And we’ll begin our reading of the Word tonight with our New Testament reading, which is found in the Book of Revelation. And the reading will begin in chapter 21 at verse 22, and it will go on into chapter 22, the final chapter, through verse 5. Revelation 21, 22, through 22, 5. Listen to this. This is the very Word of God. And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it.
For the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. And its gates will never be shut by day, and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. but nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, through the middle of the street of the city. Also on either side of the river, the tree of life, with its 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
And for our Old Testament reading and the text for tonight’s message, we go to Psalm 46, where we also read of a city with a river in it. No doubt the psalmist was seeing a very early A vision from the Lord his God of the same thing John saw in his vision in the book of Revelation. So let’s give careful attention now to the 46th Psalm. To the choir master of the sons of Korah, according to Alamoth, a song. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea. Though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter. He utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Come behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots with fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.
The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. And that’s the reading of God’s word. Let’s ask Him to bless it to us now. Heavenly Father, as we come to the Scriptures and to the preaching of the Word, Lord, we pray that we would hear the voice of our Savior speaking through the Word and through the ministry of it. Glorify Your Son and build us up in our faith. Thank You that You are our fortress and that You are with us. Be with us now, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Now, of course, this psalm was the basis for Martin Luther’s hymn, Mighty Fortress is Our God, which we’re going to close the service with. So we’ll kind of have sung Psalm 46 twice in a way. But this psalm apparently was Luther’s favourite.
In fact, I recently read that there are times when when Luther and all the things that he was doing as a, as a reformer, all the all the stresses and difficulties and dangers even that he faced in his life and in his ministry. There were times when he became very discouraged, felt overwhelmed. And oftentimes when he was feeling discouraged and overwhelmed, he would take up this psalm and sing it. I even read of an occasion where he, on more than one occasion as he’s collaborating with his fellow reformer, Philip Melanchthon, he’d say, Brother Philip, let’s sing Psalm 46. And as they sang the psalm, it was used by God to stir up their courage and strengthen them to continue on.
Now, it’s It’s normal and expected and inappropriate when we when we come to a passage of scripture to try as best we can to determine what the original context was and what the circumstances were perhaps that that led to the pending of any given psalm or passage. But in the case of this psalm, as is the case with so many of them, we just don’t know. And there have been hypotheses about what conflict or what event prompted the original writing of Psalm 46.
There’s a couple of major events in the Old Testament history that are proposed. For instance, when the multiple kingdoms came against Israel, and God mightily delivered them, or the incident when in the days of Hezekiah, Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, laid siege to Jerusalem. We just don’t know. And it’s not really important that we know. If it were important that we know, God would have revealed it. And that’s a reminder to us.
But one author writing about this and discussing the whole question of, well, what was the original context, made this statement. He said, whatever its origin, like so many Psalms, its verses overflow the banks of a limited historical rescue and point to something grander, a salvation that is cosmic in its scale. In other words, that rescue and that salvation that’s achieved and accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ for all of us and for all of Christ’s elect. So we can take this psalm, most importantly, in that context and read it with reference to that. There’s also this statement, in the introduction, in the heading, which of course is part of inspired scripture, those words that precede verse one, to the choir master of the songs of Korah. And then you have this little phrase, according to Alamoth, We have no idea what Alamoth is.
It might have been a hymn tune. And the direction is then to sing this psalm to that tune. But actually, more likely, if you compare it with First Chronicles 1520, where some directions and arrangements that were made for musical service to God in the temple, or at the tabernacle, names of various Levitical priestly musicians are listed and the different things that they did in their musical service to the Lord are listed. And in verse 20 of First Chronicles 15, it says, among other the names, it says Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play harps according to Alamoth.
That’s the only other place that term or that expression occurs in the whole Old Testament. And in the context, my inclination is to think it might have to do with a style in which they were to play, but again, we just don’t know. And again, it’s not important for us to know. I just thought I’d mention that in case you’re wondering, well, what is Alamoth?
