, and he trusts in him. This is a personal, trust, a personal place of refuge, and a disclosure of God's heart in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the secret place of the Most High, where there is absolute safety.

And this is expanded, if you consider this in parallel with Romans chapter eight. In Romans chapter eight, there's this long sequence of verses that say, what shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? And then he just enumerates, shall tribulation or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword or things present or things to come, height, depth, any other creature The conclusion is no, nothing. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

And so Psalm 91 is parallel to that. You can see that. And there's other chapters in the New Testament that do that. And then we can go through this in Psalm 92. It says, immediately, it is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praise as to thy name, O Most High.

So out of this trust, out of seeing our safety in Christ, Not just our safety, but God's revelation of himself to us in the Lord Jesus Christ, that secret place of the Most High. Praise is the result of that. And so he says it's a good thing to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High. So from confidence in Christ, from the appreciation of God's saving work to place us in Christ and to reveal himself in Christ to us, comes praise. That's Psalm 92. And then in Psalm 93, he immediately opens up with the Lord reigneth. That's exactly what he said in Psalm 99. So here we see personal trust, personal safety, salvation, and then praise.

And then this exalted praise of recognizing the Lord reigns. The Lord is sovereign. The one who is God and is my savior reigns. He is the sovereign. And this is a statement of God. It's true that the Lord does reign. He always has. He certainly does now. And he always will reign.

But the fact that he reigns is the result of having accomplished our salvation, God accepting him and testifying to the completion, the perfection of his work and his delight with his son, but also his delight with his people. And by exalting Christ, he exalts his own character in what we see in the way God saves us in his Son, through his humility, through his love, through his grace. He emptied himself in order to save us in his poverty, the poverty of his substitutionary work for us. So we see that, and we see the Lord now reigns, the one who is God, in whose heart is God's heart, and we see that in Christ's reign. God has exalted his son because this is who God is. This is showing forth his glory in his saving work, in the character of Christ that saved us from our sins.

And then in Psalm 94 he goes on, So now he's going to spend a large amount of time talking about how the Lord is going to judge his enemies. And this corresponds in parallel to, in the New Testament, how Christ reveals himself as our savior, he saved us from our sins, he took his place at the right hand of God, and now all the enemies, those who are hostile to God, to Christ, to his people, rise up and there's a call for judgment. And then in Psalm 95, he goes on with his confidence.

He says, oh, come, let us sing unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. No matter what opposition, no matter how much darkness, no matter how much trouble we experience, We know that Christ reigns, that he will judge righteously, and that the enemies of Christ and of his people will not prevail, but in fact he will prevail over our sins and deliver us from all that our sins would bring. And so he says, oh come, let us sing unto the Lord, let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

And then in verse 96, I mean chapter 96, he says, oh sing to the Lord a new song, Now he doesn't describe the new song, the lyrics of the new song for us to sing at this point in time, but he does give us the summary of that new song. He says, all the earth sing to the Lord, bless his name, show forth his salvation from day to day, declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people, for the Lord is greatly to be praised, he is to be feared above all gods. Okay, so now the new song has to do with salvation, And it's not just a personal application, but there's this ever-expanding extent of this salvation because he's talking about here all of the earth, the heathen, declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all the people. So the revelation that began in Psalm 91 that was personal, that was saving, expands to praise and then to declaring Christ's rule and then also his judgment over our enemies and then this this triumphant song in verse 95, and then in chapter 96, how the heathen are going to hear the gospel.

And then in verse 97, again, he says, the Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice, let the multitude of the isles be glad. So now the extent of the declaration is, again, increasing. In Psalm 98, which we were in last time, he says, oh, sing to the Lord a new song. Here it is again.

He has done marvelous things, his right hand, his holy arm has gotten him the victory. Again, the focus is on his work, on his strength, on his victory, on his sovereign rule because of this victory. In fact, by his sovereign rule, he sends his spirit to enable his church to preach the gospel, which brings about the praise, the recognition and the praise and the worship from all these places called the isles and the people and the earth. And it's referring to God's elect throughout the earth.

And then in Psalm 99, where we are tonight, it says, it opens, the Lord reigneth, let the people tremble. And he says three times in here, the Lord is holy. His name is holy. Verse three, verse five, he is holy. And verse nine, our God is holy. Now, if we think of how this develops in these nine Psalms, and we go to the New Testament, and we see in Revelation chapter five, we actually get now the lyrics, as it were, of this song, this new song, and we also get the multitude that are being called to sing and to worship the Lord, and we see how that the Lord who reigns is actually the Lamb of God.

