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Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Christianity The Faith Of All Nations
Psalm 47:7
W. Forsyth
Judaism was not fitted for universality. Its rites, its laws as to meats and drinks, its localization of worship, gave it the character of a national rather than a universal religion. Yet it was by Hebrew prophets that the idea of a universal religion was propounded. Taught of God, they were able to rise above what was local and exclusive, and to rejoice in foresight of the latter-day glory, when Jehovah should be "King of all the earth." The fulfilment is in Christ, whose coming was hailed, not only as "King of the Jews," but as the "Light of the Gentiles," and the Saviour of the world. Christianity, not the Christianity of the Creeds or of any particular Church, but the Christianity of Christ, is the faith for all nations. The fact that the Bible is so fitted for translation into all languages; that the rites of the gospel are so simple and so adapted to all countries; that the laws as to Church government are so few, and so capable of being worked out according to the needs of different peoples, might be urged as arguments for universality. But there are other and stronger reasons. Christianity is fitted to be the faith of all nations, because of -

I. ITS REPRESENTATION OF GOD. It has been truly said that "Christianity alone of religions gives a clear, self-consistent, adequate view of God. It alone discloses and promises to man a complete communion with God." The cry of Philip, "Show us the Father," finds in Christ a full response (John 14:9). "In creation God is a God above us; in the Law he is a God against us; but in the gospel, he is Immanuel, a God with us, a God like us, a God for us."

II. ITS DOCTRINE OF SALVATION. The evil that presses upon men everywhere is sin. How can it be taken away? The answer is," Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." Our character and life depend upon our beliefs. Belief in Christ not only secures pardon and reconciliation with God, but restoration of purity. In the Gospels we have not only the doctrine, but facts that authenticate the doctrine. The great conversions of St. Luke (Luke 7:48; Luke 19:9, 10; Luke 23:43) are samples of what Christ has done and is doing (1 Timothy 1:15-17), and what he begins he will perfect.

III. ITS IDEAL OF HUMANITY. We have not only the Law, but the life (Matthew 5:1-11; 1 Peter 2:21). Christ not only gives us the ideal, but shows us how that ideal may be realized (Matthew 15:24-27; Titus 2:11-13). Thus in Christ God comes down to man, and man is raised up to God. The promise is unto all, without respect of persons.

IV. ITS BOND OF BROTHERHOOD. What force, and commerce, and ecclesiasticism, and all human devices failed to do, Christ has done. He treats men simply as men, and by his Spirit binds them together as brethren. The wall of partition is broken down. The divisions formed by pride and selfishness are abolished, and all the world over "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free," but all are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

V. ITS CONSOLATIONS AND HOPES. Here there is comfort for every troubled heart. Christ is our Hope. To use the words of Arthur Hallam, "I see that the Bible fits into every fold of the human heart. I am a man, and I believe it to be God's book, because it is man's book."

VI. ITS PROMISE OF IMMORTALITY. This is the climax. Godliness has the promise not only of the life that now is, but of that which is to come. The vision rises bright before every Christian. "Days without night; joys without sorrow; sanctity without sin; charity without stain; possession without fear; society without envying; communication of joys without lessening; and they shall dwell in a blessed country where an enemy never entered, and from which a friend never went away." Therefore we pray with increasing fervour, "Thy kingdom come." - W.F.

Biblical Illustrator
God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.
Psalm 47:7
Worship-song
T. Garrett Horder.
Hymns help to nobler worship of God and clearer visions of His face.

I. BECAUSE THEY EMBODY THE HOLY THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS OF INSPIRING AND SEEING MEN AND WOMEN. Many of the greatest hymns are the lyric expression of great experiences produced by some exceptional circumstances of the life. Cowper, by his coachman missing the way, was hindered from carrying out a plan of self-destruction which, in a season of great depression, he had formed. On his recovery he wrote the well-known hymn, "God moves in a mysterious way"; and many more such illustrations might be given.

II. THEY EXPRESS GREAT THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS. The most deeply religious parts of the Old Testament are its poetic books. Hymns are more moving than devotional manuals, and their rhythm makes them cling to the memory.