But what is important for us to know and what we can see as we come to God’s Word and study this Psalm together is that Psalm 46, as it’s been described by one commentator, is a manifesto on what Christ means to us in times of trouble. a manifesto on what Christ means to us when we are faced with turmoil, when we’re even facing danger.
And this psalm is comfort for our souls, comfort for all of his people, because it teaches us that Christ is present to protect, strengthen, and help all of his people. That’s one of the reasons, that’s probably the reason why this is such a beloved psalm. The reason why it was Luther’s favorite. Because it taught him, just as it teaches us, that Christ is present to protect, strengthen, and help all of his people. And these are the three points that we’ll consider tonight under that general theme.
First of all, Christ is present with us. There’s scarcely a more important truth that we can derive from this psalm than that. Christ is present with us. He promised before he ascended to be with the Father, that he’d be with us always, even to the end of the earth, even to the end of the age. And this psalm assures us of the same. Christ is present with us. Secondly, Christ protects us. And then finally, Christ strengthens and helps us. That’s what we see in this psalm.
So, let’s first of all consider this great truth, this comforting truth that Christ is present with us. Psalm 46 is strongly infused with what we sometimes call the Emmanuel principle, this grand reality that God is with us. not merely in the sense that God is omnipresent, and so He’s everywhere, so yes, of course, He’s with us, but that He is with us in a covenantal way, that He’s with us in a redemptive way. He’s with us to protect and to strengthen and to help.
God’s covenantal promises all center on this very theme, the presence of God among His people, in their midst, His presence with them, because from Early on, from the beginning, God promised his people that he would be in the midst of them, that he would dwell with them.
And that had manifestations in the Old Testament, through the tabernacle, through the people taking possession of the land and God saying, I’ll be with you there. It had manifestations when the temple was erected, And it has fulfillment, of course, in that passage that we read from Revelation. God said he would be in the midst of his people. The essence of his love for his people and his care for them and his drawing them to himself was that he would be among them.
And again, that’s depicted by the tabernacle because when the Israelites were moving through the wilderness, each time they would stop someplace and they’d pitch their tents and they’d encamp at whatever place the Lord told them to stop and encamp, they would camp in these four groups. And in the very middle of these four would be the tabernacle, a visual depiction of the fact that all the hosts of Israel were gathered here, they were encamped in the wilderness, and right in the midst of them was the Lord their God, in his tabernacle, in his dwelling place. And so in that sense, as every single time the Levites would set up the tent and they’d put the ark and they’d put the table of the showbread and put the altar of incense and the lampstand and all the other furnishings of the tabernacle and the court, as they set those things up, it was as if God was pitching his tent with his people. He was camping out with them. And he was right in the middle, of course.
And God often, throughout the history of redemption, gave assurance to his people that he was with them. You remember when God first called Moses, commanded him to go and speak to Pharaoh and tell him, let my people go. And Moses was, he felt suited, he felt insufficient for the job, and he kept protesting in different ways, and God tells him again and again, but I’ll be with you. He said the same thing to Joshua. He promised Joshua and the people of Israel as they were getting ready to go into the land, I will be with you. And he said to Joshua multiple times, just as I was with Moses, I will be with you. And that’s what he said to the people of Israel as they went into the land.
And Jesus is our Emmanuel. And so we read in Isaiah 7, 14, that great prophecy that we all know and that we hear every year in December. The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and she’ll call his name Emmanuel. which is then quoted by Matthew in his gospel, when the angel appeared to Joseph and said, your wife is going to conceive in her womb, she’s gonna bear a son, you shall call his name Emmanuel. And then he goes on to clarify that that man, the text goes on to clarify that that means God with us, the presence of God in the midst of his people. So Jesus then fulfills everything that was symbolized by the tabernacle, everything that was symbolized by the temple.
