The Earth is the Lord's

Psalm 24:1, 2

The Earth is the Lord’s

The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,

the world and those who dwell therein,

for he has founded it upon the seas

and established it upon the rivers.[1]

O

ne of my favourite Psalms quotes God as He rebukes His people Israel, If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine [Psalm 50:12]. The latter part of that verse is an iteration of the opening strophe of our text. According to the information relayed in this text—information confirmed through our own experience—mankind is responsible to function as stewards of the earth. We do not own the earth; rather, we are caretakers of all that God has created.

I do not say that we are good stewards—the evidence points to an oversight of creation marked by extremes. The tendency of mankind is to both pillage creation and exploit it in a rapacious fashion, or we fall into the error of worshipping creation. However, our failure as stewards does not obviate the truth that God has entrusted His creation to us, nor does it change the fact that the earth is the Lord’s.

In the message today I want to explore the implications of God’s ownership of creation, the responsibility imposed upon mankind as stewards and the practical implications for us as worshippers of the True and Living God. In order to accomplish this admittedly awesome task, join me as we open the Word of God to discover the answers to these questions and others that arise from study of the text.

The Earth is the Lord’s Because He Created It — This is a Messianic Psalm; it points forward to the Messiah’s return when He comes to reign over the earth. Perhaps it is difficult to determine whether some of the Psalms are Messianic, but there is no difficulty in recognising this as a Psalm of Messiah’s coming reign. This Psalm speaks of opening the gates of Jerusalem to the King of Glory—to Yahweh, the Lord.

God, the Lord Christ, is Creator of all that exists. Though modern man scoffs at the thought of a designer for nature, it is difficult to view nature without drawing the conclusion that there is design in nature and an intelligence behind all that we witness. Those who aver that life arose through a series of random events possess greater faith, though woefully misplaced, than do those who accept the affirmations of the Word.

What does the Word say concerning God’s work of creation? Among the many portions of the Word attesting to God’s handiwork are a number of verses. Genesis 1:1 reads, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The Psalmist attests,

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,

and by the breath of his mouth all their host.

[Psalm 33:6]

As he begins the Gospel bearing his name, the Apostle John writes of Jesus, God’s Son, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made [John 1:1-3].

If God is not the designer and creator of all that exists, then we must imagine a process that accounts for all that is. Following Darwin’s popularisation of the fable of the evolutionary derivation of all that is, mankind rushed to deify the neo-orthodox doctrine of evolution. The doctrine has become established dogma in the educational system, and has served as the foundation for some of the most brutal political regimes imaginable (Russian Communism and German National Socialism (Nazism) among others).

The postulations of modern evolutionists have grown like Topsy into an incredible, if not amusing, fable. If one pauses to think about what is said, Evolutionary apologists are compelled to defy the laws of thermodynamics, postulating either that matter is eternal, or that at some distant point there was no energy—only matter. According to this fantastic speculation, somewhere, somehow, so many billion years in the past that it is virtually unimaginable, sufficient energy was available to begin a process that continues to this day. The dust of the universe began to contract for some unknown reason, and it compressed itself until there was no more room for compression. Then, because there was so much potential energy, that mighty compressed blob of dust exploded, hurling dust into the vast emptiness we now know to be the universe.

As the dust sped away from that gargantuan explosion, some of the dust began to whirl about forming stars. As the stars formed, other dust was attracted to the developing gravitational fields and began to whirl about creating planets and satellites and other interstellar objects. In one small corner of the expanding universe, some of the dust formed a ball that was captured by the gravitational field of a star that was taking shape; that mass of whirling dust became what we now call the earth.

The dust whirling about the nascent star was incredibly hot, but as it began to cool, that interstellar dust began to form itself into soil and liquids, including water. An atmosphere composed of gases condensed around that spinning orb, and all the gases formed were fortuitously reducing gases so that any organic molecules that formed were preserved. A storm swept across the face of that inhospitable planet and lighting flashed. The release of energy from the lightning flash permitted the various chemicals, many of which were atomically complex, to spontaneously form into amino acids.

After a few hundred million years some of those amino acids formed peptides and with time the peptides formed proteins. Simultaneously, throughout those hundreds of millions of years, other organic compounds were being formed, and nature miraculously kept them from being oxidised so that they could form nucleic acids and fatty acids and saccharides. After a few hundred million years more, those complex compounds began to form together into a little mass of protoplasm that discovered it was “alive.”

That little mass of protoplasm formed a cell wall and became an amoeba. The amoeba bounced along the bottom of the great ocean—a gimish of nutrients in just the right proportions for an amoeba—and one day that little amoeba rubbed against the ocean floor, forming a wart. That wart grew for another hundred million years or so and became a foot. Another little wart was created and grew into another foot. Yet, other little warts became arms and hands, and one day the amoeba became a fish.

