The Lord Reigns (Psalm 96–99)

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When the scoreboard of life looks bleak, what if the final score is already printed? We walk through Psalms 96–99 to explore a bold claim that reshapes fear, purpose, and hope: the Lord reigns. From the first call to “sing a new song” to the closing vision of a holy King in Zion, these psalms draw a straight line from salvation to sovereignty and from worship to witness. We unpack the ancient picture of runners bearing victory news and connect it to our calling to share the gospel today with clarity and joy.

We also sit with the weight of Psalm 97’s descending clouds and fire, a courtroom of righteousness and justice that will not be delayed. Judgment is not a scare tactic; it’s a promise that evil will not have the last word. In that sober light, we clarify who the Bible calls “saints”—not elite heroes, but rescued people who trust the Messiah. That identity matters when storms gather. It tells us why we can face a holy God without dread and why we can live with courage when culture turns cynical.

Then the spotlight moves to Psalm 98’s good news: salvation is a free gift. Christ’s finished work means we stop bargaining with our worth and start receiving what grace provides. Finally, Psalm 99 lifts our eyes to a future kingdom where Jesus reigns from Jerusalem and the chorus answers, “Holy is He.” Holiness defines His rule and shapes our response: awe, obedience, and hope that sings even in the night.

If you’re longing for steady ground, this journey through the Yahweh Malach psalms offers more than comfort—it offers clarity. Press play to learn why evangelism is joyful, why justice is certain, and why grace remains your only boast. If the message encourages you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review to help others find the show.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (01:03):
Jesus Christ is your Savior.
He's the one who has redeemedyou through his substitutionary
death on your behalf.
And in this truth you canrejoice.
One truth to remember is thatyour Savior is also your King
and your master.
He's the holy God, and you willone day participate in His

(01:24):
righteous reign over the earth.
This is the Wisdom Journey.
Today, Stephen takes a closerlook at all of this from Psalm
96 through 99.
This lesson is called The LordReigns.

SPEAKER_01 (01:40):
In today's Wisdom Journey, we're going to study
four Psalms.
These Psalms are sometimesreferred to as Yahweh Malach
Psalms.
Yahweh Malach means the Lordreigns.
You might want to learn thatphrase and repeat it several
times as you go through yourday.
Yahweh Malach.

(02:01):
Yahweh Malach.
The Lord reigns, or the Lord isin control.
Now as far as the psalmist isconcerned, there's a lot to
think about here, and he's goingto give us a lot to sing about,
in fact, as we go through ourday.
Psalm ninety six opens with thatkind of invitation here in verse
one.

(02:22):
O sing to the Lord a new song,tell of his salvation from day
to day.
The word tell here in Tell ofHis Salvation in verse two
refers to actually telling ordelivering good news.
This word was often used in themilitary context when a runner
was dispatched to bring news ofa great victory.

(02:45):
In fact, to this day we have anOlympic race called the
Marathon.
The origin of the Marathon goesback some 500 years before the
birth of Christ.
Goes back to a battle betweenGreece and Persia.
Legend has it that a Greekmessenger named Phidippides ran
26 miles from Marathon toAthens.

(03:08):
And he ran that to deliver thenews that Greece had won the
battle.
After making his announcement inAthens, this exhausted soldier
collapsed and legend has it hedied.
Today the Olympic Marathon raceof right around 26 miles honors
the legend of that heroicmessenger.

(03:30):
Did you know that that happensto be the great privilege today
for you and for me?
We're delivering the good news.
It's the news of the Lord'ssalvation.
In fact, the Greek translationof this psalm translates this
Hebrew word for tell with theGreek word ewangelizo.

(03:50):
That gives us our wordevangelize.
Isn't that what evangelism is tothis day?
We've got on our running shoes,so to speak.
We are messengers delivering toour world the gospel, the good
news of the victory of JesusChrist over sin and death.
Now there's more for a messengerto do, by the way.

(04:11):
Here in verse 3 we're told,declare his glory among the
nations.
Now the word here for declaremeans to recount or to number,
sort of like keeping ascorecard.
And if you're keeping score,beloved, it might not look at
times like God's side iswinning.
But let me tell you, take acloser look at that scorecard

(04:34):
because the final number hasalready been printed there at
the bottom.
Final score is alreadydetermined.
Here it is, Jesus Christ wins.
You're on the winning team.
Now with that, Psalm 97 followsnicely here because it calls us
to celebrate our victoriousKing.

(04:54):
The opening words in verse 1 arethe Lord reigns.
Let the earth rejoice, let themany coastlands be glad.
The coastlands here refer to faraway islands.
Isaiah used the same termseventeen different times to
describe the remote places onearth.

(05:15):
So what's the psalmist trying toconvey for us here?
Even in the remotest places onthe planet, guess what?
They are under the rule andreign of our king.
Now here in verse two, theking's throne room is described.
Clouds and thick darkness areall around him.

(05:35):
Righteousness and justice arethe foundation of his throne.
The Hebrew text here indicatesthat these dark clouds are
actually descending.
In other words, the king, thedark clouds surrounding him,
this courtroom, this throneroom, it's all descending.
It's about to execute justice ona sinful world.

(05:59):
So you have the imagery of darkclouds here in verse 2.
You have the imagery of fire inverse 3.
You have lightning andearthquakes here in verse 4.
All of this speaks to theterrible, rather frightening
wrath of God, which isdescending and will one day
judge the human race.