And so in Revelation chapter 5 he says in verse 6, I beheld and lo in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain, and so he goes on in verse nine, he says, and they sung a new song, and here it is, saying, thou art worthy to take the book, to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. So this is a constant theme throughout Revelation. If you look at Revelation four, which we're not going to do tonight, you'll see that the center The center of the revelation is the throne. And it's the Lamb on the throne and all of the redeemed about the throne who are singing this throng of the redeemed are worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father by Him.

So they're dwelling in the secret place of the Most High in Christ and they're completely saved. with an eternal salvation, and this is unfolded not only in these nine Psalms, but it is concretely, it's consummated in the book of Revelation when we see the church glorified in heaven with Christ as the redeemed and giving him all the glory and the worship. One of the things you see in Psalm 98, for example, is how loudly this praise is called for.

How loudly. In fact, it seems like it's almost... I used to attend churches where they say, okay, we need to really sing now. Come on, sing out, sing loud. But you always felt like you were pushing it. You were trying to generate something that wasn't naturally there.

But the praise is called for in Psalm, in these nine Psalms, is more than justified because we see how greatly in heaven the consummation that's foretold in these Psalms is realized in the fulfillment of our salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ. So I wanted to point that out before we got into Psalm 99 here, is that this is not just a psalm by itself. And these are not just songs that were sung in the land of Israel, but these are songs that are sung by the elect of God and they are sung in fulfillment when they stand around the throne and they're singing praise to Christ who redeemed them to God by his own blood out of all these different places. All right, so that's the first thing I wanted to point out here. Now, let's look at Psalm 99, and let's go through the verses. Here he says, in verse one, the Lord reigneth. Clearly, that means that God is sovereign. But he says in the next phrase, let the people tremble.

And this is something that can be intimidating. It is intimidating. It should be intimidating. Why is it intimidating? What you remember in the Bible, whenever an angel appeared to a person on earth, the immediate response is the person was afraid. It doesn't matter who they were. An angel isn't God. But here he's saying, the Lord reigneth, let the people tremble. So trembling has to do with a fear. And so in this psalm, we're gonna see this fear, and I wanna talk about that a little bit. But before I do, I wanna get to the next phrase in Psalm 99, verse one.

He says, he sitteth between the cherubims. So this place, the cherubims, we know where the cherubims were in the Old Testament. The cherubims looked down upon the blood-sprinkled mercy seat. And we know the blood-sprinkled mercy seat was the place of atonement. In Hebrews 9, verse 5, mercy seat, the word translated mercy seat is in another place, in Luke 18, 13, is translated God be merciful to me, the sinner, and in Romans 3, 25, as propitiation. So the mercy seat is the place of propitiation. And we're confident that the Lord Jesus Christ was signified by that mercy seat, not just in his person, but in the saving work that he accomplished when he offered himself to God.

Because God says in 1 John 4, verse 10, that God the Father, this is love, that God the Father would give the Lord Jesus Christ to be the propitiation. And I emphasize, the propitiation because Christ himself is the propitiation in his own blood. He offered himself in love for us. He offered himself to God as a sacrifice that was well pleasing to God. And he did that for our sins.

So when we look at this verse here in Psalm 99 in verse one, the Lord reigneth Let the people tremble. He sits between the cherubim. Let the earth be moved. We have to understand this, that the trembling and the being moved of the people and the earth are because of the one who reigns, and the one who reigns, the sovereign, reigns sovereignly over all things.

He's the Lord, and he reigns because he is the propitiation for our sins. And this helps us, this anchors, this really anchors the entire psalm here for us, is that the Lord Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins. Because he actually made propitiation to God, and because he's the Lord, all of this begins to make sense to us then.

And it also calls forth our most ardent worship, our adoration, our admiration, and not just admiration, but a respect that is the result of seeing what God required, what God provided, what God accepted, How God designed this, the one who is spoken of here is holy in three different ways. In the New Testament, it says, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. The one who sits on the throne is the thrice holy God. And because propitiation is his design, his provision, what he provided and what he accepted, And because he accepted it, therefore the work of propitiation accomplished his intention, and he is seen in it, and those he propitiated in Christ are made holy by that propitiation, so that we see all of this comes together in this focus of Christ and him crucified, who has saved us from our sins. One of the things I thought when I was considering this psalm and the fact that it says three times that God's name is holy, God is holy, is that how can I begin to claim to be able to know what this even means?

