A Study in Psalms - Psalm 29

Welcome back to another night of Summer of Psalms. And before we look at Psalm 29 tonight, I want to talk a little bit about Bible translations. And I want to know, I'll ask you a question.

How many here use the New American Standard Bible version? Raise your hand. Probably the majority because that's what Lance uses, right? So if Lance uses it. How many use the ESV? I use ESV now.

Okay. A few. Okay.

Do we have any old King James or new King James people here? Okay. All right. Do we have any NIV people here? One, two.

Still got some NIV people. Okay. Well, I grew up with the NIV.

And that's the one I memorized all my Psalms, and that's the one I memorized all my Bible verses because it's actually the fourth most popular translation, I think, in history. But my dad was preaching on Psalms. I think it was Psalms 46, the few times he preached.

When he preached here, he would always preach on Psalms. But he brings up, he says, in the NIV, it says this, and he says, My son, Bruce, uses the NIV, which is the never-inspired version. And I'm sitting there going, Ouch.

My dad didn't do a lot of humor, but he got me pretty good on that one. But if that wasn't bad enough, in 2002, Christ Community Church came to India, and Greg Stevenson led the missions trip. And as soon as they got to India, they came into my house.

Greg Stevenson handed me a gift, and it was an NASB Bible. And he said, On behalf of the elders of Christ Community Church, here is your new Bible. Emphasis on new Bible, meaning stop using the NIV.

But then John MacArthur, they came out with the MacArthur Study Bible, and it was only in New King James at first, remember? Now you can get it in almost any translation. But when it was in New King James, so I started using New King James. And then I migrated to the NASB because Lance was using the NASB.

And then I finally went to the ESV. But tonight we're going to do something a little different. We're going to put a psalm on the board.

Have you heard about the LSB Bible, the Legacy Standard Bible? Anybody heard about that Bible? It's from the Master's Seminary, so you know it's going to be a very good translation. And NASB, ESV, New King James, ESV are all excellent, pretty much word-for-word translations. The NIV is not.

It's a paraphrase, so I'll talk about one verse tonight where the NIV really got it wrong. But this new translation is from the Master's Seminary, so I know it's a good translation. Now I'm not trying to sell it to you because they don't have the Old Testament yet.

They only have the New Testament in Psalms and Proverbs. Dean, you have it, right? So if you want to look at it, go see Dean afterwards there, okay? She has it. She has the New Testament in Psalms and Proverbs.

So they'll get the Old Testament soon, and then you can buy it. But Master's Seminary, I appreciate them because they care about Bible translation, not just in English, any translation, but they want the Bible translators around the world to know the Greek, the Hebrew. So I really appreciate what they're doing.

But this new translation, LSB, just a couple of things that they've done different. In the New Testament, we have the word bondservant or servant, and MacArthur says no, it should be slave. He wrote a book called Slave, right? Because servants can quit, right? But slaves can't quit.

We're a slave to Jesus Christ. So they've changed that word. But then the big one in the Old Testament is the name capital L-O-R-D.

English Jehovah has been changed to Yahweh, okay? That's the big change. So thousands upon thousands of times when they finish the rest of the Old Testament, you're going to see this word Yahweh. So I thought tonight we would read it in the LSB on board.

So could you read out loud with me together if we read this Psalm, please? And thanks, Don, for changing it. Psalm 29, a Psalm of David. Let's read it together.

Ascribe to Yahweh, O sons of the mighty. Ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength. Ascribe to Yahweh the glory of his name.

Worship Yahweh in the splendor of holiness. The voice of Yahweh is upon the waters. The God of glory thunders.

Yahweh is over many waters. The voice of Yahweh is powerful. The voice of Yahweh is full of splendor.

The voice of Yahweh breaks the cedars. Indeed, Yahweh breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf and Suriyan like a young wild ox.

The voice of Yahweh hues out flames of fire. The voice of Yahweh causes the wilderness to tremble. Yahweh causes the wilderness of Kadesh to tremble.

The voice of Yahweh makes the deer to calve and strips the forest bare. And in his temple, everything says glory. Yahweh sat enthroned over the flood.

Indeed, Yahweh sits as king forever. Yahweh will give his strength to his people. Yahweh will bless his people with peace.

When I read that, it almost makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Yahweh, Yahweh, Yahweh. It says Yahweh there 18 times.