(06:20):
Nothing's going to stop the Lordfrom holding court and executing
justice.
Puny little arrogant man,mankind that shakes his fist at
God, thinks he can get away withhis sinful defiance.
That's going to be no match atall for the Lord's power.
In fact, verse 9 tells us thatGod is most high over all the

(06:44):
earth.
That means God will have thefinal word when he sits on his
throne executing judgment.
Now, in the face of comingjudgment, the only hope that you
and I have today is God'spromise here in verse 10, that
he preserves the lives of hissaints.
Well, maybe you think that isn'tgoing to help me any because I'm

(07:05):
not a saint.
Well, remember the word saintdoesn't mean you've got to be
perfect in order to avoid thejudgment of God.
Saint is used throughoutScripture, not for great people
who died, you know, had somechurch council decide they lived
a good enough life to get themout of purgatory a little
earlier than the rest of us.
Well, that isn't in the Bible.

(07:26):
There's not a verse in the Biblethat supports that kind of
man-made religion.
The word saint in the Bibleactually refers to someone who's
been saved.
In fact, they're still alive.
Over and over again in theBible, you'll find the word used
for someone who's living,someone who belongs to God

(07:47):
through faith in the MessiahKing, Jesus Christ Himself.
And if that's you, well, you'rea saint.
Now, as we journey here throughPsalm 98, we're getting
encouraged by the role of ourmagnificent King.
Three times here in verses 1 to3, you have the word salvation

(08:08):
appearing in the text.
The Lord Himself has worked outhis plan of salvation.
His right hand has worked outyour salvation.
You don't need to add your gooddeeds to what God has already
accomplished on your behalf.
That's why the Bible refers tosalvation as a free gift.
I think of Romans chapter 6 andverse 23.

(08:30):
The wages of sin is death, butthe free gift of God is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It's a free gift.
You don't pay for it.
In fact, you never could, whichis why Jesus had to come and die
for your sins.
He alone could pay the price foryour salvation.
Well, since he paid for it, hecan now offer it to you as a

(08:52):
free gift.
I've had people in my presencesay to me, Stephen, I can't
believe what the Bible has justtold me, that it's a free gift.
Indeed it is.
You know, when Christmas timerolls around, your children
don't pay for their Christmasgifts, even though they probably
should.
But they don't, do they?
And that's because, well, youalready paid for them.

(09:14):
All they have to do is openthem.
Well, salvation is like aChristmas gift.
Your Savior, the Lord Jesus,paid for it.
He gives it to you.
But you still have to open it.
The question is, have you openedit?
Have you received his free giftof forgiveness and salvation?
Have you opened it for yourself?

(09:37):
You know, you can do that rightwhere you are.
You can do that right now.
You could simply pray somethinglike this Lord Jesus, thank you
for paying the price for mysalvation in your suffering and
death.
I receive from you now by faiththe free gift of salvation.
I'm gonna claim you right now asmy Savior, and I'm gonna follow

(09:58):
you today as my Lord and King.
Well, if you prayed that prayerjust now, I want you to find a
way to let us know.
Give us a call here.
Send send us a message by emailbecause we want to respond by
sending you some material tohelp you take the next steps in
your walk with Jesus Christ.

(10:19):
Well, now here in Psalm 99, wehave the promise that our King
is coming back to reign one dayin his glorious kingdom on
earth.
This Psalm gives us a ratherprophetic look, uh a picture of
this coming day.
Verse one opens this way.
The Lord reigns.
Let the peoples tremble, or thatis, be in awe of him.

(10:42):
Verse 2.
The Lord is great in Zion,that's Jerusalem.
He is exalted over all thepeoples.
What this tells us is that Jesusis going to reign one day in his
coming kingdom, and his capitalcity will be Jerusalem, just as
he promised through his prophetsin the Old Testament.
And we're going to talk moreabout that kingdom along our

(11:05):
wisdom journey.
Well, what kind of king will hebe?
We're told here twice in thispsalm that he's going to be
holy.
That's built into the lyricshere of this inspired psalm.
More than likely, you have onepart of the choir singing the
verses here, while anothersection of the choir responds
with this phrase, holy is he,verse 3.

(11:27):
Holy is he, verse 5.
Holy is the Lord our God, verse9.
So what are we singing?
We're singing that the Lord isvictorious in battle.
We're singing that he is ourredeeming Savior who gives us
the gift, free gift ofsalvation.
We're singing that he is ourholy God.
That's a lot to think about.

(11:49):
And that's certainly a lot tosing about as you walk with him
today.
And remember, throughout thisday, Yahweh Malach.
Yahweh Malach.
The Lord is on his throne.
The Lord reigns.
Well, until next time, beloved,may the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the love of God andthe fellowship of the Holy

(12:11):
Spirit be with you all.
Amen.

SPEAKER_00 (12:25):
Thanks for listening to The Wisdom Journey with
Stephen Davey.
To learn more about us andaccess all of our Bible teaching
resources, visitwisdomonline.org.
Our phone number is866-482-4253.
And you can email us at info atwisdomonline.org.

(12:47):
Stephen developed this dailyprogram to help you know what
the Bible says, understand whatit means, and apply it to your
life.
So please join us next time tocontinue the wisdom journey.