Psa 97:1 The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.

                    

This is the message of the Psalm - “The Lord reigneth.” The keynote here is the reign of God. To the wicked, it spells misery; to the believer, it is the inauguration of harmony and joy. 

“The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice.” The Lord’s sovereignty should cause all people to be glad but such is not the case and the reason being sinners fear when God reigns; they don’t want God as their ruler. Why would they? They fear His judgment. They know what they are doing are evil and they will face the wrath of God: “A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about” (vs 3). 

God is holy and therefore, “righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne” (vs 2b). Therefore, the Lord’s reign can only be a source of joy to those who love righteousness, to those who will submit to His rule and judgment. 

Unbelievers challenge God’s reign and accuse Him of being the author of evil. They blame God for the suffering of the innocents, for the natural calamities, and for the sicknesses and diseases. One writer wrote: “But taking God out of the picture does not solve the problem of evil. In a world without God, little kids would still get blown up by terrorists and swept away by floods and die by disease. If you eliminate God, all you do is eliminate hope and justice. You turn the world into a very bleak place. If you’re lucky enough to be born in America, you might survive longer than the kid born in Afghanistan, unless you’re so unlucky as to contract a fatal disease. You live a few years and then you die. There’s no hope!” 

But in spite of the fact that God’s sovereignty is clearly taught in the Bible, many professing Christians do not want God to rule their lives. They say God’s laws are too restrictive. They want to be free. 

Indeed, the idea of unlimited freedom may sound appealing, especially to young people. Few enjoy having to live according to a list of dos and don’ts. However, should everyone be free to do whatever he wants? Imagine a city with no traffic laws. Imagine a nation with no law and everyone does what is right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25). Imagine someone could say anything he wants about you and you cannot do anything about it. Would such “freedom” be desirable? Certainly not! The result would be chaos, confusion, and catastrophe. The traffic laws that restrict drivers’ freedom, protect other drivers as well as pedestrians. 

Look at Job. He lost his possessions and children in one day. Did he blame God? Did he attribute those “evils” to God? He did not. Instead he blessed God (Job 1:21). “In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly” (Job 1:22). Job submitted to the will of God. So the truth that the Lord reigns is a cause for rejoicing if we submit to His sovereignty. But if we do not submit to His reign, that He is Lord, we will become depressed and even angry when “bad” things happen. 

The Lord reigns: Let those who love Him hate evil and be glad in Him (vs 10). To those who love God and let Him reign in their lives. God’s laws are not burdensome. Instead, God’s laws help them to live godly and holy lives: “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psalm 119:11). They love God’s laws and let them be their rule every day of their lives: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). 

If we love God, we will hate evil. We will allow His laws to be our rule. When the law of God is our standard and guide to living, God reigns in our lives. May we rejoice and be glad that God reigns.

Jimmy Lau

Psa 119:97  Oh how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.

Psa 98:1 A Psalm. O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.

I hope you don’t get tired with the Psalms. They may seem alike and talking the same message. Here again, the psalmist calls on the earth to “sing unto the LORD” (vs 1). You may think you have heard enough this message to sing unto the LORD. I told my children this when they complained they were eating the same food: “The cows never complain they are eating the same grass every day.” They would reply they are not cows. I would say they should be glad they are not eating the same thing every day. Sometimes their mother overcooked and we ended up having to eat the same food for the next two days. But it is always served with some other new dishes. 

Psalm 98 begins with a command addressed to the people of God: "O Sing to the LORD a new song!" It is not that God does not like the old hymns. The emphasis is not on the word “new”. I don’t think it refers to a song that has never been sung before. It would be a big headache for all worshippers if they have to sing new hymns each time they worship. 

Old hymns are new songs to those who are hearing them for the first time. And, old hymns are new songs to those hearts which have been renewed each day. Old hymns are new songs to every heart that loves God; they do not become bored because it is God they are praising. The evergreen hymns like Joy To The World, At The Cross, He Leadeth Me, I Am Thine, O Lord, Just As I Am, It Is Well With My Soul, We’re Marching To Zion, and many such like, will never go out of date. They always taste like new. You will never get tired with those hymns. 

We glorify God in our songs (Ephesians 5:19). The psalmist glorifies God in his psalms. He remembers the wondrous works of God (vs 1). He breaks forth into singing whenever he recalls the mercies and wondrous acts of God. We do remember Miriam, sister of Moses, who broke forth into singings with joy after they crossed successfully the Red Sea (Exodus 25:20-21). 

Just as God remembers us, we ought to remember Him, especially for His blessings and mercies toward us and praise Him for that (vs 2-3). In doing so, God is glorified even among the heathens. 

The psalm teaches us how to sing unto the LORD.

1. We are to sing to GOD: “O sing unto the LORD” (vs 1). The attention is to God and not man or self.

2. We are to sing with Enthusiasm:  “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD… make a loud noise” (vs 4). We must not mumble the words and sin without zest.

3. We are to be HAPPY when we sing: “Make a joyful noise…rejoice” (vs 4). Do I see smiles when the congregation is singing? Do I see happy faces when we sing the hymn, Sing and Be Happy?

4. We are to sing REMEMBERING His works for us: “The LORD has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations” (vs 2, ESV). When you are singing the hymn, At The Cross, is your mind on the Cross of Jesus? When you are singing the hymn, We’re Marching To Zion, is your mind marching towards Zion or somewhere else? 