III. THEY HAVE NEW POWER THROUGH THE MUSIC TO WHICH THEY ARE WEDDED, and —

IV. THEY ARE THE NOBLEST VEHICLE FOR UNITED WORSHIP.

(T. Garrett Horder.)

People
Jacob, Korah, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Heathen, Holiness, Holy, Nations, Reigned, Reigneth, Reigns, Rule, Ruler, Sat, Seat, Seated, Sits, Sitteth, Throne
Outline
1. The nations are exhorted cheerfully to entertain the kingdom of Christ.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 47:8

     1065   God, holiness of
     5181   sitting
     5581   throne

Psalm 47:6-8

     5366   king

Psalm 47:7-8

     2376   kingdom of God, coming

Library
A Wise Desire
I remember once going to a chapel where this happened to be the text, and the good man who occupied the pulpit was more than a little of an Arminian. Therefore, when he commenced, he said, "This passage refers entirely to our temporal inheritance. It has nothing whatever to do with our everlasting destiny: for," said he, "We do not want Christ to choose for us in the matter of heaven or hell. It is so plain and easy that every man who has a grain of common sense will choose heaven; and any person …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

Tenth Sunday after Trinity. As the Hart Panteth after the Water Brooks, Even So Panteth My Soul after Thee, O God.
As the hart panteth after the water brooks, even so panteth my soul after Thee, O God. Nach dir, o Gott verlanget mich [107]Anton Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick. 1667. trans. by Catherine Winkworth, 1855 O God, I long Thy Light to see, My God, I hourly think on Thee; Oh draw me up, nor hide Thy face, But help me from Thy holy place. As toward her sun the sunflower turns, Towards Thee, my Sun my spirit yearns; Oh would that free from sin I might Thus follow evermore Thy Light! But sin hath so within …
Catherine Winkworth—Lyra Germanica: The Christian Year

The Work of Christ.
The great work which the Lord Jesus Christ, God's well beloved Son, came to do was to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. This finished work of the cross is the basis of His present work and His future work. What mind can estimate the value and preciousness of that work in which the Holy One offered Himself through the eternal Spirit without spot unto God! He procured redemption by His death on the cross. In His present work and much more in the future work, He works out this great redemption …
A. C. Gaebelein—The Work Of Christ

His Future Work
The Lord Jesus Christ, who finished the work on earth the Father gave Him to do, who is now bodily present in the highest heaven, occupying the Father's throne and exercising His priesthood in behalf of His people, is also King. To Him belongeth a Kingdom and a kingly Glory. He has therefore a kingly work to do. While His past work was foretold by the Spirit of God and His priestly work foreshadowed in the Old Testament, His work as King and His glorious Kingdom to come are likewise the subjects …
A. C. Gaebelein—The Work Of Christ

Question of the Comparison Between the Active and the Contemplative Life
I. Is the Active Life preferable to the Contemplative? Cardinal Cajetan, On Preparation for the Contemplative Life S. Augustine, Confessions, X., xliii. 70 " On Psalm xxvi. II. Is the Active Life more Meritorious than the Contemplative? III. Is the Active Life a Hindrance to the Contemplative Life? Cardinal Cajetan, On the True Interior Life S. Augustine, Sermon, CCLVI., v. 6 IV. Does the Active Life precede the Contemplative? I Is the Active Life preferable to the Contemplative? The Lord …
St. Thomas Aquinas—On Prayer and The Contemplative Life

The Joy of the Lord.
IT is written "the joy of the Lord is your strength." Every child of God knows in some measure what it is to rejoice in the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ must ever be the sole object of the believer's joy, and as eyes and heart look upon Him, we, too, like "the strangers scattered abroad" to whom Peter wrote shall "rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Pet. i:8). But it is upon our heart to meditate with our beloved readers on the joy of our adorable Lord, as his own personal joy. The …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

Letter xix (A. D. 1127) to Suger, Abbot of S. Denis
To Suger, Abbot of S. Denis He praises Suger, who had unexpectedly renounced the pride and luxury of the world to give himself to the modest habits of the religious life. He blames severely the clerk who devotes himself rather to the service of princes than that of God. 1. A piece of good news has reached our district; it cannot fail to do great good to whomsoever it shall have come. For who that fear God, hearing what great things He has done for your soul, do not rejoice and wonder at the great …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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