So when we read in John’s gospel, chapter one, verse 14, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. That word that’s always translated in our English Bibles, dwelt among us, is really a word that means he pitched his tent with us. He tabernacled with us. And if you look in Psalm 46, there in the end of verse four, the holy habitation of the Most High, that word translated habitation by our ESV translators actually means to pitch a tent. It’s the word for tabernacle.
And so this Emmanuel principle is on full display in Psalm 46, verse one says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help, very present help. God reassures his people that he’s with them. And that Emmanuel principles even brought through in the idea of the city of God. Again, that’s why we read from Revelation, the passage that we did, because it speaks of God’s holy city, the New Jerusalem, which you see in shadow form here in Psalm 46, but the psalm speaks of the city of God. And it says that God is in the midst of it. And so the psalmist says not once, but twice, the Lord of hosts is with us. That’s intended to comfort us. It’s intended to assure us.
So all the hope and the trust that God’s people in the Old Testament placed in him as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are fulfilled and realized in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the one who was with the people in the wilderness. Meditate on that sometimes. When you imagine, when you read about the Israelites wandering those 40 years in the wilderness, even as they came out of the land of Egypt, but as they wandered, and as they went into the land, we know God was with them. God was speaking to them through his prophet Moses. But that was Christ.
Jesus was the one who was with the people in the wilderness. 1 Corinthians 10, 4 says, of them, that wilderness generation, they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Christ was present with his people in the wilderness, and Christ is present with us now. Well, secondly, not only is Christ present with us, but Christ protects us.
Psalm 46 proclaims God as his people’s refuge. Again, you have that image of the city of God and his holy habitation. I think the image that’s intended there is not just an unwalled village, but a mighty fortress city. And that theme is woven through the covenant of grace, God as his people’s refuge. God as his people’s shield, especially the idea of God as a shield, it runs all through the history of redemption.
Going all the way back to Abraham, when God appeared to Abraham in Genesis 15, it wasn’t his first appearance to him, but when he revisited Abraham, spoke to him on another occasion, The words out of God’s mouth at first are, fear not, Abram, I am your shield.
Because God protected him. God protects us. That imagery of the shield appears frequently in the Psalms, going all the way back to Psalm 3, verse 3, where the psalmist says, but you, O Lord, are a shield about me. Psalm 5, verse 12 says, you bless the righteous, O Lord, you cover him with favor as with a shield. We could go on and on. Tried to count up the references to God as shield in the Psalms. There are many. It occurs again and again. Psalm 46 is not one of those. You don’t see that word occur in the Psalm we’re looking at tonight. But the same idea is very, very prominent.
God as refuge, God as fortress, or this immovable, as the text describes it, city of God. And that word that occurs in both verse seven and verse 11, the God of Jacob is our fortress. The word there is intended to depict a high, place of refuge, a secure height, or as one translator said, it could be put, an inaccessibly high place. God sets us on high in a place of security.
So, all these things point to that. They point to security. They point to safety. And Christ, our God, is the one who protects us, you see. His protection is mighty. His protection is trustworthy. And because it is, the psalmist can say in verse one or verse two, therefore, we will not fear. We will not fear because this God protects us. He’s our fortress. He sets us on high.
The Psalm speaks of courage and confidence, even in the midst of cataclysm. Look what it says. I mean, have you thought about what this is really saying? We will not fear that the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine trusting in God and not being afraid if that were going on right now? But that’s what Psalm 46 says to us. Courage, confidence in the midst of cataclysm. Courage and confidence even in the midst of the raging of nations.
Look with me again at verse 6. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter. That idea of nations raging reminds me maybe you too of Psalm 2. Why do the nations rage? But they do. It won’t last forever, but they do rage. Kingdoms totter. We’re seeing it in our very day.
But although the nations may rage, and they may even rage and rail, and they do rage and rail against God himself, God is able to silence them. So you’ve got this imagery, for instance, in verse three, about the waters roaring and foaming. And it depicts, you know, a tumultuous seascape scene in our minds, but so often waters, especially waters in that context represent the world, they represent the people of the world. So when the scriptures speak about many nations, excuse me, many, many waters, often the imagery that it’s conveying or the symbolism that it’s conveying is the multitudes of the world.
