Psalm 46

Well, this morning, I want us to look together at this psalm that we just read, Psalm 46.

And this psalm, like many of the psalms, addresses a multiplicity of theological themes.

It is a psalm that is meant to call God's people to trust in him in the midst of chaos, in the midst of wars, in the midst of persecution, in the midst of trouble, in the midst of anxiety.

The truths contained in this psalm are a healing balm for our anxious and fearful souls.

Let me ask you, friends, what is the condition of your soul this morning?

What anxieties are you seeking to suppress?

What fears are gripping your heart and you're just trying to keep it together?

What struggles do you quietly bear in your heart that you were afraid to express to your spouse, to your pastor, to your fellow church member?

Friends, in Psalm 46, we are reminded that God is sovereign, that he is victorious, that he is a righteous judge over all the earth.

And we are also assured that his redemptive purposes will be accomplished.

And we are invited to be still, to rest, to cease from our striving and to know that God is with us and that we are safe in his presence.

And friends, even at the end of this psalm, we will say that this psalm is also missional.

Not only does it speak a word of rest to our souls, but it has a word of rest and peace for the nations.

And though it speaks of God's judgment, it also anticipates God's mercy to the nations.

And it should give us great confidence that we engage the lost as we minister to one another, as we minister in our community, as we partner with others for the sake of his name, that God will accomplish all of his purposes.

And so, my prayer for you this morning, if you want to know what this sermon is all about, what I'm trying to communicate to you, here's what my main idea is.

My prayer for you this morning is that you would flee from fear, that you would find joy and rest in God, that you would be still and know that God is ruling and reigning over all things.

And that you would find rest in Him.

Let me read this Psalm one more time.

To the choir master of the sons of Korah, according to Almouth, a song.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved under the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

Selah.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.

God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved.

God will help her when morning dawns.

The nations rage, the kingdoms totter.

He utters his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord of hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob is our fortress.

Selah.

Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth.

He breaks the bow and shatters the spear.

He burns the chariots with fire.

Be still and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations.

I will be exalted in the earth.

The Lord of hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob is our fortress.

Selah.

We begin.

Not with the text, but I want us to also notice the superscription, the little introduction that comes before the psalm.

It says to the choir master of the sons of Korah, according to the Almouth, a song.

Now, in book two of the Psalms, this is Psalm 42 through 72, there's the structure in the Psalms, we see many psalms that are attributed to the sons of Korah.

Well, who are the sons of Korah?

And what significance do they play in interpreting Psalm 46?

Well, while book one of the Psalms is dominated by King David, we begin to see other authors become more prominent as we continue in the Psalms.

And this psalm was composed by the sons of Korah who were Levites descended from Korah.

This psalm was composed and set to music by Levitical priests to be used in Israel's worship in the temple.

So that's why this psalm exists.

And we are not told when Psalm 46 was composed, though there are indications that it could have been written in response to God's saving of Jerusalem during the time of Jehoshaphat.

So that would be 2 Chronicles 20, or perhaps during the time of Hezekiah, 2 Chronicles 32.

We could also read in Isaiah 36 and 37.

But here's what we need to know: this is the biblical narrative, the Psalter is the biblical narrative of God's dealings with his covenant people.

This is God's people's reflections on how God has been faithful to them throughout their covenant history with Yahweh.

This is this covenant history is the foundation upon which this psalm was composed.

Now I want us to look a little bit more closely at Psalm 46 itself.

The Psalm is broken up into three parts.

Each section of the Psalm concludes with the word Selah, which is a musical term which denotes pause or rest.

And the goal of this psalm, as I already mentioned, is that we would flee from fear, that we would find joy and security in God, and that we would behold Him as the righteous and victorious judge over all the earth.

So with that, we're gonna see this Psalm unfold in three parts.

We're gonna look at the first part, which is verse one through three.

This section is dominated by this idea.

We will not fear though the earth gives way.

We will not fear though the earth gives way.

Notice what it says: God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore, we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

Salem.

The very first statement in Psalm, in this psalm, is God is our refuge and strength.

The psalm does not begin by addressing us directly, but rather by telling us who God is.

God is primary and we are secondary.

This is incredibly profound.

God is our refuge and strength.

You see, our existence, our life, our strength is dependent on the one who has being and life and existence in Himself.