It says Yahweh in every verse except, I think, verse 6. Verses 1 to 5, it has Yahweh. And then verses 7 to 11, it has Yahweh. It also says the voice of the Lord 7 times.

It says glory 4 times. One commentator said, "Repetition is the primary literary device used in Psalm 29. It effectively builds excitement and intensity as the reader, along with the poet, is caught in the midst of the shattering, pyrotechnic display of rattling thunderstorm with repeated flashes of lightning and near-splitting thunder."

So, I love the fact that that Bible says Yahweh in the Old Testament. And what I like to do in my Bible is, every time I see the name of God, I like to change it from the English to the Hebrew. So I thought, when we looked at Psalm 16, we looked at Jesus all through the Psalms, I thought tonight we would look at the name of God in the Psalms.

So, we don't need to turn here. You see it 18 times in Psalm 29, but that's the name Yahweh, or Lord, capital L-O-R-D in your English Bibles, or we used to translate it Jehovah. It was first used in Genesis 2-4, and in the Old Testament, it occurs 6,519 times.

In Psalms, as you see here, I looked, and I think it's 18 times in Psalms 29, and the Psalm that has Yahweh mentioned the most is actually Psalm 118, where it's mentioned 22 times. So, the main name for God in the Old Testament and Psalms is Yahweh. Now, turn to Psalms, you're in Psalms 29, just go back to Psalms 27.

Psalms 27, verse 9, I'm going to flip around to about 8 or 9 verses in Psalms, if you could follow me. And Psalms 27, verse 9 says, "Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger. You have been my help. Do not abandon me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation."

Now, the name God there is Elohim. That's the second most common name for God in the Psalms and the Old Testament.

It occurs over 2,000 times. It's the first name of God in the Bible, Genesis 1, 1, "in the beginning, God," or Elohim, "created the heavens and the earth." And I think in Genesis 1, it's used something like 31 times.

Go to Psalms 2, Psalms 2, verse 4. We already talked about this name in Psalms 8, but in Psalms 2, verse 4, it says, "He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord," now notice small L-O-R-D, "holds them in derision." That's the name of Adonai.

It means Lord, it means master. And that's quite common in the Psalms and in the Old Testament. Go to Psalms 57, Psalms 57, Psalms 57, verse 2, it says, "I will cry to God Most High," that's the name El-Elyon, El-Elyon.

And that's another name for God that we have in the Psalms. And then we don't even need to turn to this one. You all know the most famous Psalm.

I hope you all know it. Psalm 23, right? "The Lord is my shepherd." Is that how it starts? That's the name Jehovah-Rah-ah, or Rah-ah, I don't know if I can pronounce it correctly.

"The Lord is my shepherd." It means friend or companion. So you have Jehovah-Rah is the fifth name of God in Psalms.

Then Psalms 24, Psalms 24, which is, we'll look at later in relation to Psalm 29. Psalms 24, verse 10, the last verse in Psalms 24 says, "Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory."

"Lord of hosts" is Jehovah-Sabaoth, or Sabaoth, "the Lord of hosts," or "the Lord of powers." He's the King of glory. So Jehovah-Sabaoth is the sixth name of God in the Psalms.

Now go all the way to Psalms 136. This is the only place in the Bible this name of God is. And we're going to look at this Psalm, but not for, I think, four or five weeks.

Psalms 136 is that chorus where 26 times it says, "His steadfast love endures forever." But look at the last verse. Psalms 136, verse 26 says, "Give thanks to the God of heaven."

That is El Hashmaiyamin, if I can say it right. "God of heaven," El Hashmaiyamin. Only here in Psalms 136, verse 26, in the entire Old Testament.

God is the supreme deity. He alone is the God of heaven. And then go to Psalm 91, Psalm 91.

Probably know this one. I remember Jack Graham preaching a message on Psalm 91 in this very pulpit. And, you know, Jack Graham was a sheriff, and so you dial.

When you're in trouble, what do you do? You dial 911. When you're a Christian in trouble, you dial Psalm 91. And Psalms 91 says, "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty."

That's El Shaddai. You probably know that song from the musical, right? The song, right? It means God Almighty, God the Most Powerful. And so when you ever have problems or doubts, go to Psalm 91, dial 911.

And then look at Psalm, just go back to Psalm 90, one Psalm before it. Psalm 90, verse 2, "Before the mountains were brought forth, or you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God." That is the name of El Olam, the everlasting God, the God of eternity, the God of the universe, the God of ancient days.

