Prophecy of the Gospel

The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over many waters. 4The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. (Psalm 29:3-4)

Psalm 29, when read in whole, is reminiscent of the mighty acts of God. God is over creation of the world. In Genesis 1, we hear God as he speaks his Word over the water:

"1In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day."

God continues in creation to be Lord of the waters, separating them to create heaven and earth, and then separating them to create dry land and seas.

David, the author of today's psalm, notes in later passages and noted in a devotion (Dec 10, 2025), "The Lord sits enthroned over the flood (v 10)." David is recalling God's glory over creation, his flooding of the earth to rid it of sin, and the fear his voice creates, reminding Israel (and us) of the time in their history during the Exodus that God's voice produced fear in his people. 

Luther notes that this psalm is "a prophecy of the Gospel, that it shall resound with power in all the world.... He established the flood, Baptism, in which the old Adam is drowned and the new man arises." (Lutheran Study Bible, study notes).

God is Lord over water, using it when he created the world, using it when he destroyed the world, using it to show Israel he was God during the Exodus by parting the Red Sea, and using it through today to destroy the old self and make us new creations in Christ through our baptism.

Pray with me: Gracious and powerful God, we are in awe of your power and might. Through your voice, the spoken Word creates and destroys. Through a combination of your Word and water, we become new creations. We give thanks for your Word, spoken to us today through the scriptures, which gives us new life as new creations through baptism. In Christ's holy name, amen.