Thrust statement: God uses Psalms to give knowledge of
His holy history in order to evoke praise from His people.
Scripture Reading: Psalm 114; Romans 8:31-39
One cannot read Psalm 114 without a consciousness of God’s presence among His people. This Psalm is an encouragement to God’s people in any age. In this Psalm, the psalmist articulates his faith in the on going sovereignty of God. As the psalmist recounts the story of the Exodus, one witnesses the presence of God in the lives of the children of Israel. This Psalm is a poetic affirmation of the faith that lies at the heart of the entire Bible. One, in the reading of this Psalm, is aware of God’s activity in space and time in bringing about His promises to Abraham to bless all nations through his seed. This Psalm is still relevant to the people of God. Just as God was active in Israel’s release from Egyptian bondage, so God is still active in a new exodus from bondage through Jesus Christ on the cross. The church reads this Psalm through the lenses of what happen to Judah and Israel through Jesus Christ. Perhaps, it is in this vein that Paul writes to the Corinthians:
For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:1-4).[1]
As one reflects upon this Psalm, one cannot help but recall the divine rule of God made known in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This Psalm not only reveals who God is and what He has done but it also gives men and women comfort today to know that God is still active in working for the salvation of humanity. Almost two thousand years ago, John records God’s activity among the Israelites. In his prologue to his Gospel, he writes:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it (John 1:1-4).
But the most startling thing is that John did not stop there, he continues this scenario about the Word with: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (1:14). Is it any wonder that Matthew begins his Gospel with the words: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’—which means, ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:22-23). Just as God was with the children of Israel, so, also, God is still with His people. Just as Psalm 114 connected place and people with meaning and hope, so God still give His people meaning and hope through His Son Jesus. One should never forget that our Lord Jesus, along with His disciples, sang this Psalm during His final Passover meal. Yes, God still rules all people and times. The story of the Exodus belongs to the plot line of the coming of God’s kingdom.
As one peruses Psalm 114, one quickly discovers that this Psalm is not about the triumph of the People, but rather, it is about the triumph of God Himself. One witnesses God going before His people, and it is before Him that “The sea looked and fled, the Jordan turned back” (114:3a); also, it is before Him that “the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs” (114:3b). This Psalm is generally recognized as a Psalm of praise, even though the word praise does not occur within its poetic structure. In spite of its brevity, the Psalm rings with exuberance, with excitement, with energy, and with liveliness. Listen to the words of the psalmist as he seeks to capture in poetic form the story of the Exodus and the crossing of the Jordan under Joshua in order to elicit praise from the reader and hearer of this Psalm and to evoke encouragement for the oppressed people of God.
1 When Israel came out of Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,
2 Judah became God’s sanctuary,
Israel his
dominion.
3 The sea looked and fled,
the Jordan turned back;
4 the mountains skipped like rams,
the hills
like lambs.
5 Why was it, O sea, that you fled,
O Jordan, that you turned back,
6 you mountains, that you skipped like rams,
you hills,
like lambs?
7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the
Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 who turned the rock into a pool,
the hard rock into springs of water (Psalm 114).
This Psalm is the second in the Egyptian Hallel psalms (Psalms 113-118). The first two verses record the movement of the Exodus to settlement in the land of Canaan. Next, the psalmist details the events surrounding their departure from Egypt in poetic language (vv 3-4). Then, the psalmist, in verses 5 and 6, sets forth rhetorical questions concerning the sea and mountains. In these two verses, the psalmist uses the same language employed in verses 3 and 4. And, finally, the psalmist, in verses 7 and 8, gives an answer to the questions in verses 5 and 6. What is the answer? Listen once more: “Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord” (v. 7a). It is “the Lord,” the Sovereign Ruler, whose omnipotence and power over all creation makes the mountains fluid and the seas solid. For the psalmist, God makes the waves as solid as a wall and the mountains to vibrate.
1
When Israel came out of Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,
2 Judah became God’s sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
The psalmist says, “Judah
became God’s sanctuary, Israel his dominion” (v.2). The writer is saying that God chose Israel
for His holy place. The Hebrew for “God’s sanctuary” is ovd+q*l= (l+q*d+vo). This translation of the Hebrew—“God’s
Sanctuary”—may refer to Israel as a nation or to the Jerusalem Temple. But, if
the phrase refers to Israel, then the writer is simply saying that Judah has
become the people of God, that is to say, His holy throne. In the Book of
Exodus, God reveals His intent concerning the nation of Israel to Moses: “You
will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy (vodq*, q*dov) nation. These are the words you are to
speak to the Israelites” (Exodus 19:6). God declares Israel to be both His sanctuary and His kingdom.