And then we mentioned a couple weeks ago when Jesus was on the cross, the last saying of Jesus was, "Into your hands, Father, I commit my spirit." And Jesus is quoting Psalm 31, verse 5. Psalm 31, verse 5 says, "Into your hand I commit my spirit. You have redeemed me, O Lord, the faithful God."

That is El Emet, El Emet. That is another name of God. It means the God of truth, the God of truth.

And then one last one I found in Psalms, go to Psalm 68. Psalm 68, verse 20. And this one is only in Psalms, only in the Old Testament, only one place in the whole Bible.

Psalm 68, verse 20 says, "Our God is a God of salvation, and to God the Lord belongs deliverance from death." Now this is El Mosh-ah, El Mosh-ah, God of salvation, or the God that deliver, only here in the Bible. So I thought I'd give you at least 11 names for our wonderful God in the Old Testament and in Psalms.

Now there are others in the Old Testament, but I'm only looking for the ones in Psalms. Okay, so let's look at Psalm, let me pray and then we'll get into Psalm 29.

Father, your name is great, it is glorious, it is holy, and I pray that tonight we can understand more of your great name, more of your holiness as we look at Psalm 29. Open our eyes, that we can see wonderful things in this Psalm. Teach us about you and what we are to do when we leave here tonight. In Jesus' name, Amen.

We have looked at a Lament Psalm, Psalm 3, we've looked at a Praise Psalm, Psalm 8, we've looked at a Messianic Psalm, Psalm 16, and last week we looked at Psalm 20, we called that a Royal Psalm. Now tonight, some commentators would call this an Enthronement Psalm. An Enthronement Psalm, like Psalms 24, Psalms 29, Psalms 47, Psalms 93, Psalms 95, all the way to 99.

They celebrate the Enthronement of the King in Ancient Israel, so they call them Royal, they're kind of related to last week's Psalms, Royal Psalms or Enthronement Psalms. I would agree though with other commentators who would simply call this a Praise Psalm. Because this entire Psalm, you might have to look at it again, there's no petitions, there's no imprecatory prayers, there's just, it's all praise.

This Psalm does not call us to do anything else but praise God. So you might look at it as an Enthronement Psalm, but I would prefer to call it a Praise Psalm. One of the great pastors of the last century, Dr. Harry Ironside, says this about Psalm 29.

He says it is probably the finest poem in the Bible and one of the loveliest I have ever seen. Bill Barrick, the former professor at Master's Seminary says, "Psalms 29 should cause us to realize our understanding of God as our friend and shepherd has too often deteriorated into God being a buddy relationship. We need to realize who God truly is as the Creator, the Holy One, and the Almighty God.

It is time to be overwhelmed by the power of His presence so that we shout, Glory! May Psalm 29 drive us to our knees before the Most High God." And J.I. Packard in Knowing God says that our lack of the sense of the majesty of God is one key reason why our faith is so weak and why our worship is so shabby. We don't have a God big enough to solve our problems.

We don't have a God who is worthy of time and effort to expend time in prayer and praise and adoration. We have a God that we have remade in our image instead of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who reigns in supremacy over the universe. Our view of God has suffered from our failure to capture a sense of His majesty.

I don't know about you but when I read Psalm 29 and I'm not using L-O-R-D capital, but when I hear Yahweh, it makes the hair in my back of my neck stand up and you know the Jews won't even say that word but we get to say it, don't we? Yahweh, Yahweh. And it helps us to capture a sense of the majesty of God.

So Psalm 29 has a superscription, very simple one, it just says a Psalm of David. And I mentioned last week we are in Book 1 we'll eventually get out of Book 1. There are 5 hymn books in Psalms, 150 Psalms, but 5 hymn books. But this one David wrote at least 37 of the 41 Psalms. Only Psalm 1, 2, 10, and 33 in Book 1 are not inscribed to David.

In this Psalm it appears that David sees an awesome electrical storm that moves across the land of Israel. He interpreted it as a theophany, an appearance of God, and he was so moved that he wrote this Psalm. Probably wrote when he was young, when he was a shepherd boy when he was out in the fields like Psalm 23. In the Old Testament a theophany was often accompanied by phenomena like thunder, lightning, dark clouds, fire, earthquakes. We won't turn there but if you look at Exodus 19 when Moses is going up to Mount Sinai the people are just terrified because God comes down and there's lightning, there's thunder, there are dark clouds and that is a theophany on Mount Sinai.

