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Sovereignty, Holiness, and Christ: Psalm 99 and Its Interpretation
Sovereignty, Holiness, and Christ: Psalm 99 and Its Interpretation
By Jacob D. Gerber
Introduction
Psalm 99 proclaims the reality that YHWH is king. More than that, the psalm ties
YHWH's sovereignty to his holiness. In this paper, we will analyze the context, text, and history
of interpretation of Psalm 99 in order to hear its message that YHWH reigns, and that he is holy
“in supreme majesty, in justice, and in responsibility.”1 Specifically, we will examine the way
that early church saw this psalm as self-evident proof of Christ's holiness, divinity, and kingship.
Context of Psalm 99
Within the Psalter, we find Psalm 99 in the middle of four key contextual units. First, it is
located in Book IV of the Psalter, which Gerald Wilson describes as the “editorial 'center'” of the
Book of Psalms:
As such this grouping [Book IV] stands as the “answer” to the problem posed in
Psalm 89 as to the apparent failure of the Davidic covenant with which Books
One-Three are primarily concerned. Briefly summarized, the answer is given: (1)
YHWH is king; (2) He has been our “refuge” in the past, long before the monarch
existed (i.e., in the Mosaic Period); (3) He will continue to be our refuge now that
the monarchy is gone; (4) Blessed are they that trust in him!2
Indeed, we see each of these emphases in Psalm 99: (1) the psalm opens with a proclamation that
“YHWH reigns” (v. 1); (2) Moses, Aaron, and Samuel are named explicitly as “among his
priests” and “among those who called upon his name” (v. 6); (3) implicitly, the call to worship
YHWH is a call to follow in the footsteps of the faith of those patriarchs; (4) also implicitly, the
recognition that God “answered them” and was “a forgiving God to them” serves as an assurance
1 James Mays, Psalms, Interpretation (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1994), 316.
2 Gerald H. Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter (Chico, Ca: Scholars Press, 1985), 215.
Gerber 2
that YHWH will continue to answer and forgive his people. In this way, Psalm 99 functions as a
quintessential Book-IV psalm, which, as we will see, will be important for its interpretation.
Second, form-critical scholars would place Psalm 99 within the context of the several
these psalms were used in the worship of Israel to celebrate that YHWH was taking up his reign
The most prominent feature of these psalms is, as we have seen, their actuality
and contemporaneous character. There can be no doubt that the situation into
which the poets have projected themselves, which forms the basis of their vision,
and which they want the singer and the listeners to take part in, is this: that the
people—the congregation—is now actually standing in the presence of the new
king to salute him as the victorious king who has ousted his competitors and
seated himself on the throne, has established his kingdom and inaugurated a
beneficial reign over this people and the whole earth.3
Mowinckel envisions a vibrant celebration of something the Israelites believed was happening in
their midst, rather than some dry reading of a text that has no bearing on reality, as the reading of
Book IV that spans Psalms 93-100. David M. Howard, Jr., who wrote his doctoral dissertation
on the structure of these eight psalms, argues that they cohere not only “on modern form-critical
grounds,” but also by “lexical, thematic, generic, and structural links.”4 Psalm 99 is more,
however, than merely the penultimate psalm in the group, yielding the final word to the last in
the series, because the role of Psalm 100 is different from the preceding psalms: it functions as “a
doxological conclusion to the theme of Yhwh's universal kingship that began with Psalm 93.”5
3 Sigmund Mowinckel, The Psalms in Israel's Worship, trans. D. R. Ap-Thomas (Grand Rapids: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2004), 109.
4 David M. Howard, Jr., The Structure of Psalms 93-100 (Winona Lake, In: Eisenbrauns, 1997), 20.
5 David C. Mitchell, The Message of the Psalter: An Eschatological Programme in the Book of Psalms (Sheffield,
Eng.: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997), 290.
