Sermon: A Glorious Victory

I invite you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 76. Psalm 76 tonight.

It's on page 487 if you're using a Bible there in front of you. Psalm 76.

Let me pray one more time before we read and hear from God's word. Lord, we thank you for speaking to us. We pray now as we listen that you would give us ears that would hear and hearts that would truly believe. And so we ask that you would strengthen us and encourage us as you speak to us. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Hear God's word from Psalm 76. "To the choir master, with stringed instruments, a Psalm of Asaph, a song.

In Judah, God is known; his name is great in Israel. His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion. There he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Glorious are you, more majestic than the mountains full of prey. The stout-hearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep; all the men of war were unable to use their hands. At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse lay stunned.

But you, you are to be feared. Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused? From the heavens you uttered judgment; the earth feared and was still, when God arose to establish judgment to save all the humble of the earth. Surely the wrath of man shall praise you; the remnant of wrath you will put on like a belt. Make your vows to the Lord your God and perform them; let all around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared, who cuts off the spirit of princes,

who is to be feared by the kings of the earth." Amen. Well, one of the fun and helpful things about reading or studying history is to see how unexpected victories have shaped our world today. So consider just a few examples with me. From ancient times, if we go back to 490 BC, the Battle of Marathon, one of history's most famous underdog triumphs, when the Athenian Greeks defeated a much larger, far superior Persian army under King Darius.

The battle became legendary as a symbol of free citizens defending their homeland against a mighty empire. It would, of course, go on to then lead to the Greek empire. This battle also inspired the modern marathon race based on the story of a runner who ran from the city of Marathon, about 26 miles, to Athens to announce this stunning victory. If we go to medieval times, around 1415, the Battle of Agincourt, where King Henry V's English army, his exhausted army, far outnumbered,

went against the French, at least two to one odds against them, and yet this English army, mostly armed with longbows, defeated this powerful military of knights and cavalry, proving that war can be fought with bow and arrow. If you think of American history, think of the Battle of Trenton, 1776, when on Christmas night General George Washington led his exhausted, defeated army across the frozen Delaware River against the far superior German force

and, of course, there the American rebels won. This stunning victory ignited a wave of patriotism. It inspired thousands of soldiers to then re-enlist, and it kept the American Revolution alive. Maybe a little closer to home for you in your own life if you played sports, you might recall one of your great feats of victory when you, as the underdogs on your team, went against your rival and you won, and that great victory song that we all know and we've listened to dozens of times, "We are the

champions. Yes, we are the champions. No time for losers because we are the champions," and then this last great line, "of the world." It's kind of a bit melodramatic for a high school football team to think that they're the champions of the world, but there it is. A song like that, a victory song like that wonderfully catches us up in this drama of victory, and that's what we see here in our Psalm tonight. Psalm 76 is a victory song. It's a victory

song. This song considers and celebrates the unimaginable victories that God accomplishes for his people, and this song is meant to wrap us up in the drama of these unexpected victories of God. But there's a big difference between this Psalm and the songs that we sing in our day because this song is not about humanity's bravery or courage or strength. This song is the exact opposite. This song, we see human strength being cut off by a sovereign God who

fights for his people, his people who you see in verse nine described as the humble or the meek of the earth. This song is not about celebrating human power or achievement, but rather God's power to save and preserve his people even in the midst of the most unimaginable circumstances. The subject, as you glance back at this Psalm, you'll notice, is God himself. We just read from the catechism. It dovetails into this perfectly.

The subject of this Psalm is a God who is in and of himself infinitely glorious and perfect. Notice with me how God is the subject or the active agent of every one of these verses. Verse one, "In Judah, God is known." Verse two, "His abode has been established in Salem." Verse three, "There he broke the flashing arrows." Verse four, the theological center of this Psalm, "Glorious are you, more majestic than the mountains full of prey." Verse five, God is the one who strips

the stout-hearted of their spoil. Verse six, it's at your rebuke, the Lord's rebuke. Verse seven, "But you, you, O Lord, are to be feared. Who can stand before you when once your anger is aroused?" Verse eight, "From the heavens, you uttered judgment." Verse nine, "When God arose." Verse 10, "Surely the wrath of man will praise you." Verse 11, "Make your vows to the Lord, bring gifts to him, and fear him." And verse 12, "This

Lord who cuts off the spirit of princes." Just as songs both remind and instruct us by capturing our heads and our hearts, this Psalm captures our heads and it grabs our hearts by showing us the knowledge of God and the glory of God as they are revealed to us in the victory of God for his people. That's what we see in this Psalm, the knowledge of God and the glory of God revealed to us in the victory of God for his people.

