“Great Is Our Lord” [Matt's Messages]

“Great Is Our Lord”

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

August 9, 2026 :: Psalm 147:1-20

Hallelujah!

Who can translate that for us? Who knows what the Hebrew word “Hallelujah” means in English?

“Praise the LORD.”

That’s right! We’ve got some Hebrew scholars here this morning!

“Hallelu” (praise) “jah” (short for “Yahweh,” the covenant name for God).

Hallelujah, praise the LORD. That’s the theme and the chief application of Psalm 147. 

In fact, that’s the theme of the last five songs in the Psalter. Psalm 146, 147, 148, 149, and 150 all both begin and end with the Hebrew, “Hallelujah.” Our Challenge group probably learned that a month ago because they studied the psalms in Kansas City. These five songs begin and end (like bookends) with a call for the LORD’s people to praise Him. And they give many good reasons to do it, too.

Our God is worthy of our praise. He doesn’t just demand it. He is worthy of our praise. We have good reason to say, “Hallelujah.”  

In this psalm, those good reasons are summed up in verse 5 which says, “Great is our Lord.” That’s the title for this message, and it’s says a lot in just a few words. “Great is our Lord.”

He is great.

He is Lord.

And He is our Lord.

“Great is our Lord.”

Interestingly, this is the only place in the Bible that has those particular words in that particular order. “Great is our Lord.” The idea is all over our Bibles, and we’ve been singing about it all morning, “How great is our God!” But those words in that order? Only here in Psalm 147. 

The Hebrew is “Gadol Adonai-nu.” “Great is our Lord.”

So you know that you’ve gotten this Psalm into you in the right way if you find yourself wanting to praise our Lord because He is so great.

Let’s see if we can’t get there together. Let’s start in verse 1.

“Praise the LORD. [Hallelujah!] How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!”

That’s a good way to start, isn’t it? The psalmist says that it’s so good and so right to praise the Lord. It just feels good! He says, “how pleasant” it is. How enjoyable. How happy it makes us to fill our mouths with praise. 

Now, I know that we don’t always feel that way. Sometimes, we have to tell ourselves this to get our hearts in gear. You know what I mean? How does that song “Gratitude” that they brought back from Challenge say it, “Come on, my soul, don’t you get shy on me. Lift up your song...” That’s what verse 1 is trying to do, too. To remind our souls how good it even feels to praise God.

Did you feel it this morning as we were singing, “Bring praises! Bring praises forever to the Lord! Bring praises! Bring praises together!”

It is good and pleasant to sing praises to our God. It’s good and right to do so. This is what we were made for. You and I were made to praise God.

And God is worthy of our praise. “Great is our Lord.”

Now, there are two important themes that run throughout this whole psalm like two threads that are tied together and should not be untied.

The greatness our our Lord in Psalm 147 is in both the big and the small.  Not just one but both together. his Psalm goes big! It shows the gigantic power of God especially in His creation. And it also goes small. It shows the compassionate caring of God for His people.

It’s a lot like the other two psalms that we have studied together this summer. Remember at Family Bible Week we studied Psalm 8 and saw God’s majesty...and all of His mindfulness? And then after Challenge we studied Psalm 139–the inescapable God who is everywhere and also knows us intimately, down to our very thoughts?

Psalm 147 is like those. It sings of an unimaginably powerful God who is at the very same time unbelievably caring for His covenant people. We see this right from the beginning, in verse 2.

“The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.”

Do you see how he goes both big and small? When I read this, I’m immediately drawn to verse 4. 

“He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.”

Do you know how many stars there are? No, you don't. No human being does!

I looked it up this week. NASA says that there are more than 100 billion stars (including our own sun) in the Milky Way galaxy alone. But that’s just one galaxy. Astronomers estimate (nobody knows but God) that there are (ready for this?) one septillion stars in the universe.

Anybody know how many is a septillion? It is a trillion trillion! One trillion times one trillion is one septillion. That’s a 1 followed by 24 zeroes.

Psalm 147 says that the LORD determines then number of the stars and calls them each by name!

He not only made them (He made the stars!!!!), but He’s got His own name for each one! Does that make your brain bubble? He makes them all and remembers them all!

I can’t remember where I put my car keys. He remembers where He put all of the stars, and what all of their names are! “Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.”

The Hebrew word for “limit” is the same as the word for “number” in verse 4. He can number the stars, but we cannot number his understanding! He is all powerful and all wise.

Hallelujah!

He is the star-maker, and the star-knower. The LORD is all powerful and all wise.

But don’t forget verses 2 and 3! Don’t jump over verses 2 and 3! The God who numbers the stars–who does He care about?

“The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel.”

Oh, He cares about Israel. And not just Israel, but Israel whom He had sent into exile. Point number one of three this morning. Great is our Lord:

#1. IN RESTORATION.

Most scholars think that this psalm was written late in the time of the Old Testament, after Israel’s return from the exile. So this wasn’t written in King David’s time or Solomon’s, but much later after the end of 2 Kings, after Daniel, after Esther when God’s people had broken the covenant and been sent off in discipline for their idolatry and rebellion. After the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, when the Lord in His grace brought them straggling back from Babylon and Persia. And then this psalmist wrote this song. “The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel.”

It’s a song of restoration.

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

Isn’t that interesting? When you think about this powerful God who creates stars, and you think about who might be on His mind, do you think about brokenhearted people?

Do you think about exiles? Do you think about grieving people? Hurting people? Traumatized people?

I’m reading a book right now about trauma. It’s called When It’s Trauma, and it’s about walking with people who have seen great suffering. The brokenhearted. 

That’s who is on the LORD’s mind! He sees their grief. He knows what they have been through. He knows how they are hurting. And He’s helping them to rebuild.

And that same God is the God you and I belong to in the New Covenant. And He sees your grief. He sees your trauma. He sees your broken heart. And He’s here to help you rebuild. To bind up your wounds and heal. The same God who numbers the stars sees your pain.

“Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.”

He doesn’t just understand the stars. He understands your pain.

And we know, because of what we’ve been learning in Hebrews, that He understands it personally in the Person of Jesus Christ. 

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin” (Hebrew 4:15).

He knows what it’s like from the inside. “His understanding has no limit.” It is limitless. Infinite. All of that star-making power, and it is concentrated on those who do not deserve His help and can’t help themselves. Look at verse 6.

“The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.”

Our big God is a God of justice. He will, in the end, see that is made right in the world. The wicked will be cast down to the ground, to the grave, to judgment. And the wicked here are seen as proud. The proud will be humbled.

But the humble will be sustained. What a glorious word that is! “The LORD sustains the humble.” That’s the needy ones and the ones who know they are needy.

Do you know that you are needy? Do you feel small? That’s good. Because this big God has His big eyes on the small. On the needy. 

Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3). The Apostle James said, "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (James 4:10).

Because our God is not just a God of justice, but a God of grace. Great is our Lord in restoration.

What’s the application of that? Praise the Lord! Look verse 7.

“Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp.”

And the guitar and the electric keyboard, and every other instrument you can tune to His praise, especially the human voice.

“Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving!”

That He would think about you and me and restore us? After what we’ve done to Him and what has been done to us? That He would bend His attention to restoring us?

And not just restoring but sustaining us, preserving us.

Great is our Lord...

#2. IN PRESERVATION.

Verse 8 through 11 emphasize God’s provision for all creation and especially for His covenant people.

Verse 8, again, goes big:

“He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call” (vv.8-9).

Sounds like Shaggy’s song, doesn’t it? “You’re in Everything I See.”

I see clouds. Those come from God.

I see rain. God.

I see grass. God.

I see cows fed. God.

I see birds fed. God.

It’s a step down from the stars, we’re in the atmosphere and the hillside, but it’s all of the weather and all of the food chain. It all comes from Yahweh. If anyone (or anything) eats today, it’s because God fed them.

Scientists can track the weather. They can describe the water-cycle. Meteorologists can tell us the probabilities of the weather. They can’t predict the weather, but can tell us the chances.

But God can control the weather. God is behind the weather. He created the water-cycle. He keeps it going. And He directs it whichever way He wants. If you want a certain kind of weather, don’t talk to the weather-man, talk to God. I’ve been talking to Him about the Cruise-in for Saturday. I’ve been asking for no rain this year. But He knows best. He is so powerful! And He uses that power to provide. 

And who does He delight to provide for?

Who would you guess?

I think we would naturally guess that He delights to provide and preserve the great. The strong. The popular. The powerful. The wealthy. The big. That’s who we are often impressed by.

He is great, so we might assume that He is attracted to greatness.

But we would be wrong. Look at verse 10.

“His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man; the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love” (vv.10-11).

Now, he’s not saying that God doesn’t like a strong horse or a fast running man. Isn’t not that God doesn’t like the horses at Miracle Mountain Ranch or that God doesn’t like soccer.

He made the strong horse, and He gives fast running men their strong legs. The song is saying that God is not impressed by them. Like we are. We are impressed by the strength of a horse. This is probably a war horse. We count up how many war horses we have on our side. The legs of a man? A soldier. We count up how many soldiers we have on our side.

Or how many are on their side. And we start to get worried.

We count up how many dollars are in our account.

