You can turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 29. Psalm 29. I'll read the entire Psalm and then we'll pray. So Psalm 29, a Psalm of David.
Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due to his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. The voice of the Lord is over the waters.
The God of glory thunders. The Lord is over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon. He makes them also skip like a calf, Lebanon and Syrian like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire.
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forest bear. And in his temple, everyone says glory.
The Lord sat enthroned at the flood and the Lord sits as king forever. The Lord will give strength to his people and the Lord will bless his people with peace. Amen. Well, let's pray.
Our Father in heaven, when we read a psalm like this, we are immediately struck with the wonder and the power of the great Yahweh of Israel. So, Lord, I pray this evening, as we look at this passage, Lord, I pray that you would be pleased to bless us and impress upon us the power and sovereignty that you have as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, as we have just sung. Lord, I pray that you would encourage our hearts by this psalm, that it would be a means for edification of your people here, and that it would be a means to strengthen us as we face a world of chaos and confusion, to know that our God is in the heavens, and he does whatever he pleases, that he is sovereign over all things. So, Lord, we pray your blessing, upon us now, and we pray this in the name of our Savior, your Son, the Lord Jesus.
Amen.
Introduction
Well, as I just said, when we read through this Psalm, It's very obvious and very apparent here. We see the power and the majesty of God, of Yahweh, the Lord. His power, it's very clear. We have the voice of Yahweh, the voice of the Lord, repeated seven times here in this psalm.
This psalm has often been called the psalm of the seven thunders. And when we read this psalm, we see that what it actually is, there's a storm that's happening. A storm in nature. David is observing the power of God in a storm.
So this storm originates off the coast land in the Mediterranean Sea. It originates there. It comes in the north of Israel, the land of Lebanon. And then it heads south through the land of Israel and into the wilderness in Kadesh, which is to the south of the land of Israel.
So we see this storm going through there. David here, as he hears the thunder, you know, peeling off the mountains and stuff, we can just imagine him in this. And every time, you know, another line, the voice of the Lord, this power that he's observing here. And he's attributing it all to Yahweh of Israel, to the Lord.
And it's always that God is over this storm here. So the psalm is about a storm that's happening in nature, but it's not limited to the outward natural phenomenon of this storm that's happening here. But rather, David is doing something a whole lot more in this psalm here. And what he's doing, he's writing a polemic.
A polemic is an attack against the Canaanite god Baal. So as we go through this, we'll see how he's attacking Baal. So for us to understand what's going on, we need to kind of understand a little bit of Baal and who he was said to be. So Baal was the Canaanite god.
Now there were many Baals. We find that through the Old Testament. There was a lot of Baals, but there was one supreme Baal that they worshipped, that the Canaanites worshipped, the one supreme Baal. And this is an attack on that supreme god Baal here.
And Baal was the Canaanite weather god. So there's pictures of him that they've uncovered of him with a lightning bolt in his hand. He was known to be the god of... He controlled the rain, and he was also the storm god as well.
So he was responsible for the rain. So when it rained, Baal was happy. When it was stormy, that meant Baal was angry, and he would cause this storm, thunder, and the lightning that was going on there. So that was who Baal was.
According to the Canaanites, there was a dualism between Yahweh of Israel and Baal. They were equals, we could say, and they were jockeying for position. They were trying to see who was going to gain the upper hand in here. So according to their, what's the word, understanding mythology, if you want to use that word, Baal had overthrown the El, the supreme god, Baal had overthrown that God, now he was strongest God of all, and Yahweh of Israel was beneath him.
And again, so there's jockeying for position here. And we see that in the Old Testament, we see that come to a head in Kings with Ahab. Jezebel, Jezebel was from Phoenicia or Tyre, and that was sort of the hub of Baal worship in Phoenicia. So Ahab brings Jezebel in, and with Jezebel comes Baal worship.
So she brings it in. She had hundreds, 450 plus priests for Baal that she personally, they said they ate at her table, so she was responsible for them. Baal worship was brought into Israel in that way. So we see this come to a head, This, well, we understand Baal is, there is no equals.
That's what the point of the psalm is. It's not Yahweh and Baal, but we see this very evidence very clearly in the book of Kings with Elijah on Mount Carmel. So Elijah brings all the priests of Baal. He says, okay, we're going to solve this once and for all.
If you think that Baal and Yahweh are equal, let's come together here and let's end this once and for all. Elijah says, how long will you falter between two opinions? If Yahweh is God, follow him. But if Baal, follow him.
So then we know the story, we know how it ends. They build the altar. They each build an altar. The priests of Baal build an altar.
Elijah builds an altar to Yahweh. The priests of Baal, they spend all day dancing on the altar, cutting themselves, doing these things. Nothing happens. The goal was which God was gonna consume the sacrifice and accept the sacrifice.
We understand then, or we see, remember the story, Elijah, dumps water on this altar, you know, tons of water, and then Yahweh sends fire from heaven, consumes the altar. Very, very clear that Yahweh is God and Baal is not. Yahweh is the true and living God, Baal is not. So, David is doing the same thing in this psalm here.
