Introduction:
Throughout this series of Psalms, the assertion of God’s sovereignty-- "The
Lord reigns" --has rung out with unvarying confidence. We have been invited to test
and prove that statement by seeing his kingship in action—over the created universe,
over false gods and hostile spiritual forces, over nations, and especially over the
covenant people (Zion), in whose hearts the King is enthroned. In Ps 99 is the same
coronation shout, but the emphasis is on the Lord, the focus the character of the God who
is King. Its message is clear—a chorus underlines it three times: vss 5, 7, 9. The
King reigns above everything else, a God/King, who is holy; three times holy, echoing Isa
6:3, the superlative expressed by repetition (Hebrew idiom) where the double superlative
means this is a total description. Holiness takes us to the very heart of deity, expresses
the very essence of God—not so much an attribute of deity as deity itself; not what
God is like but that he is.
The root idea of Biblical holiness is separation/otherness/distinctiveness—the Godness of God. We tend to regard it negatively; separate from – what? A whole list of cultural taboos, do’s and don’ts for careful Christians! This is a sub-Biblical view: the Bible views it positively - separate in what? It refers to the character of what God is, not what he is not. God’s holiness, therefore, declares the qualities which belong to his essential deity, to God as God. Get rid of negative connotations! Psalm 99 is an exposition of the character of the God who is in control of our world, of your life, and mine.
HOLINESS IN ROYALTY, vss 1-3:
The statement "The Lord is King" is about
active rule, authority exercised over everything that is, by the creator; the tenses
present because these realities are always so. Here the foundation on which all we
experience is built. All that the psalms have been teaching us must and will happen
because Yahweh is eternal King; no qualifying clauses but absolute sovereignty. The Holy
Spirit indicates the spheres in which that total dominion is being exercised. Because the
Lord is King the earth shakes (v1), The verb root is to bend or nod, a moving away
in submission, recognising the presence of someone greater. The whole earth, natural
forces, acknowledge their ruler as courtiers their monarch. The nations tremble (v1)
because Yahweh is exalted over all of them (v2b): Babylon, Rome, Britain, China, USA. God
rules, and when the peoples of the world see his glory they will tremble in awe and fear,
which is always man’s reaction to God’s royal holiness. Look at Isaiah’s
vision (Isa 6:4): everything trembling and shaking in God’s presence and the prophet
struck dumb (v5), ruined = silenced. He could not sing the praise of God’s holiness
because his lips were unclean and there had to be cleansing (vv6-7) before commissioning
(v8). In a sense God can do nothing with us until we have trembled before his aweful
throne and seen the horror of our sin and depravity, as God sees it. It is not the fear of
humanity in the presence of the divine, but the fear of a sinner in the presence of the
Holy One. Adam had no fear of God as a man in the presence of deity. It was sin that drove
him away to hide, and that is why all men and women tremble when they see God’s
throne. But his greatness is especially seen in Zion (v2a); the amazing contrast.
We have considered his distance; in Zion he is near. Among his people his glory is most
clearly seen. He is their life and light and the membership of Zion’s city, the
Church, is dependent on their submission to his kingship. How is it that they can dwell
with him? Are they holier than the nations, better people who have won God’s favour? V1:
Where does God set his throne when he comes to live as King of his people? "Between
the cherubim" = those who hold fast or guard. They did that to the tree of life (Gen
3:24), but they were not in Zion. There were only two cherubim in Zion, carved in gold (Ex
25:18 & 20b) "looking toward the cover", in older versions of the Bible
"mercy seat", NIV v17 "an atonement cover". This is where God met with
his people (v22). The lid covered the tablets of the Law and the mercy seat was the place
where sin was covered by grace. For here on the Day of Atonement (covering), the High
Priest sprinkled the blood of sacrifice (Lev 16:15) to atone for the sins of the whole
community. The Holy King is enthroned in the place of mercy so that sinners may draw near.
For us as New Testament believers he is seen to reign at the place called Calvary, where
love and justice meet. Psa 99:3a: Praising his name, we celebrate his nature; great and
greatly to be praised; holy, greatly to be revered; but gracious and greatly to be loved.
Do we take enough time to contemplate him, or have we made him pocket-size? He is holy!
HOLINESS IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, vss 4-5:
An aspect of God’s holiness separates him
from all others—his moral holiness. V4a lit: "The King’s strength
loves justice". This sovereign King who governs the universe bends his great power,
his heart inclines to justice—a royal word in the OT used of the King settling
matters and making decrees in matters of dispute. It is an Old Testament word that
describes and defines the Law of God as a reflection of God’s own character. His
people had no visual image, but they knew he spoke to Moses. He revealed his will and
character in his word. So Lev 19:12: "Be holy because I am holy". My Law = what
I am to you in everyday life. Certain things the King permits, others he forbids; this
moral strength establishes equity (v4b) = evenness, a smooth path. Giving his Law he works
out his moral righteousness in Jacob (shorthand for God’s covenant people); a
function of his holiness. He lays down the way he wants us to live because our lives are
to be the arena in which the moral character of the Lord is revealed. That has profound
social implications. The Lord’s standards are to be exalted (v5), in our thinking,
speaking, lifestyle, and not just in acts of worship. As he is exalted, we are to
prostrate ourselves at his footstool (v5b); no lower than that—he is holy. Jacob was
a twister, a deceiver, and so are we all by nature. That is why God gives his moral Law,
though we fail to keep it so often. We need that plumb line. Where are we to worship then,
in all our moral failure? At his throne, and if that is between the cherubim, his
footstool will be the mercy seat! His grace goes on meeting us in our failure, goes on
strengthening and equipping, but never allows us to downplay his righteous demands. He is
holy.
HOLINESS IN RELATIONSHIP, vss 6-9:
The mood changes in v6: we are not being invited
to a heavenly peepshow, where we see something remote and far off and are impressed. All
divine revelation has a purpose in the establishment of a relationship between man and
God. The priestly privilege was that of coming into God’s presence (Moses and Aaron).
Samuel was pre-eminently a man of prayer. They were among those who live in
relationship with the holy God, not an exclusive caste. That door remains open. They
claimed the covenant promises, called on the covenant God and he answered them (v6c), but
this was only possible because God had taken the initiative in speaking to them (v7).
Again, the focus is on the unchanging witness of the Law to the eternal character of God.
The nature of God is to speak to his people so that they may become like him; the
principles of the divine nature are expressed as precepts for human beings to obey and
live by. Those who live in relationship with God live calling on him in prayer, receiving
his word in Scripture, obeying that Word in life. No changing that in 2000—what God
has said he still says. What God demanded he still requires, so our lives are a mixture of
forgiveness and discipline. As was the experience of Israel, so in the Church. There is
always forgiveness for those who repent, through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lamb of God who carried away the sins of the world. But for the careless,
stubborn and wilful is discipline that must come from a Father-heart whose love is too
great to let us get away with sin. That is why some of us do suffer—we are too
stubborn to learn our lesson. We think we know best and can still have our own
way—and it is not so. He is holy. "Forgiveness without chastisement would make
us complacent; chastisement without forgiveness would crush us. Together they are the
guarantee that while we can trust we will be forgiven; we can never take sin
lightly." (Alec Motyer) He is holy, and holiness is obedience to his character (v9).
The mountain may be Sinai or Zion—for us it is surely Calvary. But worship we must.
For is it not the most amazing miracle in all the universe that a holy God should go on
bothering with sinners like us?
© 2001 David Jackman
David Jackman is Director of the Cornhill Training Course in London