Because when we talk about God being holy, it means separate, separate from, or uniquely what he is. God is who he is as none other. He says in 1 Samuel 2, verse 2, God is holy. There's none holy but the Lord. And that's repeated throughout scripture. In Exodus 15, 11, he says the same thing. There's none holy as the Lord.

And Jesus told the rich young ruler in Matthew 19, only God is good. Why do you call me good? Well, of course, he is good. He is God. He's emphasizing here that there's something about us that God is that we are not. People are not holy. God is holy.

And yet, yet, the people here in verse one says, let the people tremble in light of the fact that the Lord reigns, the one who made propitiation for our sins. And so this is something that I think if we can get a hold of this, then it'll make a lot, it'll be a great comfort, great peace, and great cause for our own worship of the Lord. And I would say it this way, when I think about this, the fear of God is trembling, being moved here. He speaks about this, in fact, in verse five, he says, exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his footstool, for he is holy.

So he's impressing upon us God's holiness, not ours, but his. He is holy. His name is holy. God, the Lord our God is holy. And he's the one who made propitiation for the sins of his people. It was his design, his providing. He accepted the offering he made. And he accepted the people made by that propitiation for whose sins God himself was propitiated in holiness. And now they're to worship him. And all of this is holy. This is God's doing.

And so we see here that when God speaks about trembling and the fear of God here, it helps us to understand that from this psalm and from other places in scripture, like in 1 John 4, verse 18, where it says, he that feareth has not made perfect in love, fear hath torment. But when we're made perfect in love, then fear doesn't have torment.

So what God is teaching us is that God's rule, God's reign, his sovereign rule, apart from faith in Christ, brings torment only. We can only know torment by the fear of God if we don't have faith. But with faith, The fear of God, what would put a sinner far from Him, would make us entirely, our greatest fear would be to come before God in His holiness because we're anything but holy.

And yet by faith we see that in Christ we've been brought near to God through His propitiating blood, through His righteousness. And so what this does is it causes us to realize through the gospel. Now, the gospel is that light that shines in our hearts that produces the life and faith in Christ that is the gift of God, that saving work in us that causes us to look to Him only. That light, which produces life and faith in us, causes us to see that what should make us afraid before God, and only afraid before Him, in torment, in terror, has now brought us near by His own holiness. And that holiness has brought about our reconciliation. and that reconciliation is in the blood of his own son. So what causes us really to reverence God, to trust him, is that God-given faith that enables us to see that Christ has made propitiation to God for our sins in his own blood.

And this is how we see God. This is how those in Revelation 5 are worshiping Him, because He's the Lamb of God who is worthy to receive all praise because He redeemed us to God by His own blood out of all these nations, these faraway places, these insignificant places. God has redeemed insignificant people by the death of his son.

And I want to read that verse to you from Romans chapter 5, because this really emphasizes this. In Romans chapter 5, one of those dear, dear verses of scripture, he says this, In verse nine, notice here, this is propitiation, this is justice, this is great, great love. He says, much more than being now justified by his blood, is Romans five, verse nine.

Being now justified by his blood. What justifies us? Well, the righteousness of Christ, but here he says his blood. So we understand then that the blood of Christ is righteousness that justifies us before God. Being justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

That's propitiation. Propitiation brings to God, on the behalf of God's requirements for sinners, those against whom his wrath is justly deserved. And that blood that's offered to God for propitiation takes away the reason for his wrath because it makes satisfaction to God to the delight of his judgment, justice, and righteousness. I would say this, to the delight of his holiness.

That's what the blood of Christ does. So that in verse five, I'm sorry, chapter five, verse 10, verse 10 of Romans chapter five, he says, for if when we were enemies, notice these words, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Now, just take those words. Who did this? Well, God did it. We were reconciled to God by the death of his son.

What was it that God required? Well, he required for our reconciliation the death of his son. And that death was the full offering, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is equal with God, having made himself a servant and taking our nature and being obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And this was that righteousness in which the Apostle Paul said, I've given up all clinging to my own righteousness, and I consider it a repugnant dung in order to be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness, but the righteousness of God, which is Christ. and my righteousness in him. So that's what he's saying here.

