Delivered as God’s Sanctuary and Dominion

Psalms 114:1-8
(cf. Ex. 14:1–31)

1 When Israel went out of Egypt,
The house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
2 Judah became His sanctuary,
And Israel His dominion.

3 The sea saw it and fled;
Jordan turned back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
The little hills like lambs.

5 What ails you, O sea, that you fled?
O Jordan, that you turned back?
6 O mountains, that you skipped like rams?
O little hills, like lambs?

7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 Who turned the rock into a pool of water,
The flint into a fountain of waters.

The power of God displayed in deliverance of His people out of the bondage of Egypt was not merely to show how powerful in omnipotence or merciful in grace He was, but it was also to show that the two nations of people, Judah and Israel, were His sanctuary and dominion.  The dominion was His omnipotence displayed in and through and to Israel, and the sanctuary for God to live among His people in worship (Exodus 25:8) was Judah.  The power of salvation would ultimately be fulfilled by Christ in setting us free from sin’s bondage, and the sanctuary of His people was to be these living temples for God to dwell within (Exodus 29:48, Deuteronomy 27:9, 2 Corinthians 6:16, Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 10:16, 1 Corinthians 3:16).  Just as God reminds all of His people here, He delivers by miraculous means such as parting the Dead Sea and the Jordan River.  He causes the whole earth to tremble in fearful awe of His great power and presence.  He even causes water to spring out of the rock, a picture of Christ to come who causes His Spirit of living water to flow from His people whom He delivers and makes us a living temple to worship from (John 4:10, 7:38, 1 Peter 2:4-5) as His own special people (1 Peter 2:9-10).  We are then united in His dominion, His reign of the kingdom of God, and in His worship as that temple of living stones as the living sanctuary of worship and His presence.  In Christ, we have been delivered as God’s sanctuary and dominion.