The psalmist tells us a first principle that we need to know that the God who has existed for all eternity and the God who brought creation into existence is our refuge and our strength.

The God who made everything and yet needs nothing offers Himself to us as a refuge and source of life and strength.

And notice this the fact that God is our is called our strength implies something about you and me.

It implies that God is strong and you and I are weak.

The fact that God is called our refuge implies that He is strong and we are fragile.

He is a refuge and we need protection.

This very first line in the Psalm distinguishes the Creator from the creature.

And it also orders the creature, you and I, to the Creator and shows that God is primary and that we are secondary.

God is independent, He is infinite, He is sufficient in Himself, while we are dependent, insufficient, finite, and in total dependence upon God for everything.

And this is good news.

We are told this God is a very present help in trouble.

God is infinite, He is transcendent.

That means He is far removed from us.

He is beyond our grasp, and yet we see that God graciously gives Himself to us and desires to help us.

The God who is creator and transcendent and so very far above us has come down.

He has become eminent so that he might be a very present help in trouble.

Brothers and sisters, let us hold both of these truths together.

God is both transcendent, he is beyond us, and yet he is very present help in trouble.

The God who holds the universe in his hands, who spoke the creation into existence, the God who dwells in unapproachable light and holiness is also the God who is near.

He is the God who is a very present help in trouble.

Our triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble.

This is an important truth.

All of this is front-loaded in the Psalm, and then we get the word, therefore.

Because this is true.

Now the psalmist tells us something that we need to know, something that can bring us comfort.

Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth gives way.

The psalmist did not begin by addressing the fearful reality of the world falling apart all around us.

The psalmist begins by declaring who God is and that God graciously offers himself to us.

The fact that the world looks like it is descending into chaos and falling apart is and would be a rightful cause for fear and terror.

But God is our refuge and strength.

He is a very present help in times of trouble.

Therefore, we will not fear.

So I want to ask you, what is the dominating outlook of your life?

What is the what is the the the tone of your heart, if you will?

What is the propositional statement that bubbles up to the surface of your life when you're talking to yourself?

Is it the world is falling apart?

Is it the earth gives way?

Or is it God is my refuge and my strength?

What is the dominating truth that is governing your outlook?

Maybe it's the state of global or national politics.

This has been true for us as we've been in the United Arab Emirates, and a war has broken out, and missiles and drones have been launched at our country, and there's nothing that you can do but pray and hope that God is going to be our protection, whether it be through a military or or through his own sovereign hand.

Maybe it's something a little bit more close to home.

Maybe it's the instability of our economy, or uh for some of you, the dominating reality is a broken relationship.

The uncertainty brought about by financial difficulty or loss of job.

Perhaps it's the loss of health or a chronic health condition that you are battling, or the unspeakable grief that comes as a result of losing someone you love.

Friends, life in this fallen world is messy.

Oftentimes the earth all around us does give way.

But where are your eyes fixed?

Is it on the world falling apart all around you, or is it on this governing truth?

The Lord is my refuge and my strength.

The psalmist is not speaking here about trivial things.

Notice the description once again in verse 2b and 3.

Though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

You see, the language of mountains being moved into the heart of the sea is both apocalyptic and cataclysmic.

You remember in the Genesis account?

Remember in the story of creation?

In Genesis 1, 9 through 10?

Let me just read this about God's creation.

It says, And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together in one place, and let the dry land appear.

And it was so.

And God called the dry land earth, and the waters that were gathered together, he called seas, and God saw that it was good.

So God brought order out of chaos.

When he created the heavens of the earth, he brought order out of chaos, and he ordered the creation in such a way that the mountains and the land rose up from the sea, and there was there was an order, there was a division.

But do you remember when when God brought destruction and judgment upon the earth?

We don't go too much further in the story.

We get to uh Genesis chapter 6, where God declares that He's going to destroy the earth with a flood.

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

And we read about the mountains being covered by the waters.

Genesis 7, 19 through 21.

It says, And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered.

The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep, and all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, and swarming creatures that swarm on the earth and all mankind.

This is literally a time in the biblical narrative when the mountains were cast into the heart of the sea.

The waters arose over the mountains.

Throughout the scriptures and especially the Old Testament, the floodwaters are a symbol of God's mighty power and his judgment of sin.

