Sunday School 3-12-06 Psalm 104(1-13)
Psalm 104:1 Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
Song of Praise
Our lesson today is pure and simple praise. I think it would be a good exercise for Christians every once in a while to take a pen and paper to write down their deepest feelings about what God has done for them. The words would be different as our experiences are different, but the overriding thought would be the same. God is good to us and gives us all better than we deserve. This is the reason David could say “Bless the Lord, Oh my soul.” David recognized the goodness, greatness, honor, and majesty of God. This is a healthy view of God. Some today disparage God with such phrases as the “man upstairs” or the “big guy” or other such foolish talk. God deserves our worship and honor. He is much too Holy and majestic to be trifled with; we must honor His name. Some think cursing is the only way to take God’s name in vain, but the word vain means emptiness, without honor or respect. To call God “the man upstairs” is to take His name in vain. It is empty of the glory God deserves.
104:2 Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:
Creator
Modern man likes to believe this universe is an accident; a big bang gone horribly right, but that is a foolish idea. God designed this universe and all the universes for His purposes and to encompass His creation. Think of the majesty of David’s words; God robes Himself in light. Remember clothing is one way we relate our personality to others. Who is light? John 1:4-5 “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 1:5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” The Bible says Jesus is the light of the world. God shows His personality to us through the light He is clothed with: His son, Jesus Christ.
104:3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:
The majesty of God
This verse means God lives among the rain clouds and His chariots are made of clouds. He walks upon the force of the wind. God is all powerful. He created the universe for His pleasure. He is not limited by earthly laws of physics. He is magnificent and wonderful. I am firmly convinced of one thing; when we finally get to see God in our new bodies; we will be amazed at how glorious and powerful He is. No matter how much we admire Him now, we have no idea of His true glory. That knowledge is too high for our mortal and sin-infected minds.
104:4 Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:
Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a
flame of fire:
(from Gill’s New Testament Commentary)
This cannot be understood of the wind and lightning, and of God's making these
his messengers and ministers to do his will; for such a sense is not suitable
to the scope of the psalm, from whence they are taken, nor to the order of the
words in which they stand; for it is not said he makes spirits, or winds, his
angels, and flaming fire his ministers, but the reverse; and is contrary to
the design of the apostle in citing them, which is to show the superiority of
Christ to angels, of whom it is said, that they are made spirits: they are
"spirits", created ones, and so differ from God the Creator: they are
incorporeal ones, and so differ from men; they are immaterial, and so die not;
they are spiritual substances subsisting in themselves: and they are "made"
such by God the Father, and by the Son the Lord Jesus Christ, within the six
days of the creation, and all at once; for it is not to be supposed that the
Lord is daily making them; and this proves the Son to be God, as well as more
excellent than the angels; unless this is to be understood of the daily
disposal of them in providence, in causing winds, thunder, lightning, and the
like. Some choose to supply the word with "as", and read, who
maketh his angels as winds; for invisibility,
velocity, power, and penetration: "and his ministers as a flame of fire"; and
these are the same with the angels, for they are ministers to God; they attend
his presence; are ready to perform any service for him; they sing his praise,
and are his chariots in which he rides: and they are ministers to Christ; they
attended at his incarnation: were solicitous for his preservation, ministered
to him in distress, assisted at his resurrection, and accompanied him in his
ascension, and will be with him at his second coming: and they are as a flame
of fire, so called from their great power, force, and swiftness; and from
their burning love, and flaming zeal, hence named seraphim; and because they
are sometimes the executioners of God's wrath, and will descend in flaming
fire, when Christ shall be revealed from heaven: angels sometimes appear in
fiery forms; the chariots and horses of fire, by which Elijah was carried up
to heaven, were no other than angels, in such forms.
Angels That the Bible is speaking of angels is without a doubt. The Psalmist is referring to the ability of God to create angels with magnificent bearings. When you think of the angelic visitations recorded in the Bible, their very appearance frightened those who they encountered. Their magnificence caused human beings to tremble with inferiority. If you think they are wonderful, wait until you get a peak of Jesus in His glorified body. He truly will “outshine the sun.”
104:5 Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.
The creation
The earth sits right where God has commanded it to sit. It is the exact distance from the sun to sustain life. I have read if the earth was 1 degree farther from the sun, we would all freeze. If it was 1 degree closer, we would roast. The rotation of the earth and the orbit it maintains are exactly what is necessary for human existence. The moon is perfect in size and orbit to maintain the current of our oceans. God set all of this in motion and commanded it to stay there, actually Our Lord and Saviour is the one responsible. Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul concerning the creation activity of Jesus: Colossians 1:16 “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”
104:6 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains. 104:7 At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. 104:8 They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them.104:9 Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.
The separation of the water from the dry land
David was not an evolutionist. He did not believe in the big bang theory. Let me show where his ideas came from. Genesis 1:9-10 “And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 1:10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.” David believed God created the heavens and the earth and that God divided the dry land from the sea. I believe it also. I also believe the sea is commanded by God as to where it flows. It is bounded by the command of God and goes no farther than He allows. Job 38:8-11 “Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? 38:9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it, 38:10 And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, 38:11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?”
104:10 He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills. 104:11 They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst. 104:12 By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches. 104:13 He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.
The blessings of God upon the animal kingdom
God not only provides His mercies to men and women, He provides for the animals He has created. Their habitat and their needs are matched together to sustain life. He puts water when they need it. He provides their food where they can obtain it. He matches their needs to what is available in their area. Consider of the imagination of God! He didn’t have to create such a vast array of wild life for us to enjoy. He could have made only 1 type of bird, but He didn’t; He created birds of all shapes and colors for our enjoyment. He could have created only one type of great cat to live in the wild , but He created the majestic lion, the swift cheetah, the beautiful leopard and jaguar, and the awesome tiger. God didn’t have to create an elephant, but aren’t you glad he did. The rhino, the gazelle, the giant tortoise, the giraffe, the fearful snakes, and all the other forms of beasts which co-habit this planet with us, were all made for our benefit. When I think of how wonderful this earth is it makes me wonder how glorious heaven will be. I think God has things in store for His people which we cannot comprehend until we reach that land. What a wonderful God we serve!
New Living Translation (to be used as a commentary only)
Psalm 104:1
Praise the Lord, I tell myself; Lord my God, how great you are! You are robed with honor and with majesty; 2 you are dressed in a robe of light. You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens;3 you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds. You make the clouds your chariots; you ride upon the wings of the wind. 4 The winds are your messengers; flames of fire are your servants.5 You placed the world on its foundation so it would never be moved.6 You clothed the earth with floods of water, water that covered even the mountains.7 At the sound of your rebuke, the water fled; at the sound of your thunder, it fled away.8 Mountains rose and valleys sank to the levels you decreed. 9 Then you set a firm boundary for the seas, so they would never again cover the earth.10 You make the springs pour water into ravines, so streams gush down from the mountains.11 They provide water for all the animals, and the wild donkeys quench their thirst. 12 The birds nest beside the streams and sing among the branches of the trees.13 You send rain on the mountains from your heavenly home, and you fill the earth with the fruit of your labor.
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