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Therefore, we might regard Psalm 99 as the final catechetical word on YHWH's kingship in this
series, with Psalm 100 as a reflection on all these psalms together. Thus, we find Psalm 99 not
only at the “editorial center” of the Psalter, located within Book IV, but also as the final word of
instruction in a prominent set of psalms that focus together upon Book IV's most prominent
One of the major themes of these eight psalms is the response (or lack of response) to
YHWH's reign from human beings and even creation itself. In Psalm 93, the reign of YHWH
causes the floods to roar in what seems to be defiance;6 however, in the end it is YHWH who is
“mightier than the waves of the sea” (93:4). In Psalm 94, the psalmist pleads with YHWH to
“Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve” (94:2), warning the wicked
nations (94:10) against continuing to refuse obedience to YHWH's reign. Similarly, in Psalm 95,
the psalmist warns the people of Israel not to “harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at
Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test” (95:8-9). So, in Psalms 93-95,
the psalmist warns nature and all the peoples of the earth—both of Israel and of the nations—to
In Psalm 96-98, however, the news of YHWH's reign is (for the most part) good news for
all the peoples of the earth. Psalm 96 urges the “families of the peoples [to] ascribe to the LORD
glory and strength” (96:7), and he urges the servants of YHWH to “Say among the nations, 'The
LORD reigns!'” (96:10). Even the coming judgment of YHWH is a picture of joy: “Then shall
all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the
earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness” (96:12-13).
6 Davidson, The Vitality of Worship, 310. Davidson takes the floods as a reference “the forces of chaos which had
to be conquered in creation, but which ever threaten to break into the ordered universe.”
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Psalm 97 similarly declares, “The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be
glad!” (97:1), although we should also note that it contains words of warning and a call to
repentance for the wicked: “All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in
worthless idols; worship him, all you gods!” (97:7). Psalm 98 also urges the nations to worship
King YHWH: “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and
sing praises....make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD!” (98:4, 6). The reason for this
celebration, just as in 96:13, is the coming of YHWH: “Let the rivers clap their hands; let the
hills sing for joy together before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the
world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity” (98:8-9). Thus, in Psalms 93-98, the
Fourth, the psalmist creates a link between the psalm and the call narrative in Isaiah in
the way that he describes YHWH's kingship in terms of his holiness. The psalm is made up of
three divisions (v. 1-3, v. 4-5, v. 6-9), each division ending with the exclamation “Holy is he!” (v.
3, 5) or the fuller, “Holy is YHWH our God!” (v. 9). Thus, the psalmist describes YHWH to be
thrice holy, echoing the seraphim whom Isaiah hears calling out, “Holy, holy, holy is YHWH of
hosts; the whole earth is fully of his glory!” (Isa.6:3)7 In the canonical context, Psalm 99
exposits what the seraphim were proclaiming, so that James Mays calls the psalm “a liturgy for
the vision.”8 In Isaiah 6, the prophet sees “the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.”
The psalmist uses the same words as Isaiah for “sitting” and “lifted up,” and he similarly
envisions YHWH as being enthroned in the temple.9 Through this link, the psalmist underscores
7 Many commentators have noted this important link. Cf. Franz Delitzch, A Commentary on the Book of Psalms,
vol. 3, trans. Francis Bolton (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans), 99; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, vol. 2
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1963), 222; Robert Davidson, The Vitality of Worship (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1998), 324.
8 Mays, Psalms, 316.
9 Willem Vangemeren, Psalms, EBC, ed. Frank Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991), 635-36.
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the connection between the reign of YHWH as King and the worship of YHWH as the Holy One.
Exposition of Psalm 99
Regardless, however, of whether or not one agrees with the canonical connection
between Psalm 99 and Isaiah 6, it is indisputable that the psalmist organized the psalm into three
sections which are separated by the refrain, “Holy is he!” Each section emphasizes a different
aspect of YHWH's kingship and his holiness. As referenced in the introduction, Mays writes:
In its three parts, the psalm defines and modifies the basic meaning of “holy.”
The LORD is thrice holy: in supreme majesty, in justice, and in responsibility.
“Holy” becomes a notion that means more than the fearful and fascinating divine;
used to praise the LORD it takes on connotations that the people of the LORD
have come to know in their experience of his rule.10
Mays gives three very helpful section descriptions: YHWH in supreme majesty; YHWH in
justice; and YHWH in responsibility. We will use these descriptions in the psalm's exposition.
