“In Judah God is known; His name is great in Israel. In Salem also is His tabernacle, and His dwelling place in Zion. There He broke the arrows of the bow, the shield and sword of battle”(vs1-3).
The Lord Jesus Christ, the Mighty God, rules and saves in the church, His dwelling place of Zion. He says, “In Judah God is known; His name is great in Israel. In Salem also is His tabernacle, and His dwelling place in Zion. There He broke the arrows of the bow, the shield and sword of battle”. He has a particular people, and truth believed reveals who we are. He doesn't save everyone, nor does He love us all the same: He has an elect, the sons of Jacob, and in the church, among this group of people, He shows Himself mighty in our salvation.
Don't get into the “God loves everyone” mentality, as if it doesn't matter if you're holy or what you think of Christ, so long as you're human... as if He owes you! This couldn't be further from truth. God is willing to save you and anyone else, calling us to Himself by the gospel, independent of who we are and what we've done... but He's only the Savior of His elect, the people that He chose, “As it is written, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated” (Rom 9:13). These “Jacob's” are the ones Christ died for, and these are whom the Spirit teaches. He is not a general god everywhere indiscriminately, but He is the God who dwells in truth, in Zion, in the Lord Jesus Christ, and among His people who actually know His name and believe. Concerning John the Baptist, it was written, “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people” (Luke 1:76-77). Men are saved by knowledge; He lets us know Who He is, we believe, and He is there in His presence.
Secondly, we are to reverence and worship Him, giving Him His due, as a great God and King. He's to be feared, instead of disregarded (vs4-7). He says, “At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse were cast into a dead sleep. You, Yourself, are to be feared; and who may stand in Your presence When once You are angry?” Modern man thinks fearing God is passe', as if it's something to be avoided, some relic of the unenlightened past, but this is wrong! The fear of God doesn't grow old and outdated; it is man's DECLINE that makes him “buddy, buddy” with God, that makes him think that sin isn't punished, and God doesn't have to be worshiped on His terms.
Don't be this familiar with God, so that you don't reverence Him, so that you prove by your arrogance that you know Him not! Leviticus 10:1-2 says, “Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord”. He is to be obeyed, held in the highest esteem, and worshiped on His terms. He isn't someone to push around and take for granted. He is to be trusted, honored, and loved from an appreciative heart that knows grace. Grace hasn't made us indifferent to God's commands or disrespectful to His character; grace makes us realize how wonderful He is to save us, and it makes us call upon Him for obedience and strength, rather than assume that He doesn't judge or doesn't care.
Finally, bless His name! God is no bully, picking on the weak, and He isn't a judge who is unjust in punishing those who suffer for His cause (vs8-12)! He says, “You caused judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared and was still, when God arose to judgment, to deliver all the oppressed of the earth”. The God who is to be feared loves and protects the afflicted, the spiritually helpless who depend upon Him for strength, and abide patiently under foes. We read, “They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them” (Rev 20:7-9).
God fights for us in judgment, rather than against. It will be misery for those outside of Christ, as He righteously punishes sin, but Judgment is NO fearful day to the believer; it is the day of rest and expectation, the day of hope, when all that we've suffered shall be repaid abundantly, and pain ceases, “when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe,because our testimony among you was believed” (2 Thess 1:10).
Therefore, strive to be holy in your conduct and to live for God's glory, fearing His name, even though you are hated for it; it will pay off eventually, because God deals with people differently: He saves the oppressed, who've leaned on Him, and He punishes the oppressors, who sought to turn His people by their words and deeds.
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