ACCLAIMING THE GREATNESS OF THE LORD – (Cont’d) 

ACCLAIMING THE GREATNESS OF THE LORD – Cont’d.

Text:  Psalm 48:1 – A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain.

Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise – In the previous study examples were given of those by whom the greatness of the Lord had been acclaimed, with the advice to note the various ways in which His greatness had been displayed.

For this study the focus will be on examples of the Lord’s great acts, as stated in Psalm 114.

Psalm 114:  ¹When Israel came out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue, ²Judah became God’s sanctuary, Israel his dominion.

³The sea looked and fled, the Jordan turned back; ⁴the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.

⁵Why was it, O sea, that you fled, O Jordan, that you turned back, ⁶you mountains, that you skipped like rams, you hills, like lambs?

⁷Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, ⁸who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water.

The Contemporary English Version gives the chapter the heading, “The Lord Works Wonders.”

This psalm is one of the Hallel Psalms and, along with Psalm 113, was sung at the beginning of the Passover meal.

V.1 – Note: Exodus 12:40-42, 51 – ⁴⁰Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years.  ⁴¹At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions left Egypt.  ⁴²Because the LORD kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the LORD for the generations to come.

⁵¹And on that very day the LORD brought the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.

Exodus 13:3 – Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the LORD brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast.

V.2 – Note:  Exodus 6:5-7 – ⁵Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.

⁶“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.  ⁷I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.

Exodus 19:5-6 – ⁵Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, ⁶you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

Exodus 29:45-46 – ⁴⁵Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God.  ⁴⁶They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.

Deuteronomy 27:9-10 – ⁹Then Moses and the priests, who are Levites, said to all Israel, “Be silent, O Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of the LORD your God.  ¹⁰Obey the LORD your God and follow his commands and decrees that I give you today.”

Let us thank the Lord that under the “better covenant” all of us who obey have become the people of the Lord.   Titus 2:11-14 – ¹¹For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.  ¹²It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, ¹³while we wait for the blessed hope–the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, ¹⁴who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

V.3 – The sea looked and fled – Note:  Exodus 14:21-22 – ²¹Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, ²²and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

Exodus 15:8 – By the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up. The surging waters stood firm like a wall; the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.

Psalm 66:5-6 – ⁵Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man’s behalf!  ⁶He turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the waters on foot- come, let us rejoice in him.

Psalm 77:14-16 – ¹⁴You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.  ¹⁵With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

¹⁶The waters saw you, O God, the waters saw you and writhed; the very depths were convulsed.

V.3 – the Jordan turned back – (CEV) When the sea looked at God, it ran away, and the Jordan River flowed upstream.

Note Joshua 3:13,15-17 – ¹³And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD–the Lord of all the earth–set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”

¹⁵Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, ¹⁶the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.  ¹⁷The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

V.4, 6-7 – See Exodus 19 – (V.18 – Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace; the whole mountain trembled violently,)

V.8 – See: Exodus 17:1-7 – (V.6 – I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.)

Numbers 20:1-13 – (V.11 – Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.)

Compare John 7:37-39 – ³⁷On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.  ³⁸Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”  ³⁹By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Let us thank the Lord for continuing to teach us to acclaim Him. Note Psalm 89:15-16 – ¹⁵Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.  ¹⁶They rejoice in your name all day long; they exult in your righteousness.