We were reconciled to God by God through the death of his son. Christ accomplished this. God offered his son. Christ offered himself. This is holy. We didn't think this up. We didn't design this. God designed it. God does nothing but what is holy, holy, holy.

And because God designed this to bring about our salvation, He actually, in His holiness, exhibited the greatest power, power even to accomplish perfect delight to God Himself for sinners, the very opposite of what God's holiness could accept. must separate from himself by his own holiness in his justice and righteousness and judgment out of grace incomprehensible. God has made full satisfaction to himself in delight. It pleased the Lord to bruise him and this is the way God reconciled us to himself. He made propitiation to his own justice, satisfaction, and appeased his own wrath.

God offered his son to himself. Christ offered himself to God for us. who were sinners. All we were were sinners. We certainly didn't make any contribution to this. We were the objects only of this saving work, of this grace, of this holiness of God.

So when we consider this, then we understand that the fear of God that he says here, the Lord reigneth, let the people tremble, this fear that we would think is The only thing we could even know in light of God's holiness and our own sinfulness, this holiness of God has actually removed the cause of our tormenting fear and given us faith to see that He who is our God has removed his own wrath in the blood of his son, and has not only just removed it in a negative sense, but has put us in relation to himself as in peace, in delight even, with greatest joy. His children and this is phenomenal. This is phenomenal.

So that what we see is that by the gospel We're given faith and that faith enables us not to come to God in terror But to come to God in the highest degree of reverential worship and awe being awestruck that God himself is would offer up, deliver up, and not spare his son, give him into his hand the cup of cursing that we might have the cup of salvation, the water of life, the cup of blessing. That's what it's called in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. The Lord's Supper, the cup in the Lord's Supper is called the cup of blessing. It was unmixed wrath for Christ, but it is unmixed blessing for us, because the Lord Jesus Christ, in His holiness, has brought about delight in God for us who were sinners.

Now, the result of this is that God has made us holy. He has made us holy by the blood of His Son. And so, in Hebrews chapter 10, He says in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 10, by the which will, by the will of the Father, we are sanctified, made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. This was done once, never to be repeated, perfectly completed, done in history, efficacious for all eternity. In fact, even before the cross, In the will of God, in the decree, the foreordination of God, Christ was already slain. so that the blood of Christ was already, there was already a covenant made in His blood before the foundation of the world, before any creation, before He had created His people, He had put them in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the secret place of His presence, and that's why we're under the shadow of the Almighty. We're spared from all of the wrath that should come upon us and every enemy that would seek our destruction, our condemnation, our damnation.

At God's hand, the Lord has delivered us from that. by the death of His Son, brought us to Himself in peace, in fact brought us to Himself as His children by Jesus Christ. And because He made us, He washed us from our sins in His own blood, because He made us righteous in the obedience of Christ, in shedding His blood, then he sends his spirit to us to tell us, to give us the light of the gospel with life and faith. And by that faith, we realize God has made us his children by Jesus Christ. The spirit of God, the spirit of his son now is given into us so that we cry, Abba, my father, my father, my father. This is the cry that God has given us and we see what Christ has done for us.

This is holy, isn't it? God doesn't have unholy children. He doesn't have any unholy children. If we're in the Lord Jesus Christ, if we're given the Spirit of God, then we have been made holy. It says in Hebrews 2, verse 11, He that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified are all of one.

The Lord Jesus Christ, our High Priest, has made us holy by the offering of Himself to God. And so this is repeated in various places in scripture. It's repeated in Hebrews 13, 12, but also in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30. Of him, of God the Father, is Christ made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. So we see that the Lord Jesus Christ has made us holy in his own blood, and therefore we're given the spirit, the Holy Spirit, He has birthed us with a Holy Spirit, and He has joined us to Christ in spirit. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 17, we're joined to the Lord. We're made one with Him in spirit.

