Ps. 96.4-5 (Pt. 1; heaven is catholic)

For great is Yhwh / most worthy of praise
he is to be feared / above all gods
for all the gods / of the peoples / are mere idols
but Yhwh / made the heavens.
Honor and Majesty / are before him
Might and Glory / are in his sanctuary. 

There is a certain dynamic I believe is at work in this psalm that these verses exemplify, and that is the dynamic between heaven and earth. ‘Earth’ is mentioned four times in the psalm, in verses 1, 9, 11 and 13. ‘Heaven’ is mentioned here, in verse 5, and in verse 11.  The ‘earth’ ‘sings to Yhwh’, ‘writhes before his presence’ (9), is ‘jubilant’ (11), and, importantly, is the ‘place of his coming’ (13). ‘Heaven’ is ‘made by Yhwh’ (5) and ‘rejoices’ (11).  There are important overlaps—both heaven and earth are made by Yhwh, and they both enter into the jubilant rejoicing of Yhwh’s coming reign. The differences are equally important—the ‘earth’ is the place in need of Yhwh’s coming reign; it, apparently, is the place that needs to be ‘put right’ through his equity. Heaven, on the other hand, rejoices but it is not ‘out of kilter’, so to speak (…’thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’…). Heaven appears to be perfectly ordered. In it “Honor, Majesty, Might and Glory” reside “in his sanctuary”. Importantly, the following verse, verse 7, will direct the “families of peoples’ to “ascribe to Yhwh glory and might.” Just as ‘glory and might’ are in heaven, now, on earth, in its liturgy, earth will begin to mirror heaven. We will focus on this more later, but what we see is that the ‘catholicity’/universality of creation comes about as it is incorporated into heaven. In other words, ‘heaven’ is the proper catholicity/universality of Yhwh’s reign; earth needs it. When Yhwh ‘comes to earth’ he will establish ‘heaven on earth’ and, in so doing, bring to earth the catholicity of heaven. Again, we see here the anticipating of Pentecost—when the catholic fire of heaven will descend upon the apostles, allowing them to ‘speak catholic’/universally. Heaven is ‘planted’ in the church, as the church begins/inaugurates the aligning of earth to heaven under the ‘judgment of Christ’; in the Church the ‘earth’ is brought home to heaven, and heaven is brought to earth. This points, in some mysterious fashion, to the ‘letters of Revelation’ that show Christ ‘among the lampstands’ that are the seven churches.