1 The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.
2 Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
4 His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled.
5 The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
6 The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.
7 Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods.
8 Zion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O LORD.
9 For thou, LORD, art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods.
10 Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.
11 Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
When God brings temporal judgment to this world, His people rejoice as they reflect on His holiness.
From beginning to end, this psalm commends a spirit of rejoicing. It is an optimistic, victorious rejoicing based on the confidence that God is absolutely sovereign over all powers. Severe, violent happenings do not terrify the godly because they know the source of it. Actually, they rejoice to know that none of these catastrophic events are chance happenings. Every single one comes about by the full intent of a God who is in total control, and we rejoice in that. But we rejoice over Gods holiness because we know that, in the scheme of things, everything will work its way out to meet the perfect standard of His righteousness.
Verses 1–5. The psalm begins with a basic conviction that must lie at the root of our every thought concerning reality: Yahweh reigns! But what does it mean for a king to reign? It must at least mean that He is more than a figurehead. Our God takes an intimate interest in the details of His creation. Nothing is out of His purview, and He will bring every work into judgment. When the Christian sees fossils in a rock, he trembles for just a second because he can see the fingerprints of God on that little creature. The worldwide flood was a major historical event—among the top three in history—and we have clear interpretation from God’s Word concerning this. “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man and beast, and the creeping thing” (Gen. 6:7). These are His words, and this flood was His doing. Truly it was God Who killed that little fossilized creature in the rock.
It may seem odd to the modern ear that this fire, lightning, and judgment is a cause for great rejoicing. But if the highest order of good is God’s righteousness—and not every man’s comfort and eternal bliss—then we would greatly rejoice in this good! For the Christian there is no higher blessing and no greater comfort than to know that God is in control, and even His judgments will yield glory to Him.
The reference to fire that destroys God’s enemies offers a terrifying picture of death by burning. One could hardly conceive of a more horrible way to die, but this is the nature of God’s judgment. God is not to be trifled with. The destruction of Pompeii by a volcano in the year A.D. 79 was this sort of judgment. Pompeii was a city given over to licentiousness. Yet men are hardly bothered today by these fires as they rely on technological advancements and their early warning systems to preserve them from the deadly effects of natural disasters. But are they preserved from the horrible potential of the nuclear warheads that are now in the hands of non-Christian nations and rogue dictators? Today, there are far more cities in the world with populations of more than 100,000 than there were a hundred years ago, and these population centers become easy targets for nuclear weapons. Proud men and women had better fear God because He has just as much control over the whims of mad dictators and communist regimes as He does over the whims of volcanoes and forest fires. In this psalm we discover that this is one way He destroys His enemies.
The melting of the hills may refer to volcanoes, and it may also speak of the massive rearrangement of the earth’s crust at the time of the worldwide flood. What is described here is not some poetic reference to the random actions of a mythological mother nature as if she were to belch when she gets an upset stomach. Not at all! When you read of a volcano killing people in the newspaper, God fully intended this to happen as an act of judgment—because of the disobedience of an individual, a tribe, a nation, or an entire world.
When the president of a large country appears before his people in great fanfare, the military sounds off 300 pounds of ordnance. But when our God appears, 60 billion-ton mountains melt in His presence. God draws close to His people for either of two purposes—to redeem or to judge. This psalm is focusing on His work of judgment, and it warns that the day is coming when He will burn up this world by fire. The hills will melt, and men’s hearts will fail them for fear as they are ushered into final judgment forever.
Verses 6–7. The psalmist here answers a common question: how can God judge a people who have no knowledge of Him or His standards of righteousness? How can this be just? Questioning the justice of God is risky business. Nevertheless, the Bible offers answers to questions like this. According to Psalm 19, the heavens declare the glory of God. Paul says that the creation itself declares the power of God (Rom. 1:20), and this psalm even claims that the heavens declare His righteousness. Therefore, according to the Apostle, they are “without excuse” for their stubborn rebellion against God. But that still leaves some question as to how the heavens declare the righteousness of God. After all, one cannot read the Ten Commandments written in the sky. Back in the second verse, the psalmist virtually equates God’s righteousness with His judgment. When the pre-flood people rejected Noah, a true preacher of righteousness, they turned away from a declaration of the righteousness of God. But, as the very first rain drops began to fall, they received another important message of righteousness in the form of the righteous judgment of God. Think of what a shock it must have been to those people when the torrential rains came for forty long days. Many of them probably began to think, “Maybe that old preacher of righteousness had it right?” As the storms raged on, they realized they were subject to the terrible, mighty judgment of a righteous God. For so many years they had scoffed at the judgment of God. “Where is the promise of His coming?” they asked (2 Pet. 3:3). With every raindrop that pounded on their rebellious heads, those men received the preached Word of righteousness descending from the heavens.