That little fish swam and swam until one day it swam right up to the shore and crawled out on land. It stood upright and discovered it could walk. It walked about until it saw a tree growing right there on the shore. That fish decided to climb up the tree. It climbed up the tree and grew a tail so it could swing in the tree. Whilst swinging about in the tree, that critter fell and broke off its tail as it bounced on the ground.

That little tailless creature stood up and became a man. It knew that it couldn’t make it in that hostile world without an education, so it went to university and got a Ph.D. Now that critter teaches all the other little evolving critters how they got here.

Isn’t that a wonderfully far-fetched story? That is modern science. If I should tell you that a frog is instantaneously turned into a handsome prince when it is kissed by a princess, you know I am telling a fairy tale. However, if I say that given millions of years a shark can become Doctor Stark, some people will call that science! How much simpler and how much more satisfying and how much more accurate is the account God has given us through His Word: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth [Genesis 1:1]!

The story is told of some foolish scientists who boasted that they could create life. They bragged that God had been rendered irrelevant to modern life through their abilities. God was, according to their theologian sycophants, an anachronism, at best.

They challenged God to a contest to create life, and God accepted the challenge. One of those scientists rushed from the laboratory to gather up some dirt to begin the process, but as he stooped to gather some soil, God wagged His finger at the scientist and said, “Ah, ah, ah! Get your own dirt.”

God spoke and all that is became! There was no process through uncounted aeons to account for God’s creation, but rather God called all things into existence. His voice commanded light, and there was light. He called for the atmosphere to come into existence, and the atmosphere was. He spoke into existence the vegetation that covers the earth, the sun, moon and stars and all the host of heavens. He created with His voice the birds that fly through the air, the fish the swim through the waters, the animals that walk and creep upon the land. At His word, all that is came into being.

Man received God’s special attention, for man and woman were created in the image of God. Man was declared by God to be a living creature—not merely a creature [nepeš], but a living creature [nepeš hayyâ]. Man does not possess a soul, but man is a living creature—a living soul—created in the image of God to reflect God’s glory. Man possesses a body, but man is a living creature. Man has a spirit created to know God. The individual, however humble in our opinion that individual may be, reflects God’s glory. And thus, just as all creation belongs to God, so man, created in God’s image belongs to God. At death, the spirit of man returns to God who gave it [Ecclesiastes 12:7]. This knowledge leads us to recognise that man is responsible to know God and to glorify God. It is not the right of any person to take the life of another; but rather it is the responsibility of each individual to urge others to know God. As Christians, we are responsible to know God and to make Him known.

It is a principle in common law that ownership of anything that is made belongs to the maker until such time that it is sold. We have copyright protection for art, for music, and for literature that is produced from the mind of man. We have patent protection for all that is created through the imagination of man. Should it be thought strange, therefore, that all that has been created belongs to God who produced it?

Creation has never been sold, but instead, man is appointed to be caretaker. Man received dominion over the earth, not ownership. God blessed [the man and the woman]. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so [Genesis 1:28-30].

If we are but caretakers, doesn’t it make sense that we should honour the Creator? Doesn’t it make sense that we should be humble in the knowledge that we are responsible to Him who called all things into being for the universe He has entrusted to our care? Doesn’t it seem reasonable that we are to utilise the goods of this world for our benefit and for His glory? This is the reason we receive an offering as an act of worship. This is the basis for the statement we make as we prepare to worship through giving. Giving is a privilege for the believer, and not a burden. Giving is to glorify God.

Whenever we receive the offerings of God’s people, I take time to remind any who wishes to give that they bring their gifts as an act of worship. This is the basis for stating that those who do not know the Lord Christ as Saviour have no business giving. Outsiders are invited to receive the gift of life that is in Christ, but they cannot worship a God whom they have not acknowledged. This is why I caution against attempting to give a gift when the heart is crushed and heavy. Giving is to be an act of joyful worship, and I encourage those who give to reflect on the grace and goodness of God who has created all things and who generously gives to us all the good things that we enjoy.

The Earth is the Lord’s Because He Rules Over It — There is yet another point to press when considering this beautiful Psalm. The earth is the Lord’s because He rules over it. God reigns over the earth; He is sovereign over the earth and all that live therein. A beautiful hymn that was once common among the churches declares:

This is my Father’s world,

O let me ne’er forget

That though the wrong seems oft so strong,

God is the Ruler yet.

A marvellous truth that is woefully neglected by many professed preachers of God’s Word in this day is that God is sovereign over all mankind. Each Christian would be well advised to learn that, “He is God; I am not.” Christ is Lord, and not our buddy. When one comes to faith, it is because he has heard the message of life and believed it.