So, in verses 1-3, YHWH is holy in his supreme majesty. The psalm opens with an
unambiguous declaration that “YHWH reigns,” using the same language as Psalms 93 and 97
before it. The response to this reign is not the joy anticipated in parts of the immediately
preceding psalms, but is the awesome, unmistakable power of Psalm 93, when YHWH conquers
the chaos of the floods, and of Psalm 97, when YHWH melts mountains and enemies alike. The
peoples tremble11 and the earth quakes in fear of him! The psalmist declares that YHWH is
“great in Zion,” which is to be expected, as YHWH is the God of the inhabitants of Zion, the
Israelites. What is unexpected, however, is that the psalmist also insists that YHWH is “exalted
Vangemeren notes that the reference to “cherubim” refers to the cherubim figures on top of the ark of the
covenant, so that the “footstool” would be, by extension, a reference to the temple.
10 Mays, Psalms, 316.
11 Many ancient commentators took this as “Let the peoples be angry!” because of the Vulgate's rendering of the
phrase: irascantur populi. In the Qal stem, however, the Hebrew word ragaz has to do with terror, rather than
anger (e.g., Ex. 15:14). Cf. Francis Brown, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Peabody,
Ma: Hendrickson, 2005; reprinted from Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1906), 919.
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over all the peoples” (99:2). No other gods can rightfully claim dominion over any people
In a nutshell, the best description of the God portrayed in Psalm 99:1-3 is found in v. 2:
“he is exalted.” Again, this is the same word found in Isaiah 6, when the prophet says that he
saw the Lord “high and lifted up,” and Davidson argues that it is “a key word in these three
sections....It appears in verse 2 in the description of the LORD as 'exalted.' It reappears in verses
5 and 9 in the repeated call to the congregation to 'extol'..., to lift on high the God they
worship.”12 In other words, the fact that YHWH is exalted becomes the motivation for the
YHWH's exaltation, however, is not merely admirable; more than that, YHWH's supreme
majesty is terrifying: “let the peoples tremble!” Our fear, however, should be no deterrent from
praising him. As Spurgeon insists, we must worship this terrible aspect of God as much as his
gracious aspect: “Under the most terrible aspect the Lord is still to be praised. Many profess to
admire the milder beams of the sun of righteousness, but burn with rebellion against its more
flaming radiance: so it ought not to be: we are bound to praise a terrible God and worship him
who casts the wicked down to hell.”13 Indeed, that YHWH is “terrible” (v. 3, KJV) is not a
YHWH's absolute power, however, does not corrupt him—as the second part of the
psalm makes clear, YHWH is holy in his justice. In fact, the psalmist uses a very difficult
Hebrew construction to point our the irony (from a human perspective) that a mighty king should
love justice (v. 4)—human beings corrupt every bit of power they can get, but this King used his
power to “establish equity and execute justice and righteousness in Jacob.” (v. 4).
The fact that power does not corrupt YHWH is not the only remarkable feature of his
love for justice. Beyond this, we should not too quickly forget the high and exalted, supremely
majestic portrayal of God in v. 1-3. Why should this exalted God care about establishing justice
among such lesser creatures as human beings? Furthermore, since we human beings repeatedly
demonstrate that we are not nearly as interested in justice as he is, why does this majestic God
continue to establish it? The psalmist gives us the answer: holy is he! The second aspect of
YHWH's holiness is his concern for equity, righteousness and justice on the earth. For this, we
should exalt him and worship at his footstool (i.e., his temple14).
In v. 6-9, we see we a portrayal of YHWH that seems to move even further away from his
supreme majesty than had his justice: we see YHWH's holiness in his responsibility. It would
seem that, even if the high and lofty YHWH insisted that his creatures live righteously and
practice justice, it would go too far to suggest that he actually care for those creatures personally.
