Psalm 95:1-11 The Reign of the King

Psalm 95:1-11 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise! 3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In His hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are His also. 5 The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land. 6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! 7 For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you hear His voice,8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,9 when your fathers put Me to the test and put Me to the proof, though they had seen My work. 10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways." 11 Therefore I swore in My wrath, "They shall not enter My rest."     Letsie III is king of the Kingdom of Lesotho. Every orphaned child in Lesotho is given his last name. Consider that: the king gives his name to those who are the most vulnerable and weak in his country. The current sermon series is a study in the royal psalms. Each psalm highlights a different aspect of God's rule and reign as king. Our first thought when considering God's kingship, is often connected to the extension of his kingdom by conquering his enemies. The Scripture is full of that type of imagery. Nevertheless, many times we miss another aspect of God's kingship. Time and again, we see the king of Israel as an image of the divine king. Thus, he was to be a "lover of justice" (Ps 99:4; Isa 61:8). He was to act to create justice in the world, especially for the weak and vulnerable (Ps 146:7-10). Being a father to the fatherless and a defender of the widow was a major responsibility for the Israelite king. This is why Q. 26 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism tells us that one of the principle acts of Christ as king is in "defending us." However, the glorious part of all this is that we get to participate in Christ's rule here on earth, through preaching the Gospel and defending the vulnerable and oppressed. May we, like the king of Lesotho, image our heavenly king in championing the cause of the orphan and the widow. —Cameron Clausing Key Words: Come, Sing, Great, Rock, Harden, Heart, Rest Keystone Verse: Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our maker! (Psalm 95:6) Bulletin & Newsletter