Psalm 97 Lesson

Done on 8/5 for Pekin Bible Church SS

Intro items: I arbitrarily picked this Psalm... I 'fell upon' it during my read through the Bible 2 weeks ago. I originally liked it because it has some rich language, but I've found it is a great Psalm about the sovereign reign of the Lord. It paints a great picture (with word pictures) of who God is.

After spending some time studying it, I feel like it might be more effective to just read the Psalm, close our Bibles and say Amen... But that's the point of studying, to understand what you're reading more clearly.

Outline:

Verse 1: Praise Statement

Verse 2-6: Describing Reign

Verse 7-8: 2 Results of Reign

Verse 9: Praise Statement II

Verse 10a: Action #1

Verse 10b-11: Reason for Action

Verse 12: Action #2

Verse 1: The Lord reigns! Let the earth be happy! Let the many coastlands rejoice!

Three words set the stage for this Psalm. The Lord Reigns, he is completely in charge... because of this we should be happy, we should rejoice.

Verse 2: Dark clouds surround him; equity and justice are the foundation of his throne.

Verses 2 through 6 describe how the Lord reigns. 8 points about his reign.

1) Glory. He is amazingly glorious. Dark clouds surround him: Exodus 19:9, 16-18, 33:20; Dark clouds have to surround him! 1 Kings 8:10-12

Two cornerstones to his reign:

2) Equity (righteousness)

3) Justice

In the end, all things under God's reign are 'fair'

Verse 3: Fire goes before him; on every side it burns up his enemies.

Fire describes God: Deut 4:23-24, and his work: Deut 9:1-3

4) Remember: the Lord's enemies cannot stand against him. There's not even a mention of a struggle.

Verse 4: His lightning bolts light up the world; the earth sees and trembles.

5) He is in control of nature, and the acts of nature can be scary: Camp example.

Verse 5: The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of the whole earth.

6) Things that seem immovable to us can't hold a candle (pun intended) to God. That is a great word picture... if you visited the Rockies (huge and majestic) can you imagine them melting?

7) He is Lord of the WHOLE earth, these truths apply all over! There is no where this does not apply.

Verse 6: The sky declares his justice, and all the nations see his splendor.

2 & 3 again) How does the sky declare his justice? (This is actually the same word for equity in verse 2) If God can uphold the natural order, he also will uphold the moral order (Zondervan Study Bible)

8) All the nations can see: General revelation: no man is without excuse (Romans 1:20)

Verse 7: All who worship idols are ashamed, those who boast about worthless idols. All the gods bow down before him.

In light of these 8 aspects of His reign, 2 results are mentioned: 1) in this verse, false gods and idols are shown to be inferior,

What can that chunk of chiseled rock do compared to God... or in todays' terms, what can money, your job, or other idols, do compared to God?

Verse 8: Zion hears and rejoices, the towns of Judah are happy, because of your judgments, O Lord.

2) in verse 8 another result of his reign: the people of God rejoice and are happy (connected to verse 1)

Judgments is the same word as justice in verse 2. So because of the Lord's righteousness, Israel is rejoicing, we should be too.

Verse 9: For you, O Lord, are the sovereign king over the whole earth; you are elevated high above all gods.

A second praise statement focusing on God as king over everything. Can you get more control than "sovereign king of the whole earth" (or Most High)

Verse 10: You who love the Lord, hate evil! He protects the lives of his faithful followers; he delivers them from the power of the wicked.

In light of this, what should we do? Hate evil! What does hate mean? Be an enemy of evil. Don't flirt with things that are borderline evil, hate them.

Even more reasons to love the Lord and hate evil: God promises protection and deliverance

Verse 11: The godly bask in the light; the morally upright experience joy.

He promises Light - ? It's better than darkness, and joy from living rightly

Verse 12: You godly ones, rejoice in the Lord! Give thanks to his holy name.

One final action statement in light of all of this, is the same instruction in the first verse and verse 8: Rejoice and give thanks.