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God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets. Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne. The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted. (Psalm 47:5-9)

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There is a bit of a call and response rhythm to these first few psalms of Book II of the psalter.\xa0 Do you notice it?\xa0 Psalm 44 cries out in suffering and psalm 45 responds with a hope-filled vision of the messianic wedding feast.\xa0 Psalm 46 speaks to the moment the earth gives way under our feet, reminding us of the promise that God will be glorified in all the earth.\xa0 Psalm 47 responds with exactly that: the glorified God ascending to his throne of glory.

This is a psalm that has been sung in the Jewish faith at the turn to the new year.\xa0 In Christianity, it has often been recited on Ascension Day.\xa0 In the book of Revelation, this psalm surely informs the Apostle John\u2019s imagination as he sees the kings of the earth entering the royal city of Jesus, the King, bringing their tribute.

Perhaps this psalm also informs Paul\u2019s vision of Jesus Christ being the one in whom all things hold together, indeed the one through whom all things (including thrones, powers, rulers, and authorities) are reconciled to God.\xa0

This is the movement of the psalm.\xa0 \u201cThe nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham.\u201d\xa0 Did you catch that little word \u201cas?\u201d\xa0 The nations have somehow become the people of God!\xa0 They belong to him!\xa0 The promises that God has made to Abraham is fulfilled.\xa0 It is not just that Abraham will be the father of many nations, but also that \u201call peoples on earth will be blessed through\u201d Abraham.\xa0 All peoples now come under the rule, but also the blessing of God of Abraham.\xa0

There is again something within this psalm that smacks of our future hope in Christ.\xa0 That the world we see at present is not the world we place our hope in.\xa0 The heavenly country we long for has a much different texture to it.\xa0 No more power games or warring nations.\xa0 No more economic woes.\xa0 No more young men or women who die before their time or suffer from addiction or disease.\xa0

No: God is the God of the living, says Jesus.\xa0 And when God ascends to take his throne: all of his promises will be fulfilled.\xa0 All will be made well and right in resurrection, reunion, and reconciliation through the one who holds all these things that we\u2019ve entrusted to him against that day, together.\xa0 \xa0\xa0

Come Lord Jesus, come.

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