The LORD Our God is Holy | Psalm 99

During my college years, some friends introduced me to backpacking in the mountains of northern Colorado. All it took was a couple of trips, and summiting a couple “14-teeners” (14k foot mountains), and I began to fancy myself as somewhat of a budding mountaineer. I got the bug, and bought some gear, and read books about expeditions into world’s highest peaks. I fantasized about climbing Mt. Ranier in WA, or perhaps getting to see, at least, Mt. McKinley in Alaska.

Well now, in my late 60’s, my mountaineering days are done. Just summiting the peak of the roof of our house causes my stomach to crawl and my head to spin. But there is still something about mountains. There’s something about seeing mountains, being among mountains that stirs pleasure and praise. “Would you look at that! That is glorious!” Mountains do that. Not photos. Photos never do justice to the real thing. It’s like Cody Fry’s song, “Nobody’s heart ever pounded from that feeling of being surrounded by pictures of mountains.” No. It’s actually being surrounded by the mountains themselves, beholding their majesty that makes our hearts pound, stirs our affections, until we let out our praise.

 In Psalm 99, the psalmist takes us for a walk in the mountains. It’s a walk in the mountain peaks of God’s attributes. And God’s purpose, is to make our hearts pound with holy affections that give rise to holy expressions for all that He has revealed Himself to be for us. The main point of Ps. 99 is to show us that –

 True Worship is a Right Response to All that God has Revealed Himself to Be in His Holy Word

 The LORD reigns. Let the peoples tremble!

He sits enthroned upon the cherubim. Let the earth quake!

The LORD is great in Zion. He is exalted over all the peoples.

Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he!

The King in his might loves justice. You have established equity.

You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.

Exalt the LORD our God. Worship at his footstool! Holy is he!

 Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called upon his name. They called to the LORD, and he answered them. In the pillar of the cloud he spoke to them. They kept his testimonies and the statute that he gave them. O LORD our God, you answered them. You were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.

 Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy mountain. For the LORD our God is holy!

—Psalm 99

What is the right response to God and to all He has revealed Himself to be? According to Ps. 99 the right response is worship.

 Exalt the LORD our God. Worship at his footstool . . . Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy mountain.  

—Psalm 99:5, 9

 Now, a right response to all that God has revealed Himself to be does not come easily, especially in a world that demands so much of our time and attention. With lives full of work, full of cares, full of responsibilities – raising children, giving attention to aging parents, providing for our families, resolving problems, dealing with daily set-backs – how, O how does a human soul rise above it all to savor the greatness and sweetness of all God has revealed Himself to be? In a culture that says wrong is right and right is wrong, and then overwhelms us with wave after wave of lies and misinformation, how does a human soul feel that God reigns? How does a human soul believe that God loves justice and rightness? When sickness, or tragedy, or traumatic loss strike us personally, how can a human soul rest in the certainty of Lord’s goodness and wisdom? And, perhaps most significantly, as we honestly consider our own perpetual moral compromise and hypocrisy and smug self-righteousness, how is it that human souls come to love and long for the holiness of God? And to these questions, Ps. 99 says – “Take a walk in the mountains. Take a walk among the majestic peaks of God’s divine attributes. Gaze upon the highness of the Lord, and then worship at His feet.” For true worship is a right response to all that God has revealed Himself to be for His people in His Word.

Ps. 99 is part of a particular grouping of Psalms – beginning with Ps. 93 and continuing through Ps. 100. Each of these 8 psalms focus on God as King, and celebrate His rule and authority, and governance. The grand announcement, “The Lord reigns” is repeated in Ps. 93:1; 96:10; 97:1; and 99:1. God’s Kingship in and over the world – past, present, and future – is a reality our heavenly Father intends for us to never forget.

And God’s rule and reign are not limited in scope to any one particular nation. His authority and sovereign governance is asserted at all times over all nations and people groups.  

Let the peoples tremble . . . He is exalted over all the peoples.

—Psalm 99:1-2

Ps. 99 is a “call to worship.”

