Clap your hands, all peoples!
Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared,
a great king over all the earth.
He subdued peoples under us,
and nations under our feet.
He chose our heritage for us,
the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah
God has gone up with a shout,
the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
Sing praises to God, sing praises!
Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
For God is the King of all the earth;
sing praises with a psalm!
God reigns over the nations;
God sits on his holy throne.
The princes of the peoples gather
as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
he is highly exalted! – Psalm 47:1-9 (ESV)
Timothy E. Saleska writes:
God’s people read the Scriptures because the risen Jesus Himself tells us that they testify to Him. Because He is the one we love (because He loved us first) – because we trust that He will fulfill our deepest hopes – we read the Scriptures because we want to see more of him in these ancient texts. And because we have Jesus in view when we read, we connect past memory with present experience and future hope. It is easy for us, in Jesus, our Lord and King, to hold past, present, and future together in a single vision.
So we can extend the description of Psalm 47 beyond the temporal boundaries of OT Israel to Christ and His church. Thus 47:5, “God has gone up with a shout – Yaweh with the sound of a trumpet,” refers to the past but that past models a future event: Christ’s ascension. We connect Paul’s words with those of Psalm 47: “[God] raised him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above every principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come.” In other words, past and future are held together in Christ. They are part of a singular reality for the one people of God.
Likewise, when we read, “[God] subjected peoples under us and nations under our feet. He chose us for our inheritance – the pride of Jacob, whom He loves,” we include ourselves in the “us” because we connect the victory Yahweh gave His people with the victory Christ won over every enemy in His death and resurrection. Christ rose triumphantly, and in Him, we too know that final victory is ours: “[God] also raise us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6). “And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to e head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Eph 1:22-23).”
MEMORY WORK – Shorter Catechism Q/A 39
Q. 39. What is the duty which God requireth of man?
A. The duty which God requireth of man is obedience to his revealed will.