So there's going to be our two big headings tonight as we work through this Psalm. First, the knowledge of God, and then second, the glory of God. Knowledge of God. Look with me back at verse one In Judah, God is known. His name is great in Israel. Now, there's nothing intrinsically magical about this one place, Judah, that makes it the locus of divine knowledge. It's not the geography or the buildings or the culture that makes this place

special, but rather, its uniqueness comes from what we see in verse two. So we'll read in verse two, "His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion." This word, Salem, is a reference to ancient origins, going all the way back to the time of Abraham. You remember Abraham, who encountered Melchizedek, who was the king of this city called Salem. The word itself means peace, and this is where Jerusalem

would be founded, Jerusalem being the city of peace. This text tells us God chose to establish his abode there. That word for abode is the word for tabernacle or tent. We're told that his presence dwells in Zion. Now, it's not that God is confined to the walls of this city. Now we know that God is omnipresent, but God established his presence in a unique place for the purpose that his people might know him, and that's what this Psalm teaches us.

God desires to be

known. Now we know that God is known through his creation. He has revealed himself, his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature being clearly seen in the things that have been made. We often refer to this as a general knowledge of God and knowledge that leaves all without excuse. But there's another type of knowledge, and that's the knowledge that we see here in our text, the knowledge of God which comes to us through

salvation. That's what we see in verse three. There, it's in this place that God chose to make himself known by breaking the flashing arrows, the sword, and the shield, and the weapons of war. God desires to be known personally and intimately. That's what the imagery here of abode and dwelling place suggests. God's presence dwells in a particular place so that we might know him and might know what he is like. And this place, as we see in verse three,

was a place of salvation. This salvation that we see here in this Psalm, which is described as an unimaginable victory. Now there are echoes here to the story of Exodus, but in even more vivid colors, this seems to be a reference to the invasion of Assyria by King Sennacherib. In fact, the translators of the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, they added this little description to the title of this Psalm, and there, the description they added is this, a song for the

Assyrian. So they clearly had in their minds the background here of this story from the Old Testament. If you recall the story, it's told in two different places, 2 Kings 18-19, also in Isaiah 36 and 37. Recall with me, after successful campaigns throughout the territory of Judah, the Assyrian army surrounded the city of Jerusalem. King Hezekiah at the time, knowing he was no match against this mighty Assyrian army, tried to bribe Sennacherib to retreat.

And we're told in 2 Kings 18 that Hezekiah gave him all the silver and all the gold that was found in the temple. But this was a waste of efforts. Judah's army had no chance against this Assyrian force. And so Judah's only hope that remained was Egypt. And so Judah tried to get Egypt to come up and rescue them, but King Sennacherib had already defeated the Egyptian army, and now Sennacherib is marching to the walls of Jerusalem. And before he arrives, he sent a message on

ahead to Hezekiah and to the people. And here's what it said. "Do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, 'The Lord will deliver us.' Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of

my hand that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?" You see that the question that Sennacherib is raising is this question, whose hand is truly in control? Whose hand really holds this city? Well, later in the account, we read Hezekiah's response. This is 2 Kings 19. Let me read that for you. "Hezekiah received this letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and he spread

it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, 'O Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see, and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into

the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. So now, O Lord, our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.'" That's Hezekiah's response. Filled with faith and probably some desperation, Hezekiah prayed to the Lord. That's all he had. He had prayer. The Assyrians had 200,000 warriors marching against the city, and all

Hezekiah had was this prayer. Now Psalm 76 catches us up in the drama of what was actually happening while Hezekiah was praying and the events that were about to unfold. Now at the time, Hezekiah did not see this, but later he would, and that's what we see here in our text. So look back with me at verse two of Psalm 76. You see those two words. I've already mentioned them before. It's the word abode and the word dwelling place.

Well, these two words, when you look at these two words together in other places in the Old Testament, they're often referred to with a different sort of gloss, a different idea. And there what you'll find is they refer to a thicket or a lair where a lion would hide. And then if you look at verse four, we see something else going on here. The psalmist says there, "Glorious are you, more majestic than the mountains full of prey." It's rendered here in our translation as a comparison, more than,

but in the Hebrew, it's a very simple preposition. It just means from. And so some of the older translations just translate this as, "More majestic are you from the mountains full of prey." So the image that you see when you see verse two and verse four together, what this song is revealing to us, we see this image of God as a majestic lion who's coming back to his lair after roaming and devouring his prey from the mountains which surround Jerusalem.