James Boyce says that the early church, commentators tell us in the early church this Psalm was often read to children or an entire congregation during storms. Now we live in pretty secure houses right but imagine being in a thatched roof hut or a tin roof hut or you know when the storms come this Psalm can help calm the nerves of our children.

Okay we have three points tonight. Point one: the call to praise, verses 1 and 2. Point two: the cause for praise, verses 3 to 9. And point three: the conclusion for us, verses 10 to 11. So the call to praise, the cause for praise, and the conclusion for us.

In point one, the call to praise verses 1 and 2, David is going to be so overwhelmed when he sees this magnificent thunderstorm that he's going to summon angels to praise God. It's not enough to praise him on earth alone. He's demanding the angels to worship the Lord in heaven because the worship on earth wasn't adequate. And in verses 1 and 2 these angels are going to do two things. Verse 1 they're going to worship, angels are going to worship God's strength. And in verse 2 angels are going to worship his splendor.

Let's look at verse 1. He says "ascribe to the Lord O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength." So this Psalm begins with two appeals, a calling for angels to ascribe or give glory to God. He calls out the heavenly beings. So we know those translations, some translations say almighty ones. This refers to holy angels who are most familiar with God's glory because all they pretty much do 24 hours a day is praise and worship God, right? So these angels are called to ascribe glory to God and he uses the name Yahweh.

Why does David call upon angels to praise God? Well I mentioned he's overwhelmed and he needs help to praise God properly. So he uses his name Yahweh 18 times as I mentioned in 11 verses. And this as I mentioned is the most common, most significant name of God in the Old Testament. It has three meanings. It means God the active, the self existent one. It means God the eternal one. And it means Israel's redeemer. This name is associated with God's holiness, his hatred of sin, his gracious provision of redemption. The call to worship is to give God the praise that is fitting for his name and his nature. Everything about the nature of the Lord deserves praise. He says ascribe to God glory and strength.

Glory, John Piper trying to describe what glory is is difficult and John Piper describes it like this. He would use the example of the holiness of God. I think because God is in a class by himself, he is perfect and he's great and he's worthy. His perfection and his greatness and his worth are in such a distinct and separated category. We have been taught that the word holy means separate, that he's in a class by himself. He has infinite perfections, infinite greatness and infinite worth. So the angels are ascribing to God glory. They're also ascribing strength. We'll see this in verse 1. God has strength in verse 1, unlimited power, omnipotence. And then we'll see in verse 11 that we believers have some of that God's strength in verse 11. So you have strength in verse 1 and strength in verse 11.

Let's look at verse 2. The angels now are going to worship him in his splendor. Now in the Bible we have 66 books in the Bible and most books have what we call a theme verse. For example, Proverbs 1:7 is the theme verse in Proverbs, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge fools despise wisdom and instruction." Mark 10:45 is the theme verse of Mark "for the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many." 2nd Timothy 3:15 would be the key theme verse in Timothy. I could go through all the books of the Bible and give you a theme verse.

Psalms 29 verse 2 is the theme verse for the entire book of Psalms, of the 150 chapters and the 2461 verses in Psalms, because it says "ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness." That's why I beg you to read one Psalm a day. It will transform your life, but it will also change your worship. It will give you peace. It will give you strength. But it will also help you to ascribe to God the glory that is due his name and it will help you worship him in the splendor of holiness.

You know I mentioned when we talk about Psalms 8 when I see storms like this one in Psalms 29 when I see the mountains, the oceans, the rivers, the waterfall, you know I see the hand of God in nature but I also see the wonderful creation and despite sin in the world it's still beautiful isn't it? It causes me to say, I mentioned in Psalms 8 verse 1, "O Lord our Lord O Yahweh our Adonai how majestic is your name in all the earth you have set your glory above the heavens." It causes me to say Psalm 19:1 "the heavens declare the glory of God the skies proclaim the work of his hands." When I see storms or nature or beautiful things it causes you to quote these Psalms and to ascribe to God glory. That's what the angels do, that's what we need to do.

You know in David's day though and even today a lot of people didn't worship the creator. Next to David were the Canaanites before, they'd conquered them but many commentators when you study Psalms 29 they would make note that the storm starts in Canaanite territory and the Canaanites had false gods. One of them was Yam Y-A-M, the sea god. The storm starts over the sea. And of course you heard about Baal. Elisha and the prophets they were calling out to Baal. Baal is a storm god. Baal is the god who controlled the rain and fertility. But David knows that Yahweh the God of Israel is the only true God. All the other gods are false. And so these angels are worshiping and ascribing glory to God because God will not share his glory with idols. God will not share his glory with all the other false religions of the world. Isaiah 42:8 says, "I am the Lord that is my name my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols."

