There is some outrageously grandiose thinking in the Psalms. Judah in the eighth to fifth centuries bc was a small and usually insignificant nation among a group of such small nations, all hemmed in and controlled by vast empires. But the people of Judah, at their best and most faithful times, figured that their god was the one God of all the universe and of all nations and their gods. And because gods had their nations and nations their gods, and the king of the nation of Judah was therefore called the “son” of that God above all other gods, then Judah’s king was the king above all the other kings of all the earth (Psalm 2).
Given the political realities of the times, the “is” was understood as “ought to be,” which then became thought of as “will be some day.” Because the God worshiped in Jerusalem is above all other gods, he will be the center of all worship and his enemies will be defeated. But the future was so certain that it could be spoken of as if it were present:
The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice;
let the many coastlands be glad!
Fire goes before him
and burns up his adversaries all around.
His lightnings light up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.
Zion hears and is glad,
and the daughters of Judah rejoice,
because of your judgments, O Lord.
For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods. (Psalm 97:1, 3–5, 8–9)
This interplay of “is,” “ought to be,” and “will be” continued on even while it never was evidenced in the world of political reality. And for those who identify Jesus, a small-town carpenter and teacher, as the son of God / king, “is,” “ought to be,” and “will be” shapes their understanding of all the universe and their place in it. “At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him” (Hebrews 2:8), but we join those who, all the way back to when Solomon’s temple was in Jerusalem, looked forward to the unmistakable completion of God’s sovereignty.
- Bible quotations here are from the English Standard Version (2011).
- These posts on the Psalms are in aid of the reading of the Psalms—one a day through the first five months of 2022—by members, attenders, friends, et al. of Together Church, Wyoming, MI.
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