 Exalt the LORD our God. Worship at his footstool . . . Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy mountain.

—Psalm 99:5, 9

Ps. 99 is a call for a right and fitting response.

 The LORD is great . . . he is exalted over all the peoples. Let them praise your great and awesome name!

—Psalm 99:2-3

And Ps. 99 does not leave us with a vague sense of what a right response is. We are told that it’s heart-felt. It is an engagement of our affections.

The LORD reigns. Let the peoples tremble!

—Psalm 99:1

Those who respond rightly to God as He has revealed himself to be, do not need to be told to “sing it like you mean it.” They respond the way they do because they DO mean it. And they mean it because they FEEL it. In the same way that “Nobody’s heart ever pounded from that feeling of being surrounded by pictures of mountains,” no one who has ever beheld God ruling and reigning and seated on a throne of living, supernatural, and heavily armed and fiery angelic beings could help but tremble.

The word translated “worship” in v. 5 and v. 9 means to “turn toward to kiss.” It’s an intimate word. It’s an affectionate word. It is the natural expression of a heart-felt affection.

And notice this. What’s happening in Ps. 99 is so much like what happens in this meeting. Do you notice the multi-directional nature of the address from phrase to phrase. “He is exalted . . . Let them praise your name.” “The King loves justice . . . You have established equity.” “Exalt the Lord our God . . . O LORD our God, you answered them . . . You forgave them . . . Worship at his mountain.” Isn’t that how it works in a worship gathering? We’re constantly shifting the direction of our address from you, to us, to him, to YOU back to us, back to you, back to HIM. This is what we do. We gather together, pastors and people, to serve one another by re-orienting our attention and our affection in a God-ward direction. That’s because true worship is a right response to all that God has revealed himself to be in his Word and in Christ.

Now, let’s take a closer look at who God has revealed himself to be – his nature, his character, his deeds. Let’s take a walk in the mountains of God’s identity and attributes – starting with –

The LORD’s Holiness

It’s the starting point, if for no other reason, because it is referred to three times.

 Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he! . . . Exalt the LORD our God. Worship at his footstool! Holy is he . . . Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy mountain. For the LORD our God is holy!

—Psalm 99:3, 5, 9

The Hebrew language uses repetition to express superlatives or to indicate totality. Therefore, the meaning of repetition of “holy, holy, holy” is that “holiness is supremely true about God.” It is a super superlative. No other attribute, except holiness, is given the threefold repetition in relation to God. And it happens three times in the Bible. In Isaiah’s vision he saw and heard the hosts of heaven calling,

 Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory!

—Isaiah 6:3

In the apostle John’s vision of heaven, he saw and heard the hosts of heaven, and their never ending refrain,

 Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!

—Revelation 4:8

It’s remarkable, is it not, that the heavenly hosts do not repeat, “grace, grace, grace” or “love, love, love” or even “wrath, wrath, wrath.” Instead, holy, holy, holy. Why? Because “holy” is the sum of all of God’s attributes. What characterizes God, above all else, is his holiness. One eminent theologian calls God’s holiness, “the attribute of attributes.” His reign is a holy reign. His wisdom is a holy wisdom. His power is a holy power. His justice is a holy justice. His mercy is a holy mercy. Remove holiness and God’s wisdom is mere subtlety. Remove holiness and God’s justice is cruelty. Remove holiness and God’s reign is tyranny. Remove holiness and God’s mercy is simply pity.

The basic idea in holiness is that of separation. It emphasizes the great distance between God and humankind – not only morally, as in the difference between pure and polluted, but also in the realm of being. God has no beginning – but everything in creation does. And God’s holiness is revealed in his attitude towards good and evil, right and wrong. According to Ps. 99:4,

 The King in his might loves justice. You have established equity. You have executed justice and righteousness . . . Holy is he.