How much we can bench press.

How long our resumes are.

How many in our family.

Or how many dollars are in their account.

How much they can bench.

How long their resume is.

How many in their family.

That’s what impresses us.

But not God. He doesn’t need all of that.

He’s got Himself! And, we’ve got Him, too.

So that’s what gives pleasure to God. That’s what delights the LORD.

He delights in our trusting in Him. Look at verse 11 again.

“The LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.”

Do you want the LORD to delight in you? Do you want the LORD to take pleasure in you? Do you?

Here’s how you impress the LORD. You trust Him. You fear Him. That’s not abject terror. Like screaming and running away. It is fear though. It’s your heart trembling before a holy God. It’s not treating Him lightly with contempt or ignoring Him. It’s your heart bowing before Him and running towards Him. Those who fear the Lord want Him.

Here’s how you delight the LORD. You hope in His unfailing love.

The Hebrew word is “hesed.”

It’s almost impossible to translate because it’s so wonderful. It’s love, but it’s not just love. It’s loyal love. It’s gracious love. It’s merciful love. It’s steadfast love. Our LORD delights to give grace to those who place their hope in His grace.

Now, let me flip this around: Are you putting your hope in His unfailing love? Are you?

If you are, then the LORD is delighting in you! Yes, you heard me right. The LORD, Yah, Yahweh, is delighting in you right now. He is pleased with you!

I don’t know about you, but this blows my mind more than the fact that He numbers the stars. He is preserving His people, those who put their hope in His “hesed.”

And He is just loving it! He doesn’t need us. He doesn’t need us to be strong. He needs us to know our weakness and to hope in His strong love. 

What’s the application of that? Praise the Lord! Look verse 12.

“Extol the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion, for he strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you. He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat” (vv.12-14).

Now, again, this was written for people of God under the Old Covenant who had recently returned from exile. Especially the city of Jerusalem which was built on Mt. Zion and often called “Zion” itself.

Jerusalem had been burned. It had been ransacked. It had been overrun by Babylonians. And the temple destroyed in 586 BC. It’s citizens were dragged off into captivity.

But years later, their grandchildren and great grandchildren were back and were rebuilding. They rebuilt the temple. They rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem.

And the LORD Himself strengthened the bars of its gates and once again blessed the people within them. He gave them "shalom" just as He had promised when He said, “For I know the plans I have for you...plans to prosper you [shalom you, give you peace], and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).

He did that. In part then, and He will do that in the future when He restores Zion to the fullest extent.

We learned earlier this year when we studied Psalm 87 that “Zion” is a picture of heaven. It’s poetic and prophetic, and it’s talking not just about those people then in physical, geographical Jerusalem but the Zion to come. 

We’re going to see that again even more clearly when we get to Hebrews chapter 12. We can sing this song because we are Zion, too.

But the focus here in Psalm 147 is on how good God is being to Jerusalem.

He is blessing them.

He is sustaining them.

He is prospering, “shaloming” them.

He is satisfying them.

He is preserving them.

And He’s doing it with a word. 

The focus on these last few verses is on God’s command. God is doing all this, but He doesn’t have to like run around doing everything. “Okay, I’m going to go up to the gates and strengthen the bars now. Okay. Strengthen, strengthen, strengthen. Okay it’s time to make the wheat. Growing wheat, growing wheat, growing wheat.” 

No, He says the word and it happens. Look at verse 15.

“He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast? He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow” (vv.14-18).

Do you see it? Do you feel how God is ruling the world by simply saying the word? 

He rules the world by saying the word.

I love all of the weather in this song. We all care about the weather, but we can’t control it. The LORD can. It’s all the weather. You’ve got snow and frost and hail and icy winds. That’s all winter, and it’s coming. I know it doesn’t feel like it today, but just you wait.

But God isn’t just the God of autumn and winter. He says the word, and it’s spring and summer. The ice melts, the rivers run, April showers bring May flowers. Just because God says so!

And what will be the kicker for this song of God’s glorious power? What would you make be the last verse of this song that celebrates the God who numbers the stars and controls the weather?

The psalmist says, “Oh, here’s a great miracle! He gave us His words.”

He doesn’t just command creation, he has revealed His covenants. Look at verse 19.

“He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws. Praise the LORD.”

The psalmist is not bragging. We know that by now. 

At first, whenever I read this, I feel like he’s bragging. “We’ve got the law, and the pagan nations don’t.” But, no, he’s overwhelmed that the creator God would do this for them.

He’s singing about their exile.

He’s singing about their brokenness.

He’s singing about their humility, their smallness.

He’s singing about their weakness.

He’s singing about how they don’t deserve all of these unbelievable blessings from this incredibly powerful God.

“Why has God been so gracious to us? He has done this for no other nation!”

“He has given us the Law!”

Great is our Lord....

#3. IN REVELATION.

Not just in creation but in revelation.

God has revealed His word to His people!

He’s told us Who He is.

He’s told us what He wants.

He’s told us what He wants for us.

He’s not been quiet.

He’s revealed Himself and His will to His people.

What an wonderful gift that is! The psalmist is just shaking his head in wonder at God’s gracious condescension. 

And if that’s how this songwriter felt about the Old Covenant? How much more should we be amazed at God’s grace in giving us the New Covenant? The one mediated by our Great High Priest Jesus Christ. The final Word. The final Revelation of God to human beings like you and me.

The God who kindled the stars humbled Himself and became a human being Himself. And then He lived a perfect life and died a sacrificial death to save us from our own sins. And then He came back to life to give us life. And He ascended to the right hand of the Majesty on high and always lives to intercede for us.

That’s unfailing love! And it is our only hope.

What’s the application of this truth for those who are hoping in Him?

Praise the LORD!

He is great!

He is LORD.

And He is ours.

HALLELUJAH!

***

Bonus Message on Psalm 147: "Encounter the God of the Universe" FBW, July 2015

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*Even Here [Matt's Messages]

*Even Here - Challenge 2026

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

July 19, 2026 :: Psalm 139

Thank you, Challenge Team, for sharing about your week in Kansas City. It sounds like it was an incredible time of learning and fun and spiritual growth. I’m so glad we all could have a part in sending you with our gifts and especially with our prayers.

All week long, I used the prayer guide that Challenge sent us of what to pray for you every day which included what Psalms you were learning about each day.

The theme this year was *Even Here: Experiencing God in the Psalms. And every day you studied at least one Psalm together with 4,000 of your closest EFCA friends. I saw Psalm 19, 73, 51, 13, 100, Psalm 10, and Psalm 145. What wonderful songs to take into your heart!

Today, for the sermon, I thought we might take a short break from Hebrews and look at a Psalm together, specifically Psalm 139 which I think inspired the theme for Challenge this year. 

Psalm 139 ends with this prayer request. “Search me.”

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Isn’t that a great prayer? “Search me.” Have you said that to God this week? I’ll bet the Challenge Group has. “Search me.”

That’s not a snide remark like, “What are you bringing to the picnic on the 2nd?” “I don’t know! Search me!”

No, it’s a prayer for God to look into our hearts and to see what is truly there. It’s an invitation for God to know us as we really are and to move us to become who He wants us to be. “Search Me.”

How did King David get to the point where he could and would ask God to search him in that way? I think King David got to that point by knowing what kind of God He truly is. And Psalm 139 sings it to us. Let’s look at together. Verse 1.

“For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.”

We don’t know much more about the context of this prayer–many scholars believe that David has been accused by someone else of being unfaithful to the Lord, and he is seeking vindication here. I’m not sure if that’s true. I’m not sure at all what the historical setting was for this Psalm. I’ll bet they said at Challenge that sometimes it’s better not to know those details because the application feels even more immediate to our lives now.

Regardless of the setting, it’s a psalm of King David meant to be sung by others like you and me and applied to our lives today. 

David ends the Psalm by asking God to search him, but he begins the psalm by stating that he knows the LORD already has searched him. V.1

“O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.”

I’ve got four points this morning that are actually four prayers that we can pray back to the Lord ourselves. 

#1. YOU KNOW ME.

David can end up asking God to search him, because he already knows that the LORD has already done so. You know me.

“O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.”

That word for “search” means “to examine.” In our computerized world, we use the word “search” all the time these days. Often, we set a computer going to find some piece of information that we lack. We “google” things nowadays. Right? The ubiquitous “search bar.”

But this is not an impersonal search for a trivial piece of information. This is being known. This is being examined. This is a Person taking a close look at another person. It’s more like a trip to the doctor than putting a query into ChatGPT.

“God, You have checked me out. You know me.” 

David is amazed at how well God knows him. V.2

“You know when I sit and when I rise;”

Up or down. You know it. And not just what position I’m in. What I’m thinking! “...you perceive my thoughts from afar.” God is a mind-reader. V.3

“You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.”

We just sang those words together. “All my ways are known to you.” Whether I get up and head out on a walk in the morning or come home and go to bed, you know all of my doings. My patterns. My ways.

And this is not just impersonal information. It’s not just that God has a database of factoids about me. I’m not just in His spreadsheet. He knows me. He is familiar with my ways.