You'll remember later in Exodus chapter 14, as God rescued his people out of slavery and Egypt, and he took them through the Red Sea.

Exodus 14 · chapter mention

Exodus 14, 27 through 29 says, So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared, and as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea.

The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen.

Of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained.

But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

You see, throughout the scriptures, both mountains and the sea represent both power and might.

If the mountains are moved into the heart of the sea, then this is a picture of decreation.

It's actually the world becoming undone.

It might also be a picture of God's judgment, or may represent simply the fallen state of creation now that sin has entered into the world through Adam.

So that we see in Romans chapter 8, presently the creation is groaning in anticipation for the redemption.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Even though the world appears to be falling apart all around us, the mountains may be metaphorically in your world be being thrown into the heart of the sea.

Though the waters foam and roar, though the mountains tremble at its swelling, we will not fear, because God is our refuge and our strength.

And I just want to bring this home because these realities can be very scary, but what does the scripture tell us about who our God is?

Who our God is?

I I think about Psalm 95, 3 through 5.

It says, For the Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods.

In his hands are the depths of the earth.

The heights of the mountains are his also, the sea is his, for he made it.

And his hands formed the dry land.

So again, what dominates the outlook of your life?

Is it the chaos that you see all around you?

Or do you remember that you are in the hands of the God who created all things?

Do you remember later in the New Testament when Jesus was with his disciples, asleep on the boat as they were going through a storm?

And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Peace, be still.

And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

And he said to them, Why are you so afraid?

Have you still no faith?

And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?

Now, friends, it's it's often easy for us to chastise the disciples to think like, why were they so scared?

They shouldn't have been afraid.

Right?

But you know what?

I don't know if you've ever been in a storm on the water.

It is terrifying.

It is terrifying.

The reason that they were chastised was not because their circumstances were scary or fearful.

They were in a dire place.

The reason they were chastised was because their focus was on the wind and the waves and not on the master who made the wind and the waves.

They lost their focus.

Jesus.

Jesus is the creator of the winds and the waves.

He was with the disciples in the boat.

And brothers and sisters, I have good news for you.

If you are trusting in Jesus, regardless of the storm that you may be navigating presently, the master of the wind and the waves, the creator of both the mountains and the dry land, he is with you in the midst of it.

So therefore, we do not have to fear, because God is our refuge and our strength.

So, friends, we we move in this psalm from a macrocosmic view of the heavens and the earth.

We we get this big cosmic view of reality.

And then the psalm transitions to a microcosmic view as we focus on a particular city and a particular river.

The next section that we see is verses four through seven, the joyful city of God.

The joyful city of God.

The psalmist writes, There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.

God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved.

God will help her when morning dawns.

The nations rage, the kingdoms totter.

He utters his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord of hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob is our fortress.

Selah.

The psalmist uses different metaphors to describe the city of Jerusalem.

He writes There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.

Well, what is this city?

Well, Jerusalem was the city of David, which is the city of God's anointed king.

This is a special place.

Jerusalem was known as Mount Zion, and it was special because it was the place where God's temple and God's king dwelled.

God dwelled with his people through through the ministry of the temple, and God ruled over his people through his anointed king.

There is also an illusion here as we describe this city, there's a subtle illusion back to the Garden of Eden.

By way of mentioning the river that flows through the city.

You see, Eden was the original place where God dwelled with his people.

You will remember in Genesis 2 that a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden and it divided to become four rivers.

The river in Eden watered the garden to make it fruitful and a delightful place, a place where God walked with Adam and Eve in perfect communion.

However, Adam and Eve's sin caused them to be driven out of God's presence in Eden, but later God would dwell again with his people in a new place that reminded them of Eden, which was the temple, which was in Jerusalem.

First the tabernacle, and then later the temple.

As we think more specifically about this river in Jerusalem, it reminds us, as we go back in time, to Eden.

But then if we think presently, it also speaks of a real river that flows through Jerusalem.

Jerusalem had a small stream, the Gihon, another river Siloam, that ensured the city's water supply.

And it is possible that the psalmist had this river in mind as he's writing this psalm.

We see also that there are allusions not just to the city, or I'm sorry, the river that flowed from Eden, not just to the river that flows in the present city of Jerusalem.

But as we continue to read the scriptures, we also know that one day there's a heavenly Jerusalem that also has a river flowing through it.

