“The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.” – Psalm 11:4
The revelation God gives us in Scripture of Heaven being an actual place is a glorious reality. Some of the clear proofs of this truth is that Heaven is place where the living God dwells (1 Kings 8:30). It’s the place where the bodily resurrected Lord Jesus physically ascended to, and therefore is the place from where He will physically return on the last Day (Acts 1:11). We were blessed as we considered these and many others in our first edition of this series – “What is Heaven?“
Further, Heaven is the place of the Father’s house that has many mansions, where Jesus is preparing a place for each and every one of His people. He gives you much comfort in John 14:3, when He says, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” Indeed, Heaven is the place Christ’s bodily-resurrected people will ascend to to be with Him for eternity (1 Thess. 4:15-18). Praise the Lord!
As King David declares in our focus text in Psalm 11 above, the Lord is in His holy temple. Now, what does David mean by this? Is he pointing to the reality that God is in His heavenly sanctuary? Yes. As we consider the whole counsel of God, we also know that God’s people are the living temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16, 6:19). In this way, one can also rightly say that God is in his holy temple as He is in His church (Eph. 2:19-22), as He is in covenant and communion with His people, through Christ, of whom the temple was a type.
In addition, in Psalm 11, David teaches you another awesome piece of knowing Heaven is a place: God’s throne is there. What does the Bible teach us about this? I encourage you to get yours out and consider these 7 truths with me.
- David speaks of God establishing His throne, and where it’s established, in Psa. 103:19 “The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.”
- Jesus’ throne is actually the throne of David’s kingdom, which was promised to Christ forever (Luke 1:32–33). Indeed, Christ has made David’s kingdom His kingdom.
- He declares in God’s eternal reign in Psa. 29:10 “The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood, and the Lord sits as King forever.” It’s true that God sat upon that flood as the Judge. He executed His justice upon the world of the wicked and ungodly through it. Further, He will never cease from ruling and reigning over His creation.
- After Jesus rose and ascended bodily into Heaven, another important teaching is His bodily session, His being seated bodily on His throne in Heaven. The Apostle Peter teaches us this in 1 Pet. 3:21b-22 “…through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.”
- The Apostle Paul reveals Christ’s session in Eph. 1:20, as he tells the saints in Ephesus that God the Father “seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places”. Paul presses the same truth about His session as he points to God’s people being co-seated with Christ in the heavenly places even now (Eph. 2:6). Further, Jesus confirms this promise to His people, those who “overcome”, as those who will sit with Him on His throne in Rev. 3:20-21 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”
- The writer to the Hebrews tells us that God’s throne is a throne of grace that His people are called to come boldly to in prayer- “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb. 4:16, WCF 12)
- David also speaks of God’s throne as a throne of judgment in Psa. 9:7-8 “But the Lord shall endure forever; He has prepared His throne for judgment. He shall judge the world in righteousness, and He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness.”
Thinking more about this eternal reign of the living God from His throne in Psalm 11, what action does David say God does as He is seated there? God sees all men and tests them. God perfectly knows the character and hearts of every man, woman, boy, and girl. He not sees our persons, but sees in and through us. Whereas we see what men appear to be, God intimately knows us as we truly are. He tests us through the refiner’s fire with righteous inspection. Therefore, have great comfort in Christ, the enthroned King in Heaven. For you may be deceived by men, but He never will. His judgment will always be just according to the truth.