So they're ascribing glory to him. Three times it says ascribe, ascribe, ascribe. That means acknowledging his supreme worth with our minds. So three times it says ascribe then it says worship, which means we bow down to him, we surrender our will to him. And then it says worship the splendor of his holiness. The commentators here would have us look back to the Old Testament priestly office. You know the Old Testament priests before they would go do the service of tabernacle, they would purify themselves and they would put on white garments, which signified holiness or purity. Also in Revelation 4 verse 4 the 24 elders, which is going to be the church, and it's going to be us, we're going to be wearing white robes, white garments and they are clothed in white garments signifying purity and holiness. But here in Psalms 29 these angels are clothed in holiness because they're holy angels, they're separated from sin.

And it reminds us that you can't worship, you can't give glory to God when you're living in sin. God won't hear your prayers. God won't accept your worship. Psalms 96:9 says "worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness tremble before Him all the earth." God wants His name, God wants His glory to be declared among all the world and it will be someday. You know I won't take time tonight to turn to Isaiah chapter 6 but you're familiar with Isaiah chapter 6 when Isaiah gets a vision of God in the temple and there are two seraphim, two high ranking angels and they are circling in the temple and they are saying "holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of His glory."

So what angels do naturally we have to learn to do don't we? If the God of glory is to make its proper impact on us if we're to worship God properly that's why I say one way is to read a Psalm a day and you can pray through that Psalm, you can meditate through that Psalm and when you see verses like Psalm 29 and you see what we're going to look at next, Psalms 3 to 9, you have to stop, you have to ascribe God the glory.

I remember in 2006 Pastor Greg Stevenson came to, we had been kicked out of India Ping and I and so we were looking at Laos Thailand and Cambodia and we're actually in Cambodia and we're in a hotel and we're on the 8th floor and a lot of the hotels they have the restaurant on the top and there was this powerful electrical storm that you could just see and you've all seen electrical storms right? The lightning and it was just incredible but Greg and I were sitting there quoting Psalms 8, Psalms 19 and Psalms 29. It makes you ascribe glory to God when you see thunderstorms. That's what happened to David, that's what happens to us.

Let's look at point 2, the cause for praise, the cause for praise verses 3 to 9. Now here in Psalm 29 David is describing a mighty thunderstorm. It begins over the waters of the Mediterranean Sea and then it's going to sweep down the whole length of Palestine. It's going to continue over the mountains of Lebanon and Syrian which is Mount Hermon and it's going to snap a lot of trees just like toothpicks. The storm is not being driven by God's anger but by his majestic power. Finally the storm passes out of sight into the deserts of Kadesh.

In this Psalm we see the glory of God revealed in an awesome thunderstorm. It's going to go 3 places. Number 1 over the sea, that's verses 3 to 4. Over Lebanon, that's verses 5 to 6. And over the wilderness, that's verses 7 to 9.

So first off, over the sea. The first time it says the voice of the Lord, 7 times it says the voice of the Lord. "The God of glory thunders, the Lord over many waters." The storm begins in the Mediterranean Sea where storms in Israel would often begin and we have the first time it says the voice of the Lord mentioned 7 times and this is thunder, this is powerful thunder. In big thunderstorms it's almost we used to say that God is bowling when we hear the thunder but in big thunderstorms it's as if God is speaking. It can often fill us with fear can it? And here we see how God uses the forces of nature to demonstrate His power, His majesty, His greatness in comparison to us. In Psalm 29 storm David sees God's power in the thunderstorm.

Remember Exodus in Exodus we saw God's power as God controlled the Red Sea and made the water stand upright and Israel walked through the dry land. In Mark 4:35 Jesus quieted the storm in Galilee. He just said quiet and immediately nature obeyed. So God has control over nature all through the Bible.

