“Let all the people of the earth acknowledge the Lord and turn to him! Let all the nations worship you! For the Lord is king and rules over the nations. All of the thriving people of the earth will join the celebration and worship; all those who are descending into the grave will bow before him, including those who cannot preserve their lives.” (Psalm 22:27-29)
I thought about this verse after doing a Graveside service for a family today. It is always humbling to officiate a service like this, and to come to grips with the mortality of humanity. “All those who are descending into the grave will bow before Him,…” Bowing before God is worship! Whether we decide to worship God here on earth or not, we will indeed bow before Him when we are summoned to appear before Him at some point and time (and let us all remember that there will be a time when we all stand before Him and give account of our lives!). That time will be the defining point in which God Almighty will hand you His judgement on your eternal destiny based upon your faith.
“Let all the peoples of the earth acknowledge the Lord and turn to Him!” This is the prayer of the Psalmist, and of the present author! I want so badly for you and the rest of all humanity to be able to have confidence in death as you turn to and acknowledge God as the Savior in your lives. Check out this Scripture, “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he likewise shared in their humanity, so that through death he could destroy the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil), and set free those who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear of death.” I love this text in Hebrews 2:14-15, because for those who are not confident and fear that dreadful day where we meet our mortality, these words can bring us security and assurance that Jesus’ sacrifice destroyed the power & penalty of death over us!
Hebrews 2:9 says, “but we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by God’s grace he would experience death on behalf of everyone.” See, “on behalf of” is a phrase that means “in place of”, and it means that when Christ suffered and died He did so as a representative for you and me. He did it in our place! Now, because of that sacrifice we never have to fear death.
“Let all the nations worship you!” Worship should be the natural response to what was just spoken to us through the Word of God! Jesus disarmed Satan and his power over us in death. Jesus made it possible for us to come to that season of our lives with complete assurance that we have passed from death into life (John 5:24 ““I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, but has crossed over from death to life.”) . As I read earlier at the Graveside, 1 Cor. 15 says, “Now when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will happen, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”
“All of the thriving people of the earth will join the celebration and worship;…” The “thriving people” here refers to you and I who are healthy and living our lives without facing imminent death. It is a picture of the time when we will universally join together in heaven and celebrate the salvation of God’s people! It is a command for us to be celebrating even here and now, anywhere and everywhere, with anyone and everyone who claim Jesus as Lord and King who rules the nations!
I hope that you will join me in lifting up praises, whether in life or death. May God’s peace be upon you all!