Week-by-week I conclude the services by quoting Romans 10:9, 10, 13. The verses declare: if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved… For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Here is a marvellous truth: Jesus is Lord! Though Jesus was found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death… Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow … and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord [Philippians 2:8-11].

A great king once learned this lesson the hard way. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, exalted himself until God afflicted him with boanthropy. He thought he was an ox, and ate grass like the beasts of the field. That king was reduced to this miserable state until He recognised that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will [see Daniel 4:25]. His descendant, Belshazzar, forgot this lesson and was forcefully reminded immediately before his kingdom was overthrown. This same lesson must not be understated. The Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom He will [see Daniel 5:21].

The Psalmists are insistent that God reigns. One Psalm states succinctly:

God reigns over the nations;

God sits on his holy throne.

[Psalm 47:8]

The Lord reigns, and because He reigns, His glory is evident to those who seek Him [Isaiah 24:23]. Because the Lord reigns, the wicked tremble, knowing that He is judge [Psalm 99:1]. The Lord reigns, and the earth rejoices and the people are glad [Psalm 97:1]. Because the Lord reigns, his majesty and strength are revealed for all to see [Psalm 93:1]. These statements reveal the immediate impact of His reign.

Consider these truths in their order. The Lord reigns over creation, and because He reigns, His glory is evident to all who seek Him. Evil sometimes seems triumphant, and the righteous despair. However, though the eye of sinful man is blind to the glory of God all about us and unable to discern His handiwork in creation does not mean that He is not glorified through all that He has made.

Who can watch the aurora borealis and not be awed by the beauty of those dancing lights. My wife urges me to phone her whenever I am out and witness those lights so she can hurry outside to watch them. Whenever I have opportunity get out to stalk the quarry so bountiful in this great region, I marvel as I witness the power and grace of moose, or elk, or bears. The grandeur of the mountains, the serenity of high country tarns, or the verdant beauty of picturesque mountain meadows are indelible images that fill my memories. All this God has created and given for the benefit of man.

God asked Job, Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does [Job 39:1]? The Psalmist David makes it clear that it is the voice of God that makes the deer give birth [Psalm 29:9]. I do not take nature for granted, but rather I realise that it is God who provides the bounty of beauty that stimulates the senses. According to our Lord, it is God who provides food for the birds of the air, and it is the Father who clothes the lilies of the field [see Luke 12:24-27].

There is a beautiful Psalm that speaks of God’s glory in ruling over nature.

Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;

make melody to our God on the lyre!

He covers the heavens with clouds;

he prepares rain for the earth; he makes grass grow on the hills.

He gives to the beasts their food,

and to the young ravens that cry.

[Psalm 147:7-9]

The Lord reigns, and the wicked tremble. Well might the wicked tremble, knowing that evil shall not always triumph. We live in dark times, and it seems that the inmates are running the asylum. Governments are populated with moral and ethical trolls, and good people marvel that such self-serving individuals are repeatedly elected. Good people feel themselves powerless in the face of the advance of wickedness. However, have you ever noticed that the rage of the wicked seems to be focused toward the Christian Faith and anyone who dares speak of their faith in Christ?

It is a backhanded compliment to Christians that the wicked see us as a threat. During the previous several elections in Canada, the media elite ridiculed those few candidates that dared identify themselves as evangelical Christians. No one was threatened by non-religious candidates; no one was threatened by non-Christian candidates. It is those who are audacious enough to speak the truth and identify themselves as Christians that intimidate and frighten the cultural elite of the nation.

I am comforted in the knowledge that God will hold evil people to account. I need not concern myself with exacting vengeance—that is God’s role. In one of Paul’s earliest letters included in the New Testament, there is a comforting piece of knowledge given to the child of God. Paul writes, we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.

This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed [2 Thessalonians 1:4-10].

You need not doubt that evil men—those who invent ways of doing evil and who reject godliness and goodness—know that they must one day give account for their wickedness to God who gives them life. Because God reigns, the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

Christians do not rejoice in this knowledge, but rather as children of the True and Living God, we make every effort to bring as many as possible to faith. God is patient toward [the wicked], not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. Nevertheless, the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed [2 Peter 3:7, 9, 10]. The wicked tremble because God reigns.

The Lord reigns, and because He reigns the earth rejoices and the people are glad. No wonder God’s reign brings joy. God’s control over all the earth ensures stability and certainty. Evil will not always triumph. Good will not always be suppressed. Righteousness will succeed and godliness will be praised. Moreover, mankind may be secure in the knowledge that God is just in all His dealings with us.