Here in verse 3 though I mentioned over the waters probably refers to the Mediterranean Sea where the storm starts. Then the second time it says "the voice of the Lord is powerful the voice of the Lord is full of majesty." Power means mighty or strength. Full of majesty means it's grand, it's overpowering. And I hope you have seen an overpowering storm sometime from a distance. Have you ever do what I do? I do this in San Dimas sometimes when the lightning strikes you count 1, 2, 3 and then boom right? Do you do that? And then you keep doing that and then finally you'll do one and then boom and it's like right over your house and the ceiling thunders and your house shakes. So we shake and we tremble in fear. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

So the storm goes from over the sea and over many waters then it goes over Lebanon verses 5 and 6. So the 4th time we have that says "the voice of the Lord breaks the cedars the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon." So the storm is going to move south, go through Lebanon and Sirion and we know Sirion is Mount Hermon from Deuteronomy 3:9 because Deuteronomy 3:9 says the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion. So Sirion is Mount Hermon.

Now this storm is going to pass over the mighty mountain ranges that are up to 10,000 feet elevation in Lebanon and here the psalm is just like the storm is skipping over Lebanon and it's going through the great forests of cedar trees. In 1 Kings 4:33 Solomon talks about the cedars of Lebanon. One of the most famous natural resources of Lebanon was their cedar trees but here it says 2 times breaks the cedars, breaks the cedars. This storm is so powerful it's snapping the trees like toothpicks and making the mountains tremble.

I can't remember what exact year it was but I think it was sometime around 2012 or 13 but I'd gone up north to visit relatives and then Ping and I took a road trip and we went down highway 395 to come home usually you go up 395 but there's a place called the Devil's Postpile. Anybody ever been there? The Devil's Postpile. One or two people. It's worth going. It's a national monument and they have these strange rocks that are all stacked up like toothpicks but you have to park your car and take a bus, a national park bus in. But I think this was the year after it happened but in 2001 there was a storm, a wind storm and they clocked the winds at 180 miles per hour and it's estimated that it wiped out 10,000 trees.

So we're going to the Devil's Postpile and I've just seen nothing but entire mountainsides of trees that have just been snapped off. So that reminded me of Psalm 29. So the Devil's Postpile was okay but I was more in awe of seeing entire hillsides, entire valleys, estimated 10,000 trees fell. I think they've cut them up now and moved them but it reminded me the power of the storm to break the cedars can break any tree.

He then says that he, God, makes Lebanon skip like a calf and Sirion like a young wild ox. The calf and the ox may be strong animals but at the voice of God they skipped or one commentator calls them silly calves because they're brought low. And it's interesting that he mentions Lebanon because Isaiah 2 it says the cedars of Lebanon. Isaiah 2 verses 12 and 13 says the cedars of Lebanon were a symbol of pride. Lebanon was proud of their cedars but in an instant God can destroy the entire forest. God can bring the pride of nations low. And in that text of Isaiah 2 it's a prophecy of the day of the Lord when God is going to judge Lebanon and one of the characteristics is him wiping out Lebanon's trees.

Let's move on. The storm has gone from over the waters to over Lebanon and now it's going to go over the wilderness verses 7 to 9. So for the fifth time now it says "the voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire." So we know here that verse 7 describes the flashes of lightning that accompany the thunder. And I mentioned again and again one of the greatest demonstrations of nature is when you watch a lightning storm from afar. It's just mesmerizing, it's powerful.

Then the sixth time it says "the voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh." So finally this storm goes south to the desert of Kadesh. Kadesh is where the children of Israel spent a lot of time wandering for those 38, 40 years with Moses. That's where the storm will eventually stop. The thought here is that the voice of the Lord is like an earthquake shaking the desert. So we've got thunder, we've got lightning, we've got earthquake with mountains shaking, trees being snapped.

And then we come to this verse here that says "the voice of the Lord" the last time, the seventh time it says "the voice of the Lord makes" I know what you're looking carefully what your translation says "the voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forest bare." Now a couple of you still have the NIV so does your NIV might say "the voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forest bare" unless they've changed that. My original NIV still says twist the oaks. That is a bad translation. They did not like this the true translation which says "the voice of the Lord makes the deer calve" because they didn't think making the deer calve and strips the forest bare go together so they changed it to twist the oaks and strips the forest bare. But that's actually a change to the Hebrew text and a bad translation. One of the bad ways that I wouldn't recommend the NIV too much. But the true translation is "the Lord makes the deer give birth."

