God is King Over All the Earth...and Over My Life

Summer in the Psalms ‘24

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

August 4, 2024

God is King Over All the Earth…and Over My Life

We’ve spent the summer in the psalms looking at the seven genres of psalms: wisdom psalms, lament, confidence, praise, remembrance, psalms of thanksgiving and the genre I saved for last: kingship psalms. Kingship psalms can be broken down into two categories: psalms that focus on the human king of Israel. Psalm 20 and 21 are in this category. Psalm 45 is a song rejoicing in the wedding of the king. And then there are psalms that proclaim God as king such as psalm 47.

Before we jump into the psalm itself, it’s interesting to note the inscription:

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

It’s a psalm given to the director of music to be sung, but most interesting is that it was written by the “sons of Korah.” Who was Korah and who were his sons? Korah was one of three men who rose up to challenge the leadership of Moses and Aaron. Moses told the assembly to stand far away from Korah and his friends and said if these men die a peaceful, natural death, then the Lord didn’t send me. But if the Lord does something new and the earth opens up and swallows them then you will know it’s not me they treated with contempt, it’s the Lord.” Sure enough the earth opened up and swallowed Korah and his followers. But, it says, the sons of Korah did not die. Now, seven generations later, the prophet Samuel is one of the sons of Korah and the sons of Korah became mighty warriors for King David, but they became most famous for the songs they wrote.

Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. ² For the Lord Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth. ³ He subdued nations under us, peoples under our feet. ⁴ He chose our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.

⁵ God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets. ⁶ Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. ⁷ For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise.

⁸ God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne. ⁹ The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted. Ps. 47:1-9

Pray

We aren’t used to thinking in terms of kings and monarchies because we’ve been brought up in a democracy where we elect our leaders. The founding fathers were brilliant and as they framed the constitution what was uppermost in their minds was the separation of power. So they split the government into three equal but separate branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The idea is that each branch keeps the other’s power in check. They built a balance of power into our constitution because they knew firsthand that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

In a true kingdom, kings have absolute power and authority. That sounds scary to us and rightfully so. Over the course of history there have been a few good (but imperfect) kings like King David, but most kings throughout history have been mean-spirited, self-centered, little men to whom the power went right to their heads. So with all the problems of our democracy, I’ll take it over those guys!

But ultimately the earth isn’t a democracy, it’s a monarchy. In fact, the Bible says that all creation - the earth, the universe, and heaven is a monarchy with one true King and that is God.

1. God is King of all nations, not just Israel

The Jews considered God to be the King of Israel, but God’s purpose was always bigger than one nation - His purpose was to be the king of all the nations.

² For the Lord Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth. ³ He subdued nations under us, peoples under our feet. ⁴ He chose our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loved… Vv. 2-4

The Psalmist writes in verse 3 that the Lord subdued nations under them and that sounds like conquering and in fact in the Old Testament Israel’s military victories and defeats often mirrored their obedience or disobedience to God’s authority. When Israel obeyed God, God blessed them with victory and peace. When Israel disobeyed God and was unfaithful to Him by worshiping idols, God would use surrounding nations to discipline Israel by allowing them to be conquered. They would expand or shrink depending on whether their obedience.

In the Old Testament God used very tangible physical realities such as victory or defeat, taking land or losing land, gaining wealth and health or losing wealth and health to teach them and us harder to grasp inner spiritual realities. In the New Testament God’s blessing doesn’t look like becoming a millionaire or beating up people who oppose us or always being physically healthy, we are, Paul says, blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. Blessings like peace, joy, love, meaning. Riches that money can’t touch and enemies can’t take away.

Their inheritance was the promised land, our inheritance is being heirs of Christ, adopted sons and daughters of God. There’s that name Jacob again, whom God loved. I may be reading too much into it, but Jacob was the black sheep of the founding fathers. Abraham was solid, Isaac was the good son, and then Jacob came along, tricking people, deceiving, getting himself in and out of trouble. He was the kid that made his mom lose sleep. That made his dad say, “where did we go wrong?” And God loved him! Turned him into Israel. God loves us with all our mess and imperfections! We don’t want to stay a mess, but we are all a work in progress, amen?

A church that doesn’t allow people to be messy, that doesn’t accept people in process will become a phony church, cause we’re all messy. We’re all in process. It’s just do we show it or not? So let’s be real cause God doesn’t want the church to be phony, He wants us to be a family.

In a spiritual way - and sometimes outwardly in physical ways, our lives really do expand or shrink depending on whether we’re living for Christ or living for self. Jesus is the best king, let’s bow our knee to him every day!

Having said that about how God taught realities in the OT, we see clearly that God’s redemptive plan was always to subdue the nations, not as conquered enemies but as loving subjects of His kingdom. Jump to verse 8.

