Psalms 24:1 - Meaning and Application

Here David shows God’s full right to this part of creation where we live, (Psalm 24:1). We must not think the heavens alone belong to the Lord, with their bright inhabitants, while this earth is ignored because it seems small and far away. No, the earth is his too, and so is this lower world. He has set his throne in the heavens, yet his kingdom rules over all. Even the worms of the earth are under his rule and care.

When God gave the earth to human beings, he still kept ownership for himself. He only let it to us as tenants, or as people who may use it for a time. “The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains.” The mines deep in the ground, even the richest ones, the fruits the earth grows, the wild animals, the cattle on a thousand hills, our lands and houses, and everything added by human skill and labor, all belong to him. In the kingdom of grace, these things are rightly seen as empty, because they can give nothing lasting to the soul. But in the order of God’s care for the world, they are fullness, because the earth is full of his riches, and so is the great sea.

Every part of the earth belongs to the Lord, and everything is under his eye and in his hand. So wherever a child of God goes, he can comfort himself with this thought, he has not stepped off his Father’s ground. What we receive from the earth and its produce is only lent to us. It is the Lord’s first, and what is ours against other people is not ours against his claim. Even what is farthest from us, or hidden in the depths of the sea, still belongs to the Lord, and he knows where to find it.

The inhabited world is his in a special way, the world and everyone who lives in it, (Proverbs 8:31). We ourselves are not our own. Our bodies and souls do not belong to us. “All souls are mine,” God says, because he made our bodies and gave us our spirits. Even our tongues are not our own, for they are meant for his service. This includes people who do not know him or admit that they belong to him.

David says this to show that, though God gladly accepts the worship and service of his chosen people, it is not because he needs them or gains anything from them, (Exodus 19:5; Psalm 50:12). It also points to Christ’s rule as Mediator, meaning the one who stands between God and people, over the farthest parts of the earth, which the Father has given him as his own possession. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand, even authority over every person.

Paul twice quotes this verse when he speaks about food offered to idols, (1 Corinthians 10:26, 1 Corinthians 10:28). If meat is sold in the market, eat it and do not ask questions, because the earth is the Lord’s, and the food is God’s good gift. But if someone tells you it was offered to an idol, then do not eat it, because the earth is the Lord’s, and there is plenty besides. This is also a good reason to be content with our own share in this world and not envy what others have. The earth is the Lord’s, and he may do what he wants with what is his, giving more to some and less to others as he pleases.

David then gives the reason for this claim. The earth belongs to God by an unquestionable right, because he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters, (Psalm 24:2). It is his because he made it, shaped it, founded it, and fitted it for human use. The material is his, since he made it out of nothing. The form is his, since he made it according to the eternal plans and ideas of his own mind. He made it himself, and he made it for himself. So he is the only true owner, fully and absolutely, and no one can give us a right to any part of it except through him and under him, (Psalm 89:11, Psalm 89:12).

He also made it in a way no one else could. It is the work of almighty power, because it is founded on the seas, on the waters, a weak and unstable base, one would think. Yet if almighty power chooses, that base can support the earth. The waters that once covered the earth and made it unfit for human life were placed beneath it so that dry land could appear, and in that way they serve as its foundation, (Psalm 104:8, Psalm 104:9). He also keeps it in being. He has established it, fixed it in place, so that while one generation passes and another comes, the earth remains, (Ecclesiastes 1:4). His providence, his continued care, is like a continuing act of creation, (Psalm 119:90).

The fact that the earth was founded on the waters should remind us how uncertain all earthly things are. Their base is not only sand, but water. So it is foolish to build our hopes on them.