Psalm 96
Psalms 95 and 96 are complementary celebrations of the universal prerogative of God to judge the entire world according to his infinite perfection, revealed standard of righteousness, and covenantal intention. Psalm 95 specifically enjoins the nation of Israel to grasp, honor, and celebrate the great privilege of being his chosen people out of all the nations of the earth. They are admonished to sing, shout joyfully, resound with thanksgiving, celebrate his singularity, his creative power, and his covenantal grace. A fitting warning is included (8–11). Psalm 96 engages the reader with a “new song,” a song to be sung by all the nations. The covenant God of Israel is the same God who created all things, whose righteousness determines the standard by which all nations will be judged, and whose mercy grants salvation to his elect people across the whole globe. Revelation 5:9 pictures the singing of a “new song” that includes the voices of “every creature which is in the heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea: … ‘You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation’” (Revelation 5:9, 13). Psalm 98 reiterates the praiseworthiness and the salvific grace shown both to Israel and the nations in this “new song.”
I. What should the nations do (1–3)?
A. The people are commanded to sing.
Singing involves an elevation of voice, a modulation of tones that express affections of various sorts and create a confirming level of memory, a thoughtful presentation of truth in pithy poetic phrases, and a corporate expression of admonition and unified praise. “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; … Majestic Sweetness sits enthroned upon the Savior’s brow; … Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God; … The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him; … From the highest throne in glory to the cross of deepest woe, all to ransom guilty captives, flow my praise, forever flow.”
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- Sing to the Lord. The Lord is mentioned three times in the first three commands and repeated thrice in verses 7 and 8, even as “Holy” is enunciated three times concerning the Lord God almighty in Isaiah 6. Surely it is not coincidental that we serve a three-personed deity, thrice holy, constituting the whole of love as Subject, Object, and reciprocal Affection. The person who does not praise a God in Trinity does not serve the One True God.
- “a new song” – The new song includes all the nations as noted in Revelation 5:9. Psalm 98 also has the phrase (1) and calls for participation from “all nations” and the “house of Israel.” The references point to his salvation as the source of gratitude. Eternity does not provide enough time for full expression of this ever-new revelation of eternal wisdom, provision, and compassion.
- All the earth must sing.
- The writer goes beyond the covenant people of Israel to include the people of the inhabited globe. In the same way that God judges all nations for their sin (Amos 1, 2; Isaiah 34:1–8), he requires true worship (Psalm 115:1–8) and repentance from every sinner (Luke 13:1–5), and he deserves, and thus requires, praise from every rational being.
- Beyond rational beings, God is the Creator of the entire order of beings, animate and inanimate, visible and invisible. The earth’s present condition reflects the reality of the fall into sin of God’s image-bearers. Because of them, “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you” (Genesis 3:17, 18). Paul declares that this present world is in a state of groaning by its subjection to vanity (Romans 8:20–22). That will be purged and remade and “according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1). Presently, even in this fallen condition, nature brings forth an irrepressible chorus of praise to its maker (Psalm 148; Romans 1:19–21).
- In singing, bless his name. We bless him for every name he has given himself. He is “I am.” His existence is absolute, infinite, eternal and unchangeable. He is immense, that is, he is not divided into parts but all of him is everywhere. God calls himself Provider for everything comes from his hand; God calls himself “Seer” for he always sees us and knows our full being in every place and at all times. God calls himself “All Powerful,” for nothing exists that he did not create, sustain, and integrate with all other things in their purposed interaction in the world. God calls himself “Peace,” for he alone can effect reconciliation with those who have set themselves at enmity with him. In the incarnation, God the Son is named “Jesus,” for he shall his people from their sins.
B. Proclaim a message of good news (2b).
“His salvation” is worthy of highest praise for it embodies the infinite self-giving for the eternal welfare of his people from Eden to consummation and in all places over the earth (Isaiah 49:6). This command comes to fullness in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19, 20). It was carried out by the apostles and now is the ongoing calling of the church (Romans 1:5, 14–17; Galatians 1:11; 2:6–10; Philippians 1:12–18; Colossians 4:2–4; 2 Timothy 4:1–5).
C. Declare His glory and His wonders (3).
This means that God’s people proclaim God’s attributes and his acts.
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- We are called upon to harvest from biblical revelation those attributes that constitute the being of God. For example, following the order of the Baptist Catechism question 7, we develop ways to describe and celebrate his “wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.” The glory of God is literally his weight, that is, who he is in himself. On the one hand we can talk about his simplicity; He does not have a body and is not divided into parts. He is not a combination of specific attributes operating as separate categories. But, as his creatures living in a created order, we experience him according to our being. We are finite and consist of parts of different kinds. We experience his infinite indivisible perfection as particular expressions of love, wrath, faithfulness, kindness, repentance, relenting, mercy, joy, anger, giving, upholding, casting down, delighting, displeasure—all in perfect conformity with his eternal decree that arises from and is constituent of his immutability.
