¹The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many islands be glad. ¹²Be glad in the Lord, you righteous ones, and give thanks to His holy name.

Themes repeat throughout the psalms—this is understandable when one considers the common themes of life and the consistent need for calling us to overcome the fallen world and embrace our purpose for existing. Many layers, arranged in different ways, reveal both the complexity and cohesiveness of life. No event or relationship stands alone; everything has a backstory, influenced by innumerable events, difficulties, pains, and disappointments, as well as celebrations, joys, pleasures, and times of well-being.

In the Psalms, repetition that is sometimes precisely the same and at other times subtly divergent and modified provides a fuller entry into God’s mind and the heart of godly people seeking Him. As one commentator summarizes, Psalm 97 “is composed, as mosaic-work, out of the earlier original passages of Davidic and Asaphic Psalms and of the prophets, more especially of Isaiah, and is entirely an expression of the religious consciousness which resulted from the Exile” (Keil & Delitzsch, Vol. 5, p. 626).

God’s truth is not isolated to propositional statements as in the book of Romans and the other NT epistles. Nor is the Lord’s communication confined to didactic forms, such as the wisdom literature of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the book of James. The Psalms bring God’s truth in the form of prayer and song, whose truth can be discovered only in precious time spent contemplating the expressive verse in poetic form and its effusive emotion.

The three main themes of Psalm 97, found throughout the Bible, are followed here in sequential order: God sovereignly reigns over all creation (vss. 1-6), God invokes our allegiance to Him as the only deity (vss. 7-9), and, in response, we are called to hate evil and be glad in the Lord (vss. 10-12).

Overriding the questions of this psalm is whether it speaks of God’s ever-present rule or the future complete and perfect reign of Christ at the consummation of all God’s work and purposes in creation. Our answer is “both.” God has always been and always will be in control; His sovereignty is never abated. This psalm pulls back the curtain for us to see God as He is now, which we comprehend by faith (2 Cor. 5:7), and the coming time when faith will no longer be required, but we will see Him in all His sovereign glory (1 John 3:2, Rev. 1:7). What a great anticipation this is!

The psalm begins with an all-encompassing statement, “The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice….” And it ends with, “Be glad in the Lord, you righteous ones, and give thanks to His holy name” (vs. 12). It is all about God! Our purpose and focus is to enjoy Him (as expressed in rejoicing and being glad) with gratitude. The story of the Bible is not simply about salvation from the fallen world, but that salvation returns us to the original purpose for which we were created—to enjoy God! The Westminster Confession rightly captures this when it asserts, “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy Him forever.”

Verses 1-6 describe God’s sovereign reign in the imagery of natural phenomena. The “islands” are personified as being glad. God’s throne is pictured as surrounded by clouds and thick darkness, and foundational to His reign are “righteousness and justice” (vs. 2). He is not capricious. Of course, anything He does is righteous, for He defines this trait; it is not a principle that stands apart from or above God. Yet, this truth resonates with our sense of righteousness because the sense of what is right or wrong is part of our spiritual DNA, inherent to being created in His image. So we can be glad that His character aligns with what we, as created beings, intuitively know.

God’s sovereignty can be seen in the destructive power of fire and lightning (vss. 3-4), earthquakes which can cause mountains to shake (vs. 5). In all these things, the psalmist concludes that, “The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples have seen His glory.” This reminds us of what the apostle Paul wrote much later,

… that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (Rom. 1:19–20)

Verses 7-9 raise the only possible implication of God’s sovereignty concerning humans. We should be single-mindedly devoted to worshiping Him, who is revealed as the Lord, Yahweh of Israel. To give our worship to human-devised, imagined deities is shameful. Such false gods, if such did exist, are subject to the sovereignty of the true God. Of course, there are no gods other than Yahweh, but they live in the minds of humans, and therefore, we need to subject our minds to the sovereignty of the true God. There simply is nothing greater than “…the Lord Most High over all the earth,” who is “exalted far above all gods” (vs. 9).

“I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images. (Isa. 42:8)

“Before Me there was no god formed, and there will be none after Me.” (Isa. 43:10b, also 44:6,45:5-6, 18, 22, 46:9, 47:10)

The final theme follows from God’s sovereignty and our worship of Him; we should altogether reject evil and embrace righteousness. This principle of righteousness frames our behavior as created beings who reflect God’s character. The natural corollary is to “hate evil” (vs. 10). The dichotomy is the supreme choice of creation: either love God or love evil. There is existentially no in-between these two options. Those who choose to worship God not only accept the Lord’s authority over their lives but also fully embrace God’s righteous reign to the point of severely eschewing evil.

Of course, at least for now, we exist in the down-to-earth reality of life, and we don’t immediately act in complete righteousness or love for God. But the seed is there and germinating: “Light is sown like seed for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart.” Devotion to God grows and blossoms. So that while we may not love and worship God perfectly, the desire is there and growing, and in this, we can be glad and thankful (vs. 12).

Lord, I am so grateful that You created me; I humbly bow my heart in worship before You with the seed of righteousness that acknowledges and resonates with Your perfect righteousness. I enjoy glorifying You and look forward to doing this for eternity.