He's saying, you know, you Canaanites, you think that, you know, you think that Yahweh and Baal are equal, But he's saying, no, no, not at all. And how we know that is, and he's going to show here, that Yahweh is sovereign, and he's going to explain that by pointing out that Yahweh is the creator. And that's the difference. Yahweh is creator, and there's none like him at all.
There is no other, there can only be one creator. There can only be one infinite, self-existent being. And that is Yahweh of Israel. So, you know, the Baal, Baal, if we want to ascribe, you know, if we want to say he's a being, he's a created being.
Whether, you know, who Baal is, that's not for the, you know, the current sermon, who he actually is. But either way, Baal, if Baal is a spiritual being that the nations are worshipping, he's a created being. Yahweh is the creator. So that's how, so having that background in our mind, then let's come to the psalm.
Call to Acknowledge God's Sovereignty
So first we see It breaks down here, we have the call to acknowledge the sovereignty of Yahweh in verses 1 and 2, and then we have the demonstration of that sovereignty in verses 3 through 9, and then the blessings of belonging to the people of Yahweh, or the blessing of belonging to Yahweh, so in verses 10 to 11. So then first the call to acknowledge the sovereignty of Yahweh.
The Address to Heavenly Beings
He begins out, so who is he addressing here? So we look in verse one, he says, give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones. Now, perhaps in your margin it will give you a different note there, but literally it says, give unto the Lord, O you sons of the gods. And again, that's a reference to heavenly beings.
Some translations, I think NIV translated as heavenly beings or spiritual beings. These are heavenly beings, he's calling on them You know that they inhabit the the spiritual realm and he's so he's a calling on them to to acknowledge the sovereign sovereignty of Yahweh So these are these are angelic beings or there and not only not only good angelic beings You know the the angels as we refer to them as angels and all that fall within that that category but there's but also the evil ones and and we see that in In in the scriptures very very often that the the sons of God are evil Spiritual beings in and these beings have a lot of control over the nations that the Bible is very clear on that as well that Satan and and and his his his hierarchy of demons have a lot of control over the nations and over the over the kings of of the nations, so You know, so he's he's referring then to these to these, you know, the the gods of the nations the small g gods of the nations that he's referring to here then. So he's calling on them to, you know, this call is going out to this angelic host here to ascribe to God glory. And we could say, you know, that the call is going out to Baal himself, you know, Baal, you ascribe the glory to God.
Don't take credit for these things that, you know, God is creator, God is doing these things, God is over the storm. You're not, you're not, Baal. You know, you need to ascribe the glory to God. The God who's the creator.
God gives the rain. God rains on the just and the unjust. You know, the Bible tells us that. So it's Yahweh of Israel here.
So, you know, he says, but then again, this is of course obviously not just going to go out then to, you know, the heavenly beings, the angelic realm. but those who would worship those gods as well, the gods of the nations. I think if we can understand that in our minds, often we think of the people worshipping just figments of their imagination, but I think the Bible is very clear that they're worshipping spiritual beings. How much interaction they have with them is outside the limits of this, but to understand that the devil is behind all of this idol worship that we have there so when we realize this then we have we have um we have then then then it's calling on not only not only the the gods but the people as well you know give the glory to god ascribe god with this glory yahweh is that he's the creator there's there's none like him we're gonna he's gonna make that very clear In in this psalm here. There's there's there's no other there's no other god like Yahweh He's he is he's far above all these things.
Yahweh is the creator. All of these gods are created beings They are they are they're they're spiritual beings that are created. They depend on Yahweh for their very existence They are far inferior to Yahweh. They have more in common with us than they do with with Yahweh because Yahweh is is self-existent infinite and eternal so so so so the call goes out to them and then it says give the glory of Strength to him.
So so, you know the glory and the strength that only Yahweh has the Power to do such things. So the this this raging storm that's happening So so so acknowledge the his power acknowledge his might over the created order again Such a clear theme throughout all of the scriptures there the Israelites under taking such comfort in the fact that we read that in Psalm 31 35 as well there that at the outset that that Yahweh is Yahweh is He's above all the gods, he says, Psalm 135, for I know that the Lord is great. Our Lord is above, so our Lord is above all gods. The Lord, whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all the deep places.
And then it goes on, he talks about the lightning and the rain and et cetera there. So the Israelites, it was such a comfort for them, the faithful Israelites, then the prophets, then Moses, the ones that wrote here, it was such a comfort for them to understand that their god, Yahweh, was creator. The other gods of the nations were creatures. So what a blessing it was to be the people of Yahweh, the people of the creator himself, the one who has absolute sovereignty.
So give the Lord glory and strength due to him, that he is over creation. Give the glory due his name. So what does that mean? The Lord, as He has revealed Himself, I call Him Yahweh, some people say Jehovah, I think we're all familiar with that.
But Yahweh, or how He revealed Himself to Moses, as I Am. So God calls Himself I Am. Now if I said to you, I Am, you would look at me and you would wonder, What? You're what?
Because we're finite creatures, and we have to always qualify our existence somehow, because it's finite, it's always changing, so I have to say, I am hungry, or I am tired, or whatever it may be. But Yahweh just says, I am. And he leaves it there. I am.
Because the Lord, we say the Lord is pure being. He's just infinite. There's no way to qualify God. He just simply, He is.