Many of you have pets. Do you know “the ways” of your pet? If you come home and your pet is nowhere to be seen, do you have a good idea where they could be found? You know the ways of your pet. Their comings and goings and habits. It’s not just that you could look it up in an Encyclopedia. “This is what cats generally do.” You know this pet and how he or she acts. You are familiar with their ways.

How much more is God familiar with our ways? He knows us much better than we know ourselves. V.4

“Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.”

Sometimes my wife knows what I’m going to say before I do. I thought I just came up with that sentence, but Heather was way ahead of me. Not necessarily because we think alike, but because she knows me. How much more does God know us! 

Do you see how personal this Psalm is? David is saying, “You know me.” Completely. And not just as a bunch of facts but personally, intimately, deeply, truly, relationally. You know me. V.5

“You hem me in–behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.”

“I just can’t grasp how much you know me, God!”

David is filled with wonder that he is known in this way. Does that same truth fill us with wonder today? 

Most people desperately want to be known. I think that’s one of the major reasons for much of what we see, for example, on social media. People are saying, “Know me! I’m putting myself out here. Know me!”

Church, you are known! By the One that matters the most. V.6

“Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.”

#2. YOU’VE GOT ME.

That’s what David was saying in v.5 with “You hem me in–behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.”

You’ve got me. I’m trapped! There is no escape from behind–no back door. And there is no escape from before–you’ve arrested me. You’ve laid your hand on me.

It’s not clear whether or not David wants to escape from God. Perhaps, that feeling of being known also gives him a touch of the willies and fosters an urge to escape. Or maybe he’s just saying that even if he wanted to get away, he knows that he can’t. Either way, there is no. hiding. from the Lord. V.7

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”

We sang those words this morning, too. “You will hold me fast.” There is no getting away from God. He is everywhere. 

If verses 1-6 were about God’s omniscience, verses 7-12 are about God’s omnipresence.

But it’s not just that God is there and standing around like some absent-minded professor. “Oh yes, he’s here, but he’s not all here.”

No, this is saying that God is present. He is relationally with David wherever David would run to.

The sky? Check.

The ocean floor? Check.

Flying at the speed of light? He’s there.

On the other side of the world? He’s there, too.

You can’t get away from God. You can run, but you can’t hide. Not even in the darkest place. V.11

“If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”

For the God who is light, there is no place that is dark.

What’s the upshot of that? 

Well, at first, it might not seem like good news. Who wants inescapable supervision? Somebody watching you all of the time? Kind of sounds like prison?

But David knows that it is good news. V.10 again.

Wherever I am, “...even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”

“Even there.” 

“Even here.” I’ll tell you who wants inescapable supervision...sheep do. Or at least if they don’t want it, they need it. Sheep need a shepherd. You and I are needy people, and we need a good shepherd to keep a guiding hand on us all of the time. It’s so good to be able to say, “You’ve got me.”

Have you prayed that this week? Perhaps you’re going through something right now that is really painful. Have you thanked the Lord that you are not alone in that pain? Have you given yourself and your situation over to Him?

I talked to someone this week who just wasn’t willing to say that to the Lord this week. “You’ve got me.”

“Lord, you’ve got me. I know that I can’t get away from you, and that’s  such a good thing! I’m yours.” Because...

#3. YOU MADE ME. 

Verse 13. 

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

This is how deep this relationship goes: David knows that he is the Lord’s own creation. God is not just omniscient and omnipresent. He is the Creator. The Maker. God didn’t just come to know David over time. He has known David all along, from the beginning. Because He made him!

This is the verse that we quote every January around Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. And that’s right. It’s all about that. It’s all about how God is intimately involved in making us. He designed us. He designed each of us personally, and that bestows a heaping measure of dignity to every human life.

But David is saying something even more profound. He’s saying that in making us, God knows us and has every right over us. V.15

“My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place [the womb]. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

I think that David uses the image of “the depths of the earth” to describe the most hidden place that he can think of. They didn’t have any ultrasounds back then. The womb was, for David, the most hidden place a person could be alive on earth. But God saw into the womb. God was there, and God was directing that new life.

“All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.”

David just lives in amazement. He can’t hardly believe how fearfully and wonderfully he is made, and he can’t hardly believe how sovereign God is over his life, and he can’t hardly believe how deep and long and wide are the thoughts of God. Thoughts that make and create. Thoughts that are so awesome they cannot be numbered!

Now, scholars are divided over what that last sentence in verse 18 means.

“When I awake, I am still with you.”

Does that mean that David has been exhausted by these innumerable thoughts and then wakes up at that point? Or does it go back to the first section and mean that even in the mornings when David gets up, there is God? “Even there.” Some scholars even think it means awakening from resurrection. Even when we come back from the sleep of death. 

Any way about it, the point is “I am still with you.”  There He is! There God is. God is not absent. God is present. And I am with Him. *Even here.

Now, how “with Him” am I? How with God am I? He’s all here, but...am I all His? I think that’s the point of the next four verses.

For many of us, these four verses feel like an intrusion. Like they don’t fit. But they flowed very naturally for King David. Look at verse 19.

“If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.”

That’s what we call an “imprecatory” prayer. The Challenge Group learned about that on Thursday when Pastor Stephen Love preached on Psalm 10.  It’s an imprecatory prayer is a prayer for justice to be done by the Lord. *Even here.

Now, we tend to stumble over these verses because they can seem so far from our Lord Jesus’ command to love our enemies. And there is something new about our Lord’s command that at least modifies what is going on here in these verses. 

But the emphasis here is not on personal hatred of those who are our enemies. The emphasis is on loyalty to God over against those who are His enemies. David is saying that he does not side with those who side against God.

“Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you?”  

Another way of saying it would be to say, “I am not on Satan’s side. Not one bit.”

I’m on the LORD’s side!

I’m on Yahweh’s side.

I do not identify with the enemies of God. I hate them.

Do you see how that works? It’s not saying that we shouldn’t love our enemies. God loves His own enemies! But there is a right way to love our enemies and even a right way to hate them. If the choice is between loving them and their ways or loving God and His, then we side with God every time.

In other words, David is saying:

#4. YOU CAN COUNT ON ME.

How’s that for a prayer? Can you pray that today?

“You can count on me, Lord. You know which side of the battle You will find me on.”

I know that you know me.

I know that you’ve got me.

I know that you made me.

And so I’m yours. I’m completely yours. So, yes, go ahead–search me. V.23

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Go ahead, Lord. 

I know that You already know what You’ll find.

Search me. Know my heart.

Test me. Examine me.

Listen to my thoughts.

Some of them, I admit, are very anxious. This generation of young people is marked by anxiety.  And so am I.

And if I’m really honest? Yes, I’m anxious about You, too, God. 

"Lord, sometimes You worry me. Sometimes, I feel like I want to escape, to hide, to get out of Your gaze. But I know there is nowhere to go. And when I think about it the right way, I know that there is no place I’d rather be than. with. You. And to the degree that this is not true for me today, please forgive me. See all of the offensive ways in me, and cleanse me by the precious blood of Jesus Christ."

King David knew that God knew his sin. It was ever before him. And David knew (we know from Psalm 51, which Pastor Eric Rivera taught at Challenge on Tuesday) that David knew what it means to be forgiven.

And we know that forgiveness comes from the work of our Great High Priest the Lord Jesus Christ.

Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God to cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death so that we may serve the Living God.

Search me, O God, and cleanse me God, I pray.

*Even here.

***

People with sharp memories may remember earlier forms of this message preached in 2013 and 2020. What a joy that Psalm 139 is all true all the time!

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“Putting Us In Our Place” [Matt's Messages] Family Bible Week 2026

“Putting Us In Our Place”

Illumination Station :: Family Bible Week 2026

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

June 14, 2026 :: Psalm 8  

I have seen so many humans in the last two weeks!

I have seen so many humans in the last two weeks as I helped our daughter Robin move across the country to Vancouver Washington in the Pacific Northwest.

Robin and I jumped into her 2003 Ford Ranger stuffed to the gills with her tortoise, her gecko, and her three exotic frogs in the backseat, and we traveled 3,000 miles (with no air conditioning) crossing over 11 states in 6 days. 

We saw a lot of America the Beautiful! The spacious skies and amber waves of grain in Nebraska, the towering mountains of Colorado, the high desert mesas of Utah, and the green forests of Oregon ending up on the Columbia River as it empties into the Pacific Ocean. 

Robin now lives on the north side of the Columbia across from Portland in the beautiful city of Vancouver in the shadow of Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens. Tomorrow is her first day of work as a Vet Tech. We got her all set up in her new apartment, and thank you for praying that her stuff that we sent ahead arrived ahead of time so that I could help her unload it and unpack it before coming home this week. A wonderful answer to prayer!

I started flying home on Thursday and got as far as Chicago when a major storm canceled flights out of Chicago and into State College. So I had to spend the night in a hotel near O’Hare, and there was a tornado sighting nearby, sirens going off and everything. It was a little too exciting traveling back. But I got home, and eventually my luggage did, too!

So I have been traveling a lot in the last two weeks, and in my travels, I have a seen so many human beings!

