Psalms 47
McGeePsalms 47THEME: Praise and worship in the MillenniumThis is the second of the little cluster of prophetic pictures of the millennial kingdom, which is established by the Lord Jesus Christ at His second coming. This is a continuation of praise and worship of Christ who is now King over all the earth.
Psalms 47:1
“The LORD most high is terrible [awe-inspiring]; he is a great King over all the earth"you see, Christ is reigning as King over all the earth; and as such, He is praised and worshipped. My friend, before Christ can reign on this earth, He will have to put down all rebellion, self-conceit, arrogance, and the lawlessness of man against God. In Psalms 46 we saw the celebration of His coming in judgment, and now in Psalms 47 His kingdom is established and He is reigning on the earth.
Psalms 47:3
This is the appropriate time to sing, “Joy to the World!” Joy to the world! the Lord is come; Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, And heav’n and nature sing. Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns; Let men their songs employ; While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy. No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found. He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love. Isaac Watts As you can see, this is not really a hymn that speaks of the birth of Christ; but it speaks of His second coming. There is going to be joy on the earth when He comes. “Clap your hands; …shout unto God with the voice of triumph!” What a wonderful day that will be! Not long ago I preached in a church where the people clapped their hands and were rather vociferous. Later someone asked me if all the noise did not disturb me. I replied, “No, it helped a great deal because they were right with me.” I think that what many people call reverence today is really deadness. There is a lot of reverence in the cemeteryno one disturbs anybody or anything. I believe we need a little life in our services.
Psalms 47:5
Let me give you Dr. Gaebelein’s translation of this passage. “God is gone up amidst shouting, Jehovah amid the sound of a trumpet. Sing Psalms unto God! Sing Psalms unto our King, sing Psalms! For God is the King of all the earthsing Psalms for instruction. God reigneth over the nations; God sitteth upon the throne of His holiness. The willing hearted of the people have gathered together with the people of the God of Abraham; for unto God belong the shields of the earth; He is greatly exalted” (The Book of Psalms, p. 207). “God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet"that is, He has ascended amid shouting. And the fact that He ascended means He made a previous descent. The Lord came to earth nineteen hundred years ago, was born in Bethlehem, finished His work of salvation on earth, and then ascended to heavenI think Psalms 24 refers to that. But in this psalm another ascension is spoken about. When Christ comes to earth the second time, He will establish His kingdom and be going back and forth to the New Jerusalem. I think that between the New Jerusalem and this earth there is going to be a freeway much busier than any of the California freewayswith one exception: there will be no traffic tie-ups.
You will be able to move back and forth with freedom. Probably the Lord will descend and ascend at stated times during the Millennium and will display His visible glory upon the earth. What a glorious, wonderful prospect this psalm predicts!