And the thought here is that the deer are so afraid because of this thunderstorm that they give birth, they give birth to their calves early out of fear, trembling. So they're calving. And there's some truth to that because in Job 39 verse 1 when God is asking Job all those questions remember, he asked God, God asked Job 75 questions, where were you when I formed the earth, where were you when the lightning went. And in Job 39:1 God says to Job "do you observe the calving of the does" the deers. So there's nothing unusual about the translation in this verse even though it does sound a little different because you're talking about deer and then you talk about the forest. So the deer are afraid and they give birth to their babies prematurely in fear.

And finally we come to the climax, the final sentence in verse 9. "And in his temple all cry glory." Four times it says glory in this psalm but this is the only time it's in capital. This is the only time they're shouting it out, they're crying it out, glory. That's all they can say. That's all they have to say right? The climax to the seven thunders of the Lord. The only proper response the angels can give is glory. Glory appears in verse 3 at the beginning of this great proclamation of God's voice and here it occurs at the end, verse 9, of this great proclamation of God's voice. In verse 1 angels were crying glory and now all the people of the earth who witnessed the storm are all crying glory. The praise that began in heaven is echoed by the people of God who've seen his glory.

I mentioned a little bit about glory. What John Piper says glory summarizes divine attributes of God. It's a word for the display of God's divine majesty in the world. There's another psalm just a few psalms before this, Psalms 24 verses 7 to 10. Psalms 24 is all about the king of glory and verses 7 it says "lift up your heads O gates" that's a metaphor about the gates of Jerusalem "be lifted up O ancient doors that the king of glory may come in who is this king of glory the Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in battle lift up your heads O gates and lift them up O ancient doors that the king of glory may come in who is this king of glory the Lord of hosts he is the king of glory" God. Five times it says king of glory there. That's what the angels cry out and that's what we should cry out.

Let's look at the conclusion, point three, the conclusion for us in verses 10 and 11. Verse 10 is an interesting verse because it says "the Lord sits enthroned over the flood the Lord sits enthroned as king forever." So David goes from this awesome thunderstorm that he witnessed in verses 3 to 9 to talking about the greatest storm ever in the history of the world, the great flood in Genesis. How do we know that? Well every Jew reading Psalm 29 would know David is speaking about the great flood or Noah's flood.

Now I'm not a Hebrew expert but I'm told that there are 10 Hebrew words for flood and the word here is only used here and Genesis chapter 6 to 11 about Noah's flood. So we know that David is talking about Noah's flood and all Jews would know. And that was the greatest flood, the greatest storm ever. The first time it rained God opened up the foundations of the earth and water came out. We know it rained for 40 days. Yet like David's thunderstorm God was in complete control from beginning to end. A couple other Psalms that refer to Noah's great flood, Psalm 74, Psalms 104.

Not only does it talk about the great flood it says that the king sits enthroned as king forever. We mentioned the omnipotence, the power and strength of God. Here we have the eternality of God. He's not going anywhere. He's going to sit on this throne forever and ever from the great flood that happened thousands of years ago, now the storms now, and into the future. He is king forever and he is in complete control of all things. Colossians 1:16 to 17 says "for by him all things were created in heaven and earth visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authority all things were created through him and for him and he is before all things and in him he holds all things together." God is in complete control of nature. God is in complete control of all things.

So the storm has passed that David saw but God remains enthroned as king of the universe. The earth was shaken, the people were shaken, but God was not shaken. He remains calmly in control as ever. And here there's an interesting point that Henry Morris, who is very good on creation but he also has a very good book on the Psalms, he makes a point that in verse 10 David's talking about the great flood and in Psalms 29 you have seven times "the voice of the Lord the voice of the Lord the voice of the Lord" but in Genesis chapter 6 to chapter 9 God speaks to Noah seven times. God speaks and God said to Noah, God spoke to Noah, God spoke to Noah. So in the middle of the greatest storm that ever occurred, Noah's flood, when the earth was destroyed by water, in the middle of judgment God gave peace, God gave grace to Noah and eight people in his family.

But here in Psalm 29 we have the voice of the Lord seven times and the only other place I can find in the Bible where it says seven thunders is in Revelation chapter 10. Revelation chapter 10 I won't read it, I won't have you go there, but three times it says in Revelation 10 a mighty angel came out from heaven and it's not Jesus, it's another angel and it says he's wrapped in a cloud with a rainbow over his head, his face was like the sun, his legs like pillars of fire. He had a little scroll open in his hand and he set his right foot on the sea, his left foot on the land and he called out in a loud voice like a roaring lion and when he called out the seven thunders sounded.