And that's the glory that we need to give to God. His name tells us a lot about who He is as God, that He is infinite, He's eternal, and He's self-existent. He is uncreated. There was never a time when God wasn't.
God always just, He just is. And so Yahweh is Creator. We glorify Him because of who He is. We give glory due to His name, Creator.
None like Him. In the book of Isaiah, we often find that God calls Himself Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator. of Israel, your king. So what a comfort that was to the Israelites.
Now again, in the book of Isaiah, the Israelites are being chastised for rejecting God, rejecting the creator of the universe who had chosen them to be his own special people. And they had rejected him and chose to go after other gods, other created beings, rather than the creator himself. And so this holy one, that's the That's what we have to understand when God tells us that he is I am, his name is I am, and that he's infinite, he's eternal, he's self-existent. We call it the holiness of God, that he is other, he is completely other.
There is no one like him, like our God. He is in his own category. Can I use that word? Okay, but there's, there's no, there's no other, there's no other God.
It's not, I, I often use the, you know, the analogy of a, of a ladder, the ladder of being. We think, you know, rocks are down at the bottom, and then we have plants and animals, and then we're, we're somewhere on there, and then maybe you have angels, and then God's at the top. Well, it's not like that. The, the, the, the ladder goes up to whatever you want to put at the top, but whatever's at the top is still a created being.
God is not on that ladder of being. He is, because, because he is completely other. So, so that is, that, and that's what David goes on to say here. the psalm then so so so
The Name and Nature of Yahweh
give the lord the glory due to his name and then he says worship the lord in the beauty of holiness there so so so beauty now
Worship in the Majesty of Holiness
worship the lord in the beauty of holiness this is not a state that we need to be in we need to be in a state of of of the beauty of holiness as we worship god that's not what he's saying rather this this is this is um attributed to god the beauty of holiness so beauty here means not so much as we think of of of beauty in our language, but more of a splendor or majesty. So worship the Lord in the majesty of His holiness, this unsurpassable dignity, maybe we could say, and the beauty of this, of being set apart, of being completely holy, completely other. You know, so this is, again, as I said, this is such a comforting reminder. It was a reminder, a comforting reminder to the Israelites.
They always reminded themselves of that, that our God is holy. He is other. There is none like him. Moses says, Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises? doing wonders. Now this comes right after the Red Sea passage, where they've just come through the Red Sea. God had part of the waters, Israel went through on dry ground, Egypt went in, God closed up the waters and destroyed them. An incredible feat of showing God's sovereignty over nature, showing that He is, in fact, the Creator.
So then Moses breaks out in this song and says that. Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness? And then Moses' reminder, to the people again in Deuteronomy chapter 3, verse 24.
What God is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like your works and your mighty deeds? So what a blessing that was for the people of Israel that their God was creator. Deuteronomy 33, 29. Happy are you, O Israel, Moses speaking again, happy are you, O Israel, who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of your help and the sword of your majesty, your enemies shall submit to you and you shall tread down their high places." So what a comfort, what a comfort that was to the people of Israel.
And of course, us as the New Covenant believers in the book of 1 Peter chapter 2, the next passages that I hope to preach through, we saw that, we read it this morning, I didn't preach on it, but just how Peter clearly, clearly ascribes to to the New Covenant believers, the church, that we are this holy nation, this special people, uses all this Old Covenant language to describe the church here. In 2 Peter 2, verse 5, he calls them a holy priesthood, so we see that's a very clear reference to the Old Testament. And then in verse 9, again, you are a chosen generation, explicit Old Testament language, a chosen nation, we see that very clearly. How God chose Israel for his own special people a royal priesthood a holy nation his own special people So so it's a comfort that we can have as the people of as the people of God To know that our God the God that we worship the God who has rescued us from darkness Into marvelous light is is the creator he is there is he's unrivaled in his majesty and in his sovereignty So so now David David David's observing the storm again.
Remember this the storm is going through David is observing the storm as it's passing through the country, the power that it's showing here, and then he calls out to men and angels to acknowledge the sovereignty of God and to worship Him. Spurgeon says it the best here. Spurgeon says, the call to worship in these two verses chimes in with a loud, pealing thunder, which is the church bell of the universe ringing kings and angels and all the sons of earth to their devotions. So only a Spurgeon can say it in such a beautiful way.
But the church bell, this thunder, the church bell of the universe ringing kings and angels and all the sons of the earth to their devotions. So that is the call to acknowledge the sovereignty of God. And now we come to then the demonstration of this sovereignty. So we see here that this is where we have all the voice of the Lord, the voice of the Lord, seven times repeated here.
And again, so So as I said at the beginning, we can kind of imagine that as the thunder, each boom of thunder. Again, David writes another line. It's sort of coinciding with another thunderclap from the storm as it passes through. Now the interesting thing is the Hebrew word for thunder and the Hebrew word for voice is exactly the same word there.
So it's interesting. So we see this here. that the voice of the Lord is over the waters, the God of glory thunders here.