—Psalm 99:4-5

God’s hatred of sin is infinite. And nowhere is the holiness of God displayed more clearly than in the cross of Christ. Jesus’ death on the cross is the price God was willing to pay to have a holy people. The suffering endured by Christ provides the clearest of all demonstrations of our holy God's disposition toward both holiness and sin. One theologian writes,

 “Did ever sin appear so hateful to God as at the cross? To demonstrate God’s infinite holiness, and hatred of sin, he would have the most glorious and most excellent person in heaven and earth to suffer for it. He would have his own Son to die on a disgraceful cross, and be exposed to the terrible flames of divine wrath, rather than sin should live, and his holiness remain forever disparaged by the violations of his law.”

—Thomas Boston

What is a right response to God’s holiness? What’s your reaction to this word? Is its sound sweet and precious, or does it conjure images of a stern and inflexible God and a strict and joyless life? One theologian has written,

 “The modern church wants therapy not redemption, to be happy not holy, to feel good not be good, and to avoid pain not sin.”

—David Wells

So, what then, is a right response to God’s holiness? According to Ps. 99, “Exalt the LORD our God. Turn toward his face and kiss him. Holy is he!” Does that sound counter-intuitive? Listen to the words of one who could testify to the pleasure of a passionate desire for more of God and his holiness.

 “I felt then great satisfaction, as to my good state, but that did not content me. I had vehement longings of soul after God and Christ, and after more holiness, wherewith my heart seemed to be full, and ready to break . . . I often felt mourning and lamenting in my heart, that I had not turned to God sooner, that I might have had more time to grow in grace. The delights which I now felt in the things of God’s character, were of an exceeding different kind from those I had when a boy . . . Those former delights never reached the heart. And did not arise from any sight of the divine excellency of the things of God, or any taste of the soul-satisfying and life-giving good there is in them.”

—Jonathan Edwards

I confess. I often feel “vehement longings.” But they’re more often for the Vikings to crush the Packers, or to watch a good movie with my wife, or to catch a boat full of fish, or a whole lot of other comforts and conveniences I’m convinced I can’t live without. But how does the human soul come to strongly savor the sweetness of God’s white-hot holiness? It happens when we come to believe that there is soul-satisfying and life-giving good in it. Edwards continues,

 “Holiness appeared to me to be of a sweet, pleasant, charming, serene, calm nature, which brought an inexpressible purity, brightness, peacefulness and ravishment of soul. It made the soul like a field or garden of God . . . all pleasant, delightful, and undisturbed, enjoying a sweet calm, and the gently, life-giving beams of the sun . . . my heart panted for this.”

—Jonathan Edwards

God’s holiness forbids us from taking him casually. He’s not our little buddy. A right response includes reverence and respect. But more than anything, a right response includes hungering and thirsting and desiring, by faith, to be nearer to God and more conformed to the image of His Son. Holy is he.

A second towering mountain peak of truth about God is -

The LORD’s Governance

We call it God’s providence. We call it God’s sovereignty. We understand it as God’s authority. The psalmist simply says,

The LORD reigns.

—Psalm 99:1

He is enthroned. He is high and exalted over and above all peoples and all nations. And he is actively working all things out according to the purpose of his will. There are some who view God as like a clockmaker who long ago created the world, wound it up, and then set it aside. The god of deism is high and transcendent, but not active and immanent. The god of deism does not communicate with humanity. He does not answer prayer. He does not intervene in human affairs. He’s distant and impersonal. He just lets things go. And therefore, he’s irrelevant to life except that he desires that we be good and happy.

It’s tempting to be a deist when one considers the powerful cultural and social and political currents driving our nation – and the rest of the world’s “peoples.” It’s tempting to be a deist when catastrophic tragedy strikes. “This makes no sense. God is over this?!” According to the Westminster Shorter Catechism,

 “God’s works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.”

To what purpose or end? God directs all things to their appointed end, namely to the consummation of the kingdom of God, the glory of Christ, and the good of his redeemed people from every tongue and tribe and nation.