Then it says "and when the seven thunders had sounded I" meaning John "was about to write but I heard a voice from heaven saying seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down." We don't know what the seven thunders are. We don't know what it says because God says write it up and then eventually John was told to eat that scroll. But we know that in Psalm 29 David hears the seven times the seven thunders and the seven thunders are going to sound again someday in the great tribulation. In the midst of again, Noah's flood was the greatest judgment but when we get to the great tribulation it'll again be another great judgment. In the middle of great judgment the seven thunders are going to sound.

But I don't have to worry and I don't think you have to worry if you have Jesus Christ in your heart tonight. Psalms 29 began with two verses angels praising God in heaven. Then in verses 3 to 9 we see the power of God in nature. And now we come to the last verse Psalm 29 verse 11 and it shows us two things that God gives us that we have Jesus Christ. We don't need to fear the storm that David saw. We don't need to fear the storm that the seven thunders will echo again in the tribulation because we'll be in heaven. But while we're still on earth God gives us two things in verse 11. Number one he gives us strength and then he gives us peace. And I think it's a wonderful way to end this psalm.

He says "may the Lord give strength to his people." So the mention of the flood then would make Jews back then and us today think of judgment, the Noah's flood judgment. And then this storm, when I mentioned revelation, the storm of judgment coming in the great tribulation. But as believers I'm not worried because I know that we'll be raptured and taken to heaven before that great day of the Lord and the tribulation that comes. Our future home is in heaven but while we wait for Christ's return we're going to have some storms but the Holy Spirit gives us strength and the Holy Spirit gives us peace.

I mentioned in verse 1 it mentioned God's strength. That's the omnipotence of God. That's one of the attributes of God. We see this clearly defined and we'll look at Psalm 139 in the future, the omnipotence of God. God has omnipotence but like God has love because God is love. Christians we love because God has power, we have power. And the Holy Spirit gives us this strength. The Holy Spirit gives us strength each day.

Romans 1:11 Paul longed to go see the Romans and he says in Romans 1:11 "for I long to see you that I may impart some spiritual gift" and why does Paul say I want to give you a spiritual gift? He says "to strengthen you." That's why we each have a spiritual gift. That's why you come to church on Sunday. That's why you serve. That's why use your spiritual gift. It strengthens you. So if you're out there and you're not serving, you're not, you're just coming, sitting, you're not using your spiritual gift and you're not being strengthened. You have to unwrap that spiritual gift.

Last Wednesday I don't know about tonight there's no parking lot attendance for security. We need more people to serve not just parking lot, maybe nursery, maybe Sunday school, youth, wherever. Just get involved and use your spiritual gift because what it does, it strengthens you. Philippians 4:13 you all know this verse right? "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." That's a verse we say a lot when we're going through trouble.

And one verse that's really personal for me is 2nd Corinthians 12 verses 9 and 10. This is kind of like my theme verse. A couple years ago when you know we get tested, sometimes most days it's really easy but there are days when it's hard. There are days when it's tough and you know I don't want to complain and I remembered what Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 12:9 and 10 so I made this my theme verse. Each year I have a theme verse and this was my theme verse. But he said to me "my grace is sufficient for you my power is made perfect in weakness." Paul was asking God take away these thorns, take away these thorns. Three times Paul says to God can you take away these thorns? And God says no, my grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness. God says to Paul I want you weak.

And then Paul says "therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest on me for the sake of Christ then when I am content with weaknesses insults hardships persecutions and calamities for when I'm weak then I am strong." God gives us strength to get through the trials. God gives us strength to get through the troubles, the persecution, the hardships.

Not only does God give us strength daily, number two and the last sentence in this psalm, he gives us peace. This beautiful psalm ends with "may the Lord bless his people with peace." This last sentence is personal application for us. The same omnipotent God who controlled the awesome storm that David saw, the God who upholds all things, the God who can strengthen us, he has amazing power to protect us, to defend us, and to save us from danger.

Remember what the angels are saying in Luke 2 verse 14 when the shepherds went to see baby Jesus? "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased." God gives us strength. God gives us peace. You know David while watching the thunderstorm he knew that he had peace and we know that we should have strength and peace.

The conclusion for us is if you have Jesus Christ in your heart this psalm tells us we have strength and peace. But for nonbelievers they're going to have judgment and the seven thunders are warning to them. But if you have Jesus Christ in your heart tonight Romans 5:1 says "therefore since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" because Jesus Christ has taken away your sins.