And so in that sense, when the Lord Jesus did tabernacle among us and walk on the earth and got into a boat and went out and was so tired, he was asleep in the stern of the boat while it was being tossed by this violent, violent storm. And his disciples were afraid. They woke him up and he spoke to the waters, said, peace, be still. And there was a great calm. That’s what God ultimately does with the nations of the world, too. He calms the raging of the nations.
So, trust. Trust in the Lord’s protection is the refrain of Psalm 46. You see the exact same words in verse 7 and in verse 11. It’s a song. The heading of the psalm says so. So, you can imagine singing a couple of verses and then a chorus. Verse 7, another verse, and then a chorus occurs once more at the end.
It’s set up just like that, like songs we know. all to teach us that Christ protects us. Well, then finally, Christ is present with us. He protects us. And thirdly, Christ strengthens and helps us. God is our refuge and strength, very present help in trouble. He strengthens us and He helps. So, Christ God as our refuge and strength is another promise to God’s people.
Isaiah 41.10, fear not, for I am with you. There’s his presence. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. So there in Isaiah, just as you have in Psalm 46, you’ve got the presence of the Lord promised to you. You’ve got his strength and his help promised to you.
And it’s Christ who strengthens us, which is why the apostle could write, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Christ has always been the one who strengthens his people. And again, direct your attention to verse one. God is a very present help. As we pick that verse apart, we can see the assurance of His presence. He’s present with us. He’s not just present, He’s very present. But in His presence with us, He is our help, you see.
And He provides help according to present need. So, I think of Hebrews Chapter four, verse 16. In this admonition to pray, to draw near to God in prayer, the writer says, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And one of the things that that verse impresses upon us is that God gives help according to the need of the day.
He gives you help for what you’re facing now. Not what you might face in a week or in a year. You don’t need that now. What you need is grace to help in the time of the present need. Which is why in one of our beloved hymns, we sing about how God gives strength for today, bright hope for tomorrow. Part of that bright hope is that tomorrow, the needs of that day, he’ll give help for that. But right now he gives you help for the needs of the moment.
And then in Hebrews 13, 6, the writer says, we can confidently say the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? Christ strengthens us and helps us. And verse five tells us that God is in the midst of his people and he will help them. God will help when morning dawns. That’s part of the whole reason for the Emmanuel principle. God comes to be in the midst of his people and to be a help to them, to support them.
The earth may give way. Mountains may be moved into the heart of the sea. The waters may roar and foam. But even if the earth gives way, the city of God will not. See how that wording is parallel there? We will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved. But when he speaks of the holy city, says she shall not be moved. and final victory of God over his enemies and over our enemies.
Final victory is certain. Look with me at verse 10. This is the Lord speaking. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. It’s possible, it’s very legitimate to translate that. I am exalted among the nations. I am exalted. in the earth. But there’s certainly that forward-looking aspect, because we don’t see all things put under Christ’s feet yet, do we? But we will.
And you’ve got a couple of different images of water in this Psalm 2. Verse 3, you’ve got the imagery of the raging seas. In verse 4, you’ve got this river in the city of God, which, as I’ve said, I think represents the same thing that John saw when when he was given the vision of the new Jerusalem. It’s a peaceful flowing river full of God’s mercy.
And both of those speak of Christ because Christ is both the victor over the chaotic waters of the nations, but he’s also the giver of living water. And so, we can be sure that He will have victory. His victory is assured for us also, again, in that refrain in this Psalm, verses 7 and verse 11. because when it speaks of God, it describes him as the Lord of hosts.
Notice that you’ve got in verses seven and 11, Lord in all capital letters. And remember that that means that the Hebrew there is Yahweh, the name of God. And that’s always significant, but it’s especially significant here because we’re in book two of the Psalms and Yahweh isn’t used nearly as frequently in book two as it was in book one. Far and away more commonly, you see the Lord God being referred to as God, as opposed to the Lord or Yahweh. But here the name of God occurs in both of those verses. And he’s described in that familiar title, the Lord of hosts, Yahweh Sabaoth, God of armies, And when the scriptures call him the Lord of hosts, he’s being described as the Lord, the commanding officer, the supreme commander of invincible armies.