The psalms are always a great place to turn to find strength and words of hope during difficult times. Many of the psalms were written during personal distresses experienced by God’s people. We see David fleeing from his enemies or Judah suffering under the Babylonian Captivity. They found comfort in singing and writing psalms. The psalms become God’s book of hope to His people. 

The point of this psalm is for his people to sing and have joy. Some may ask: How can I have joy when my life is crumbling down? Well, read Psalms and consider the Lord’s answer. But, daily, “Sing unto the LORD.”

Jimmy Lau

Psa 119:97  Oh how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.

Jesus For Jews – and Gentiles, Too!

           I was blessed to visit New York City in 1977 with my wife and a number of men and women who were fellow and sister students in a Bible college in West Virginia. We were involved in a door-knocking campaign with the Riverhead church of Christ 80 miles east of New York City. We spent several days in Riverhead going door to door and talking to anyone we could about our faith in Jesus Christ and about His church. One highlight of that trip was when I, with my wife Donna’s assistance, was blessed to teach and baptize into Christ a young woman who was pregnant with twins! One day Brother Jerry Hill and his lovely wife Fern took us to New York City on a sight-seeing tour. At one point, on a busy street corner among the hustling, bustling throngs of people, our little group was suddenly face to face with another group of young people who were handing out copies of a simple little tract / pamphlet. I took one of the tracts and the title instantly caught my eye and riveted my attention. Printed in bold letters on the upper front cover of the tract were these words: "Everything you always wanted to know about Jesus." Then in smaller but clear letters just under halfway down the page – *BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK* – then an inch further down and off to the right *Your rabbi*" The back of the tract identified the group as simply "JEWS and others FOR JESUS" and then an address and phone number. We were elated! There we were – several of us in our group from small, rural towns in Tennessee, and all of us Gentiles – talking face to face with a group of Jewish young people who were out, loud, proud and "taking it to the street" that Jesus was the long awaited Jewish Messiah! I will quote verbatim one paragraph from the tract before space runs out – "We say that the main thing you ought to know about Jesus is that you can and should believe in Him. He is the promised Jewish Messiah. He is the ultimate sacrifice by which men can be justified and through whom Jews and Gentiles can return to God." The encounter soon ended, but not before we left them with copies of a tract entitled "Steps to Heaven" that explained gospel obedience in terms of hearing, believing, repenting, confessing (Christ), and being baptized for forgiveness of sins.

I often think of that incident when I read words written by a man who was perhaps the ultimate Jew for Jesus – the apostle Paul! Long before my group encountered those Jews for Jesus in New York City, Paul lamented the fact many Jews were not for Jesus. He said in Romans 10:1-3 – "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Paul was indeed a Jew for Jesus. But his appeal for Jews to be for Jesus sprang from the gospel’s good news that Jesus was for Jews! And not only for Jews, for Gentiles, too! The gospel is "the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek" (Romans 1:16). Here’s the take home point – the cross where Jesus died proves Jesus is for you. The only issue that remains to be settled is, are you for Jesus, too? Think about it.

By: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

Are You In The Way of God?

Acts 18:26 records that when Aquila and Priscilla heard the eloquent and learned preacher Apollos preaching at Ephesus, "...they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately." Those words doen’t sit well with many in our postmodern, plural- istic age which insists there are many paths to God. According to Acts 18, Apollos was already a very religious man – "a Jew . . . mighty in the Scriptures . . . instructed in the way of the Lord . . . fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord" (Acts 18:24-25a). Then what was the problem? Verse 25b says "he knew only the baptism of John." The popular idea is that all religious roads lead to God, regardless of their accuracy or inaccuracy according to the Bible. The entertainer Madonna said she had her daughter Lola baptized as a Roman Catholic, even though she herself renounced that church. She told Charlie Rose on 60 Minutes II, "I can disagree with doctrines and dogmas and still celebrate them. I go to synagogue, I study Hinduism. In the end, all paths lead to God" (USA TODAY, 5/21/99). Aquila and Priscila apparently disagreed with Madonna’s religious philosophy or practice. Even though Apollos "spoke and taught acacurately the things of the Lord" (vs 25), there was more he needed to know. So it is we read in verse 26, "When Aquila and Priscila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately."

Madonna and millions of others who believe in a plurality of paths to God find themselves at oods with the Lord. In John 14:6 He declared words that to this day rub most of our world the wrong way – "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." There simply is no way to soften this statement if we accept Jesus as God’s Son and the New Testament as His inspired word. If the question is how one comes to God, His way and His truth and His life are the only means available. Jesus is asserting that there is a way to God, but that there is only one way – His way. New Testament writers never stopped insisting there was a way to God – a way that will save anyone in the world who accepts and obeys it (Mark 16:15-16) – but only one way. Inspired teaching is summarized by the apostle Paul in Ephesians 4:4-6, "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all . . ." The church of Christ is under increasing pressure these days to change these verses. From outside the church the atheist would have us say, "There is no body, no Spirit, no hope, no Lord, no faith, no baptism, and no God." We dare not yield to that pressure. But pressure is increasing from inside to change the message of these verses to say, "There are many bodies . . . many faiths . . . many baptisms" – in short, many different paths and ways to please God, so long as you believe in Jesus. Many are ready to accept that Jesus is a way, a truth, a life, a light, a door to God. The problem is that is not what Jesus said. A Slovenian proverb says, "Speak the truth, but leave immediately after" (RD, February 2018, p 65). The truth is God has only one way. I’m leaving now. Are you accurately in the way of God? 

           By: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN