To show respect and reverence when we consider the holiness of God to most people of the world today is not often done publicly or privately. Many people think of God as an idea conjured up to keep a certain fear in little children so they will obey their parents. By the time children are in their teen years, many do not believe in God and have been so indoctrinated by the myth of evolution that they will not even enter a conversation regarding the existence of God. In this psalm, God's infinite, perfect nature is expressed by explanations of His holiness. The fear of Jehovah and the worship of Jehovah brings us by faith before His footstool at His holy hill.
The Messiah is seated as the Monarch reigning in power and glory. He rules over all the earth from Zion in His inherent majesty. At the beginning of the psalm, our Lord is seen as the Sovereign Holy God reigning on earth, sitting on the throne in the temple between the cherubim. He is eternal in His nature, surpassing everything, and brings praise to His name from everything and everyone. He is sovereign in His rule over the earth.
All nations of the earth will acknowledge the Lord enthroned as their ruler. “The Lord reigns” is an awesome statement, especially when we know Him personally as our own Lord and Savior. “Mighty and just” characterizes our Lord as the righteous Ruler. Power, justice, and mercy are attributes that characterize the holiness of God. May we, as believers in this day and age, never forget the fact and the sight of the holiness of our Sovereign Holy God.
The next description of our Lord in this psalm is that of the Holy God, who is Righteous. His very nature is just and righteous. “Holy is He.” His name is holy, and His nature is holy. His whole personhood is absolutely holy. He is righteous in His judgment of men. He is the King of power and the just Judge who rules with fairness, impartiality, justice, and righteousness. His holiness causes fear in sinners but is a comfort to those who belong to Him by His mercy and grace. Everything we do or say is exposed by the light of His holiness. God does not tolerate or ignore sin. He does not excuse or downplay the consequences of sin because the Holy God is a Righteous God.
The Holy God is a Faithful God. Even though His footstool is referred to in different ways in the scripture, He is faithful to His people. Earth is His footstool as He sits on heaven’s throne as the Father of eternity. The ark is His footstool as He hears the prayers and praises of His people. Zion is His footstool when He rules as the universal King, and all nations come before Him to honor and obey Him. The sanctuary is His footstool, where He hears the prayers of the intercession of those whose names are mentioned in this psalm as intercessors for His earthly people in the past. Now, we can come boldly “to the throne of grace, to find mercy and grace to help in time of need.”
Our Faithful God, who answered the prayers of intercession made by people of old, still answers the prayers of intercession by His people today. We pray for the “powers that be” as intercessors. We pray for governments and leaders as intercessors. We pray for the “peace of Jerusalem’ as intercessors. We pray for the Lord’s people, the sick and afflicted, and those in trials and temptations, as intercessors. Intercessory prayer does not waste time because we are making our requests to our Holy God, who is faithful. He answered the prayers of those ancient intercessors even though He had to punish the evil-doing of His people. The God who forgives is also the One whose forgiveness does not cancel out the consequences of sin.
May we never treat the name of our Lord lightly. May we never allow any disrespect for Him to cross our minds or our actions. May we never use His name irreverently by words or actions. May we never let anything happen that would dishonor our Holy God, the Faithful God. Our worship of God as believers is not an intrusion into some place we should not be. Neither is our intercession at the throne of grace a place we should not be. We have been allowed the unspeakable privilege of access to the holy presence of God because we have been made holy in our Lord Jesus Christ. We are “accepted in the Beloved.” He enjoined us to “be ye holy for I am holy.”