Psalm Twenty-Nine: Ascribe to Yahweh the Glory of His Name

The all-encompassing and self-sustaining glory of God is most clearly displayed in this respect, that the only fitting praise for him is to ascribe to him the glory of his Name. In our most fervent worship, we are not extravagant or flattering; we are simply recounting truthfully the immense glory that belongs by essential right to his most reverent name. This is the only fitting occupation of the sons of God, under which designation we may consider either the elect angels or the elect among mankind, who have been adopted as the children of God (Rom. 8:14-17); or probably (and most appropriately), both. When we worship together with the angels of heaven (Heb. 12:22-24), we are to tell forth the truth that in him alone is glory and strength and the splendor of holiness, and that he has revealed that glory to his creatures; he has deigned to provide them with a Name upon which they might call, a Name which mysteriously wraps up all his glory and holy might.

If he has so condescended to reveal himself to us with a Name, even designating himself Yahweh, the Self-Existent, then what response can we have but to give him glory, and ascribe back to him the glory that he has so revealed? But what if he should stoop lower yet, and not just give us the Name of his glory – what if he should speak to us? What if he should reveal himself with a Voice? What if his very Word should thunder in the heavens, and show us just who he is?

Rejoice, believer! For the voice of God Almighty has come to earth, revealing who the glorious God is in a stunning and overwhelming display. The voice of God thunders, it is awful and powerful. It breaks tall cedars and skips great mountains and islands across the ocean as a boy skips a flat-sided rock on a lake. It is full of power and majesty and strength. It shakes the wilderness and strips the forest bare. And yet, for all that immense power, it has a gentler, life-giving side, and causes the deer to give birth. Little wonder, then, that all in his temple cry, “Glory!”.

But how much more fully and perfectly has God spoken to us in these last days! He has spoken to us by a Son (Heb. 1:1-4), the very Word of God, and revealed himself to us with inexhaustible glory, in the radiance of perfection. His Voice, the very Word of God, has spoken such power as has never been seen before, the power to crush the head of man's great Enemy, the power to rise victorious from the dead! He has spoken with justice and righteousness, and displayed the honor and holiness of God in perfect fullness on the cross. But this awe-inspiring power and unyielding justice also meet a gentler, life-giving strain in the Word of God – for who was meeker and gentler than Jesus, who readier to regenerate and save the lowly and oppressed by the breath of his voice? No wonder all who have seen the glory of his power and righteousness and justice and mercy and love on the cross, who have been brought into his spiritual temple by faith, can only cry, “Glory!”.

Brothers and sisters, we have been brought into God's holy temple! God the Father has spoken to us by his Word, the Son, and that divine and all-glorious Word has been carried to us by the Breath of God, who blows where he will (John 3:5-8), stripping forests bare with a breath, and breathing life and regeneration to those of his tender favor. This is the glorious, triune God we worship! God the Father, the source of all life, who reveals himself to his people through the Word, who is made one with them by the regenerating power of the Breath that blows Him into their hearts. Let us worship him, for the Breath of his Voice makes the wilderness shake; but it is that same awesome Voice that has done a mightier work yet – it has made the hinds of our stubborn, stony heart give birth to new and living hearts of faith in God by Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now that God has spoken to us finally by a Son, we may know assuredly that he sits enthroned over the flood as King forever. But there is more yet that we may know (ah, the wonder of it!): this is the substance of the decree that God spoke into existence by his Word: that he would henceforth give strength to his people and bless them with peace (vs. 11). The great power and life-giving strength of the Voice of the Lord was uttered to this end, that we who were sinners might be brought into peace with God. How can we not cry, “Glory!”?