Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne

Psalm 97-98 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

The Lord’s Power and Dominion.

97 The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice;
Let the many islands be glad.
² Clouds and thick darkness surround Him;
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.
³ Fire goes before Him
And burns up His adversaries round about.
⁴ His lightnings lit up the world;
The earth saw and trembled.
⁵ The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
⁶ The heavens declare His righteousness,
And all the peoples have seen His glory.

⁷ Let all those be ashamed who serve graven images,
Who boast themselves of idols;                                                                                                               Worship Him, all you gods.
⁸ Zion heard this and was glad,
And the daughters of Judah have rejoiced
Because of Your judgments, O Lord.
⁹ For You are the Lord Most High over all the earth;
You are exalted far above all gods.

¹⁰ Hate evil, you who love the Lord,
Who preserves the souls of His godly ones;
He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
¹¹ Light is sown like seed for the righteous
And gladness for the upright in heart.
¹² Be glad in the Lord, you righteous ones,
And give thanks to His holy name.

A Call to Praise the Lord for His Righteousness.

98 O sing to the Lord a new song,
For He has done wonderful things,
His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.
² The Lord has made known His salvation;
He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.
³ He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

⁴ Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;
Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises.
⁵ Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
With the lyre and the sound of melody.
⁶ With trumpets and the sound of the horn
Shout joyfully before the King, the Lord.

⁷ Let the sea roar and all it contains,
The world and those who dwell in it.
⁸ Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy
⁹ Before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth;
He will judge the world with righteousness
And the peoples with equity.

In Psalm 89:14 the psalmist says:  Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
Lovingkindness and truth go before You.   Today, in 97:2-3 it says:   Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. Fire goes before Him And burns up His adversaries round about.     These agree that righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne. They, His character of righteousness and His quality of justice are what God’s authority and His dominion are built on. Psalm 97 says:   Let all those be ashamed who serve graven images, Who boast themselves of idols; Worship Him, all you gods… For You are the Lord Most High over all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods.   God’s righteousness and justice also differentiate Him from other gods or idols. Looking then at what the psalmist says comes from that:  Lovingkindness and truth go before You -  Fire goes before Him And burns up His adversaries round about.    Do these two contradict each other, or could it be that the fire that burns up His adversaries are loving kindness and truth?      With God we cannot separate truth, love and kindness. In our society and culture truth is often considered offensive, so we put off truth in the name of love and kindness. With God, because everything goes forth from righteousness and justice, truth and love are inseparable. It would not be right or just of God to withhold the truth in the name of love.  

The purification of gold and the strengthening of metals is done by fire. So too does God’s truth strengthen and purify us in His love.  Fire, even while it can be destructive, can also be cleansing.   1 John 1:5-10 says:   God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.     Light, like righteousness, justice, love, kindness and truth is another characteristic or quality of God.    To walk with Him, to fellowship with Him we must be cleansed by the blood of Jesus and the cross. We must be purified in the fire of His love and truth.  The psalmist says:    Hate evil, you who love the Lord,
Light is sown like seed for the righteous And gladness for the upright in heart. Be glad in the Lord, you righteous ones, And give thanks to His holy name.

Psalm 98 says:  O sing to the Lord a new song, For He has done wonderful things, His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him. The Lord has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.   Of all the wonderful things God has done, by far the most wonderful is that He has made known His salvation to all the earth. Because of His love, His faithfulness and His kindness, because He is righteous and just:   God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.      Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises. Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, With the lyre and the sound of melody. With trumpets and the sound of the horn Shout joyfully before the King, the Lord.    He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, established on the throne of His righteousness and justice.     Let the sea roar and all it contains, The world and those who dwell in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, Let the mountains sing together for joy Before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth; He will judge the world with righteousness And the peoples with equity.   Romans 8:22 says:   The whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.    Creation cannot help but to praise, honor and worship the Lord, it has no will, but does as God desires. Yet all of creation looks forward to God’s righteous judgment. Creation knows that God’s love, His kindness and His truth will go forth in righteousness and justice to purify all of creation, to burn up purify or remove all that is against Him.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit for Your inseparable qualities and character of righteousness, justice, love, kindness and truth. Thank You for Your salvation through Christ and for the cleansing fire of Your truth.   Amen.