Demonstration of Yahweh's Sovereignty
So David's saying this is not this thundering, this is not Baal you're hearing, this is Yahweh of Israel, this is our God. He's the one thundering in this storm. So he says here that
The Voice Over the Waters
the voice of the Lord, in verse 3, the voice of the Lord is over the waters. So, you know, of course, you know, the storm originated over the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, and as the thunder, you know, boomed over the sea, we saw that's Yahweh displaying His power there. But there's so much, there's more going on here. In the Bible, the Old Testament, well, the New Testament as well, very clear, that this is a reference to God as Creator again, that God being over the waters, referencing Him and showing that He is, in fact, Creator.
You can turn to Genesis 1, verse 1 for a minute, to see where we get that from and how that theme is played out through the rest of Scripture. So, Genesis 1, verse 1, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, let there be light, and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness he called night, so the evening and morning were the first day. Then God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so.
So that's where we get the concept, God over the waters, is a reference back to the creation account, where we have this chaotic, watery abyss prior to creation. What did that look like exactly? We don't know, but the Bible describes it in these terms. A chaotic, watery abyss, and the Spirit of God hovering over these things, ready to create, ready to bring order from this watery chaos there.
So it's a very clear reference to His to his sovereignty and his control, that he is creator. The Lord is over many waters. And then look at verse 4, the voice of the Lord is powerful and the voice of the Lord is full. of majesty. So again, going back to creation there, you know, it was the voice of the Lord that brought creation into existence.
You know, God said, God said, let there be light, and there was light. God said, you know, let there be, let there be affirmament, and there was. All these things. It was the voice of the Lord that was full of power and full of majesty that brought creation into existence.
So now, but the voice of the Lord being so powerful and being so full of majesty. I think we have a very tangible experience of this that we can read of with the Israelites in the Old Testament in Exodus chapter 19 and 20 at Mount Sinai. And how the voice of the Lord there, the power and the majesty that was in the voice of the Lord. So if you turn to Exodus 19 in verse 16, Then it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunderings and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.
And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountains. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in a fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long, it became louder and louder.
Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai on the top of the mountain, and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up." Now flip to chapter 20, Exodus 20, verse 18. Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountains smoking. And when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off.
Then they said to Moses, you speak with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us lest we die. So we see just such a, it was really that close encounter with the voice of the Lord. It was a terrifying experience for the people of Israel. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai in all his glory and they saw the lightnings and they heard the thunderings.
They heard the voice of the Lord there in this theophany. And it was the majesty there that the people trembled and they were terrified. You know, so they they learned full well that day the Israelites did that the voice of the Lord is majestic So then let's let's move on then in the psalm now to to verse 5 the voice of the Lord breaks the cedars Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon
Yahweh Invades Baal's Territory
So now so now David tracks the storm as it moves from over the over the Mediterranean into the land of Lebanon, which was north of the land of Israel. So this is, Lebanon is synonymous with Tyre, Phoenicia. It's all that same area there, Lebanon. So Lebanon was the land of the great cedar trees.
David and Solomon, they both brought cedars from this area to build their houses, and Solomon, obviously, to build the temple. So we remember David, David worked with Hiram, the king of Tyre, the king of Phoenicia, to bring these cedars over. But this was Baal's territory. This was the hub of Baal worship.
Baal was said to live on Mount Hermon. And again, now Mount Hermon, another name that we find for Mount Hermon in the Bible is Sirion. And that's what we have in verse 6 here. So in verse 6 is a reference to Sirion.
Sirion is Mount Hermon. And Hermon was Baal's house, where Baal lived. He was said to live on Mount Hermon. And in Judges 3, it's actually called Mount Baal, Hermon.
So it's a very clear reference to that. So Baal was said to live there. So now the storm of Yahweh and his display of his power, it moves into Baal's territory. The power of Yahweh, the creator, comes in there.
And then the Lord demonstrates his power and his sovereignty over this area that was supposedly Baal's territory by splintering these cedars. you know, just destroying them, breaking the cedars, splintering the cedars of Lebanon. So it's, you know, it's God coming very, very clearly, you know, and showing, Baal, you know, you have no authority here, you have no power. I created these cedars and I can destroy them if I want to. You know, there's, again, in the Canaanite Mythology, Baal wanted to have a house built out of these cedars.
And among the gods, they were talking and Baal wanted someone to go get cedars to build himself a house, which is interesting, the parallels that we have here to the use of the cedars and God making himself a house out of these cedars. But again, so that's what the Canaanites taught and they believed. Well, here comes Yahweh and Yahweh destroys these cedars, splinters the cedars, our Bible says here. And then we see what happens to Baal.
As Baal, as a storm moves in, this power of Yahweh comes into his land. Well, what does it say here? So it's in verse 6 then. He makes them to skip like a calf, Lebanon and Syria, like a young wild ox.
So the cedars, they're sent skipping off like a calf as they're splintered, as the wind blows them and tears them apart, they're splintered and their branches are thrown about by the wind of this storm. It's like they're skipping like a calf. Now, the skipping like a calf is not a calf skipping through a meadow having fun. This is a terrified calf as it flees when it's scared.
So the cedars are breaking apart and fleeing like they're scared, and then even the very mountains are trembling and shaking as the thunder peels off the mountains. It's as if David personifies them. They're shaking, they're fleeing, they're running scared. a wild ox here. Again, like I said, they're not having fun skipping.