Just as God dwelt in Israel, so God still continues to
dwell with His people. Today, the
Christian community is both God’s sanctuary and His kingdom. Christians
constitute a holy nation and a kingdom of priest. It is in this regard that
Peter writes: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation (e[qno" a{gion, et&nos &agion), a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him
who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). Every believer is a priest of God. Every one
is to declare the praises of Him who called him/her out of the kingdom of
Satan. Everyone becomes a royal priesthood because of the indwelling of God’s
Holy Spirit. Paul, in this same vein, writes: “Do you not know that your body
is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your
body (1
Corinthians 6:19-20).
John, in the Book of Revelation, calls attention to the
status of God’s saints: “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to
serve our God, and they will reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:10). God has
made His people to be a “kingdom and priests” to serve Him. Christians, as priest
of God, offer themselves up as sacrifices. Paul reminds the Christians at Rome:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:1-2).
How do Christians reign today? They reign by serving others; this is how Jesus rules within our midst. James, our Lord’s brother, also calls attention to serving others: “Religion (qrhskeiva, t&rhskeia) that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27). James defines worship as looking after orphans and widows and keeping oneself from the pollution of the world, not as five acts performed on Sunday morning. The author of Hebrews also zeros in on service to others: “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Hebrews 13:15-16). Jesus redeemed us that He might bring us into God’s service and engage us forever in it.
God’s people have been delivered in order serve Him. God’s people are delivered to glorify Him. To glorify Him is to worship Him. Worship must not be confused with a prescribed place, a set time, nor a prescribed ritual performed on Sunday morning. Worship is not an activity that is confined to a specific place, time, or form. Believers are God’s temples in which God now dwells. This means that men and women can worship anywhere and at any time. God goes with every saint in an abiding presence. As stated above, the church is not a building made with brick and mortar, but rather the church is made with living flesh (1 Peter 2:5).
Worship is not primarily an external activity performed on
Sunday morning, but worship is one’s way of life twenty-four hours a day.
Worship is not energized by the performance of certain rituals performed
between the hours of 9am and 10am on Sunday morning. It is not where you worship; it is not how you worship; but it is whom you worship (see John 4:24). Returning
again to Psalm
114:2: “Judah became God’s sanctuary, Israel his
dominion”, one must not forget that God’s intent was and is for His people to
be holy. God wants all His people to glorify Him. One may glorify God through
praise: “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me” (Psalm 50:23).[2]
For
the psalmist, worship is ascribing glory to God. One may glorify God through
singing, preaching, praying, giving, communion, eating, drinking, producing
fruit in one’s life (love, joy, peace), and doing good works. It is in this
vein that Jesus says, “let your light
shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in
heaven” (Matthew 5:16). The KJV renders the word praise as glorify.
To praise is to glorify and to glorify is to praise. Again, Jesus says, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear
much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:8). Paul, too, cautions individuals to
keep in mind that whatever they do should be done to God’s glory: “So
whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
Yes, worship is nothing less than glorifying God.
3
The sea looked and fled,
the Jordan turned back;
4 the mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.
Once more, the psalmist seeks to call attention to God’s deliverance of the Israelites by commanding the Red Sea and the Jordan to “flee.” The Red Sea refers to the beginning of their journey from Egypt (Exodus 14:10-31), and the Jordan refers to the driving back of the waters of the Jordan (Joshua 3) so that the people could pass into Canaan at the end of their forty years of wanderings in the wilderness. The psalmist calls attention to Mount Sinai—“the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs”—to remind the readers of God’s cosmic sovereignty. This reference to the mountains and hills could possibly refer to events that Moses describes in reflecting back upon the frightening actions on the day that Moses and the people “stood at the foot of the mountain”:
Then Moses led the people
out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke,
because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like
smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, 19 and
the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice
of God answered him. 20 The LORD descended to the top of Mount Sinai
and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up 21 and
the LORD said to him, “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their
way through to see the LORD and many of them perish (Exodus 19:17-21).
Again, one witnesses the sovereign
God at work concretely in space and time. Today, Christians still perceive God
at work in ordinary events. One also observes this concrete work of God in the
virgin birth. Again, one witnesses God acting concretely in space and time in
the atonement of Christ upon Calvary.
Paul reminds the churches throughout the province of Galatia of God’s
involvement in man’s rescue from condemnation.
But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. 6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir (Galatians 4:4-7).