After all, these are the same peoples who tremble in the face of his holiness—what could compel
him to care for them? Nevertheless, we read that YHWH called Moses and Aaron to serve him
among his priests, and that he called Samuel, who served among those who “called upon his
name” (v. 6). Not only did these three (along with the others, among whom they served) call
upon his name, but “he answered them” (v. 6), speaking through a pillar of the cloud! But even
beyond this level of shocking grace, we read that YHWH forgave them (v. 8), even as he was “an
avenger of their wrongdoings.” YHWH's grace goes shockingly far for the transcendent God of
the universe, but he still does not leave sin untouched: the sins of his people must be dealt with,
through forgiveness and/or vengeance. For these reasons, the psalmist exhorts us once more to
14 See note 9.
Gerber 8
“Exalt YHWH our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for YHWH our God is holy!” (v. 9).
Still, Psalm 99 goes further than merely describing YHWH's holy reign: while Psalm 93-
98 had celebrated the coming of the King, Psalm 99 celebrates that the King has come already.
Specifically, recall Psalm 98:8-9, cited earlier in this paper, which longingly anticipates the day
that YHWH will come to judge (that is, to establish justice)15 on the earth, and to judge the world
with righteousness, and the peoples with equity. In Psalm 99:4, YHWH is celebrated because
“you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.” Using the
perfect tense, Psalm 99 suggests that the action anticipated in Psalm 98 is completed action—the
Nevertheless, we must note that there is no hint in the Old Testament that this kingship
ever was established completely and triumphantly. After the Fall, nowhere do we see a genuine
righteousness. The Hebrew canonical form, which ends in 2 Chronicles with the decree from
Cyrus that the Jews may go home from the captivity, does indeed give hope that YHWH might
one day do these things; however, it would hardly be accurate to say that he did do those things
before the end of the Old Testament. Rather, we must see these perfect tense verbs as prophetic
perfect, where the prophet describes the reign of YHWH as if it were completed action because
Thus, Psalm 99 has a strong eschatological thrust, anticipating the reign of YHWH in
stronger terms than any of the previous psalms in this sequence had used. Psalm 100 picks up on
this eschatological certainty and celebrates the impending reign of YHWH with a “doxological
conclusion” to Psalms 93-99. Interestingly, Psalm 100 continues the trajectory of increasing
15 The word “judge” in 98:9 comes from the same root word as “justice” in 99:4.
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intimacy between the “exalted” YHWH and his people, exulting that “It is he who made us, and
we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture” (100:3). This point should not be too
quickly passed over—the series of psalms about the kingship of YHWH ends by celebrating his
close proximity to the people of Israel, rather than by trembling before his lofty transcendence.
On the surface, Psalm 99 seems to have very little to do explicitly with Christ. There are
no clear prophecies of Christ's priestly lineage (Psalm 110), nor descriptions of his pierced hands
and feet (Psalm 22), nor even a single reference to his ancestor, David. Nevertheless, the
primary use of Psalm 99 in the church is as an apologetic text to “prove” the divinity and
kingship of Christ! Take Justin Martyr, for example. In his “Dialogue with Trypho,” Justin
rebukes Trypho (a Jewish man who does not believe that Christ is the Son of God) for his
unbelief on the basis of Psalm 99: “And in the ninety-eighth [99th] Psalm, the Holy Spirit
reproaches you, and predicts Him whom you do not wish to be king to be King and Lord, both of
Samuel, and of Aaron, and of Moses, and, in short, of all the others,”16 and then Justin goes on to
quote Psalm 99. To Justin, it is obvious that the Holy Spirit intended for Psalm 99 to testify to
To the modern mind, Justin's argument does not make much sense. In fact, he seems to
be committing the logical fallacy of “begging the question”—that is, assuming the conclusion
(i.e., that Christ is YHWH, the King spoken of in Psalm 99) in his premises. This, however, does
not bother Justin in the least. Later on, Trypho softens somewhat to the point of believing that
16 Justin Martyr, “Dialogue with Trypho,” in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol I, ed. Alexander Roberts and James
Donaldson (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1965), chapter 37, p. 229.