That's not what he's referencing here. They're running in terror from the power of the Lord when the Lord displays his glory. You can turn to Psalm 114 for a minute. We see the same thing in Psalm 114.
Start in verse 1. When Israel went out of Egypt, and the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah became his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. the sea saw it and fled. Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs.
What ails you, O sea, that you fled? O Jordan, that you turned back? O mountains, that you skipped like rams? O little hills like lambs?
Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool of water and the flint into a fountain Waters. So again, we see the the mountains the creation They're being personified as as fleeing back as and and and trembling as Yahweh displays his power Over over the created order as as as as the creator, you know So these mountains are these mountains here, you know, or they're they're skipping off in in terror They're shaking in terror as as this as Yahweh comes in and again remember this is you know this as a this polemic against against Baal What's David trying to show here? He's showing very clearly Baal is no match for the Lord. Even when he's in his own abode on Mount Hermon, on his own turf, he can't defend himself against the power of the Lord.
When Yahweh moves into Baal's territory, Baal is sent running in fear. And again, this is a warning to those who worship Baal as well. You know, that this thundering that's happening here, this is not the voice of an angry Baal. You know, this is the voice of Almighty God, of Yahweh, of Israel, and this voice has sent Baal running for the hills in terror.
You know, because this God is no ordinary God. He's not like one of the gods of the nations. Rather, He is Creator, so worship Him. Ascribe glory to Him.
He's the Creator. And then he goes on in this last little couplet here, the voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire, in verse 7. So, again, an interesting word to translate, the word divides there. You might see in your margin it says stirs up or literally hues out.
So it's the idea of cutting is the verb there. So, you know, this is probably a reference to the lightning sort of, you know, cutting through the dark clouds in this storm. Again, it's all part of this, you know, this storm that's raging over the so-called home of Baal in Lebanon and on the Mount Hermon, you know, and the fires of Yahweh's cutting through over this false god, Baal, this god who claims to have power over the weather, you know, but in reality he's sent running when God shows up to demonstrate his power. So that concludes that little section, then we move on to, as the As the storm moves south, passes through Israel, moves south, and it goes into the wilderness of Kadesh in verses 8 and 9.
The Storm Reaches Kadesh
So the voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. So again, we have the same effect here. When the power of God moves in, You know, nature itself, the wilderness itself, it shakes, it trembles at the voice of the Lord.
David personifies nature as just trembling and shaking when Yahweh displays the majesty of His voice and the power of His voice. And again, in this section, there's a lot more parallels, but I didn't bring them all out, but two ancient Ugaritic texts. that talk about and discuss Baal. There's a lot more parallels in here that David is using, but this is one that's quite striking. The Ugaritic texts ascribe to Baal, praising Baal, and they say, at his holy voice, the whole earth quaked.
So David, again, is saying here, no, not so fast. This same storm that just sent Baal running in terror in Lebanon, this is the same storm that is causing the wilderness to shake here in the South. It's Yahweh who's all-powerful and to whom all the earth should quake in fear of His great power and His great holiness. And then verse 9, the voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forest bare.
This is a very difficult verse, again, to translate. You know depending what what version your Bible might say the voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forest bare So you might think how in the world do you go from from making the deer give birth to twisting the oaks? so there's a there's a the the word for oaks and the words for For female deer those we use them. They translates as deer here are very similar there. They're in in the Hebrew there you have vowel pointing underneath the consonants So the difference is pretty much restricted to the vowel pointing, which was not in the original.
So that was up to Masoretic scribes, you know, after Christ came, who added these vowel pointing so we would know how to pronounce words and what they mean. So there's a very close similarity there. So that, you know, so oaks or female deer could be one or the other, but then we have the verb of translated in the King James as giving birth, or to cause, to give birth, or in the NIV, you know, rendered as twist when it comes to, you know, in regards to the oaks. So the verb means to writhe, to twist, to writhe, and often it's associated with labor pains in the Bible.
When a woman is, you know, is in travail, You know she and she's writhing in in labor pains. It's writhing is that's the verb used there so that is um, so that's why you know a lot of a lot of you know translations will will translate it as it causes the The voice the Lord makes the deer give birth or causes them to to give birth Because of that that verb is attributed to to labor pains and But again, the verb has, it really has anything to do with whirling, twisting, writhing sort of motion there. So it could be, as we find in the King James, that the voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth, that the voice of the Lord, you know, it's terrifying and the deer, you know, they go into premature labor and drop their young, you know, prematurely because they're just, you know, they're so scared that it could very well Could very well be that but I think the the way the NIV and some other translations have it is Is better that the voice of the Lord, you know twists the Oaks and I think You know, obviously that goes with with the context. Well, it goes just as well as the deer giving birth But when we see the next line there that the it strips the forest bear so it's kind of it would make sense it would go with that that that you know, the the Oaks are are twisting up and they're and they're falling and the forests are being stripped bare.
So I think it fits that, but there's something else that I think is a more powerful argument for this translation, the way the NIV renders it as twisting the oaks. And that is, you know, that the word that's translated as oak is also referred to as a terebinth tree in other places in the Bible. So the same, very same word. masculine and plural differences, all the differences, but it translated as terebinth trees. So, terebinth trees, they're referenced often in the Old Testament.
