This morning, we’re learning about thrones and foundations.
Thrones and foundations; tops and bottoms.
Thrones and foundations; authority and support.
Thrones and foundations; power and strength.
Both have existed and will exist for all eternity as God’s Kingdom, itself, is built upon foundations and ruled by thrones. We find various foundations and thrones all through the book of Revelation as John describes the Kingdom of Heaven.
They are hot topics right now in an election year as we elect those who will sit on the various thrones of governmental authority in our lives and whether they will reinforce the foundations already laid by the founding fathers or rebuild it based on their own values and principles.
Thrones and foundations.
I won’t claim to be an expert on either one of these topics, but we’re going to turn to the Lord and His word to see what He teaches us about them.
Last week’s message delivered by Stan was awesome! If you missed the service, be sure to hop online and listen to it. Today’s message came from one of the scriptures that he quoted found in Psalm 89.
Psalm 89:5-18
A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
Before we read through part of this Psalm, we should first recognize the heading that God made sure to be included throughout the translations of the Psalm’s manuscript.
It reveals that this is a maskil, understood to be a musical notation, and who authored it. Who was Ethan the Ezrahite?
We know that he was a very wise man:
1 Kings 4:29-31
29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 He was wiser than anyone else, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Kalkol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations.
This may have also been the same Ethan who was a priest who served as a musician playing the cymbals as the ark of the covenant was brought back to Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 15). It may have also been the same Ethan who was the grandson of Judah (1 Chronicles 2).
Though these two connections are uncertain, they both are in agreement with one whom would write a song included in the scriptures.
We now turn our focus to the throne of God as we are reminded of who God is through Ethan’s maskil. In the wisdom and revelation that God had granted Ethan, he wrote:
5 The heavens praise your wonders, Lord,
your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies above can compare with the Lord?
Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings?
7 In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared;
he is more awesome than all who surround him.
8 Who is like you, Lord God Almighty?
You, Lord, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.
9 You rule over the surging sea;
when its waves mount up, you still them.
10 You crushed Rahab like one of the slain;
with your strong arm you scattered your enemies.
11 The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth;
you founded the world and all that is in it.
12 You created the north and the south;
Tabor and Hermon sing for joy at your name.
13 Your arm is endowed with power;
your hand is strong, your right hand exalted.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
love and faithfulness go before you.
15 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,
who walk in the light of your presence, Lord.
16 They rejoice in your name all day long;
they celebrate your righteousness.
17 For you are their glory and strength,
and by your favor you exalt our horn.
18 Indeed, our shield belongs to the Lord,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.
Psalm 89:14/Psalm 97:2
…righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
Foundations are critically important even to thrones. Though unseen, they uphold and support all that rest on them. They are a solid place that anchor all that is built upon them.
Consider the foundation of a physical building.
The requirements of a building’s foundation depend on variables such as what the load is that will be placed upon them, what the frost line is, what material is use to build the foundations, what type of soil or material they are built on, how well it can route surface water, and more.
The point of these building codes and requirements are to ensure that the foundation will be firm and stable and strong enough to withstand whatever is placed on them and whatever could possibly rise up against them such as floods and earthquakes.
Foundations are often unseen whereas thrones are very visible. That doesn’t diminish their importance, though! Without a firm foundation, a throne crumbles as well.
Our life’s foundation and anchor needs to be Jesus. Jesus is our foundation. Jesus is seated on a throne of grace. We learned about this grace a few weeks ago. Stan revealed last week that Jesus’ grace throne has a two-fold foundation of righteousness and justice.
Jesus is both the throne and foundation, the top and the bottom, the rock below us and the cornerstone over us, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the author and the finisher of our faith; He is our all in all!
God is sovereign. His throne is above every throne. Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. His name is above every name.
Ephesians 1:17-23
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Philippians 2:9-11
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Matthew 28:18
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
There is no authority except the authority which God has established. Now this does not mean that every authority is godly. Please do not ever understand this to be true.
God establishes all authority, but not all authority is godly. God will permit ungodly authority to rise up for various purposes. Sometimes, it is simply what the people want.
The Kingdom of God is not a democracy, but God will sometimes give people over to their own evil desires.
1 Samuel 8:6-10
6 They said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”
10 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle[a] and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
Sometimes God will allow ungodly authority to rise up to move His people to where they should be.
Consider the Pharaoh that rose up in authority that made the Israelite’s lives miserable in Egypt forcing them to move forward into God’s promised land. Consider the wicked religious leaders who were allowed to rise up into authority to crucify Jesus and persecute the early church so that the gospel was take out to the ends of the earth.
Sometimes God will allow ungodly authority to rise up as a result of the people’s sin. When God removes His protective covering because His people refuse to remain safe within it, the harshness of the ungodly authority cause His people to repent and to turn back to Him.
Romans 13:1-8
1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. 8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.
God uses thrones for His own purposes, but every single throne that is ever established is done so by His own sovereign will. Every throne is subject to His. God holds all power and authority that ever has existed, exists now, and will ever exist forevermore.
Even God’s throne has foundations, however.
God’s throne is threefold. It is a throne of grace with foundations of righteousness and justice.
Psalm 89:14/Psalm 97:2
…righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
Righteousness.
There is right and there is wrong.
There is good and there is evil.