In verse nine, it says, he makes wars to cease. And it’s not just that he’s out there doing peace negotiations. God makes wars to cease because he crushes all of his enemies. He breaks the bow. He shatters the spear. He burns chariots with fire. He puts down all opposition. That’s how he makes wars to cease. He doesn’t bargain with his enemies. He destroys them. And this is the one, brothers and sisters, who strengthens us. This is the one who helps us, the one who protects us, the one who’s in our very midst.
And I hope you’ll take courage from this psalm in whatever anxiety you might be struggling with, in whatever fears you might be facing. Because the psalm says we can We can say, we will not fear, even though the earth, the very earth gives way. Now, whether the earth is actually giving way, or if it just sometimes to us, it seems as if it is, we need not fear, because Christ is our very present help. For most of this psalm, we’re being given information, we’re being told things about God and who He is and what He does.
But there are a couple of imperatives later on in the psalm. Commands, we might call them. They occur in verses 8 and 10. And those imperatives show us how we ought to respond to the truths that are proclaimed for us in Psalm 46. First of all, verse 8 says, which means we’re being called to consider, to contemplate, to meditate upon God’s works. And the way each of us can apply that in our own lives is we can think back and remember past deliverances that we’ve experienced, what He’s done for us in the past, because He’s been good to you, hasn’t He? He’s been faithful. He’s delivered you on many occasions.
Think on those things. Behold the works of the Lord. Meditate. on times that you’ve known His presence. Because I know that if you’re walking with Him, you’ve had experiences where you tangibly felt the presence of God with you in your soul, because He was there for you in difficult times, and He ministered to you through His Spirit, and you knew it. Remember those things. Remember those times you’ve been strengthened by Him, those times when you’ve received help from the sanctuary.
And then in verse 10, there’s this exhortation, be still and know that I am God. We can take those as comforting words, but I think it has a twofold meaning. Twofold application and how you apply it depends on where you stand with Christ. For the Christian, the one who’s trusting in the Lord, the one who’s in Christ, Be still and know that I am God means you can calm yourself, you can trust in Him. It’s an encouragement to remember who He is and that because of who He is and because He’s present with you and because He strengthens and helps you, you can be strong and courageous. But the other side of that coin, we might say, the application for those who are unbelievers, Be still and know that I’m God is a completely different meaning, completely different application.
It’s God saying, you need to repent. It’s God saying, stop your raging. Be still, drop your weapons, stop your resistance. Surrender to the Lord of hosts because He’s going to be exalted. And so the admonition to unbelievers is, be reconciled to the Lord of hosts while there’s still time. Be reconciled to the Lord of hosts while you still can, before it’s too late.
So this beloved Psalm, this great Psalm, this favorite of Martin Luther’s, teaches us that Christ is with us. He’s with his church. He’s with us in the sense of the church as a whole. But these promises, these words are for each one of you, too. Christ is with each one of his lambs. You can each individually take comfort in these things, in the midst of any trial you encounter, in the midst of any trial you may be enduring, even now. And in the midst of whatever trials or conflicts or hardships you may be suffering, His grace will be sufficient for you.
Christ is present. He’s with you to protect, to strengthen, and to help you and all of His people. Let’s pray. Father in heaven, we thank you that you are our fortress and that you are with us. Thank you that this psalm assures us of it. Lord, strengthen our faith through these words. Thank you that you give them to us. Thank you that you lovingly assure us of your care, of your love, of your grace, and of the great salvation that we have in Christ our Savior. Now, Lord, as we sing our closing hymn, and as we go to our places and prepare for a new week, we pray that we go in the strength that you supply. We ask in Christ’s name. Amen. So, as advertised,