And they come in all sorts. Big ones and small ones. Rich ones and poor ones. Red and yellow and black, brown, and white. Some with lots of hair of all kinds of color, some with no hair, much like the top of my head. Men and women and girls and boys. Speaking different languages. Different accents. Different ways of dressing. Human beings in all of their splendid diversity.

I love people-watching, especially in rest areas and hotel lobbies and airports. And as I watched all of these beautiful human beings, I thought about the theology class I’m teaching this year for Family Bible Week.

This, by the way, is the first lesson in the class. Tomorrow night, we’ll have the second lesson. My class is for the adults who are not going to the parents’ class and for the older teens who are not helping with a little kids’ class. Everybody is welcome, and welcome to the first class!

We’re in a ten-year series of classes on systematic theology. In 2024, we studied from article 1 of our EFCA Statement of Faith, the doctrine of God. Last year in 2025, we studied from article 2 of our EFCA Statement of Faith, the doctrine of the Bible. This year, hopefully not surprisingly, we’re studying article 3 of our Statement of Faith, the doctrine of humanity, what we believe about the  human condition. Let’s say it together as our Worship in Unity this week. It’s in your worship bulletin, and I also have it up here on the screen:

“We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.”

That’s our topic for the next 5 days. There’s a lot there! 

The image of God!

Adam and Eve. Men and women. Male and female.

Satan, temptation, sin.

And salvation through Jesus Christ, the Light of the World. 

If you haven’t planned to come yet, please plan now to join us. Dinner is at 5:30 tomorrow night. There will be plenty for everyone. The program starts at 6:15. This is for you. 

We’re going to be learning about what it means to be human. To be a human being created in the image of God. All of those humans I saw in my travels were created in the image of God.

Cody referenced that big idea in his message two Sundays ago. Thank you, Cody, for teaching us God’s Word–how and why to glorify God and enjoy Him forever! That’s why we are made. That’s what humans are for. We are made with a special connection to God and are intended to reflect Him to the world. Humans are made to be like mirrors reflecting the glory of God for the world to see.

God is the light (Psalm 27:1, John 8:12). And we are intended to be little mirrors reflecting that light.

And as I was thinking about where to go in holy Scripture to kick off our study of what it means to be a human, part of mankind, my mind kept coming back again and again to Psalm 8.

Especially because in verse 4, King David writes the question into his song:

“What is man?" What is a human being? What does it mean for us to be human?

And King David directs that question at God Himself. Because that’s where we are going to get the real answer to that question.

Everybody has an answer to that question, “What is man?” but so many are just plain wrong. 

And what I love about Psalm 8 is that it puts us humans in our place in all the right ways. Psalm 8 puts me in my place. 

Psalm 8 is about God. It's an amazing song about our amazing God. It starts and ends with magnificent praise to God, and the middle is full of worship, too. And while King David is leading us in worshipful praise of our magnificent God, he is also, at the very same time, masterfully putting us in our place in all the right ways.

I don't know about you, but I often need to be to put in my place.

I need to be told where I belong, where I fit in the grand scheme of things. So that I don't get too big for my britches. (Or too small for them either.) Psalm 8, while praising God, puts us in our place in all the right ways. Let me show you what I mean. Psalm 8, verse 1.

“For the director of music. According to gittith. A psalm of David. 

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.”

Here's my place:

#1. LOOKING UP AT OUR LORD'S MAJESTY.

King David wrote this song “according to gittith.” We don't know what that means. Maybe it's a song for people from Gath or maybe a “gittith” is a musical instrument or musical style. We don't know. But David wrote it and gave it to the director of music for the temple for God's people to sing their hearts out.

And for people who were in church of a certain age, there’s a song that immediately jumps to mind by Michael W. Smith. Anita played it as the prelude this morning.

“O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.”

You can just feel the praise pulsing through the psalm! David is joyfully overwhelmed with the glory of God. 

He names God here. He uses God's covenant name: YHWH. Whenever you see that capital L-O-R-D in your English Bible, the covenant name for God revealed most gloriously at the burning bush is standing behind it. Yahweh. "O YHWH, our Lord," our sovereign. 

King David is singing about His Heavenly King and claiming Him as his. You see that little word “our?” That's a relationship word, isn't it? He isn't just saying, “God, you are majestic.” He is saying, “Our God is majestic.” The one we belong to. The one we are in relationship with.

“O Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

Do you feel it? That word “majestic” means "awesome, magnificent, splendid, beautiful, grand, exalted.”  “High and lifted up!”

King David is enthralled by how dazzling, awe-inspiring, sensational, and glorious God is! His name (His reputation, His glory, His name) is majestic, not just here but everywhere, “in all the earth.” Wherever you go, God's glory fills the earth.

And above! “You have set your glory above the heavens.” All creation (in heaven and earth) is a testimony to the glory of God. All things point to the majesty of the name of the LORD. God is transcendent over all.

That puts us in our place, doesn't it? Looking up at the majesty of our God. He is worthy of our worship. 

That's one reason why we need to set aside time every day and especially every week just to worship. We come together as a congregation this morning to worship, to declare the majesty of the name of Yahweh. His name deserves our praise. His name deserves our singing! He is transcendent and glorious over all. Amen?

And then, verse 2 is a real surprise to me. It calls for more praise, but the people praising are the surprise. Verse 2.

“From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.”

Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised, but I never see those kids coming in this psalm. The Lord's name is majestic over everything, and He has ordained praise from the lips of children and infants. 

From the smallest and the weakest. I guess he's putting us in our place. He doesn't start with the great and the strong. He starts with the humble and weak. When the humble and the weak praise God, there is strength. 

That word for “praise” there in verse 2 is literally, “strength.” Strength of praise is the general idea, I think. And when the weakest lift up the name of the LORD, they shame the supposedly strong. They silence the foe and the avenger, the enemies of God.

Remember when Jesus quoted this verse? It was Palm Sunday when Jesus came into town riding on a donkey, the little children praised Him. And it enraged the Pharisees, but Jesus said, in a mic-drop moment, “Haven't you read Psalm 8? That's what the little kids are supposed to do.”

God loves to humble the proud by using the praises of the humble. I love it when the stage up here gets filled with little kids praising God. God loves to humble the proud by using the praises of the humble. Because He deserves it.

“O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

How are you doing at looking up at the majesty of our God? Are you worshiping the Lord every single day? Are you seeing how majestic He is in all of the earth? Not just on Sundays when we're singing in here, but on Mondays when you're slogging it out at work?

It helps to get out into creation. I saw a lot of beauty in the last two weeks. Snow-capped mountains. Rushing rivers. The vast ocean. Huge trees. Water falls. Even the high mesas with their massive piles of sand and stone were beautiful in their own way. These all reflect the majesty of God. He made them! In just a minute, we’re going to sing:

“The mountains are His!

The valleys are His!

The stars are His handiwork, too!”

That line comes from Psalm 8. I think that David probably wrote this song at nighttime reflecting on sleepless nights on guard duty as a shepherd on the hillside looking up at the night sky filled with stars and thinking, “My God made those.” Which is very humbling, but also very exhilarating, isn't it?

“O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

And then verse 3 is surprising, too. In fact, even David is surprised by it! Look at verse 3.

“When I consider your heavens [YOUR heavens], the work of your fingers [handiwork, like my wife's knitting], the moon and the stars [it's nighttime], which you have set in place...what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”

Do you see David's question? The Lord is not just majestic. He is mindful!

He is mindful of David and other human beings. That's what “son of man” means here, it means humanity, humankind, probably represented by the first man, Adam.

When I look up at the Milky Way, I think, how is it that that majestic God would even have one thought about me? Little old me!

Do you feel the amazement? Do you get a sense of the wonder that David is singing about? This song really puts us in our place. It humbles us, but in a thrilling way.

And then it humbles us again by telling us that we are not insignificant. Yes, we are small, but we are not insignificant. You would think that we are less than a speck. When you think about God and Who God is in all of His majesty and splendor and beauty and glory and magnificence. And then you think about who you are...

And then you think, “God thinks about who I am? I am in God's mind? God cares for me?”

What dignity! What significance! What meaning that gives to our lives!

The world will not tell you this. The world will either tell you that you are the greatest, you are a god, and you deserve all of your wildest dreams to come true. Or the world will tell you that you are worthless, a nothing, a meaningless speck, a cog in the machine, here today and gone tomorrow.

Neither are true, because of Who God is.

God is majestic over all creation, and God is mindful of His special creation, humankind.

And even more mindful, if you can say it that way, of His own children, those who belong to Jesus Christ.

Remember when Jesus said, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows" (Matthew 10:29-31).

This majestic God is mindful of you.

And we know even better than King David how big the universe is.

One author I read said it this way, “On a clear night David could likely see 2,000-3,000 stars. What if he'd had a good pair of binoculars? Up to 100,000 [stars]. What if David knew...that if the Milky Way galaxy were the size of the entire continent of North America [which I traveled across last week], our solar system [!] would fit in a coffee cup, and that the Milky Way is one of perhaps 100 billion such galaxies in the universe? [David] would have been even more staggered than he was–but he had enough to stagger him, to be impressed with the massive vastness of his world over against his apparent insignificance...When he exclaims, ‘What is man?' he is speaking in baffled wonder and perplexed joy! Only the condescension of God can hold together astronomical vastness and individual concern. It gives David liturgical goose-bumps" (Dale Ralph Davis, "The Way of the Righteous in the Muck of Life, pg. 97-98).