And so I think we can have all three of these pictures in our minds.

We see in the book of Revelation, the new Jerusalem is marked by a river that flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

And we see the tree of life bearing fruit each month, and its leaves are for the healing of the nations.

The city of God, whether we think about it in Eden, whether we think about it in Jerusalem of old or the heavenly Jerusalem, is the place where God dwells with his people.

And because God dwells with his people, the city itself will not be moved.

That's the picture that we have here.

And we have examples throughout the Old Testament of God being faithful to defend his people, the city of Jerusalem.

So you can think about the story of Jehoshaphat, or later of Hezekiah, and how he defeated armies that came against the city.

In this section, we also have this phrase in the Psalm, the nations rage, kingdoms totter.

Well, here the psalmist is employing language from Psalm 2.

You remember Psalm 2?

Why did the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves against the Lord and against his anointed.

Well, here, the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.

The nations are raging against the Lord's anointed throughout the biblical story.

In the Old Testament, this refers to King David, but it also refers to the promised messianic seed that would come from David.

It ultimately points us to Jesus Christ, who is the true Davidic King and anointed one.

As mentioned before, Jerusalem is the city of God.

This was a shadow or a type pointing forward to a greater reality.

It points ultimately to the heavenly city of Jerusalem, where all of God's elect find their citizenship in the new heavens and the new earth.

So we can see this in Galatians chapter 4, 26, where Paul writes, But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

Those who have faith in Christ and have received the promised spirit are true sons of Abraham and heirs according to promise, and their citizenship is in the new Jerusalem.

And those who are in Christ, this is a great reality that we need to lean into.

Those who are in Christ are not looking for an earthly city.

We are not looking for an earthly city to dwell with God.

Why?

Because God has made his home with us.

Jesus Christ, for all those who are united to Christ by faith, you have become the dwelling place of God.

What made Jerusalem unique as a city was the temple.

But those who are united to Christ by faith have become the temple of God.

God has sent his spirit to dwell in us, as it says in 1 Peter 2 5.

You yourselves are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

And this is important for us because how do we appropriate the promises of Psalm 46?

We're not looking to find refuge in a physical city.

No, God Himself has made his dwelling place with us.

The God of Jacob is our fortress.

What is the significance of this phrase, the God of Jacob?

By saying the God of Jacob, the psalmist is indicating that they are trusting in the God who keeps his covenant.

God made a covenant with Jacob that he would multiply him to make him a nation, the nation of Israel, and through Israel God would bless all the nations.

God was faithful to keep covenant and steadfast love.

And out of that nation came the promised Messiah, Jesus, through whom all the promises are fulfilled.

And so this is important as we think as we orient ourselves to this city, Jerusalem, and what significance that has for us.

But we we now move to the final stanza, verses 8 through 11, and this is the climax of Psalm 46.

It says, Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations upon the earth.

He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth.

He breaks the bow and shatters the spear.

He burns the chariots with fire.

Be still and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations.

I will be exalted in the earth.

The Lord of hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob is our fortress.

Notice what it says.

It says, Come behold the works of the Lord.

As we began, we we said, rather than focusing our attention on all the chaos that is all around us, we are instructed to become and behold the works of the Lord.

We are reminded that God's mighty acts of salvation throughout redemptive history.

We're reminded to think on all these different acts.

We remember the worldwide flood in Noah's day.

We remember God's rescue of the Israelites out of Egypt.

We remember how God destroyed chariots, how he burned them with fire.

We remember the deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib's army when God slew 185,000 and a single night.

And all of these works of the Lord demonstrate his power and his glory.

But none, none of these compare to the way that God has worked salvation for his people, like the Father sending the Son into the world.

How are we to come and behold the works of the Lord?

Notice what it says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

You see, Jesus came as God's Son into the world.

Jesus came to be God with us.

Jesus took on the flesh of a man so that unlike Adam and unlike you and I, he might obey the Father perfectly.

Jesus took the punishment that you and I deserve.

He took the righteous wrath of God upon himself on the cross.

He died, he rose again that we might be saved from our sins by trusting in what he has done.

And this is what it means to come and behold the works of the Lord is to look at Christ.

Yes, look at everything that God has done in salvation history.

But the pinnacle of what God has done in salvation history is the sending of his son.

Then it says, Be still and know that I am God.

