“A PSALM DECLARING THE REIGN OF THE LORD” PSALM 99:1-9

What a beautiful and majestic psalm describing the reign of the Lord we have before us.  Our Lord will indeed reign in the future during the Millennium and it will be a time of unusual justice and peace, for Isaiah 11:4-8 says:  “But with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and He shall smite the earth: with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins.  The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.  And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.  And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.”

The psalmist begins this magnificent psalm by declaring praise to the Lord who reigns in splendor.  He sits between the cherubim above the Ark of the Covenant in the holy of holies.  He is worthy to be praised because His ruler-ship is characterized by His holiness (vv. 1-3).  Verse 3 emphatically states that “The LORD is great in Zion; and He is high above all the people.”  Our God’s nature is pure and is separate from that which is evil.  The King will manifest His power in executing justice and equity (v. 4), and the psalmist extends an invitation to praise the Lord, in that verse 5 says: “Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at His footstool; for He is holy.”

Having exhorted his audience to praise the Lord because of His holiness, the psalmist invites them to praise the Lord because wonderful mercy is extended to them (vv. 6-9).  Despite the nation of Israel’s repeated acts of disobedience, the Lord continued to extend His mercy unto them.  The psalmists specifically recalls in verse 6 – “Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among them that call upon His name; they called upon the LORD, and He answered them.”  We need to thank the Lord for His merciful dealings with us, even in the dispensation of grace.

In psalm 118:1-2, the psalmist encourages us to praise the Lord for His mercy for those verses read: “O give thanks unto the LORD; for He is good: because His mercy endureth for ever.  Let Israel now say, that His mercy endureth for ever.”   The psalmist concludes this wonderful psalm with a continual encouragement to exalt the Lord in praise “Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at His holy hill; for the LORD our God is holy” (v. 9).

May God Bless!