David breaks out in song, and so should we!

This majestic God is mindful of you.

Do you need to hear that today? God's mind is on you.

He sees you.

He knows you.

He knows what's on your mind.

He knows what's on your plate.

He knows what's coming this week.

And you matter to Him.

Not because you're so grand. He's so grand!

But because you're His. And because He made you to represent Him.

That's where David goes next in verse 5. He goes back to the creation account in Genesis 1 and sings about that. Look at verse 5.

“You made him [Adam, the Son of Man] a little lower than the heavenly beings [or literally, “a little lower than God”] and crowned him with glory and honor.”

The majestic and mindful King of the World made us...little kings and queens of the world.

Remember what God said in Genesis 1? 

This will be what we will focus in class on tomorrow night, and I’m sure it was rolling around in David’s head as he wrote this song. Genesis 1:26-28.

God says, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. [Rule.] So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

The image of God and rulership go hand in hand. God made us to represent Him and together to rule the world as those made in His image.

He put a crown on our heads! How's that for putting us in our place? Didn't see that coming!

The shepherd boy who became a king knew that He was tiny and made out of dust and yet was also made to wear a crown and help rule the world for God!

Did you know that you were made to wear a crown?

Verse 6. “You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.”

We were made to rule all of that. Just think about everything in those categories.

Here's your place: Looking Up at Our Majestic God. But also:

#2. LOOKING OVER THE REST OF CREATION.

As one of our God's faithful representative rulers.

Humans were meant to be a kind of royalty. If you've ever read the Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis was a master at creatively communicating that truth. King Peter, Queen Susan, King Edmund, and Queen Lucy learn of their royalty that comes as a gift of the Christ-mirroring Aslan and the Emperor Over the Sea. And they learn to rule as representatives.

How are you doing at representing God in this world? You may not rule over very much right now.

I have a little 5 acres I’m responsible over in Lanse. And for 28 years, I have had a leadership role here though I’m certainly not the ruler of Lanse Free Church and don’t ever want to be. I don't rule over very much. But how am I doing at representing the God in whose image I am supposed to rule?

What do you rule over?

It was fun to see Robin setting up her home in her apartment in Vancouver. To see Fritz the Tortoise and Winona the gecko and the three frogs, one of them is Dolly and another is Dex, and I think the other one is Mustachio. And she cares for them. She feeds and waters them. And makes sure they have light and heat. I’m not sure how you can tell a tortoise is happy, but I think those animals are pretty happy there in Robin’s domain.

What do you rule over? And how are you doing at representing God there?

Maybe in a workplace?

Maybe in a household?

Maybe in a community?

What's your dominion?

We were made to look up to the majesty of God, and (amazingly) in the mindfulness of God, we are also made to look over the rest of creation and represent our Lord to it as responsible rulers.

And of course, as an entire race, we are not doing a very good job it. We have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And our rule over the world God made has been despotic, and disappointing, and disastrous. That's why we have wars and violence and rioting and racial injustice and even hurricanes and raging forest fires and raging epidemics. Because, as the human race, we have dropped the ball.

Only one human has ever lived up to the promise of Psalm 8. And it sure wasn't David. David could see it, and he could sing it, but he couldn't live it out the way it should be.

Do you know where this Psalm gets sung again in the New Testament? You should. We just studied it a couple of months ago!

It's the Letter to the Hebrews chapter 2. Listen to this:

“But there is a place where someone has testified: ‘What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet.' [Sound familiar? Hebrews says...] In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. [Things are not the way they are supposed to be.] But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone" (vv.6-9).

Psalm 8 puts us in our place. Here's our place:

#3. LOOKING FORWARD TO JESUS.

Looking forward to Jesus, because of His death and resurrection and present session, putting everything back to the way it was always supposed to be.

“We see Jesus...now crowned with glory and honor.” Fulfilling Psalm 8, being everything we were always supposed to be. And, one day, making everything new. Majestic, Mindful, Messiah.

What’s the application of that?

“Fix your eyes on Jesus!”

He is the image of God. He “is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being...” (Hebrews 1:3).

The radiance of God’s glory! Or another way of saying, He is the Light of the World. 

No wonder, David returns in the last line to the first.

“O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

***

Note: Astute readers with long memories will recognize that a hefty portion of the message has been adapted from a previous sermon I preached during covid, “Majestic and Mindful,” August 30, 2020.

The major difference is that I have been sharpened in my understanding of the image of God, especially by reading Dignity and Destiny by John Kilner. I no longer believe that the image of God has been lost or even damaged by our sin. All humans (lost and found) are still made in the image of God with a special connection and substantial reflection of God. It’s because of that status that sin is so grievous and salvation so glorious.

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“We See Jesus” [Matt's Messages]

“We See Jesus”

Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus

The Letter to the Hebrews

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

February 22, 2026 :: Hebrews 2:5-9  

We’re going to start today with a pop quiz. See if you’ve been paying attention! Are you ready? Five questions.

QUESTION #1. “In the past God spoke to [us] through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by...[What? Or Whom]”? 

ANSWER: His Son! The owner of all things, the maker of all things, the sustainer of all things. The Son! He’s the “radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being.” He’s the full and final revelation of God to us! The Son.

QUESTION #2. Which is greater...this Son or the angels of God?

ANSWER: The Son is infinitely greater than the angels. Angels are great! Angels are amazing. But they are nothing compared to the Son. Angels are created. The Son is the Creator. Angels are winds and fire. The Son never changes. We don’t worship the angels. We join the angels in worshiping the Son. 

QUESTION #3. On Whom should we, as Christians, fix our eyes?

ANSWER: Jesus! We should fix our eyes on the Son. That’s the whole point of this letter.  

Chapter 12 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

The Son is worthy of our attention. He’s worthy of our focus. Last week, we learned in the first four verses of chapter 2 that we should pay careful attention to the Son so that we don’t drift away. We need to fix our eyes on Jesus so that we don’t neglect this great salvation that He has announced and provided. 

QUESTION #4, if we ignore His great salvation, will we escape? Yes or No?

ANSWER: No. We will not escape if we ignore such a great salvation. That’s the flipside. That’s the warning of what will happen if we refuse to fix our eyes on Jesus. We will drift away, and we will not escape. There’s so much at stake.

One more question in our pop quiz for today. Well done, so far. One more question, and [big hint] I have already said the answer in the last few minutes! 

QUESTOIN #5. According to the Book of Hebrews, where is Jesus right now?

ANSWER: At the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

I quoted it already from chapter 12, verse 2. It’s also right there in verse 3 of chapter 1, and the writer also quoted Psalm 110 verse 1 in chapter 1, verse 13, as applying to Jesus when he asked, “To which of the angels did God ever say, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’?”

What’s the answer to that one? To which of the angels? Not one of them! But He did say that to the Son.  He did say that to Jesus. “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for you feet.” And He did!

Right now, the Son is seated at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Now, I think that’s what’s uppermost in this pastor’s mind as he writes this letter to this struggling church of primarily Jewish believers.

Jesus sitting at the Father’s right hand.

And this writer so wants to encourage these precious saints to focus on Him!

But it’s hard. It’s hard for them to focus on Jesus because life is hard. And because they are starting to be persecuted for following Jesus. And because they are feeling alone and insignificant and scared. And things just aren’t the way they are supposed to be.

Do you ever feel that way? “This is not how things are supposed to be.” I feel that way a lot.  There’s a reason we feel that way. It’s because they aren’t!

So this shepherd wants to encourage these struggling sheep to focus on the One who is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high because that will get them through.

He reminds them, “We See Jesus.”

Those words are in verse 9. “We see Jesus.” We lift up the eyes of our hearts to see Jesus where He is. And we fix our eyes on Jesus. We see Jesus, and it makes all the difference.

Let’s work through the passage. It’s really part of a longer section that goes to the end of the chapter, but I felt like studying all of that was biting off more than we could chew. So we’re just focusing today on verses 5 through 9. The writer picks up his argument again about how much greater Jesus is to the angels. Verse 5.

“It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking.”

Same deal. The angels are amazing, but they are not everything.

The angels are not going to be the rulers of “the world to come.” That’s an interesting phrase isn’t it? He says he’s been writing about a new world coming, and the angels are not going to rule it. They are servants but will not be the masters (see 1:14).

Now, that might be surprising. There are some ways in which angels are currently ruling this world. Remember back in the book of Daniel chapter 10, where the curtain was peeled back a little bit, and we learned that the archangel Michael was some kind of a “prince” (see also Daniel 12:2). And Paul’s letter to the Ephesians says that there unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms (KJV: “principalities” and “powers”).

But in the world to come, it will not be angels who will be at the top of creation, ruling all of the world.

So, if not angels, what kind of being will rule the world to come?

I don’t think it’s the hippopotami.

The answer may surprise you. 

Of course, God is the Ruler over all. That’s the same forever and ever. The Ancient of Days sits on the eternal throne. Always has, always is, always will.