Be still and know that I am God.

Things are raging all around us, and it is easy to be swept away in the chaos, the anxiety of all that's falling apart around us, the things that are falling apart in your own soul.

We need to just stop.

God tells you this morning, be still.

Be still.

So that you can know that He is God.

Jesus demonstrates through his life and ministry that He is the God that we are to behold.

And as we read in John 3, 16 and 7, Jesus came not as the floodwaters of judgment, but rather to be a spring and river of living water welling up to eternal life.

If you want to know God, then you must know Jesus.

This is expressed over and over again throughout the Gospel of John.

So if we look at the beginning of John's Gospel, John chapter 1, verses 1 through 4, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

John 1:1–4

He was in the beginning with God, all things that were made through him, and without him was not anything that was made.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

You see, throughout the Gospel of John, we see that Jesus identifies himself as the great I am.

He is the great I am.

Jesus identifies himself as the very God who revealed himself to Moses, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Seven times throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus says, I am.

Jesus said, I am the bread of life.

I am the light of the world.

I am the door of the sheep.

I am the resurrection and the life.

I am the good shepherd.

I am the way, the truth, and the life.

I am the vine.

You see, Jesus came to show us the Father.

He is the second person of the Trinity.

He came that we might know God and see His glory.

And in His first coming, Jesus came not to judge, but to bear the judgment that we deserve.

He came that we might have life in Him and that we might experience the indwelling presence of God through the Holy Spirit.

Friends, we no longer need to go to an earthly city in Jerusalem to experience God's presence.

For all those who have looked to Christ and faith and believed in him, God grants eternal life through union with him.

We become the temple of God and he dwells with us.

So, friends, think about that as we read these words from the Psalm.

God is in the midst of us.

The Lord of hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob is our fortress.

We can rest secure because we know that God will be victorious and that our eternal inheritance rests secure in Christ.

So, friends, we are to be still and to know that he is God.

But we also to know that God will be exalted in the earth.

Notice what he says.

He says, I will be exalted among the nations.

I will be exalted in the earth.

You see, God will not only defeat and crush his enemies, but God will graciously reconcile many of his enemies and call them his own people.

And friends, if you are trusting in Christ this morning, that is your story.

You are once an enemy, and yet God graciously reconciled you to himself through his son.

And this is what God desires to do throughout the nations.

God is in the business of transforming his enemies into his friends.

Instead of siege, we see a picture of what God will do among the nations.

So we can think about Isaiah chapter 2, verse 2 through 4, where it says, It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills, and all the nations shall flow to it.

Isaiah 2:2–4

Friends, how does this happen?

Well, it happens in the Gospel of John in John chapter 12, 32, where Jesus says, When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.

John 12 · chapter mention

You see, the language of Psalm 46 corresponds to Jesus' own words in Matthew, when he delivered the Great Commission.

God's promise that he would be exalted among the nations, that he would be exalted, and the earth is echoed this way by Jesus in Matthew 28, 18 through 20.

And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always to the very end of the age.

How will the God, how will this God be exalted among the nations and the earth?

Well, it's by drawing all the nations to himself.

And so, friends, in the midst of a world that seems to be falling apart, in the midst of chaos and destruction, in the midst of wars and chronic illness, in the midst of death and loss, we can be confident that God's plans will not fail.

Be still and know that He is God.

Fix your eyes on Jesus and not the storms of life that swell all around you.

You can walk in faithful obedience to the God who has called you because He is the God who is with us.

God is in the business of reconciling sinners and enemies to himself through his son Jesus.

And so I just want to speak to all of you here this morning.

I don't know you.

I trust that many of you have put your faith and your trust in Jesus for salvation.

There is only one place of safety and security in the midst of a broken and sinful world.

And that is in Jesus Himself.

Jesus came to bear the judgment that you and I deserve for our rebellion, for our disobedience against the holy God.

Jesus came in his first coming to bear that judgment.

But I also want you to know this but for all those who do not repent and trust in him, he will come as the righteous and sovereign judge in his second coming.

As it says in Revelation chapter 19, from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule over them with a rod of iron.

Revelation 19 · chapter mention

He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of the Almighty.

He utters his voice, the earth melts.

But for all those who trust in Jesus, we have this assurance that God is our refuge and our strength.

The Lord of hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob is our fortress.

Let us pray.