⁸ God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne. ⁹ The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God;
he is greatly exalted. Vv. 8-9

God’s heart has always been for the nations. The gospel is for all peoples, all nations. To make us all sons and daughters of Abraham, not by flesh but by believing God’s saving promise just as Abraham did. Jesus came as king, but a suffering king, allowing himself to be rejected by his own people so that his saving work could reach to the ends of the earth and save to the uttermost.

God is an awesome God and a great King over all the earth! And yet, the question needs to be asked, if God is such a great king and king over all the earth, why is the world so messed up? If God reigns over the nations, if the kings of the earth belong to God, then why o why is there so much that’s wrong with the world?

2. A tale of two kingdoms

Very simply, since Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden, the world has been in a state of rebellion against the rule of God. There are two kingdoms at war in this world: God’s and Satan’s. All the evil we see - wars and murder and abuse and trafficking and racism and cheating and lying and stealing is not just the result of Satan’s rule, it’s the goal. Destruction and death is the atmosphere of the kingdom of darkness.

So while we may not like to think in terms of kings and kingdoms and authority all the problems of the world are directly linked to what king we serve. Today it’s popular to want to resist authority and be our own man or woman. But that’s a deception because when we’re our own man or woman we’re Satan’s man or woman. Anyone who isn’t in God’s kingdom is in Satan’s kingdom. The path to God’s kingdom is narrow: trust and obey Jesus. The path to Satan’s kingdom is broad: everything else.

We serve God or we serve Satan. Nobody is their own king. Satan is an evil king. God is a good and loving king. Listen to the beautiful prayer found in psalm 72, probably prayed by David over his son Solomon as he handed over the kingdom to him:

Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son! ² May he judge your people

with righteousness, and your poor with justice!...⁴ May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor!

⁶ May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth! ⁷ In his days may the righteous flourish, and peace abound, till the moon be no more!

¹² For he delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper. ¹³ He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. ¹⁴ From oppression and violence he redeems their life, and precious is their blood in his sight. Ps. 72:1-2, 4, 6-7, 12-14

David may have prayed this over Solomon, but Jesus walked this out. Jesus came as King a who loved people. He gave justice to the poor and the oppressed. He defended the poor, cared for the needy, protected the weak. He gave hope to the hopeless and remembered about the forgotten. He redeemed our lives because our lives are precious in his sight. Jesus’ rule is defined by the power of love. The only ones Jesus crushed (verbally) were those who used their power to oppress and take advantage of the weak.

When we invite Jesus to be our Savior, we are also inviting him to be our King. The Bible says God transfers us from Satan’s kingdom to Jesus’ kingdom. When we look at the heart of Jesus, we want him to be our king!

3. A call to yield daily to Jesus our King

If I had to identify the greatest need in the American church, I think it would be that we would be more surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus. Our culture glorifies self: self-expression, self-indulgence, self-affirmation. Unfortunately that has crept into the church - we want religion on our terms. We don’t mind encouragement, suggestions, tips on better living, but we chafe at being commanded. The kind of king we like is the burger king type of king: have it your way. Jesus doesn’t offer that. He is King and Lord and those who would follow him must yield to his Lordship.

Christians are yielded but none of us are perfectly yielded. The saying “Jesus is either Lord of all or he’s not Lord at all” isn’t the whole truth for none of us are 100% yielded. John Piper is right when he says that the Lordship of Jesus isn’t something that is yielded to once, but thousands of times. Every time we are tempted to sin, to go our own way, to live according to the flesh, it is the Lordship of Jesus that is at stake.

Question: am I yielded to Christ? Spirit search me. Am I holding onto anger or bitterness when Jesus commands me to forgive. Am I indulging my flesh in a secret sin when Jesus commands me to be holy? Am I lying when Jesus commands me to speak truth? Am I gossiping when Jesus commands me to cover a multitude of sins with love? We could go on.

Not just that though. Yield the mess of our lives. Confess how doing things our way has made a mess of our lives. How disobeying his will has driven our lives into a barren desert of broken promises, damaged relationships, and deep regrets.

Not just that though. Crossroads of a major decision. Feel Spirit urging us to a new adventure of serving God, of laboring for the kingdom of God instead of the kingdom of self. There’s a cost to it but there’s also a joy to it. Will we bend our knee and believe!

Honest look inward, allowing the Holy Spirit to shine the light on our hearts and motives. And embrace the word command. Jesus isn’t a life coach, he’s the Lord of Life. One day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, but as Christians we willingly and gladly do that now. Jesus is my King and he’s an awesome king!

Close singing Lord I Give You My Heart.