And that's exactly what happened in this story. We're told in 2 Kings 19:35, "That night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then King Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him down with the sword and

escaped into the land of Ararat." This is what the psalmist here is recounting for us here in our passage. It's a song about a glorious and unimaginable victory. You see it there in verse three. It was here at the walls in this city of Jerusalem, at the walls of Jerusalem, where he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Verse five, "The stout-hearted," these Assyrians, "were stripped of their spoil,

they sank into sleep; all the men of war were unable to use their hands. At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse lay stunned." In verse 12, "The Lord who cuts off the spirits of princes, who is to be feared by the kings of the earth!" The knowledge of God is revealed to us in this victory of God for His people. Here we see a God of power, a God who is sovereign, a God who hears the prayers and cries of help from His

people. We are reminded that God not only dwells with His people, but He also fights for them and protects them like a majestic lion. If God is for us, who can arise against us? Calvin makes this comment here about this psalm. He says this, "The continual care of God in defending His Church which He has chosen is here celebrated to encourage the faithful, without any doubt or hesitation, to glory in His protection." This song is meant to encourage you, to strengthen you, to help you know God more

and more as you reflect upon His victory over His enemies. Now, this song is also to help us to glorify God. This is our second category, to glorify God. Another victory song in the Old Testament, very famous, Exodus 15:11 says this, "Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?" This is what marks Him out as being so different. He is a God with no rival.

He is majestic in holiness, awesome in His glorious deeds, doing wonders that no idol or earthly king can perform. And that's what the word in verse four is trying to capture, this word glorious. What does it mean to say that God is glorious? We say it all the time, but think about defining that. What does it mean when we say God is glorious? There's different words that can be translated into English as glory. The most common is the Hebrew word kavod, which carries this weight of being heavy.

It speaks to the intrinsic worth of something, the weightiness of something. So we say God is the most weighty being in the universe. Everyone falls flat before the weight of His presence. The word in verse four in our text is a different word, and it comes from the word light. It carries with it the idea of being resplendent or dazzling or spectacular. That's the idea. The words, even as I say them, probably helps you, or you can

think in your mind of the sun. We had a beautiful day today, no clouds, and you see the sun and what comes to mind except for the same idea, spectacular, dazzling, resplendent. Think about the sun with me for a moment. The sun measures 865,000 miles in its diameter, which is roughly 109 times the size of the Earth. Its mass contains roughly 99% of the entire mass of our solar system. It sits about 93 million miles away from the Earth.

At the interior of the sun, scientists estimate that it's roughly 27 million degrees Fahrenheit, and it basically functions like a giant nuclear reactor. It's continually converting hydrogen into helium and then releasing all of that energy, which then spreads throughout the solar system. The gravity of the sun is so massive that it holds every planet, every asteroid, every piece of debris into a stable orbit. So it's fitting for us to say that the sun is glorious.

The sun is resplendent. It's 93 million miles away, and yet you can only stare at it for a brief second without damaging your eyes. I actually tried that on the way in today. I thought, "Let's see how long I can stare at the sun." Didn't last very long. It's so far away, and yet its effects are so close. This massive thing that sits there gives life to all things. Its mass holds all the planets together. Its rays can shimmer off the lake but also paint the sky with orange and

red and purple. The sun is magnificent, and yet it's only a metaphor for the glory and majesty of the God who created it out of the mere utterance of His sovereign decree. That's why we can say, along with the catechism, God is infinite in His glory and perfection. He is infinitely greater than the sun. Notice with me in our text how the psalmist can speak of God's glory. We've already seen this with verse three and verses five and six.

God's glory is seen in His power as He vanquishes the mightiest armies of the earth with a simple rebuke. It's just a word. Verse eight, God's glory is felt as the earth snaps to attention with reverent silence when He reveals His justice. From the heavens, it says, "You uttered judgment; the earth feared and was still." It's the Hebrew word that means quiet. Everything goes quiet before Him. Romans 3 tells us, "We know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are

under the law," why? "So that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world be held accountable to God." When we see judgment described in Revelation, and you see these seals of judgment that are opened, you come to the seventh seal, and we're told there was silence in heaven for half an hour.

That was five seconds. It felt longer than that, right? Silence communicates something. Here we see the noise of Earth going silent. All the mocking of the kings, like Sennacherib, goes silent in an instant before the glory of God's justice. And then in verse 10, look with me at verse 10. We'll camp out here for a little bit longer. God's glory is revealed as He turns the wrath of man into a means for His own praise. "Surely the wrath of man shall praise

you; the remnant of wrath you will put on like a belt." This is one of the unique aspects of God's glory. It's what undergirds our prayers when we ask God to be at work in the midst of evil. When we ask him to turn the evil and wicked schemes of men into outcomes that will ultimately bring him glory. This is what differentiates him from all other beings and conceptions of the divine, that God alone can put on the remnant of wrath as a belt