These were tall trees, they grew very broad as well, very big trees, and they lived very long. They grew to be very old trees, but they grew just as a single tree. So, if you look at pictures of them, it's bare, and then there's just one massive tree there. So, these trees were used as landmarks.
We see that in the Old Testament, we see how Abraham journeyed as far as the terebinth tree at Mora. That was as far as he went. So, the terebinth tree was the landmark there. The terebinth at Zionaim marked the boundary of the tribe of Asher when they were allotting out the land.
Asher gets, you know, this section of the land from the Jordan up to the terebinth tree at the Zayinayim. So they were landmarks. But there's something a lot more here, and that is that they were places where the Canaanites worshipped Baal under the terebinth tree. We see that very clearly.
They became a shrine. Maybe that's not the right word, but they became places where Baal was worshipped. under these under these terebinth trees. We actually see we see Abraham offering a sacrifice to Yahweh when he just enters into the land of Canaan that he went to the terebinth tree to offer a sacrifice to Yahweh because that was what he would have known prior to him being called out of Ur of the Chaldees by the Lord that a terebinth tree was a place where you offered a sacrifice to your God. And we see that actually very clearly.
You can turn it to Hosea chapter 4 where we see that mentioned explicitly. Hosea 4, verse 13. Well, we can start in verse 12. My people have asked counsel from their wooden idols, and their staff informs them.
For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray, and they have played the harlot against their God. They offer sacrifices on the mountaintops, and burn incense on the hills under oaks, poplars, and terebinths, because their shade is good. Therefore, your daughters commit harlotry, and your brides commit adultery." So very, very clear there that they have offered, you know, they use this terebinth tree as a place to offer sacrifices and to worship Baal. So that's why, you know, I believe that this is the, you know, that's the correct translation of what the NIV has, that causing the oaks to twist to be ripped apart.
So this storm, as it moves through Israel and comes into the wilderness, it's taking these terabith trees, these old trees that have been there for hundreds of years, that have been growing there, and twisting them up and stripping them bare there. But it's not, again, David's not just standing in awe at the storm as it rips trees out and twists these trees up. But rather, again, he's showing God's sovereignty over Baal. The places where Baal was worshipped from his people, they're ripped apart and they're stripped bare.
Again, a clear declaration of the sovereignty of Yahweh, of Israel, our Lord. And then the last line in verse 9, and in his temple everyone says glory.
Glory in the Temple
I love this line in this psalm here. In my mind I picture as the storm runs through Israel, I picture everyone in Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, the Temple of God, they're in Jerusalem, they've observed this storm as it's come, as it's wreaked havoc in Baal's territory, it's passed through. through them into the wilderness here. So first it's the abode of Baal has been shaken, but then now it comes into the wilderness and these places of worship, of Baal worship, they're twisted apart, they're ripped from their moorings and stripped bare. And so there the people are standing in awe of this and all they have is this collective glory for their God.
It's amazing as they witness the power of their God, the God who has chosen them to be their special people. Everyone in the temple says glory. Sometimes I wonder, was it a shout of glory or was it just an awe-struck whisper of glory? I don't know, but it's just, it's amazing that as their God, their God is the creator, the true and living God.
Blessings of Belonging to Yahweh
So then we come, Now then, to the blessings of belonging to the people of God in verse 10. So again, we have a very clear reminder of the sovereignty of God. Obviously, as this storm passed through the land of Israel, the same power would have been felt there. They would have trembled at the power of Yahweh in this storm as it comes by.
But again, this reminder here that even at the time, even at the flood, the great flood, I think this is a reference in verse 10, a reference to Noah's flood, that the Lord sat and throne at the flood. So, when the most disastrous thing In terms of natural disasters, the great flood, you know, the disaster ensued and the world is being dramatically destroyed and returning to this watery abyss that it was at creation. You know, God was in complete control of the whole thing and God was sitting enthroned at the flood. And this is such a good reminder for us as the people of God.
This is our God, this God that is powerful, this God that sends Baal running in fear. This is our God. And in a time of disaster like this, that reminder that our God sat enthroned at the flood, that God is in Control and God never never relinquishes that control I mean we can obviously we can we can ascribe this to natural disasters that you know, they seem to happen More and more often these days these these natural disasters flooding fires, whatever it may be, but this reminder Yes, God is in control God God never relinquishes that control God the Lord the Lord sits sits as king forever, so He's king of the universe. He's king over all creation.
So yes, we can take comfort for the natural disasters in that term, but how much more of a reminder and a comfort is this for us as we weather the storms of life? Not the physical thunder and the lightnings, but the trials and the difficulties that we all endure. those storms as they come our way. What a blessing it is to know that our God is sovereign over all things. The Lord is sitting, sat enthroned at the flood, calmly in control of all things as the world was completely turned upside down and chaotic and de-created, we could almost say.
Yahweh was in control over it all. He had not lost control in any way. So what a blessing for that. Now, you know, we can see in verse 11 here then, the Lord will give strength to his people, and the Lord will bless his people with peace.
