2. The God of the Covenant Psalm 89:7-14

Text: “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about Him. O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto Thee? Or to Thy faithfulness round about Thee?”

Psalm 89:7-8.

Good morning, God-fearing Christian!  Our Covenanting Lord God has redeemed your never-dying soul from your sin; washed you and I in the precious Blood of His Son, Jesus Christ; and included us in His everlasting Covenant of Eternal Salvation.  The wonder of such Sovereign grace towards us should, alone, make us fear and reverence God’s Holy Name.  Fearing the Lord God of the Divine Covenant, we fear nothing else – come temporal oppressor; come demon of Hell; come Devil himself to threaten, hinder, or harm us, we shall not be afraid, for the Lord God has included us in His Everlasting Covenant, and promises to keep and defend us from all harm.  Glory to our wonderful Lord God of hosts! Amen.

“The Lord is my light and my Salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?  When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.  Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.” (Psalm 27:1-3)

After declaring the fact of God’s Covenant with ‘His people’, Ethan the Ezrahite, the writer of Psalm 89, takes his readers to the attributes of the Lord God Almighty Who makes, and guarantees the Covenant He makes with us who are born again of Christ.  Those whom are the recipients of God’s Eternal Covenant, are empowered, and instructed to be like the Lord God Who has chosen them to be the children of he Most High God.  Christians are to be like Christ.

“But as He which hath called you is Holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation (entire lifestyle); because it is written, Be ye holy for I am Holy.”  (1 Peter 1:15-16)

Verse 7. “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints. Those saints of His who walk close with Him have a daunting power in their appearance. I appeal to guilty consciences, to apostates, to professors who have secret haunts of wickedness: sometime when you come but into the presence of one who is a truly gracious godly man or woman  whom your conscience tells you walks close to God, doth not even the very sight of such an one terrify you?”  (Jeremiah Burroughs 1599-1646)

Personal Note: I remember well, one worldly man who one day, in anger, told me not to be always preaching at him and curtailing his chosen way of life. I looked him in the eye and asked, ‘Tell me, WHEN have I ever preached at you?’ The man thought for a moment, then honestly admitted that he had never been preached at by me, but ‘…just felt constrained when I sat close by him, or was even in the same room as himself and his worldly friends.’ I forthrightly explained why he ‘felt constrained from worldly swearing and smoking cigarettes, etc. when I was near him…’  It was the holy power of my Saviour, Jesus Christ, within me that was making him uncomfortable while he sinned.  He began to think a little more about what I said that day to him.  Who knows if God the Spirit was whispering His calling into the heart of that man – only Eternity will disclose the outcome.

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me (the Lord Jesus Christ) both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

Verse 7. “And to be had in reverence of all them that are about Him. The nearer they are, the more they adore. If mere creatures are struck with awe, the courtiers and favourites of Heaven must be yet more reverent in the Presence of the great King, God’s children are those who most earnestly pray, ‘Hallowed be Thy Name.’ Irreverence is rebellion.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 372)

Further attributes of our Covenanting Lord God Almighty are listed by Ethan the Ezrahite:

Verse 8. “Who is a strong Lord like unto Thee? Our Lord God is omnipotent.

Verse 8. “…Or to Thy faithfulness round about Thee? None more faithful in Sovereign grace than the Lord God Jehovah – Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.  Glory to His Name!

Verse 9. “Thou rulest the raging of the sea, when the waves thereof arise, Thou stillest them. “Peace, be still! His voice replied. At once the tossing tempest died!” (Mark 4:39)

Verse 10. “…Thou hast scattered Thine enemies with Thy strong arm. The Midianites in the day of Gideon were a fearful host: “And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude.”  Yet “…The Sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.” Prevailed. (Judges 7:12) One man with the Lord is in the majority.

A covenant, or an agreement between two parties – in this case God and redeemed man – is useless without a powerful and trustworthy guarantor of the Covenant/Agreement. Ethan the Ezrahite lists the powerful and faithful attributes of the Lord God in order to give confidence to redeemed sinners that God is more than able to fulfil His Covenant with us, and secure us with Christ for Eternity.  The Lord God is our Rock of Eternal assurance and certain hope.

Verse 11. “The Heavens are Thine, the earth also is Thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, Thou hast founded them.” The Lord God of the Bible is a Sovereign Lord God, in full control of every event, every aspect of ‘His people’s lives. Not one hair falls out of our heads that He has not ordained will fall out, at the exact time it falls out, and the exact place of its falling out.  He is Jehovah Jireh: the Lord Who seeth afar off and provideth.

Such a Sovereign Lord God is to be feared in godly reverence and loved with the full love of our hearts; and worshipped, openly and privately, with the full thanksgiving of our very souls.  Anything less detracts from our Christian profession, and gives worldlings and reprobates cause to pour ridicule upon us, upon ‘the church’; and upon God’s Covenant.

“God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”     (John 4:24)

“O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.”   (Psalm 107:1-2)

Thought: Verse 14: “Justice and judgement are the habitation of Thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before Thy face.” God’s people reply: “Righteousness shall go before Him; and shall set us in the way of His steps.” (Psalm 85:13) Rejoice, Christian! God’s Covenant is secure.  Jesus is ‘the way, the truth, and the life…’  Hallelujah!  We are safe in Him!