and turn it to the praise of his own glory. Here we encounter a God who is absolutely free and good in his sovereignty. You think of the argument in Romans chapter 9, where Paul says, referencing the accounts of Pharaoh, for scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose, I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." And then the argument goes on to say this, "What

if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to

make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory." You see the absolute sovereignty and power of God over all things. All evil, including the wrath of man itself, is what makes him uniquely glorious and weighty. It's what makes him so different from all the other powers and authorities. The God of glory is the reason that Hezekiah could pray, "Save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, O Lord,

are God." And what is it that they have come to know? They have come to know that God is infinitely glorious. He is not one to be trifled with. Here's what a commentator, William Plumer, said about this passage. He said, "The psalmist says that God is over and above all earthly dynasties, however exalted and terrible. Their glory fills a little part of this world. His fills heaven and earth. Their glory is derived and finite.

His is infinite and underived. Their glory is fading. His is eternal. Their excellence may come to naught in a moment. His is unchangeable." And what we see here in our passage is the glory of God is what demands and also elicits our response. So look at verse 11. We're told there, "Make your vows to the Lord your God and perform them. Let all around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared." Friends, this here is worship. Worship, as John Piper has said, is a

way of gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of his worth. We worship God because of his glory, and as we worship him, we are simply reflecting back to him the value of his own worth. Piper says this, "If we do not gladly reflect God's glory in worship, we will nevertheless reflect the glory of his justice in our own condemnation." And that's exactly what we see here in this psalm. Notice the difference between the remnant of wrath, which is in verse 10, praising

God in spite of their evil intentions, and the humble of the earth, verse 9, who are gladly singing the entirety of this psalm in worship to the God of all grace. Notice how it's the humble of the earth in verse nine, who worship God in verse 11 with reverential fear, bringing their gifts to him as a glad offering. But the stout-hearted of verse five stand in fearful dread, verse seven, as they stand before him in judgment.

Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused? We know the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And so if you know God's saving grace, if your eyes have been opened to see him for who he truly is, if you have this fear of God before your eyes, then verse 11, "Make vows to the Lord and perform them and bring gifts to him who is to be feared." So we ought to pledge our loyalty to this king. But notice it's not a bare confession.

You can't just say, "Christ is King," and then live however you want. No, you make your vow and you perform it. You live by it. You offer your body as a living sacrifice, not being conformed to this world, but being transformed by the renewing of your mind. To use the language of Revelation 4, we cast our crowns before him and we sing along with the redeemed a new song. Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and

power.

Knowing God and glorifying God go hand in hand. Our confession informs our living. Or to say it another way, our living adorns and conforms to our confession. So as we wrap all of this up, in closing, let me ask you this one question. Is this psalm, Psalm 76, is this your victory song? Is this your song? If the knowledge of God and the glory of God is revealed to us in the victories of God for his people, then the greatest

display of this victory, this victory of God for his people, is the cross of Christ. We see in the Old Testament God defeating Pharaoh at the Red Sea, and we see here from this psalm where God defeats the Assyrians at the walls of Jerusalem. But we know that he defeated our arch nemesis, sin and Satan himself, in the cross of Christ. Colossians 1, "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and has transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we

have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." And so consider with me one more time this psalm from the lens of the cross. In Judah, in the city of Jerusalem, on Mount Zion, God is truly known because there in the cross, he broke the flashing arrows of sin. There he established eternal peace. There in the cross, Satan and all his minions were stripped of their spoil. There in the cross, he disarmed the rulers and authorities and

put them to open shame. And there in the cross, the greatest demonstration of the wrath of man, hostility against the Son of God himself, was turned into praise as the Son of God received divine judgment and was raised in resurrection power to save the humble of the earth. So friends, is this your victory song? Has God shown in your heart to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ? If so, by faith, then the cross of Christ is your victory.

It's my victory. And so like this psalm, like this song is telling us, let us make our vow of faith unto the Lord. Let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for we know our God is a consuming fire. He is to be feared by kings and by all peoples of the earth. Join me as I pray.

Oh Lord, we thank you that you reveal yourself to us in the greatest rescue of all, in the cross of Christ. And so, oh Lord, beyond all praising, we thank you for the victory that is ours in Christ. We thank you and we praise you for being the Lion of Judah who has devoured our enemies of sin and death. We thank you that you have established your dwelling among us, that we might truly know you. And so I pray tonight that you would give all of us greater measures of grace,

greater capacity to marvel at your beauty and glory in your ways, and that we might offer to you our sacrifices of praise. Help us to sing and help us to rejoice of your glorious victory on our behalf. And we pray in Christ's name. Amen.