So that when we come to that point in our lives, when our body is dying, Like Stephan in Acts chapter 7, he says unto Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, my spirit which is his spirit, one with him, and our body which has this sinful nature is going to be buried in the grave but he'll raise it up again without any sin and we will then be with the Lord forever in a resurrected glorified body because Christ's spirit dwells in us and our body is his body and therefore our body will be holy. just like we're holy in spirit because we're joined to him. All right, so all these things are brought to light through the gospel and they're mentioned here in order to bring the prophecy of these things to us in the Psalms and we'll see the fulfillment of it. This is the basis for the loudest most exuberant, explosive, erupting praise and worship for what God has done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ.

All right, Psalm 99 then. He says in verse two, the Lord is great in Zion. Zion is a hill where Jerusalem was and it represents the church. Hebrews chapter 12 says, you've not come to Sinai, you've come to Mount Zion and to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.

This is where we've come, not to a physical city, not to a political nation, not to a place on earth, Believers have been made citizens of heaven. We look for a heavenly kingdom. We look for the savior who's going to appear. We know our citizenship is in heaven and the Lord himself is our dwelling place and our inheritance.

And this is called Zion. This is the church. This is where Christ dwells. He says, the Lord is great in Zion and he is high above all the people. Jesus Christ is high. He's the head of the church. The church is his body. It says in Ephesians 1, verse 22 through 23, the fullness of him that filleth all things. That's the church.

It's so much a part of him that it is his fullness. And here he says, the Lord The Lord is great in Zion and He is high above all the people because Christ is the source. He's the head, He's the source of all of our righteousness in life, our holiness, our faith, everything. Everything comes from our head. He's high above all the people. And we recognize that and we're glad that He is.

If there was some part of our salvation that we could take credit for, then that part would depend on us, and we would never be saved. But because everything depends only on Christ, then he must have all the glory, and we're glad that it's that way. In verse 3, let them praise thy great and terrible name, for it is holy. There again we have the awestruck reverence that comes about recognizing that our sin is so vile, so wicked, that we in ourselves are so perverse and bent and defiant and rebellious and utter failures. as sinners, and yet God has made us holy by the death of his son.

There's nothing that strikes awe, reverential awe, more in our hearts than to know that God did not spare. He delivered up his son for us in order to bring us, his many sons, to glory. He made the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. That's the way he saved us. And that strikes awe.

A sinner first of all experiences terror, hiding, fear, running, fleeing. But then the gospel comes and what happens? We come, we draw near, we call, we cry. and we trust the Lord as our refuge and our fortress. And we find in Him our all, so we praise His great and His terrible name. Terrible conveys something that strikes terror, but His name is terrible to the unbeliever, but to the believer, the torment of fear is taken away and replaced with reverence and this love of children. And brethren, we have such a high respect for the Lord Jesus Christ is given to us through the gospel.

It says in verse four, the king's strength also loveth judgment. Thou dost establish equity. Thou executes judgment and righteousness in Jacob. Here we see that Christ is his strength is his love for judgment. He loves judgment. He establishes equity or uprightness. He executes judgment and righteousness in Jacob.

In Jacob means in the church, just like in verse two, it was the Lord is great in Zion. He says in Isaiah chapter 45, and I'll read that to you in Isaiah 45. So we get these words here to overlay on Isaiah 45, verse 24. He says, surely shall one say in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. See, there's that strength.

Even to him shall men come, not flee, not hide like Adam. But to him shall men come because by faith we see that in Christ he goes on and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. They flee. But in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." You see, there's that.

Because we're justified in Christ, the Lord, then we glory. We boast in Him, in His work, what God has done. Let him that glorieth, glory in the Lord. He's our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We have nothing. He's everything. We boast in Him. So he says he loves judgment, he established equity, he executes judgment and righteousness in his people.

And that's what he did for us at the cross. Remember what Jesus said in John chapter 12? He said, let me read that to you. He says, what shall I say in verse 27? He says, now is my soul troubled, what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No, for this cause came I unto this hour.

Father, glorify thy name. You see, Christ gave himself to glorify his Father. Then came there a voice when I say glorify his father. It doesn't mean adding glory to his father, but making known his father in his glory to shining to shine forth the majesty of his person by what Christ would do here. So he says. Father, glorify thy name.

Then came their voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. The people, therefore, that stood by and heard it said it thundered. Others said an angel spoke to him. Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.

Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. That's judgment. Judgment performed. Judgment completed. The prince of the world is judged, cast out, the world is judged. Jesus said later in John 16, 33, in the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. This is the judgment. But this judgment didn't result in our condemnation. This judgment resulted in our justification. He was delivered for our offenses. He was raised again because of for our justification.