But the writer of this letter says that God has made a certain kind of being who He’s going to place over all of the world to come.

And it’s going to be the kind of being that He originally intended to rule over all of creation. And he’s got the Bible to prove it. Look at verse 6.

“It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified: ‘What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet’” (2:5-6). Stop there for now.

What kind of being will rule over the world to come?

It will be human beings.

Not angels, amazing as they are. It will be you and me. The Bible says so.

Isn’t it funny in verse 6 where he says, “There is a place where someone has testified...” Like he doesn’t remember where it is in his Bible. I feel that don’t you? That happens to me, too. “I don’t know. It’s in there somewhere.”

Actually, he’s probably assuming that they do know exactly where it is. So he can be vague, but they all know where it says:

“What is man that you are mindful of him, 

the son of man that you care for him?

You made him a little lower than the angels; 

you crowned him with glory and honor

and put everything under his feet.”

Where does it say that?

That’s in Psalm 8, which we read at the head of our worship time this morning.

It starts, “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens” (Psalm 8:1).

You might want to read it again this afternoon.

You know how I said, that Hebrews is a lot like a sermon? It’s a letter, but it reads a lot like what I do every Sunday in explaining and applying the Bible to the flock. Well, here in the first part of chapter 2, the writer is preaching on Psalm 8. He’s taking it out and looking at it and applying to their lives.

And Psalm 8 marvels at the placement of humanity in the world. The focus here is on humanity. Look again at verse 6.

“...there is a place where someone has testified: ‘What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”

King David was astonished to think that God would think about little old him!

David was blown away that the majestic God of the universe would care two figs for little David.

David says in the verse right before the one Hebrews quotes, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place...what is man that you are mindful of him?” (Psalm 8:3).

I have four implications of this passage for our lives today as applications for us this morning, and here’s the first one.

#1. BE AMAZED.

Let yourself be amazed at your place in the world and in God’s own heart.

David looked up at the night sky. He had been a shepherd, you know. A lot of nights looking up at the Milky Way, smelling sheep, and he says, “When I look up there and see just how small I am...the heavens, the moon, the stars...I am so small.”

And those things up there are just your “fingerwork.” Like Heather’s knitting. The stars the galaxies are just the fingerwork of God.

And when I think about that, I feel so small. And that’s right! We are small.

We like to think about ourselves as big. As the measure of all things. We act like we are the center of everything. No! God is the center of everything. God is the measure of all things. And He is immense! 

He’s majestic! But He’s also “mindful” of us. He cares about us?

What I always say about Psalm 8 is that it puts us in our place. Which is small and also significant. It’s tiny and also beloved. God knows your name. God cares about little you. 

I would imagine that the first readers felt insignificant, especially if they were experiencing government sponsored persecution. I mean, when the government comes after you, you can feel so small and defenseless. Who do you call?! You can’t call the police. They’re the problem. You feel so alone. And in the big old universe. So alone.

But Psalm 8 says that we are not alone. And that God has His mind on us. And that blows David’s mind!  Because we’re not just loved, but we we’re given a position of authority in this world. Verse 7.

“You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet’”

 

That’s amazing! Human beings were made just “a little lower than the angels,” and we were given “crowns.” King Adam and Queen Eve were made the rulers of Creation. They were given the glory and honor of bearing the very image of God. Listen to Genesis chapter 1:

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground’” (Genesis 1:26-28).

That’s amazing?!!

That’s what human beings are supposed to be!

You and I were made to wear crowns.

That’s why we are supposed to be so respectful of other human beings.

Because they bear the image of God and are therefore royalty. 

That’s why abuse is so evil. That’s why mistreatment of other humans, no matter who they are, is so wrong. Inhumane means ungodly. That’s why we honor both men and women. Not one or the other. Both of the two sexes are made in the image of God. That’s why we put money in baby bottles to help convince parents to carry and raise their little princes and princesses. And it’s why take we responsibility for our domains. Because we were given a job to do. We’re supposed to tend the garden, so to speak, of this world.

God crowned us with glory and honor and put everything under our feet.

And by everything, what do you think he means? V.8

“In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him.”

“Everything” means “everything” in all creation! Human beings were made to rule wisely and well.

And yet...Look again at verse 8.

“Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him.”

Things are not the way they are supposed to be.

Do you feel it? We all feel it. This world is broken. And we broke it! We are broken, and we broke the world. We failed to rule it well. We failed to rule it wisely. We failed to reflect the image of God. We fell into sin, and we spread it all around. And we invited the curse and death.

We’ve done a bad job of ruling the world. So much so that a fallen angel is often right now called, “the prince of this world.” We do not see everything subject to humanity. 

Oh, we still throw our weight around, but it’s nothing like what it’s supposed to be.

Do I need to convince you of this? Just scroll on your phone, and you will see. We are doing a bad job of ruling the world, and creation isn’t cooperating either. Our enemies are exercising dominion over us. 

Death, for example, is the reigning champion. Everybody here is living with it. It’s coming for everyone in this room.

We were made for so much more, “Yet at present we do not see everything subject to” us.

But! There is more to the story, isn’t there? Here’s our key sentence. Verse 9.

“But we see Jesus...”

This is the first time his personal name is written in this letter. Jesus. It always emphasizes His humanity and His mission to save us. “But we see Jesus!” And that makes all of the difference. Because see what Jesus has done?

The writer uses the language of Psalm 8 and takes it all to a new level. V.9

“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels [He became a human like you and me! Stepping down from heaven and assuming a human nature just like ours, taking a spot as a servant, a little lower than the angels, we see Jesus], now crowned with glory and honor [not just because He’s the image of God but] because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

What’s He talking about? He’s talking about where Jesus is right now.

Church, where is Jesus right now?

He’s at the right hand of the Majesty on high. How’d He get there? He is crowned with glory and honor. How come?  Because He suffered death, even death on a Cross.

And He was victorious!  He came back to life. He was raised on the third day and ascended into heaven! And all God’s angels are worshiping Him (1:6). 

That’s where we see Him. We don’t see Him with our physical eyes. We see with the eyes of our heart where Jesus is. 

He is crowned!

He is honored!

The First Adam failed. But the Second Adam, the Lord Jesus, won the victory!

And He’s waiting until the Father makes His enemies a footstool for His feet. And then He’s coming back to rule here as He does there. 

Implication number two:

#2. BE PATIENT.

Be amazed at your place in the world and in God’s heart, and be patient while you wait for Jesus to take His place over the world.

“It is not to angels that [God] has subjected the world to come...”

It is to humans that He has, and most specifically one particular human has led the way.

We see Jesus!

Jesus is the quintessential human. He’s everything that we are (barring sin) and everything we were supposed to be! And He’s coming again to rule the world as it should be.

I can’t hardly wait. But we have to wait.

But while we wait, we wait in hope. We wait, understanding where we are in the story. Creation, Fall, Redemption. New Creation.

We are not forgotten.

We are not alone.

We are small, but we’re on God’s mind and in His heart.

Things are not the way they are supposed to be, and it’s our fault.

But Jesus has tasted death and spit it back out!

Jesus has conquered death so that death will not have the last word for you and me. Jesus is going to fix it all. He’s going to fix everything. And everything is going to be put under His feet.

Implication number three:

#3. BE THANKFUL.

We see Jesus...suffering death, by God’s grace, in our place.

He tasted death, experienced the full force of death, for every one of us who are His. He died the death that we deserved.

We’re going to talk more about this next week because Jesus’ flesh-and-blood-humanity and death is the focus of the whole rest of the chapter. And all of what His death means to you and me.

But we know just from verse 9 that it was “for” us. And that it was a gift. It says “by the grace of God.”

We didn’t deserve. We couldn’t deserve it. 

We didn’t earn it. We couldn’t earn it.

We can’t even pay it back. It’s got to be a gift or nothing.

And, praise God, it is a gift!

Have you received the gift? The gift of eternal life that comes from the death of Jesus Christ? If you have not, you are headed to destruction. You are headed towards Hell. And you deserve it. But you don’t have to go there. There is such a great salvation you can have instead! You are invited to turn from your sins and trust in the Savior. To put your faith in Jesus and what He did on the Cross.

He endured the Cross.

He scorned the shame.

And He sat down at the right hand of throne of God!

And one day, He’s coming back to set everything right.

Jesus is the quintessential human. He’s the Son of Man (like in verse 6) and also like in Daniel 7 which we learned about this time last year.

Where Daniel saw, “...one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.  He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14).

Remember, all bad things must come to end.

And then we will reign with Him!

Daniel 7 also said, “Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him” (Daniel 7:27).

You and I will get to wear those crowns after all!

In fact, the Bible says that one day we will in some way judge the angels (1 Corinthians 6:3)?!

Be amazed.

Be patient.

Be thankful.

And lastly:

#4. BE FOCUSED.

Be focused on Jesus. Because it’s all about Him. Don’t take your eyes off of Jesus. Not for one second.

Do you see Him? He’s seated at the right hand of the Majesty on High.

Yes, things are a mess right now. Things are not as they ought to be. But things are going to change. Guaranteed by the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, the accession of Jesus, and the present session of Jesus at the right hand of the throne of God.