So, now notice in the psalm here, you know, the damage that the storm does, and that David lists here, it's in the north in Lebanon, and then it's in Kadesh in the south, But the storm obviously passed through the land of Israel, but he doesn't mention the damage that's done to these things, or done to the land of Israel and to the people in there. Now, that doesn't mean that bad things, I say quote-unquote bad things because we may interpret them to be bad, that they don't happen to the people of God and that we won't suffer. I'm not saying that at all. We can't take that away from this psalm. in any way, but the storm obviously would have buffeted the land of Israel as it went through the land as well.
There would have been damage, but David here, he doesn't give any negative effects concerning the land of Israel as it went through, and why is that? And I think the clearest answer to that is that we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are the called according to his purpose. So, you know, even as this storm has come through and displayed Yahweh's power, yet as it's, you know, as we, for David, he does not interpret bad effects happening to the land of Israel because, again, these things are working out for good for God's people. You know again, that's a that's important to under to understand this this reality here that you know When God is in control that all things work out together for us these storms that that come we can have that peace that Surpasses all understanding we can be like those, you know in the temple saying saying glory as as all this as all this this this happens And we witness these things in our in our lives So the Lord will give strength to his people and the Lord will bless his people with peace.
So this is something that is unique to the people of God. The people in Lebanon, the people in the wilderness in Kadesh, they would have been trembling in terror, with no peace, as they witnessed the storm come through. They ascribe this all happening to Baal, and they're terrified of this. They're terrified of this There's no peace there.
Baal demanded that they give their children as sacrifices, that they sacrifice their children on his altars to appease his wrath. There was no peace to be found in Baal worship, and there's no peace to be found for those who are not the people of God. But for the people of God, we have that strength and that peace to be had when we understand and we know We trust in the fact that our God is creator. Our God is sovereign over all things.
He's rival to none and that He has created all things and remains always in control over all those things. So we can take that comfort from this in terms of the storms of life that come our way. The Lord sat enthroned over the flood. The Lord sits as king forever.
You know that's um, but but but
Application to the Present Spiritual Battle
the point of the psalm being being this polemic against david How you know, what does that what does that have to do with with with the here? And uh, sorry, did I say the plumbing against david polemic against baal? What does that have to do with the with the the here and now, you know, we we can say well well, um You know, I I get it, you know god is sovereign God is creator and and yeah, we can take we can take you know Comfort in that but you know, there's there's no there's no bail worship today What does that have to what does that have to do with with anything? Well, I think I think we need to understand what the Bible teaches us very clearly that we are in a battle right now and this battle is not a battle of Flesh and blood but it's a it's a spiritual battle against the forces of darkness, which is which is the the devil so whether bail whether bail worship was ultimately devil were either at the end of the day it was ultimately devil worship, whether Baal is a spiritual creature or not.
For us today, we know that we are in a battle against these forces of darkness. Principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. That's how Paul describes it in Ephesians chapter 6. We are at war with this kingdom of darkness.
And I think sometimes in our post-enlightenment world, we forget these things. We might say, oh yeah, we're in a battle with the devil. The devil's real, and we're in a battle because he wants me to sin, and that's kind of the battle. But I think we need to realize that there's a lot more going on.
As I said, in our post-Enlightenment world, the Enlightenment tried to remove all of the supernatural, take it completely out, and that unless you could touch it and feel it and grasp it, it wasn't real. Well, the church obviously retained God, but I think we lost a lot of the spiritual aspects of the Bible and the reality of the power of Satan and his power over this world. You know, when we understand that, I think it explains a lot when it comes to the state of the world that we find ourselves in, especially now in the last several years. You know, we find ourselves in much like the psalmist says in Psalm 2, a situation like that, that the nations are raging and people are plotting a vain thing.
The kings of the earth set themselves together or set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us." So we see that now. It seems collectively the nations of the world have come together and they're against the Lord, they're against His Christ. And to understand how the Bible teaches us and shows us that Satan is behind these rebellions like this, because Satan uses the kingdoms of the earth, which are in his power, which the Bible says very clearly, and Satan says to the Lord Jesus at the temptation that all these nations are in his power, in his control. So Satan uses that, he uses that to try and hinder the Church of Christ, and the advance of the Church, to try to attack the people of God, and kill the people of God or, you know, hinder them, persecute them in any way.
And ultimately, it's to hinder the advancement of the gospel or of the advancement of the kingdom of Christ that Christ is building in this world, you know, which comes through the proclamation of the gospel through his people. So, this, you know, the persecution and when we see it coming together on such a I think as Brother John prayed this morning, it's the governments of the world that are at this point are the problem and the cause of so much of this persecution. And this explains, you know, so understanding the demonic aspect and Satan's control behind this helps us to understand the state of the world. But then we have a psalm like this that helps us to, you know, it greatly encourages us you know, that our God is sovereign.
He sits in the heavens and he laughs at this, the psalmist in Psalm 2 tells us. He laughs and holds them in derision as they come together and they're against the Lord, they're against his Christ. God is in the heaven and he laughs at it. He holds them in derision.