God acted in space and time to free humanity from bondage and make those who respond to the good news His children. Also, just as God the Father exercised power over all chaotic forces, so one also observes Jesus exercising this same power with His disciples (Mark 8:3-27). In this chapter, Jesus feeds four thousand with seven loaves (vv. 8-13). In addition to this power over the forces of nature, He also heals a blind man of the town of Bethsaida (vv. 22-30). Matthew records a number of miracles performed by Jesus in his Gospel (Matthew 8—9). One such miracle was in the raising of a dead girl (vv.18-26). But this miracle was not all of the activities of Jesus in space and time. In the eighth chapter, Matthew reveals an incident concerning a furious storm on the lake in which the disciples were extremely frightened. They awoke Jesus from His sleep and informed Him about the seriousness of this storm. As one reads this periscope, one cannot read this episode without recalling this same power that God exercised over nature in the Exodus:
He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. 27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” (Matthew 8:26-27).
5
Why was it, O sea, that you fled,
O Jordan, that you turned back,
6 you mountains, that you skipped like rams,
you hills, like lambs?
In these verses, one observes that these two verses are similar in nature to verses three and four. Yet, there is this one difference. For instance, the writer now expresses what was stated in the first two verses with questions. Why did the sea flee? Why did the Jordan turn back? Why did the mountains skip like rams? and Why did the hills skip like lambs? The answer is obvious—God’s presence pervades the universe. The psalmist is asking the underlining question: If God is for Israel who can be against them? Neither Pharaoh nor the forces of nature can prevent God’s actions in space and time. In the last two verses of this Psalm, the psalmist gives the answer to the above questions—“The presence of the Lord.”
7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the
Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 who turned the rock into a pool,
the hard rock into springs of water.
As stated earlier, this psalm is a poetic pronouncement of the faith that underlies the complete Bible. In poetic fashion, the psalmist depicts the earth as trembling at the presence of the Lord (v. 7). This psalm calls attention to the seas, the rivers, and the mountains moving only in the presence of the Lord. He says that the Lord “turned the rock into a pool” and “the hard rock into springs of water.” These two verses constitute the climax of this Egyptian Hallel Psalm about God’s involvement in space and time. God intervened for Jacob’s salvation. God was constantly at work for Israel’s redemption.
Not only did every Jew have Psalm 114 to rally behind in their belief about God’s power, but every Christian also has his/her Psalm 114 in Paul’s letter to the Christians at Rome. Not even Pharaoh could prevail against them. The seas, the rivers, nor the mountains could stand against them. God was in control. So it is with every believer today. Listen to Paul as he captures the essence of Psalm 114:
What, then, shall we say in
response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son,
but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously
give us all things? 33 Who
will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
34 Who is he that condemns?
Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right
hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble
or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness
or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day
long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all
these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither
death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future,
nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in
all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in
Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:31-39).
Paul list seven forces arrayed against Christians—trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword. But, in spite of all of these calamities, all these forces of destruction will still bow in the presence of God. Paul says nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” How can Christians triumph in the face of hardships? The answer to this question is found in the fact that God has His loved fixed upon His children. It is in this regard that Jesus says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16). Again, listen to Paul, as cited above: “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Is it any wonder that the psalmist exclaims:
5 Why was it, O sea, that you fled,
O Jordan, that you turned back,
6 you mountains, that you skipped like rams,
you hills, like lambs? (Psalm 114:5-6)
CONCLUSION
What is your reaction to Psalm 114? Is this Psalm a poetic affirmation of your own faith in God and Jesus His Son? Do you look at redemption from condemnation as an Exodus from the darkness of Satan’s kingdom to the kingdom of God’s dear Son—the kingdom of light? This Psalm invites the earth to tremble in His presence. Do you tremble in the presence of God? If not, why not? Are you conscious that you face judgment apart from Jesus Christ? Do you view the death and resurrection of Jesus as another example of God’s intervention on the part of lost humanity? It is significant that in the birth of the Messiah, one again witnesses a cosmic event—God became flesh. Again, in the cross, one witnesses a scandalously concrete event in God’s scheme of redemption—the shame of the cross (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Do you go on as if all is well? Do you proceed in your daily life as if you do not need a savior? If this is true of you, then I encourage you to learn from nature—“Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob” (Psalm 114:7). Do you tremble in the presence of the Lord? Have you surrendered your life to Jesus? Have you kissed the Son? An earlier Psalm expresses it this way:
Kiss the Son, lest he be
angry
and you be destroyed in your way,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take
refuge in him (Psalm
2:12).
Are you willing to take refuge in Him? The invitation is extended to all. John, an apostle of Jesus, says, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17). Do you tremble in the presence of the Lord? Just what does Psalm 114 mean to you? Can you read this Psalm without feeling that you are in the presence of the Lord? Are you conscious of God’s presence in your salvation?