Let’s stay focused, not on angels, not on ourselves, not on how hard life is, not on what we cannot yet see, but let us stay focused on Him.

We see Jesus.

***

Messages in this Series:

01. "The Son" - Hebrews 1:1-4
02. "Superior to the Angels" - Hebrews 1:5-14

03. "Such a Great Salvation" - Hebrews 2:1-4

Read More

“Glorious Things” [Matt's Messages]

“Glorious Things”

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

January 11, 2026 :: Psalm 87:1-7

I picked Psalm 87 for this morning because it’s so glorious and so...weird. I picked it because I really have never understood it. No matter how many times I’ve read it.

Every evening, I read a psalm to Heather Joy. I don’t know how many years now we’ve been doing that. Maybe twenty? Every night, I read the next Psalm in the Psalter. We start in Psalm 1 and we go to Psalm 150, and then we start over with Psalm 1 again. Some of them take a few nights to get through (like Psalm 119 because it has 176 verses!) but most are just one per night, so we make it all the way through the Psalms about two times a year.

And a few weeks ago, I read Psalm 87 once again to Heather Joy, and she just lit up, as usual. She loves it! She says, “My heart rejoices just hearing Psalm 87!” It thrills her to the core.

And that night I said, “I just don’t get it. I don’t know what’s going on here. At some point, I’m going to have to decide to preach it to really get a handle on it."

What is this psalm, this song, all about?

So, this week, as we’re in between sermon series, I was like, “I don’t know what to preach on this week,” and I found a note I wrote to myself that night. “Preach Psalm 87?” And I took it as a word from the Lord!

So here we are. Psalm 87.

It’s a psalm written by “The Sons of Korah.” There are about 12 of those sprinkled throughout the Psalter. The Sons of Korah were an inter-generational family of worship leaders that spanned many decades. They were a family who wrote worship songs for the people of God. Back during covid we studied a few of the Sons of Korah’s songs like Psalm 42, Psalm 46, and Psalm 84.

And this Psalm 87 was one of their greatest hits of all time. 

And it’s about Zion.

This is one of the “Songs of Zion.”

There about seven songs in that EP album (46, 48, 76, 84, 87,122, and 132). Not all of them were by the Sons of Korah, but a few were. 

The Songs of Zion are psalms that focus on the City of God. Jerusalem.

But not just Jerusalem as Jerusalem was but an idealized Jerusalem. A Jerusalem as God sees it. A Jerusalem as God wants it. A Jerusalem as Jerusalem will one day be.

I think that’s a lot of what is bound up when we read the word “Zion,” in the Bible. It’s not just the physical mountain on which the geographical city of Jerusalem was built. And it’s not just the geo-political city itself as it was in the time when the Sons of Korah were writing worship songs about it.

It’s more than that. It’s poetic and prophetic.

It’s what Zion stands for and what Zion will one day be.

That’s part of what makes it hard to understand, if you aren’t that into poetry (like me), and also what makes it so glorious because of what shines through as you study it and sing it for yourself.

In verse 3, the Sons of Korah sing to the city.

“Glorious things are said of you, O city of God...”

“Glorious Things!” The song sings to the city encouraging it that there are some wonderful things that are said about the city. Things that are so good that they are glorious. There are things that can rightly be said about this city that must be marveled at and celebrated and rejoiced over. And this city should take it to heart! “Glorious things are said of you, O city of God...”

And I think that as we read it closely, we’ll see that we (you and I right here in this room) can sing these same glorious things about us.

Because though we may not have ever even visited the earthly Jerusalem in the Middle East, we have come by faith, as the letter to the Hebrews says, “...to Mount Zion to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God...[We have come] to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. [We have come...] to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant” (Hebrew 12:22-24)!

And we will one day live in it. We are, and one day will, be the City of God. So these glorious things are in some way about us. No wonder Heather joy lights up when she reads Psalm 87!

Let’s see some of these glorious things. Number one. City of God...

#1. YOU ARE BELOVED!

Church, you are so loved by God Himself.

Let’s read the first three verses of Psalm 87.

“Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. A song. 

He has set his foundation on the holy mountain; the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are said of you, O city of God: Selah”

The word “Selah” probably is a musical notation to indicate an appropriate place to put a rest or an interlude in the song. It probably means, “That’s a good stopping place to take a breath and meditate on what was just sung. Stop, think, consider.” You don’t read the word aloud. You do the thing.

Stop, think, and consider this glorious thing said about you: You are beloved of God.

If you lived in Zion when the Sons of Korah were playing this song on the radio or streaming on your phone into your headphones, you’d be like, “Yeah, it’s so good to live here because God loves this city.”

Why? He loves it because He founded it. God is the “He” in verse 1.

“He has set his foundation on the holy mountain...”

The city of Jerusalem did not choose God. God chose the city of Jerusalem. He decided where it would be, and He made it holy. That mountain isn’t holy on its own or because it somehow recommended itself to God. No, it’s the other way around. That mountain is holy because the holy God chose to set His city down there. 

The holy God chose to “set up shop” there in Zion. The LORD led David to conquer Jerusalem and make it the capitol of Israel. The LORD led David to set up his throne there (see Psalm 2:7). The LORD led Solomon to build His temple there. Jerusalem became the leading city of Israel and the earthly headquarters of God Himself. That’s where His “home” was.

Now, God is not confined to the temple, amen? God is not confined to an earthly city, amen? He was not then, and He is not now, and He never will be confined. He is everywhere.

But that city was like a symbol of God’s presence on Earth. That temple was a visual reminder that God wants to dwell among His people and rule them. He wants to be at the center for them. In a special way, Zion stood there for heaven.

And therefore (v.2),  "...the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.”

And, boy, does He love the dwellings of Jacob! God just has a special place in His heart for the gates of Zion.

Now, why the gates? Perhaps because they are the entry way. God loves coming back “home” to Zion, so to speak. The gates of Zion are the front door with God’s name there on the plate. There’s no place like home. But the gates of a city meant more than that in ancient times. The gates of Hebrew cities were where the people gathered to do business and interact with each other in public and where most of the court-cases were held. 

The gates were where the people were. And the people are the most important thing about the city. It’s not the architecture that God cares about. It’s not the land or the buildings. It’s who is the city. That’s what God really cares about. He really cares about His city because He really cares about His citizens.

And that’s true for us, too, isn’t it? City of God, you are beloved! You are cherished. You are loved by God Himself. We are loved by God Himself! 

Think about that?! What a glorious thing.

We are loved by God Himself. And not because we somehow recommended ourselves to Him. 

We are not holy and beloved because we were so great. We are loved by God because God set His love us.

1 John 3:1, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” 

Imagine that! In fact, God had every reason to NOT lavish His love on us. We were His enemies!

Which I think is the point of the next section of the Psalm. Verses 4, 5, and 6.

“‘I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me– Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush–and will say, 'This one was born in Zion.'’ Indeed, of Zion it will be said, ‘This one and that one were born in her, and the Most High himself will establish her.’ The LORD will write in the register of the peoples: ‘This one was born in Zion.’ Selah.”

Just think about that.

Stop there and consider this glorious thing. City of God...

#2. YOU BELONG!

You! You belong to God. And there’s no reason for that outside of God.

This is the part of the psalm that I have struggled the most to understand. It’s got all of these names and all of this repetition and staccato syntax. It’s a bit like a freestyle rap in the middle of a song. And even when you get to understanding what all of the names point to, the meaning of it is so fantastical so majestical it’s hard to take in!

The biggest repetition is the word “born.”

“Born in Zion.”

“Born in her.”

“Born there.”

This one, that one. Born in Zion. Born in Zion. I almost titled this message, “Born in Zion.”

What a great privilege it would be to be born in the city that God loves, right?! If you are born there, you’re a citizen with all of the rights and privileges and prerogatives that come with being a citizen of that beloved city. You belong.

That’s what Heather Joy said to me this week when I asked her what all she loved about Psalm 87. She said, “It’s such a hopeful song of belonging.”

“This one was born there.”

You have a place. Safe, secure, happy.  And a place from conception and birth. “The one was born in Zion.” You belong!

But what makes the record scratch is that these people in verse 4 don’t belong!

Rahab?

Babylon?

Philistia?

Tyre?

Cush?

Maybe this message should have been called, “Stranger Things,” not “Glorious Things!” (I guess that name was already taken.)

Do these people belong? Are these people “born in Zion?”

According to God, yes. Because that’s Who is singing when we read verse 4. The Sons of Korah locate these words in the very mouth of God.

“I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me– Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush–and will say, 'This one was born in Zion.'”

That’s God speaking. “Those who acknowledge me.” “Those who know me will include Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and Cush.”

Now some Hebrew scholars point out that this could be translated as a taunt to those five people groups (see alternate translation in the 1984 NIV, the notes in the NIV Study Bible, and the NET Bible). 

And some translations take it in that direction. Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and Cush will all one day have to say, what a privilege it would be to be born in Zion. And, boy, don’t they wish it was true for them.

But most translations don’t do go there. And I don’t think that’s what’s going on here. I think it’s just like what you see in the NIV. 

God[!] is saying that Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and Cush will be recorded as people who know Him and were even born in Zion! They will belong.

