The Unshakable Throne Text: Psalm 93:1-2
Introduction: The Present Tense of the Kingdom
We live in an age of perpetual vertigo. Our political landscape lurches from crisis to crisis. Our cultural foundations have been dynamited, and what was considered bedrock truth a generation ago is now denounced as bigotry. The average person feels the ground shifting under his feet, and the constant, low-grade anxiety this produces is the background noise of modern life. People are desperate for stability, for something solid, for a place to stand that will not be moved.
Into this swirling chaos, the Word of God speaks not with a gentle suggestion or a pious hope, but with a declaration of unalterable, present-tense fact. The central problem of our time is not political, economic, or social. It is theological. We have forgotten who is in charge. We have forgotten the fundamental grammar of the universe. Many Christians have fallen into a kind of functional deism, believing that God set things in motion long ago and will return to sort things out someday, but that in the meantime, the devil is running the show. They speak as though the throne of the universe were currently vacant, or at least contested.
Psalm 93 is a direct assault on this faithless stupor. It is one of the great enthronement psalms, which declare the reality of God's sovereign reign over all things. And notice the verb tense. It does not say, "The Lord will reign one day." It does not say, "The Lord reigned once upon a time." It says, "The Lord reigns." Present tense. Active. Now. This is not a future hope; it is a current event. This psalm is the ultimate reality check. It tells us that the stability we crave is not something we must create, but something that already exists, because the King is on His throne. The world is not actually up for grabs. The question is not whether Christ is Lord, but whether we will bow to His Lordship.
The Text
Yahweh reigns, He is clothed with majesty;
Yahweh has clothed and girded Himself with strength;
Indeed, the world is established, it will not be shaken.
Your throne is established from of old;
You are from everlasting.
(Psalm 93:1-2 LSB)
The Reign and its Regalia (v. 1)
The psalm opens with the foundational statement of all reality:
"Yahweh reigns, He is clothed with majesty; Yahweh has clothed and girded Himself with strength; Indeed, the world is established, it will not be shaken." (Psalm 93:1)
"Yahweh reigns." This is the axiom upon which everything else is built. If this is true, then everything makes sense. If this is false, then nothing makes sense. The reign of God is not a democratic result; it is an eternal fact. He does not rule by the consent of the governed. He rules because He is God. His authority is absolute, total, and non-negotiable.
And how does this King appear? He is "clothed with majesty." He has "girded Himself with strength." This is the language of a warrior king preparing for battle or a monarch ascending his throne. But we must understand this anthropomorphism correctly. God does not need to put on majesty or strength as we put on a coat. Majesty and strength are not accessories to God; they are His essence. The psalmist is communicating an eternal reality in human terms. His very being is majesty. His nature is strength. Unlike earthly kings who must project power through external symbols like crowns and armies, God's power is inherent. He simply is glorious. He simply is omnipotent.
And what is the immediate consequence of this reign? "Indeed, the world is established, it will not be shaken." The stability of the cosmos is a direct result of the stability of the King. The laws of physics, the uniformity of nature, the coherence of logic, all these things that the unbeliever takes for granted, are gifts from the reigning King. The secular scientist who insists on a godless, random universe must first assume an orderly, predictable universe in order to conduct his experiments. He is standing on the unshakable floor that God established while simultaneously denying the existence of the Architect. He is breathing the King's air in order to voice his rebellion. The world is not shaken because the throne is not shaken.
The turmoil we experience is not a sign that the world's foundations are cracking. It is the result of sinful men rebelling against the established order. Our sin is the earthquake, the storm, the chaos. But our rebellion does not, and cannot, shake His throne. It only ensures that we will be broken against it.
The Eternal Foundation (v. 2)
Verse 2 takes us from the present reality of God's reign to its eternal foundation.
"Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting." (Psalm 93:2 LSB)
God's throne is not a recent installation. His reign did not begin at creation, or at the exodus, or at the coronation of David. His throne is "established from of old." This means it was set up before time began. God's plan of government is not a reaction to human history. History is the unfolding of His eternal decree. He was King before He ever created a realm to rule over. He was Father before He had created children. He was the Word before He spoke the universe into being. His kingship is rooted in His eternal nature.
The reason His throne is established from of old is because "You are from everlasting." An eternal being has an eternal throne. A temporary monarch has a temporary throne. Every human ruler, from Caesar to the current president, has a term limit, whether it is set by an election or by an assassin or by old age. Their power is derivative and fleeting. But our God has no beginning and no end. He is the uncreated Creator, the uncaused Cause. He is the I AM. Because the King is eternal, His kingdom is eternal. Because He is from everlasting, His throne will be to everlasting.
This is the bedrock that cannot be shaken. Political parties rise and fall. Nations come and go. Ideologies have their moment in the sun and then fade into history's dustbin. But the throne of God is untouched by any of it. It stands outside of time, governing everything that happens within time.
Christ, the Reigning Yahweh
As Christians, we read this psalm through the lens of the New Testament, and when we do, we see that it is a psalm about the Lord Jesus Christ. The author of Hebrews says to the Son, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever" (Hebrews 1:8). Jesus Christ is the reigning Yahweh of Psalm 93.
When did He gird Himself with strength? He did this when He girded Himself with human flesh in the incarnation. He took on our weakness in order to display His divine strength. The cross was the ultimate enthronement. It looked like the moment of greatest weakness, the moment the world was shaken to its foundations. But it was in fact the moment of ultimate victory, where the King disarmed the principalities and powers, triumphing over them in it (Colossians 2:15). His resurrection and ascension were His public coronation, where the Father said to Him, "Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet" (Psalm 110:1).
He is reigning now. He is not waiting to reign. He is actively governing all the affairs of heaven and earth from the right hand of the Father. He is putting all His enemies under His feet. And because He reigns, the world He purchased with His blood is established and will not be ultimately shaken. His church is built on a rock, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.
Therefore, we are not to live in fear. We are not to be tossed to and fro by every wind of cultural change. The headlines do not determine the security of God's throne. Our task is not to wring our hands in anxiety, but to roll up our sleeves in service to the King. We are to live as confident citizens of an unshakable kingdom. We are to declare the present-tense reality that Yahweh, in the person of Jesus Christ, reigns. And because He reigns, we are to call all men everywhere to repent and bow the knee. For His throne is established from of old, and He is from everlasting.