future perfect

Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!

Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;

he will judge the peoples with equity.”

Psalm 96:10

Christians can never be satisfied with the justice or moral opinions of the society of humanity. People are fallen. Our endemic twisted natures pervert justice and subvert God's design. It doesn't matter at all... not one bit really... whether a political climate is conservative or liberal because all sinners are incapable of carrying out God's justice and will break God's Law. From the sense of God's rule, all people fail. All politicians disappoint us because sin frustrates holiness and people are sinners at their core. Our only hope for a perfect world is found in the hope and confidence this psalm generates: God has to direct His justice toward us.

This psalm calls for Israel to sing about God's justice to the nations. It looks to God's sovereign rule. It is a prayer and a song of faith and hope. When Israel sang this song in the temple, they were surrounded by Gentile powers that did not know God. How could it possibly be true for them that the world was established when so many Gentiles hated God and hated His people? These nations did not worship Yahweh. Yet the truth of God's rule of the entire universe was to be displayed in all the world. God establishes the world... even the world of the nations that do not know Him.

Believing this fact creates confidence for the future. God will judge the peoples (all the nations, Jew and Gentile) with His equity. I love the way that word "equity" is defined. It is described as God's perfect, sweet evenness. God's holiness is upright and fair. No sinner gets special treatment... yet all are offered His grace. This is what "establishes" the world under God's rule and care. He judges us. But He does so as a God of mercy and grace.

Ultimately Christians know this in the mercy and grace of Christ Who died for sinners and rose again for new life. And now as King of Kings and Lord of Lords He will judge the world in sweet, perfect justice. The hope of the world is the gospel of Jesus Christ and we must preach it among the peoples of this earth so that His Church may be established. Other societal structures are under God's rulership through the scrutiny of His justice and equity. We individual Christians, no organized church, (and thank God most of all...) nor any politicians will establish this world. God does it for His purposes, for His glory, and we worship as we look to the perfect future that Jesus brings!