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Christ is God to the Gentiles, but he says that he still does not think that he, being Jewish, needs
to have anything to do with Christ. Upon this remark, Justin returns once again to Psalm 99:
At this point, Justin again recites the words of Psalm 99. Why would Justin find Psalm 99 to be
singularly self-evident proof of Christ's divinity and of Christ's unique ability to save the Jews?
Despite our inability to see what Justin believed to be obvious, we should note that Justin
The whole aim of the psalm is to exhort people to exalt Christ, of whom it knew
that He would be despised because of His having assumed humanity. For if these
words were said about God not incarnate, what need is there of saying them?
Since it would have been certain that among them He alone is Most High.18
Luther's logic features the same kind of question-begging logic that Justin demonstrates when he
asks a rhetorical question: What need there could be for Psalm 99 if not to exalt the incarnate
Christ? An interesting question, perhaps, but it is difficult for us modern readers to see how
So, to help us understand this perspective, we benefit from the guidance of Ambrose and
Augustine, both of whom give more explanation as they focus closely on v. 5: “Exalt YHWH our
God; worship at his footstool! Holy is he!” The Vulgate, however, reads “Exalt the Lord our
God, and worship his footstool, for he is holy.”19 Both Ambrose and Augustine, then, take the
But they worship not only His Godhead but also His Footstool, as it is written:
'And worship His footstool, for it is holy.' Or if they deny that in Christ the
mysteries also of His Incarnation are to be worshipped, in which we observe as it
were certain express traces of His Godhead, and certain ways of the Heavenly
Word; let them read that even the apostles worshipped Him when He rose again in
the glory of His Flesh.20
Still, this line of logic is not quite clear. Even if we are supposed to worship the footstool itself,
why should we take the footstool as a reference to Christ's incarnation? Augustine clarifies the
In his exposition, Augustine recalls that, on one hand, God defines the earth as his
footstool (cf. Isa. 66:1), but that, on the other hand, Scripture also commands that we only
worship the Lord. This creates for Augustine a dilemma, leaving him unsure about which
So, for Augustine, Christ's body comes from the Lord's footstool, the earth (because God formed
the first man, Adam, from the dust), and since Christ gave his body to us to eat for our salvation,
then we are compelled to worship the Lord's footstool—that is, we are compelled to worship
20 Ambrose, “Of the Holy Spirit,” in The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, vol. X, trans.
Rev. H. de Romestin, Rev. E. de Romestin, and Rev. H. T. F. Duckworth, ed. Philip Schaaff and Henry Wace,
(Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1955), 145-46.
21 Augustine, “Psalm 98,” in Expositions of the Psalms, trans. Maria Boulding, OSB, Works of Saint Augustine: A
Translation for the 21st Century III/18 (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2002), 474-75.
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But is this a fair interpretation of the text, or are the fathers and doctors of the church
simply playing fast-and-loose with the text? Furthermore, how much credence should we give to
Ambrose and Augustine in particular, since they both make their case from a mistranslation of
the psalm into Latin? Finally, does any of this really prove the case as strongly as their
confidence would suggest? To bridge the gap between their logic and ours, perhaps it would
J. Clinton McCann, Jr. offers an important theological reflection on this psalm that may
help modern readers sympathize with the theological perspectives of these pre-critical
interpreters. First, he emphasizes the way that Psalm 99 moves from YHWH's sovereign
transcendence to his close proximity, which we noted above in the exposition. Recall also that
Psalm 100 presses this trajectory even further, by celebrating YHWH's kingship in terms of his
being Israel's shepherd. McCann writes, “A popular notion of sovereignty equates it with the
Thus it is significant that Psalm 99 pushes toward a redefinition of holiness in the direction of
involvement and committed, forgiving love.”22 McCann's point here is not controversial—the
psalm's theology clearly modifies the meaning of sovereignty (i.e., kingship) from YHWH's
being highly exalted to his being intimately involved with his people.
At this point, though, McCann moves this line of thinking a step further, extending the
trajectory from Psalm 99 into the incarnation, life, and death of Jesus:
22 J. Clinton McCann, “The Book of Psalms,” in The New Interpreter's Bible, vol. IV (Nashville: Abingdon Press,
1996), 1076.