And that’s amazing. Because they really shouldn’t.

Who are these people? These are all people groups.

Let’s start with Rahab.

Rahab is a nickname for Egypt. This is not the Rahab that hid the spies in Jericho in the book of Joshua. That name is spelled a little differently.

This is the Rahab that is a mythical sea monster in the books of Job, Psalms, and Isaiah that stands for the chaos that the LORD in His wisdom and power overpowered and defeated. And that name “Rahab” was then applied to Egypt as is a nickname for the way that that nation was like the sea monster. Both chaotic and powerful and defeated by God.

Were the inhabitants of monstrous Egypt “born in Zion?”

How about Babylon?

Have we learned anything about Babylon in the last twelve months? We started in on the Book of Daniel almost exactly one year ago.

Was Babylon friendly to the people of God? No! Babylon took the people of God into captivity. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon ransacked and burned down the city of Jerusalem! The city whose gates the LORD loves more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

Were the inhabitants of Babylon “born in Zion?”

How about Philistia?

That’s closer to home. What do we know about the Philistines? Were they the allies or enemies of the Israelites? Yeah, enemies! 

Were the inhabitants of Philistia “born in Zion?” Maybe some of them were born in Jerusalem physically before David conquered it, but they sure weren’t happy citizens of Zion.

How about Tyre?

Tyre was not Israel’s enemy at all times, but they were often a snare to them. Tyre was a wealthy commercial city on the coast full of Canaanites, and it often brought temptation to greed and envy and worldliness to Israel. And the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28 is described as the enemy of God in words that remind most readers of Satan himself!

Were the people of Tyre “born in Zion?”

How about Cush?

Cush was at the south end of Egypt, basically Ethiopia. It was considered far away. If you remember, the Persian kingdom of Xerxes in the first chapter of the book of Esther stretched all the way from India to Cush (Esther 1:1).

Could someone who is born all the way in Cush be “born in Zion?”

According to the LORD, yes!

Not every single person in Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and Cush will be citizens of Zion. But some will be.

I think that’s what this song is saying!

People who should not belong will belong! 

You belong. Because of God’s amazing grace.

These people were outsiders. They were Gentiles. They were pagans. They were enemies. They were threats. They were offenders. They were hostile. They were trouble. They were on the wrong side of the line in so many ways.

But the LORD Himself sings[!] in verse 4 that they will be included.

“This one was born in Zion.”

“This one and that one were born in her.”

I think He’s going beyond those five nations and throwing in more and more.

He’s saying, “England.”

He’s saying, “Russia.”

He’s saying, “China.”

He’s saying, “Japan.”

He’s saying, “Malawi.”

He’s saying, “Haiti.”

He’s even saying, “The United States.”

He’s even saying, “Pennsylvania.”

He’s even saying, “People from Lanse.”

“This one and that one...”

“This one and that one...”

“This one and that one were born in her.”

And in verse 6 He doesn’t just say it. He says He’ll write it! Verse 6.

“The LORD will write in the register of the peoples: ‘This one was born in Zion.’”

You belong. God Himself will write it! Verse 5 says, “The Most High Himself [El Elyon, the one above all other beings in the universe. The One we saw a few weeks ago Who will have a Son born of Mary, the Most High Himself] will establish her.”

This city is going nowhere. God says so. And you belong to it. God is writing it down.

What a glorious thing that is!

You see how this is about the future? The Sons of Korah were writing not just poetically but prophetically. The song keeps singing about what will happen. “I will record...I will say..It will be said...[He] will establish...[He] will write.”

This wasn’t happening in large part when the Sons of Korah were first singing it. When they were first singing it, Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and Cush were all trouble. They did not belong.

But they could see a day coming when the nations would stream into Zion.

Many of the prophets had the same vision of the future. I think about the second chapter of Isaiah:

“In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore” (Isaiah 2:2-4).

I think Psalm 87 is singing about that day.

It did start back then. Gentiles like Rahab and Ruth made their way into the people of Zion.

Remember at the end of the Tale of Esther how people throughout the kingdom of Persia “became Jews” because of what happened with her and Mordecai (Esther 8:17).

And pagans from the East like the Magi (probably from Babylon) came and worshipped the infant Jesus some time after He was born.

And then it really picked up steam after Jesus came back from the dead! Jesus told His Jewish followers to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything [He had] commanded you.” And He said, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

“You belong! And so will the nations who put their trust Me.”

This part of the song reminds us that we have work to do. We have been given a mission to make disciples of all of the nations. Not just the Jews and not just the Americans. All of them.

And that’s why we are expanding our missionary efforts this year. We are in the process of adding at least two new missionary families to that wall back there. Missionaries here in the States and missionaries across the world. Because the LORD says that the nations will belong.

The Son of Man will be given authority, glory and sovereign power and all peoples, nations and men of every language will worship Him (see Daniel 7:14 and also Revelation 7:9).

And people who have no natural right to be there will say, “I was born in Zion. That’s my birthplace. Check out my birth certificate. Check out the city register. Check out the Lamb’s book of Life.”

Even thought I was born in Shelby, Ohio, this book written by God says, “This one was born in Zion.”

City of God, you belong! Isn’t that a glorious thing?

Now, it sounds both amazing and really easy. It’s hard to wrap your mind around but then it sounds like God just says it and it is so.

But we know what it actually took for the LORD to do this. It took the One Who really did belong to be rejected for us who did not belong to become the ones who now citizens of the City of God.

The Book of Revelation chapter 5 says that the Lord Jesus was slain and by His blood purchased people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation and made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve God, and they will reign on the earth. (See Revelation 5:9-10.)

By His blood. People who should not belong will belong! And that includes you and me.

“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Can you believe that? Isn’t that a glorious thing? Have you turned from your sins and put your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and your King? Then you belong! By His amazing grace, you belong. Zion is your birthplace. And you are a part of the City of God. And one day you will live in it. Or as Paul wrote, “the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother” (Galatians 4:26, see also Philippians 3:20).

“This one and that one were born in her.”

What do you do with something so glorious as this?

You sing! Right? You rejoice. You celebrate. You raise the roof. You marvel. There’s one more verse in this song, and it is all about how the city sings back to God. Look at verse 7.

“As they make music they will sing, ‘All my fountains are in you.’”

The “they” are the peoples. Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, Cush and this one and that one and this and that one as us.

As the city of God realizes how good they have it, they will sing, “We are blessed!”

#3. YOU ARE BLESSED!

City of God, you are so blessed of God.

Some of the Hebrew words are a little hard to translate. Some have “singers and dancers.” Some have “singers and pipers.” Anyway about it, this city is soaring with joy.

And they are all singing the same song, “All my fountains are in you.”

I love how they are singing together but they all use the singular “my.” Each one knows that they are blessed. Each one knows that they have it so good. They are beloved. They belong. They have all of the privileges of being a citizen of God, and there is no greater thing.

Because God has given them fountains!

Some of your Bibles says, “springs.” “All my springs are in you.” That’s not the kind that go, “boing, boing.” It’s the kind that goes “whoosh.” The kind that spring up with life-giving water. The kind that refresh you. The kind that the water dances and nourishes and supplies.

Psalm 46 is another Psalm of Zion. It says, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells” (v.4)

Psalm 36 says, “How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light” (Psalm 36:7-9).

And the Lord Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him” (John 7:37-38, see also John 4).

And we sing, “All my fountains are in you!”

We are so blessed. And one day we will know this like never before.

In Revelation 22 (that we looked at a couple weeks ago), it starts like this. John says, “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. [The LORD is my light and my salvation–whom shall I fear?] And they will reign for ever and ever.” (Revelation 22:1-5).

We are so blessed and we will be so blessed.

In 1779, John Newton who wrote a little song called “Amazing Grace” (which we sang last week) wrote another little song called “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken,” based on Psalm 87. 

It’s hymn #278 in the blue hymnals. And we’re about to sing it. It’s set to the same tune by Franz Joseph Haydn in #9 that we sang at the start of our worship time today. 

As you turn there I want to point out where it is in your hymnal.

There’s different places where we could put this song. 

You could put in the advent songs about the Old Testament promises longing for fulfillment when the Messiah comes. Because it really wasn’t very realized when the Sons of Korah were writing it.

But our hymnal has it in the section of songs about the church. Johnny Newton knew that Psalm 87 was about us. The church of the firstborn.

Recently, I been using a new hymnal called, “The Sing! Hymnal,” in my devotional times in the morning. And this one is in there, too. But it has it in the back in the songs about the last things, song about the return of Christ and of heaven.

It fits there, too.

Because this Song of Zion is poetic and prophetic of that day when we know just how blessed we are. 

John Newton wrote:

“Glorious things of thee are spoken,

Zion, city of our God;

He whose word cannot be broken

Formed thee for His own abode.

On the Rock of Ages founded,

What can shake thy sure repose?

With salvation's walls surrounded,

Thou may'st smile at all thy foes.

See, the streams of living waters,

Springing from eternal Love,

Well supply thy sons and daughters,

And all fear of want remove.

Who can faint while such a river

Ever flows their thirst to assuage?

Grace which, like the Lord, the Giver,

Never fails from age to age!”

- John Newton

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