Moment by moment, God, through Christ, keeps the universe in existence (Col. 1:17). In him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). God preserves the world, withholding judgment, because he is patient. His governance includes the most trivial things, such as the roll of the dice (Prov. 16:33), and a sparrow falling from a tree, and the number of hairs upon our heads at any given moment (Lk. 12:7). The sun rises, the rain falls because God makes them do so. He directs the wind and the lightning (Ps.135:6-7), snow, frost, and hail (Ps. 147:16-17). He fashions children in the womb (Ps. 139:13ff). Evil governments progress no further than He allows (Prov. 21:1). His rule and reign extend to our individual plans (Prov. 16:9). And Satan, even at his worst, is only a servant of God’s sovereign purpose (Col. 1:16). J.I. Packer writes,

 “The doctrine of providence teaches Christians that they are never in the grip of blind fortune, chance, luck, or fate. All that happens to them is divinely planned, and each event comes as a new summons to trust, obey, and rejoice, knowing that all is for one’s spiritual and eternal good (Rom. 8:28).”

—J.I. Packer

 So, what is the right response to God’s governance? Especially when adversity and tragedy strike? With any lesser view of providence, the temptation in times of suffering is to remove God from the scene, to say that God is not responsible, that it was not God’s fault, that God was not there. Or to blame God, and stand in judgment of God. But by either removing God from the picture, or thinking hard thoughts about God, we lose the opportunity to trust him. Poet Wm. Cowper writes,

 “Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind a frowning providence he hides a smiling face.”

—William Cowper

 The right response to the rule and reign of God over all peoples and over all things is best summed up Ps. 99:1-2.

The LORD reigns. Let the peoples tremble. He sits enthroned upon the cherubim. Let the earth quake. The LORD is great in Zion. He is exalted over all the peoples. Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he!

—Psalm 99:1-2

 Which leads to the twin peaks of -

The LORD’s Justice and Righteousness

God, as he has revealed himself in His Word, is both righteous and just. One theologian writes,

 “Righteousness and justice are the engines of Divine dignity which render him glorious and majestic.”

—Stephen Charnock

The justice of God consists in giving each person what he/she is due. Either by punishment or reward, God’s justice is fair. We all get exactly what we deserve. There is no partiality with God. He brings no bias to his judgements. He shows no favoritism. He cannot be bribed. Therefore, Ps. 99:4 says,

 The King in his might loves justice. You have established equity. You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.

—Psalm 99:4

It goes without saying that there is much that is maddening, unfair, and unjust about our judicial system. In God’s court, however, strict justice will prevail. On the last day, we will all be judged according to our actions and culpable inactions. According to Rom. 2:6-9,

 He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil.

—Romans 2:6-9

God’s justice is comprehensive – including all of our thoughts, words, deeds, motives, as well as the disclosure of things done in secret. God’s justice will be intense. Wm. Gurnall writes,

 “The great miseries of this life are incomparably less than the least torment of hell.”

—William Gurnall

And God’s judgments are not only fair, comprehensive, intense. They will be final. Irreversible. One way or the other, God’s final words will ring in our ears for all eternity. Our plight or pleasure will be forever and unalterably fixed.

And what is the right response to the justice and righteousness of God? Run! Run from every notion of sin! George Swinnock writes,

 “When we sin, we war against a God who is stronger than millions of armies, who is almighty, and we provoke him to destroy, who can wink us into the world, and look us into the eternal lake of fire.”

—George Swinnock

Yes. Run from sin. And run to the cross and to Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus alone lived the perfect and righteous life we have not lived. It was the death of Christ alone, the God-man, who bore our guilt and the judgement of God for our countless sins that the justice of God requires. His sacrifice alone quenches God’s wrath so that repentant sinners might be spared, forgiven, and cleansed. In Christ alone, God’s holy justice and holy mercy meet. The right response to God’s justice and righteousness is to him and to trust in him, and to call on his holy name.

They called to the LORD and he answered them . . . O LORD our God, you answered them. You were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrong doings.

—Psalm 99:6, 8

 True worship is a right response to all the God has revealed himself to be in Christ and His Holy Word. So, pursue him and his holiness. Trust in the goodness of his rule and reign. Call on the name of the Lord Jesus. And exalt the LORD our God. No one can compare. For the LORD our God is holy!