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15:29), Jesus became the earthly locus of God's presence and power, the focus and
revelation of God's glory (see John 1:14-18). The incarnation of Jesus is the
ultimate redefinition of holiness: God resides in human flesh! And in the tension
represented in v. 8 between God's forgiving and God's holding accountable, it is
not difficult to discern the shape of a cross. God's sovereignty is manifested
ultimately in suffering love, a manner that appears to the world to be weakness
(see 1 Cor 1:22-25; 2 Cor 12:9).23
Essentially, McCann is pointing to the tension in the theology of Psalm 99, where YHWH is
represented as both exalted beyond any possible reach of humanity and infinitely concerned for
the justice and welfare of his people. Certainly, this tension exists throughout the Old Testament,
which contains stories of a terrifying YHWH at Mount Sinai and a tender YHWH who ensures
the survival of baby Moses floating down the Nile River into the arms of the princess of Egypt.
Nothing in this tension necessarily proves that God would become a human being.
Still, if one accepts by faith that Jesus Christ is YHWH, the King in human flesh, then the
tension Psalm 99 takes on new importance as a theological justification for how the transcendent
King might remain sovereign while humbling himself all the way to death on a cross, both for
the forgiveness and the vengeance of the sins of his people. This is why Jews and Muslims—
monotheists who take seriously the transcendence of God—find the incarnation and crucifixion
of Christ to be a stumbling block: without taking seriously the theology of Psalm 99, it is
difficult to put these two paradoxical notions of God's holiness and sovereignty together.
This paradox is what brings us back to Justin Martyr and his dialogue with Trypho, the
Jew. After Justin quotes Psalm 99 for the first time, Trypho responds with exactly this objection:
“For you utter many blasphemies, in that you seek to persuade us that this crucified man was
with Moses and Aaron, and spoke to them in the pillar of the cloud; then that he became man,
was crucified, and ascended up to heaven, and comes again to earth, and ought to be
23 Ibid.
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worshipped.”24 Note the disdain in describing Jesus as “this crucified man”: Trypho has not fully
grasped the theological implications of Psalm 99, and so he does not understand that God
exercises his sovereign, transcendent holiness even in the closest proximity possible to his people
—even by taking their own flesh, but also their own guilt, suffering, and shame upon himself.
Justin had quoted Psalm 99 in order to demonstrate that Jesus Christ is the highest example of
this type of holiness, and that he therefore deserves all the praise and worship that the Psalm
demands. In this way, we see that even Luther was spot-on in his exegesis: “The whole aim of
the psalm is to exhort people to exalt Christ, of whom it knew that He would be despised because
of His having assumed humanity.” Furthermore, we should credit Augustine and Ambrose for
being on the right track to see the humanity of Christ as a major theme in the psalm, even if we
still have reservations about their use of a mistranslated verse to get to that theme.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it would be helpful to meditate on the implications of Psalm 99 for the way
that we are to conduct our lives. We Christians rejoice because we have become transcendent
with God by virtue of having become united with Christ. Paul insists that “God, being rich in
mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up
with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:5-6). Because
we are in Christ, we are exalted with him above this world—this is indeed cause for rejoicing!
A problem arises, however, when we refuse to interact with those who are not exalted
with us in Christ. Christians sometimes separate from the world in the name of “holiness,”
thinking that the best way to maintain that “holiness” is by being as lofty and unapproachable as
YHWH in Psalm 99:1-3. This, however, does not take all of Psalm 99 into account—we are holy
as much by our exaltation in Christ as we are by our seeking justice and by our associating with
the meek, lowly, and sinful in the world. In fact, there is a very real sense that the fully-orbed
concept of holiness described in Psalm 99 compelled the Father to send the Son into the world,
since holiness demands transcendence as much as it demands justice and intimate involvement.
Followers of Christ, therefore, cannot call aloofness from the world “holiness” because such a
posture rejects two of the three sides of holiness (justice and responsibility), even if it preserves
Therefore, let us exalt YHWH our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for holy is
YHWH our God! Let us, however, also imitate Jesus Christ—YHWH incarnate—in his full