Commentary - Psalm 97:1-6

Bird's-eye view

Psalm 97 is a glorious and terrifying announcement of the reign of Yahweh. This is not a quiet, sentimental truth to be embroidered on a pillow. It is a declaration of cosmic upheaval. The psalm begins with the central fact of all history: "Yahweh reigns." The necessary and immediate response to this fact is universal joy, a joy that is commanded to erupt from the central land masses to the farthest coastlands. But this joy is not based on a tame and manageable deity. The God who reigns is shrouded in clouds and thick darkness, a terrifying sight reminiscent of Sinai. His throne is not propped up by popular opinion or political maneuvering, but by the immovable pillars of righteousness and justice. His reign is an active, conquering reign, one that goes forth with consuming fire and world-illuminating lightning. In His presence, the most stable and imposing features of the natural order, the very mountains, melt like wax. This is a portrait of the sheer, unvarnished holiness of God, a holiness that is wild, untamable, and absolutely sovereign. The heavens themselves serve as the heralds of His character, and as a result, all the peoples of the world are confronted with His glory.

This passage is a full-throated theophany, a manifestation of God's presence and power. It is designed to recalibrate our understanding of who God is and what His kingship entails. It is a polemic against all idolatry, which seeks to reduce God to something we can control or comprehend. The God of Psalm 97 cannot be managed. He is a consuming fire. And the counterintuitive biblical truth is that the only proper response to this terrifying reality, for those who are His, is unbridled gladness. We rejoice precisely because He is this kind of God, a God whose power is sufficient to deal with all His adversaries and whose rule is fundamentally righteous and just.

Outline

Context In Psalms

Psalm 97 is one of a series of psalms, often called the "enthronement psalms" (Psalms 93, 95-99), which celebrate the kingship of Yahweh. The repeated phrase "Yahweh reigns" or "Yahweh is King" is their defining characteristic. These psalms are not just about a future, eschatological reign, but a present reality. God is King now. This particular psalm is steeped in the imagery of the Exodus and the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai, where God's presence was marked by clouds, darkness, fire, and the trembling of the earth (Exodus 19). It also anticipates the coming of Christ, who is the ultimate expression of Yahweh's reign. The New Testament applies this kind of language to the Lord Jesus, who came in judgment on the old covenant world in AD 70 and whose kingdom is now advancing throughout the earth. The psalm is a call to worship God rightly, to see Him as He has revealed Himself to be, and to respond with both awe-filled trembling and exuberant joy.

Key Issues

The Potency of Right Worship

Many of our problems as modern Christians stem from attempting to do the right things in the wrong categories. We try to apply the rules of checkers to a game of chess. We try to make a difference in the world, but our activity does not proceed from a true vision of the Almighty Lord, high and lifted up. This psalm corrects that. It defines right worship as the act of approaching God, seeing Him as He actually is, and responding as He has commanded. We must not see God as we would like Him to be, but as He reveals Himself to be. And how does He reveal Himself here? As a holy terror. His holiness is wild, like a series of black thunderheads rolling in. It is a consuming fire. It melts the world. And the astonishing, counterintuitive result of fearing and worshipping a God like this is gladness of heart. This is the potency of right worship. When we see God rightly, the world is put right.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 Yahweh reigns, let the earth rejoice; Let the many coastlands be glad.

The psalm opens with the central declaration of all reality: Yahweh reigns. This is not a suggestion, a hope, or a future possibility. It is a present-tense statement of fact. God is on the throne. Because this is true, a necessary consequence follows, and it is a command: let the earth rejoice. This is not just for Israel; the joy is to be global. The many coastlands, or isles, represent the farthest reaches of the Gentile world. Every square inch of this globe is summoned to be glad because Yahweh, and not some tinpot dictator or impotent idol, is the one who is in charge. The foundation of all Christian joy and optimism is the sovereignty of God. If He reigns, then we have every reason to be glad, no matter what our circumstances look like.

