The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours

Psalm 89:1-13 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

I will sing of the lovingkindness of the Lord forever;
To all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.
² For I have said, “Lovingkindness will be built up forever;
In the heavens You will establish Your faithfulness.”
³ “I have made a covenant with My chosen;
I have sworn to David My servant,
⁴ I will establish your seed forever
And build up your throne to all generations.” Selah.

⁵ The heavens will praise Your wonders, O Lord;
Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.
⁶ For who in the skies is comparable to the Lord?
Who among the sons of the mighty is like the Lord,
⁷ A God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones,
And awesome above all those who are around Him?
⁸ O Lord God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty Lord?
Your faithfulness also surrounds You.
⁹ You rule the swelling of the sea;
When its waves rise, You still them.
¹⁰ You Yourself crushed Rahab like one who is slain;
You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.

¹¹ The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours;
The world and all it contains, You have founded them.
¹² The north and the south, You have created them;
Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name.
¹³ You have a strong arm;
Your hand is mighty, Your right hand is exalted.

In today’s text it says: The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all it contains, You have founded them. ¹² The north and the south, You have created them.  In Psalm 115:16  it says:    The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, But the earth He has given to the sons of men.    Is this a contradiction in scripture, one of those things doubters and deniers point to in order to claim the inaccuracy of the Bible? Which one is it, is God in charge of everything in heaven and on earth, or has He taken His hands off of the things of the world and given it over to men? Is God just watching from afar, but not interfering with the activities of the earth? There are many opinions and human philosophies which speak to these questions, but scripture from the very beginning and continuing throughout also answers these questions.

In Genesis 1:1 scripture says:  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis is in agreement with today’s text. In Genesis 1:26-28 God says:  “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸ God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  So Genesis is also in agreement with and confirms what is said in Psalm 115:16. As with many things in scripture and many of God’s truths it is not either or it is both, also. The paradoxes of scripture are two sides of the same truth. Our human minds have difficulty grasping these paradoxes. God created us in His image and His likeness, but we are not omnipotent, all powerful, omniscient, all knowing or omnipresent, present everywhere as He is. In our flesh, our human bodies and minds we are finite, God is infinite. Our finite minds cause us to be limited in our understanding. We have difficulty comprehending the fullness of God. We tend to see one side or the other, either or. God, then must be either loving, merciful and gracious or righteous and just. The truth is God is loving, merciful and gracious and He is also righteous and just. If we will be like God, in the image He created us then we too will be both, also.

From the beginning when God gave dominion to man, He didn’t walk away and no longer intervene in the affairs of man. In Genesis 3 we read the account of the sin of Adam and Eve, the sin which cost man his dominion over the earth. But God didn’t turn His back and walk away to leave this mess that was created by sin. Genesis 3:8-9 says:  They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”     In verses 14-15, before God tells Adam and Eve what the consequences of their sin are, He speaks to the deceiver, the one who thought he would gain dominion of earth from man.   The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; ¹⁵ And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”  God didn’t leave earth to fall uncontrollably into darkness. He intervened. He had a plan from the very beginning.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God in flesh is the seed of woman God spoke of in the garden. Jesus Christ is God’s plan of intervention in the affairs of man from the beginning. He gave dominion to man and so through Jesus, the Son of man He restored dominion. Jesus, through the finished work of the cross has redeemed man from sin, has reconciled man to God and has restored dominion on earth. In and through Christ we have been given back the dominion God intended. In Matthew 16: 16-19 it says: Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”    Upon the foundation, the rock of the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Savior, Jesus says He will build His church and He will give it authority, dominion, the keys of heaven to affect the things of earth. In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus says: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”     Where does Jesus have ALL authority? In heaven and on earth, not either or but both, in heaven and also on earth.

In Revelation we read that Jesus will return and there will be a new heaven and a new earth, they will be as one. Until that time Jesus has given us the authority, in and through Him to bring the kingdom of heaven, all the finished work of the cross, all the realities of heaven here to earth. We are not God, but through the indwelling Holy Spirit of God we have the ability to know what He knows, to be where He is and to do what He does. As Jesus says:   ^“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.” (John 14:12)

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus the Christ; precious Holy Spirit, the indwelling Spirit of God, thank You for intervening in my life, for redeeming, reconciling and restoring me. Thank You that through the finished work of the cross You have given me authority and dominion, the authority to affect the things of earth with the realities of heaven. You have given me an ability to comprehend the paradoxes of Your truth. I pray: Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Like the psalmist,I will sing of the lovingkindness of the Lord forever;
To all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth… The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all it contains.     Amen.