So, you know, we need to understand this demonic influence over the world, which is, you know, which is the goal is to hinder the gospel proclamation and the spread of the church, the advance of the kingdom of Christ. But this should not lead us to despair in any way. I think, you know, oftentimes when we start to question these things, we start to look into these things and we see what's all going on, we can very quickly be led into a despair that, like, how can this be happening? You know, but we really should not be We should not despair, but we should be greatly encouraged that our God is above all powers.
He's victorious. We don't need to panic or be anxious over the state of this world now. Now, that doesn't mean fatalism, where we just don't care, whatever. It's okay if you feel it's your calling to stand up against these things and take action against these evils, whatever it may be.
That's fine. That's okay, but we don't we don't want to to panic and I think um, we let's uh, let's turn to isaiah chapter 8 for a minute Where isaiah Or the lord says to isaiah the same thing in isaiah 8 verse 11 for the lord spoke thus to me with a strong hand and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people saying Do not say a conspiracy concerning all that this people call a conspiracy, nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled." Now he's speaking of the Assyrian armies, you know, about to invade the land. So he's saying, don't be a conspiracy and panic and be afraid of their threats or be troubled. The Lord of hosts, Him you shall hallow.
Let Him be your fear and let Him be your dread. So when we fear Yahweh, when we fear Him in the right way, then we understand. his sovereignty, that he is in control of all of this, of overall things, all the gods of the nations, all the powers that be, that Paul lists in Ephesians 6 there. So we understand that, and then when we set our minds on these things, then we have, as the psalmist says in Psalm 29, the Lord gives strength to his people, the Lord blesses his people with peace. So what a joy, what a comfort we can have knowing that our God is sovereign, our God is in control of these things, and we have that peace that surpasses all understanding.
We've seen how He's over Baal and sent Baal running in fear, so He is over whatever is going on in this world today. God is in control of that.
Warning: The Coming Storm of Wrath
Now, one warning that I would like to give is I was thinking about this You know, I was thinking there's another storm, an impending storm from God coming, and that's the storm of the wrath of God this time. It's not a weather storm, but it is God coming in reality, coming to take vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, to quote Paul in 2 Thessalonians 1. So that storm coming of the wrath of God, in that storm, there's safety, and peace given to the people of God. And that safety and peace, of course, comes from the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, whereby that storm will pass them by, and they will be safe and secure.
So if you're not a believer, you find yourselves now in an evil and anti-God world, and the nations, the kings of the earth, collectively coming together, plotting against our God, against His people, against His Christ. And maybe you even realize how evil that is and you're bothered by the evil that's there. But if you have not repented and you have not come to Christ, you are on the same side as them. You need to understand that.
You're either for Christ or you're against him. So you're under the same judgment of God as we saw in Baal there. God sent him running and this power the sovereignty and now the judgment that will come upon all those at the end of the age. You're on the same side if you have not come to Christ.
So, you know, again, then the call is to repent, to believe and to come to Christ for your salvation, for this peace, this strength and this peace that the Lord gives to his people, the one that you can have that you can have now, in the here and now, knowing that our God is in control. These things are, you don't need to worry, you don't need to panic, you don't need to fret about all that's going on in the world now, but also this peace that we know that our future, our inheritance is secure because of this peace that the Lord blesses his people with. So let us now close then in a word of prayer.
Closing Prayer
Our Father in heaven, how we rejoice in the fact that you are sovereign, that you are holy, and that there is none like you, O Lord. What a comfort that is to know that, that you are not one among many jockeying for position of who will be the king eternal, but you lord our king eternal from you you always were and you always will be you are the alpha and the omega the beginning and the end and lord you have called us your people and we can call you our father and our god lord what a what a blessing that is what a what a a joy that is to know that and lord i pray that that this psalm would have been a means of great encouragement for your people here to know that that you that you are in control of all things, and that you are over all the powers of darkness that there may be, Lord, that you are God of all things, and that you are King of kings, Lord of lords, and Lord, we thank you that your word tells us so clearly in the book of Revelations that you win this battle that we are in now, Lord, that you are victorious, that the devil and all his host is cast into that lake of fire for all of eternity and your people are gathered with you in the new heaven and new earth to be in the presence of the lamb for all of eternity lord how we rejoice in that and how that keeps us going in the midst of a of a dangerous and crooked and perverse and evil world that we live in lord so i thank you For this passage of scripture, I pray that it would be a means of encouragement for your people here. And I pray, Lord, that it would be a means for any here who have not come to the Savior, that it would be a means that they would come running to the Savior to find that peace and that safety that only you can afford for the storm of the wrath of God that is coming. against the devil and against all those who are part of the kingdom of darkness. So Lord, I pray now that you would be with us in the rest of this, in this upcoming week, and all that you have called us to do, that we would be lights in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation.
I pray that we would seek to bring glory to your name in all that we do, and that we would seek to advance the kingdom of Christ on this earth here. So Lord, we pray your blessing now on us as we go, and we pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Well, you can stand and we'll sing in closing number 564. 564, you can stand and we'll sing that together, please. ♪ You only do it wondrous works ♪ ♪ In glory and excel ♪ ♪ You only do it wondrous works ♪ ♪ In glory and excel ♪ ♪ Blessed be His glorious name to all eternity ♪ ♪ The whole earth and its glory fill the lips of all that hear it hear ♪ The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen. You can be seated for a time of meditation.