Romans four, verse twenty five. So we see that the the love Christ has for judgment and and establishing uprightness or equity, executing that judgment and righteousness is his strength. And in that strength of Christ. Also, we see Because he says in Hebrews chapter 1 he loves righteousness, he hates iniquity, we also see that he brought sinners to God and made them holy. What could delight God more than that? To show his strength. to overthrow our sins, which he identified he made to be our enemies, his own enemy, and overthrew them in order to fulfill his promise to magnify his name in our salvation. So that even though in ourselves we're like sheep that have gone astray and gone our own way, the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all, and God has brought us to himself through him. All right. He goes on, he says in verse five, Exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his footstool, for he is holy.

Now, the footstool here signifies, it occurs in a place in First Chronicles. I won't go there right now, but it occurs there. David made the temple, he built the temple, he provided for the temple, and he provided it as a dwelling place for the ark, the ark of the testimony. And in that place, he speaks of the ark as being the footstool. This is meant to teach us that God refers to His Son in His redeeming work in our nature as the way that we come to God, that we know God and we worship God in the Lord Jesus Christ, His footstool.

When we think of Christ in His human nature, men despised Him. When we think of him in his human nature, according to Isaiah 53, we saw no glory in him. But the fact is, is this is the way God saved us. And by faith, we are enabled to see this is the glory of God. John chapter one, he says, the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. so that we see God's grace, we see God's truth in Jesus Christ by His sacrifice.

This is the footstool, this is the way we come to Him. How do we come to God? Only through Christ. His is the only name under heaven. It's given to us to call. to come to God. He's the way, the truth, and the life. So we can only come through Christ and Him crucified. And that's what he's talking about here, verse five.

Exalt the Lord, worship at His footstool, for He is holy. God is holy. Christ is the Holy One of God. God is holy in offering His Son, and He makes His people holy in Him. And this is the way we worship Him, in the beauty of holiness. What God has done for us in Christ.

And then, we don't have much time here, but he goes on, verse six, Moses and Aaron among his priests, Samuel among them that call on his name. They called on the Lord and he answered them. He spake to them in the cloudy pillar. They kept his testimonies and the ordinance that he gave them. Thou answerest them, O Lord, our God. Thou wast a God that forgavest them. though thou took vengeance on their inventions.

I probably should to wait till next week to cover this section because there's more here that I can cover in two or three minutes. So let's just pause there and we will pick this up next time to finish Psalm 99. Consider these things and hopefully by God's grace, we will be enabled to see more and more of our Savior and God's redeeming work in Him, what it cost God. It cost Him everything in order to redeem us from the bondage of the debt and the bondage of our sin and the condemnation that we had brought upon ourselves. We had nothing to pay. And when we had nothing to pay, He frankly forgave us. But it cost Him. It cost Him the precious blood of His own dear Son. In suffering and anguish, He plunged the sword of His justice into His Son.

And it pleased the Lord. It was according to His holiness. What awe this should strike in our hearts. And he has been so pleased with him that he sat him on his own throne at his own right hand. This is the man whom the king delights to honor. This is the one whose heart beats with God's heart. This is the one who exemplifies, who expresses in perfection God's nature, God's glory, God's holiness. This is the one who loved us and and redeemed us. He washed us from our sins in his own blood.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for your grace. Thank you for your holiness, your righteousness, your justice, your judgments, that we are saved by this great and mighty Savior whose strength is in these judgments. He has established righteousness for us and he has brought us to God. made us holy, clothed us in the beauty of his own righteousness, taken away our filthy rags and our nakedness and our shame, and given us a standing before God that God himself is delighted with and sings over us with exceeding joy because of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessing. We are unable to believe these things or to enter into the joy and peace of them without the faith that you must give to us. So we pray, Lord, for this grace. In his name we pray. Amen.

Psalm 99, p1 of 2

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about God's holiness?

How is God's sovereignty portrayed in Psalm 99?

Why is the sacrifice of Christ important in understanding God's holiness?

How does Psalm 99 teach about worship?

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Psalm 99, p1 of 2

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about God's holiness?

How is God's sovereignty portrayed in Psalm 99?

Why is the sacrifice of Christ important in understanding God's holiness?

How does Psalm 99 teach about worship?

Sermon Transcript

About Rick Warta

Comments

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