Around the year 740 BC, the prophet Isaiah was ushered into the throne room of God. There he encountered the holiness of the Almighty, where even the train of God’s robe fills the temple with glory. But unexpectedly, Isaiah’s response to being in the direct presence of God isn’t joy, elation, or even praise—it’s terror. “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5) 

At some other point in time, likely very near where Isaiah experienced the throne room of God, the author of Psalm 46 had a similar vision of the presence of God. Verses 5 and 6 read: 

There is a river whose streams make glad  
the city of God,  

the holy habitation of the Most High. 

God is in the midst of her; she shall not  
be moved; 

God will help her when morning dawns. 

How is it that two authors, in likely very similar circumstances, can have such disparate responses to the presence of God? Isaiah, one of the most important authors in all of Scripture, responds with fear and lament. The unnamed Psalmist, without qualification or identity, finds nothing but hope and encouragement.  

The answer to this conundrum is contained within the last line of Psalm 46:5, “God will help her when morning dawns.” According to Dr. Timothy Saleska’s Concordia Commentary on Psalm 46, “when morning dawns” occurs in this form in only one other place in the whole of Scripture: Exodus 14:27. “So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the LORD threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea.” The psalmist finds hope in the presence of God because the presence of God is connected to our deliverance.  

Christians are likewise called to find hope in God’s presence. But rather than simply remember God’s faithfulness through a past historical event like the Exodus, we are directed to the dawn of another day when God delivered his people—the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter morning.  

Jesus’ death and resurrection not only remove our fear of being in the presence of a holy, perfect, just, mighty, and majestic God, but in contrast to this, we are invited and even commanded to approach God and seek his help. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15–16). 

In the same way that Jesus’ death and resurrection open the door to the throne room of God for us in prayer, the door to eternity is also opened. This is the context that the author of Psalm 46 has in mind. As children of God, and because of the deliverance God has given us in Christ, we stand even now as citizens of heaven. Though trials and tribulations may come, we stand firm, secure within the walls of the eternal city where God rules and dwells with his people for all time. 

Dr. Jason Gudim [FLBCS faculty], began teaching full-time this fall.