2 Clouds and thick darkness are all around Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.

But the God who reigns is not a tame God. He is not safe, in the sentimental sense. He is surrounded by clouds and thick darkness. This is the imagery of Sinai, where the people were terrified to approach. It speaks of His mystery, His transcendence, His unapproachable holiness. We cannot contain Him in our theological categories. We cannot see Him fully. But while His presence is mysterious, the basis of His rule is not. The foundation of His throne, the very structure of His kingdom, is righteousness and justice. Righteousness is the standard of what is right, and justice is the faithful application of that standard. His reign is not arbitrary or capricious. It is perfectly, unswervingly moral. The darkness is not a moral darkness; it is the darkness of a glory too bright for sinful eyes to behold. And within that awesome darkness is a perfect moral order.

3 Fire goes before Him And burns up His adversaries all around.

This king is not passive on His throne. His reign is an active, militant reality. A fire goes before Him. This is the fire of judgment and purification. As He moves, His holiness consumes everything that is opposed to it. His adversaries are not just given a stern warning; they are burned up. This is not a comfortable thought for our soft generation, but it is an essential part of who God is. His holiness cannot and will not tolerate rebellion forever. The fire of God's presence is a terror to His enemies, and it should be a profound comfort to His people. The God we worship is a consuming fire, and He is on our side.

4 His lightnings light up the world; The earth sees and trembles.

The manifestation of His power is not a secret affair. His lightnings flash and illuminate the entire world. No one can claim ignorance. The whole created order sees this display of divine power, and the response is to tremble. This is not the cowering of a slave but the awe-filled shudder of a creature in the presence of its Creator. When God reveals Himself, the earth pays attention. This is a picture of universal revival and judgment. The glory of God will not be hidden; it will be displayed for all to see, and the world will be shaken to its foundations.

5 The mountains melt like wax at the presence of Yahweh, At the presence of the Lord of all the earth.

To emphasize the point, the psalmist uses the most stable and enduring features of the landscape: the mountains. Mountains are symbols of permanence, strength, and immovability. But in the presence of Yahweh, they are nothing. They melt like wax. They lose all their integrity and dissolve into puddles. The psalmist repeats the cause for emphasis: it is at the presence of Yahweh, who is not a tribal deity but the Lord of all the earth. No earthly power, no matter how imposing or permanent it seems, can stand before Him. Our greatest institutions, our most powerful empires, our most secure foundations are but wax before the fire of His presence.

6 The heavens declare His righteousness, And all the peoples see His glory.

The created order is not a silent witness. The very heavens above become preachers. They declare His righteousness. The universe is a billboard proclaiming the character of its King. And the result of this cosmic sermon is that all the peoples see His glory. The knowledge of the glory of the Lord is not meant to be a secret kept by a small band of believers. God's intention has always been global. His righteousness is to be proclaimed from the skies, and His glory is to be seen by every tribe, tongue, and nation. This is the great missionary mandate of the church, and it is a task that is guaranteed to succeed because it is rooted in the very character of the God who reigns.

Application

This psalm is a direct assault on our trivial, domesticated views of God. We are tempted to worship a God who is manageable, predictable, and comfortable. Psalm 97 will have none of it. The God of the Bible is a holy terror, shrouded in darkness and preceded by fire. We must begin our worship here, with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.

But this terror is the very foundation of our joy. We rejoice because God is this powerful. We are glad because His throne is established on righteousness and justice, which means that all the world's injustices will one day be put right. We take comfort in the fact that the mountains melt before Him, because it means that the seemingly insurmountable obstacles to His kingdom in our own lives, in our families, and in our culture are nothing to Him. They are wax. The application is to worship Him for who He is, not for who we wish He were. Let us hate evil, as the rest of the psalm commands, because He is a righteous God. And let us rejoice, giving thanks at the remembrance of His holiness. True worship, a true vision of this reigning God, has potent effects. It makes the earth rejoice, it confounds idolaters, it causes the saints to hate evil, and it sows light and gladness for the upright in heart. Let us therefore come before this King with trembling and with joy.