The Lord is our strength. He is a friend to sinners and a hope for the humble. The Lord gives strength to the weak and defends the fatherless and the widow. Our God gives help to the helpless, hope to the hopeless, mercy to the dejected, and health to the sick. The presence of our God causes all who submit to His reign to rejoice.

The Lord reigns, and His majesty and strength are revealed for all to see. The Psalmist has written concerning God’s reign.

Oh sing to the Lord a new song;

sing to the Lord, all the earth!

Sing to the Lord, bless his name;

tell of his salvation from day to day.

Declare his glory among the nations,

his marvellous works among all the peoples!

For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

he is to be feared above all gods.

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,

but the Lord made the heavens.

Splendour and majesty are before him;

strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,

ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;

bring an offering, and come into his courts!

Worship the Lord in the splendour of holiness;

tremble before him, all the earth!

[Psalm 96:1-9]

The earth is the Lord’s; He owns it because He is ruler over all that He has made. God sets the boundary for the seas and He sets the times and seasons. No congress established the laws of thermodynamics—God decreed them. No parliament declared the boundaries of the oceans—God set those boundaries in place. No legislative assembly created morality—God establishes righteousness. Therefore, God is ruler of the earth, and the evidence of His reign is seen in the orderly continuance of the universe.

Two portions of the Word merit serious consideration. Christ our Lord is declared to be the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together [Colossians 1:15-17].

The author of the Letter to the Hebrew Christians begins that missive with these words: Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power [Hebrews 1:1-3a].

It is Christ the Creator who keeps the world together. It is Christ the Ruler who ensures that mercy is given to all who seek Him. It is Christ the Judge who shall hold every wicked person to account for the evil they perpetuate. It is Christ the Master who maintains the world until that day when He shall come to judge the earth.

The Earth is the Lord’s Because He Alone is Qualified to Judge It — That thought brings me to this final point in the message. Only the One able to rule the world is qualified to judge the world. The Psalmist in our text asks a most pertinent question, Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in His holy place [verse three]? The answer is given in verses four through six.

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

who does not lift up his soul to what is false

and does not swear deceitfully.

He will receive blessing from the Lord

and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Such is the generation of those who seek him,

who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah

That last word, Selah, is a direction for the reader; it is transliterated from the Hebrew. The word tells the reader to park here for a spell and think about what he has just read. God promises that those who are clean and pure may know Him and enjoy Him.

As He prepared for His exodus, Jesus prefaced His final instruction to disciples with these words: all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me [Matthew 28:18]. This was a reminder of a truth that He spelled out in some detail on another occasion. As the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment [John 5:26-29].

If Christ is Judge, then I must be faultless; but I am a sinner. I am under sentence of death. I have unclean hands. I cannot say that I have no sin, because I am condemned as one who drinks injustice like water. With the Apostle I cry out, wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death [Romans 7:24]. Job has well asked the question, How can a man be in the right before God [Job 9:2]? Reviewing God’s power and might, Job acknowledges, I [can] only beg my Judge for mercy [Job 9:15b].[2]

That is the point precisely! We can only beg our Judge for mercy, and He who is qualified to judge has already paid the penalty for sin. This is the message of life we deliver. Paul has written of the Son of God that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God [2 Corinthians 5:17-23].

Because He created the heavens and the earth, Christ the Lord owns all that He has created. Because He reigns over His creation, the Lord Jesus is demonstrated to be owner of all that is. Because He shall judge all that is, and because He now judges all that is, Jesus is revealed as owner of all that is. Worship Him and not what He made.

Sin was judged at the cross of Christ. Those who accept His sacrifice in their place are forever set free from judgement. The child of God will indeed stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ [see 2 Corinthians 5:10], but that is a judgement to reveal the perfection of Christ’s work in His saint. It is not a judgement to determine whether the child is indeed a child, but it is rather a demonstration of His glorious work in us.

There is, however, a dark judgement that awaits all who are unsaved. John, in exile on the Isle of Patmos, spoke of that awful day. I read these words, not to threaten anyone, but rather I read that portion of the Word to warn you in the Spirit of Christian love that seeks good for you through warning you against presuming against God’s grace.

John saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire [Revelation 20:11-15].

No one need face that judgement, for Christ the Righteous Judge has already made provision to deliver all who will accept His salvation. This is the message of life. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [Romans 10:9-13].

The earth is the Lord’s. Therefore, let Christians rejoice and worship Him through a life of service and through a life of godliness. Let those who seek mercy come to find the mercy of God that is sufficient for every need. Let those who seek hope find that hope in the God who has conquered death, and made the grave a pleasant place to await the resurrection. Let those who are weak find strength in this mighty God. Let the glory of the Lord be witnessed as men and women come to faith in Him. Amen.

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