Ever wonder why Psalm 19 begins by talking about the heavens and God’s glory, and ends with a discussion of His law? And why the sun is described as a bridegroom? Learn how these these pieces fit together seamlessly!

<p>Ever wonder why Psalm 19 begins by talking about the heavens and God’s glory, and ends with a discussion of His law? And why the sun is described as a bridegroom? Learn how these these pieces fit together seamlessly!</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Ouachita Hills College

Scott Burgess

The Heavens Declare His Glory

Before we begin, let us open with a word of prayer.

Father in heaven, thank you for the chance to explore your word together.

May the words expressed this morning draw us all close to Jesus.

And may you please use us to draw others to you, we ask for your sake.

Let's open our Bibles to Psalm 19, beginning in verse 1.

This is a passage that should be familiar to us.

We have a scripture song that deals with this.

It says, what the heavens declare the what of God?

Now in Genesis chapter 1 the firmament is said to be simply another word for the heavens.

So in other words here in verse 1 it's saying the same thing 2 different ways the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament which is the heavens declaring the glory of God is the same as showing his handiwork all right now a little detail here It doesn't actually say handiwork if you're going to be very literal to the Hebrew.

Now the idea is the same, yes, but it does say the work of his hands.

Can we go back a few pages to Psalm 8, verse 1, and I think we'll see something here that should make us say, oh, okay.

Notice it says, O LORD our Lord, literally, O Yahweh our Adon our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, who has set thy, what?

That sounds very much like Psalm 19 verse 1.

Now, if you would drop down here into verse 3, Psalm 8 verse 3, notice what David goes on to say.

He says, when I consider thy heavens, the work of thy...

It doesn't say hands this time, it says the work of thy fingers.

So the heavens, Psalm 19 says it's the work of his hands.

Let's just think what maybe he's trying to tell us there.

When you think about God and his finger or fingers, do any passages of Scripture come to mind?

Ah, Jesus, when he was with the woman caught in adultery.

He used his finger to write on the ground.

He wrote down the various sins of the people, their transgressions of the law.

The hand appeared and the fingers of a man's hand were writing the pronouncement against Belshazzar, again, because he had been unfaithful to God and his law.

Now, of course, 1 of the most famous passages of all is what?

Of course, the 10 Commandments, yes, which were written with the finger of God.

You might also realize in the book of Exodus there are 2 things.

There's the 10 Commandments that were written with the finger of God, but also you may remember that early on during the 10 plagues, the magicians of pharaoh, they had recognized that God was at work and they said this can be nothing other than the finger of God, his judgments against us, based on again their violation of the 10 commandments, which in chapter 20 he explicitly gives and they are said to be written with the finger of his hand.

Now, what does all this got to do with each other?

Psalm 19, it said again, the heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament, the same thing as the heavens, showeth the work of his hand.

Psalm 8 clarified it's the works more specifically of his fingers.

Could it be that when we consider the heavens, when we look up at the sky, are we supposed to see in at some object lesson that tells us about his law, about say the 10 Commandments?

Well, I'd like to suggest that just maybe that's the case.

After all, when you consider the sky, when you look up at the sky on a normal day, not a rainy day, not nighttime, just you know in the middle of a normal wonderful day, what do you see?

He got that the Sapphire stone Exodus 24 verses 10 and 12 tell us that the stone that was provided for the tablets for the 10 Commandments was the sapphire stone under God's feet, the base of his throne.

If you were in outer space, if you were on the space shuttle, or if you could imagine yourself flying along on 1 of these satellites out there and you were to look down at the earth you would see largely a blue planet because of all the oceans about 70% of the surface of earth.

When the angels are looking down toward this earth, watching all that's going on, God always meant for this place to be a place where his law would reign.

Things have gotten out of control since sin entered the world, but it was always meant to be that way.

If you consider, the Bible says in Isaiah 66 verse 1 that the heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.

Okay, well what's so significant about a footstool?

Well the footstool is the base of his throne, which is where his law is.

But if you would like to see something even more clear, notice there is another text that equates the idea of a footstool with not the earth, but with the Ark of the Covenant.

First Chronicles 28, verse 2, it says here, David is giving his reasons.

He'd wanted to build a nicer temple for God, something better than just the ragged remains of Moses' temple after so many centuries.

And he says, as for me, I had in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of Yahweh for the footstool of our God.

Remember, God's presence would rest there in the sanctuary, atop the Ark.

And inside the Ark were the 10 Commandments.

So the Ark is indeed the footstool of His throne, as it were, in which are the 10 Commandments.

In the Psalms, it tells us that the habitation of His throne, it says here that justice and judgment are the habitation or more literally the foundation of Thy throne.

Well justice and judgment are all part and parcel of the 10 Commandments.

The 10 Commandments are literally the foundation of God's throne.

Psalm 97, 2 says, righteousness and judgment are the foundation of His throne.

So, back in Psalm 19, now we're prepared to understand the psalm better.

The firmament, the heavens, show the work of His hands, the work of His fingers.

It's supposed to be a revelation of the 10 Commandments.

The angels, when they look at the earth, they are to see the footstool.

They are to see a revelation of the 10 Commandments.

Right now we're a far cry from it, but that's what we're supposed to do.

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The Heavens Declare His Glory

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