God, whom created everything with a purpose, is the only One who knows and decides what is right. He is fully and absolutely and perfectly righteous. Everything that He is, everything that He says, everything that He does is right and good.
He is the standard of goodness to which everything gets compared. Righteousness is decided by comparing attributes or attitudes or behaviors or motives or actions between us and God. Let me save you some time and share that we fall short every single time.
God gave us His moral law so that we can understand what is right and wrong and so that we are empowered to live rightly. Even people who lead very godly and morally good lives such as the prophet Isaiah fall apart in brokenness just by being in God’s presence as they realize just how unrighteous they are. Isaiah cried out:
Isaiah 6:5
Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips…
He later wrote:
Isaiah 64:6
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
Right alongside of the foundation of righteousness stands the foundation of justice that uphold the throne of God; equal in standing and value.
Having a standard of what is right without any consequences for doing what is wrong is pointless and removes all value and meaning and purpose for righteousness. Justice rewards what is right and punishes what is wrong. God is just.
Unrighteousness must be punished. In Isaiah’s case, he was convicted by his lips. A seraphim took a coal straight from the fire of God and touched Isaiah’s mouth with it. The seraphim said:
Isaiah 6:7
See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.
Righteousness is nothing without justice. Both must coexist. Otherwise, why would anyone even care about being righteous? Is it not the reward for good and the punishment for evil that motivates us to desire to be right and to do what is right?
Now the reality is that the law that God gave us so that we can understand what is right and what is wrong that was intended to empower us to live rightly effectively sentenced us all as guilty of being unrighteousness. We are all guilty, we have all sinned, we have all fallen short of God’s standard.
Therefore, justice must be administered. We all have a court date awaiting us where sentencing for our guilt takes place. According to Revelation 20, we will all stand before a great white throne with God seated upon it. As we stand before Him, He will look through the Lamb’s book of life. If our name is not written in it, which means that we lived our entire life without ever receiving Jesus’ salvation by our faith, we are thrown into the lake of fire; Hell.
Here’s the good news. While we await this court date, while we are still alive, we have the opportunity to get our name in that book! Righteousness and justice are the foundations of God’s throne, but there is also one seated upon that throne; Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain, the Judge.
He lived a sinless, perfect life in the flesh. He is not guilty of sin. He is righteous. He owes no debt for any sin as He fulfilled the law and lived it out perfectly.
He chose to take upon Himself the punishment that justice requires on Himself. He now freely offers a pardon for sin to anyone who will ask Him for it and choose to put their faith in Him and what He did to atone for sin on the cross.
Romans 3:21-24
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
The throne that Jesus sits upon has a foundation of righteousness and justice, but it is a throne of grace because of Jesus who sits upon it. It has now become a mercy seat.
Oh what a trifecta throne! Three in one! Righteousness and justice and grace! All because of who Jesus is and what He has done for you and I!
The mercy seat on the top of the ark of the covenant made of solid gold was pretty impressive. It was there that man would meet with God. However, it was only a foreshadowing of our reality! Now, we get to go boldly and confidently into the throne room of God straight to the real mercy seat in Heaven all because of Jesus who is seated upon it.
Our righteousness comes not from ourselves, but from Jesus.
For those whose names are written in the Lambs book of life, we will not receive what we deserve; Hell. Instead, we will be welcomed into Heaven and into a new city, the new Jerusalem for all eternity. Oh, and we will stand before another throne there as well.
In the Greek, it is the word bema. This is a judgment seat. Sure, we will spend eternity in Heaven, but when we stand before the bema throne with Jesus seated upon it, we will receive our reward! This is written about often throughout the New Testament, but we’ll just turn to one this morning:
2 Corinthians 5:7-10
7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
At the bema throne of Jesus, He will show us when we missed it and when we got it right. Though there will be painful moments when we realize what could have been if we hadn’t sinned, that pain and grief will not be carried beyond this throne. What will endure are the eternal rewards earned by the times that we lived rightly.
Jesus said:
Matthew 6:19-21
19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Our lives are building something. Our choices are not temporary, but eternal. This is why we are called to live holy lives and to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and eternity! When we build upon the solid rock of Jesus and not the sandy things of this world, we are building for ourselves a reward that will last eternally!
This is not only a new Testament idea, either. The reason that Abraham lived by faith and not by sight, the reason that he roamed around as a stranger in strange lands is because he was looking forward to his eternal dwelling place!
Hebrews 11:8-10
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
Like Abraham, we live by faith because we also are building for ourselves eternal reward!
1 Corinthians 3:10-15
10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.
We can’t change yesterday. We can’t change the choices that we have already made in our lives.
However, today is a new day! Today is the beginning of the rest of our lives!
Will we choose to live rightly? Will we live by faith and not by sight? Will we build up for ourselves treasures in Heaven?
Are our lives hidden within the refuge of Jesus, our Strong Tower? Is He the rock solid foundation below and the unshakable and unmovable cornerstone above? Are the ruled by His righteous and just throne with His word firmly supporting us below?
This is an election year where with a simple check, we choose who will be seated on the civil thrones of authority over us. However, every day with every thought and with every decision and with every act, we are checking a box as well. We are checking who sits on the throne of authority in our lives. Please choose wisely. Please choose King Jesus!