The psalmist goes on to challenge the nations. “Where are the gods they have served so fastidiously over the centuries? Where are the pagan gods? Where are the gods of science? Where is the god of money? What about the god of the state upon whom they have relied for their protection and salvation for hundreds of years? Where is the Federal Reserve Board? Where are the welfare programs? Will their National Aeronautics and Space Agency save them from the judgment of God by diverting some asteroid careening towards the earth at 40,000 miles per hour?” The time will come when men will finally realize that their gods are all useless. They will beat on their own heads and rue the day that they gave themselves over to those stupid gods. Therefore, the psalmist says that NASA, the Federal Reserve Board, the proud scientists, and all other worshipers of false gods had better be worshiping the true and living God NOW!
Verses 8–12. Abruptly then, this psalm shifts focus from the idolatrous nations back to Zion and the state of the righteous. Standing by and watching the mighty works of God in judgment, even the women of Zion rejoice greatly over what they see. If you were to witness the terrible judgment of God upon a wicked city like Sodom, what would you say as you watched men and women literally burning to death? Would you ask why God makes people suffer in this way? Would you tell Him that He is being mean and unkind to those poor souls? Of course, God’s people should never impugn God with maliciousness. Neither would they want to gloat and rejoice out of some sense of personal vindictiveness against those taking the brunt of God’s judgment. Yet, such a sight of God’s fiery justice requires some sort of emotional response. The focus does not rest on the subjects of God’s judgment, nor does it rest on us (who may have been offended by those receiving that judgment). The focus is on God. The daughters of Zion rejoice over God’s sovereignty over all power and authority. They rejoice and give thanks “at the remembrance of His holiness” (verse 12). To know that God maintains His absolutely pure standard of holiness is a great comfort and joy to true believers. The burning of Sodom and its residents is not the essential thing. It is only a consequence of the holiness of God.
Contrasted with God’s judgment upon the wicked is the blessed state of the righteous in verses 10 and 11. They are clearly defined as the ones who “love the Lord and hate evil.” It is a matter of values. When push comes to shove, what do you prefer in your life? Are you more drawn to the things of the Lord, or are you drawn to fornication, lying, and idolatry? Thankfully, our salvation (both temporal and eternal) is in the hand of God in the ultimate sense. “He preserves the souls of His saints.” He brings us to the truth and enables us to enjoy Him. In many ways, joy is the bottom line and net sum of a believer’s life. Faith, love, and hope produce the fruit of joy. Every year, a new crop of faith, love, and hope in our lives ought to yield new measures of joy especially as the Word is continually received into our lives through preaching and Bible study.
1. What are the things that elicit responses of great joy from the average person? Good food, entertainment, and children can be the source of much joy. But it takes maturity to rejoice in the most substantial things, and there is nothing more substantial than the holiness of God. When a believer can rejoice in everything because he has a vision for the holiness of God, he has achieved some maturity in his Christian life.
Is it all that important to us that God is holy and that He is the great, sovereign Judge of the earth? Intuitively, we all know that there can be no more important aspect to our reality than this, but our minds are easily taken up by less important things. Thus, we must call ourselves back to substantive contemplation on the deep things of God.
2. If God is holy, and if we love God, then it stands to reason that we should hate that which is evil (verse 10). This should also mean that we hate when good is called “evil.” Sadly, a great deal of media and music affirm the breaking of God’s commandments, whether by promoting fornication, violent vengefulness, or the taking of God’s name in vain. This is what we hate.
Worship is giving thanks at the remembrance of God’s holiness. To worship is first to be struck by something that elicits awe and wonder. What more striking reason is there for worship than God’s judgment, which is a manifestation of His holy character? We ought to be filled with rejoicing and gratitude, but only if we stand in right relationship to the holiness of God! If we love the Lord and stand in the blood-bought salvation of Jesus Christ, then and only then may we rejoice in the holiness of God made manifest to us by His holy judgments.
1. What does it mean for a king to reign?
2. How can Paul say that men who are in rebellion are without excuse before God?
3. How do the heavens declare the righteousness of God?
4. What is the response of God’s people when they view His judgments? Why do they respond in this way?
5. Provide several examples from history where the nations experienced the temporal (earthly) judgment of God.
1. What are the things that bring the greatest joy to our lives? In what situations might we contemplate the holiness of God and find great joy?
2. How do we react when we happen to observe that which is evil?