- His wonders would include his eternal decrees, creation, sustaining power, providence, revelation, incarnation, redemption, resurrection, judgment, and consummation. The message we declare and the praise we sing consist of God’s revelation of himself and his acts. Though both the wrath expressed in his judgment and the love expressed in his redemption arise from the pure simplicity of eternally active holiness, we experience them as specific attributes that manifest different expressions. Different articulations of his wisdom and power are proclaimed through the multiplicity of things created and the virtually infinite variety of providential arrangements throughout every particle, large and small, he made (See Psalms 107; 145–150 and others).
II. Why should the nations do it (4–6)?
We are commanded in this Psalm to make much of the Lord and then given the reasons that justify the command. The command does not require meaningless or merely arbitrary action on our part but ignites an occupation for the creature absolutely consistent with his being in relation to his Maker.
A. The Lord is great.
His praise is to be commensurate with his greatness. No amount or intensity of adoring praise is too great for the Lord. “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!” (150:6). His wisdom and power as expressive of his moral perfection should call forth the earnest, joyous, and spontaneous acclamations of praise, for his greatness is absolute, his worthiness transcends all the universe of finite things. The praise and adoration of the Lord will multiply exponentially in eternity moment by moment and never will match his true excellence.
B. The Lord is to be feared (4b).
This posture of absolute respect combined with attribution of absolute prerogative endures forever. “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever” (Psalm 19:9). The fear of the Lord is uncluttered with cringing servile fear but expresses legitimate awe and respect in face of his goodness and power. Clean fear recognizes the Lord’s greatness, , mercy, just wrath, wisdom, and astonishing salvific provision and bows to him in true repentance, receiving the gift of eternal life in his presence: “Oh, fear the Lord you his saints! There is no want to those who fear Him” Psalm 34:9).
C. All other objects of worship are idols, but Yahweh made everything everywhere (5).
Nothing else has the power of creation, so nothing else possesses intrinsic right to worship and obedience. That which constitutes the essence of human rebellion is the denial of the evidence of creation described in Romans 1:18–22. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed to glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.” Man’s perilous imagination and clumsy hands craft idols out of other things that they did not make. Given such unastute senselessness, “They became fools.” Others have the strange conceit that their mind—that they did not make—and their ability to reason—which they did not invent—make them needless of submission to any deity. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” Men make idols; God made the world.
D. His omnipotent power is governed by the beauty of his spiritual and moral perfection (6).
Might wedded to badness strikes servile terror and a shrinking posture in affected beings. A dog will shrink from a brutal master and children hide from a drunken and abusive father. God’s strength always is manifested in the reality of his splendor, majesty, and beauty. Evil beings will shrink from him, not for the injustice of his might, but from the awareness of their rebellion and evil and their unrepentant determination (Revelation 6:12–17).
III. The Psalmist intensifies his call for praise (7–10).
A. What are the things that must be ascribed to the Lord?
To “ascribe” means to give mental and verbal affirmation of what clearly is true and is morally compelling. No one is exempt from this unreserved ascription for the Psalmist calls on all “families of the peoples.” This means that every set and subset of every nation has the joyful moral obligation to recognize and confess these things. This command assumes that such evidence is present that none can restrain the ascription. In the time of Christ’s coming such compelling ascription will indeed be the irrepressible response of all “families of the people” when every knee shall bow of all things everywhere, and “every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9–11). Some will make this confession in joy and happy worship; others will make it in full recognition of the truth but with a desire to hide and find protection.
B. This confessed recognition of divine glory brings about true worship.
We recognize his rightful ownership of ourselves and everything that exists, so we bring an offering to show that we heartily acknowledge the truth of his lordship (8b). We present ourselves to him in worship with spirit, demeanor, and appearance fitting for our sober recognition of his holiness—“Worship the Lord in holy attire” (9a). With appropriate worshipful fear prompted by his greatness, power, and worthiness we tremble.
C. In Revelation 6–22, we find the revelation of divine sovereignty, glory, and justice in unfolding layers of enthronement and judgment.
With invincible and palpable power and splendor, God’s past reign, though hidden and scoffed, his incoming visible reign, unfolding in our sight, and his future reign in the perfection of the new heavens and new earth, bring forth the statement of absolute praise, “The Lord reigns.” The fact that such always has been the case and that he has worked according to the counsel of his wisdom becomes clear in the utter stability of his presence and the perfection of his judgment (10). He judges with equity, and none can or will object to the perfection of his standard of judgment.
IV. The Psalmist anticipates the coming of the Lord in final judgment (11–13).
The entire creation joins in the jubilation of the transformative aspects of the final judgment
A. The Psalmist pictures the joyful anticipation of the heavens and the sea, the fields and the forests as they are ready to shed their subjection to vanity placed upon them at the fall of humanity in the persons of Adam and Eve, and organically through Adam.
Its fallenness will be purged completely, and its restoration will reflect the pristine purity and beauty of a world confirmed in righteousness. We will experience the original order of creation having light without sun (Genesis 1:3, 15; Revelation 21:23; 22:5). The presence of unfallen beauty in dimension and order perfectly fit for the presence of the redeemed of the world in their worship and praise of the triune God through the glory of the Lamb (Revelation 21:23) will compose our environment.
B. This joyful and unending manifestation of worship originates in the visible presence of the Lord descending in glory.
To the visible display of glory is added the perfection of his judgment. The Psalmist restates the truth of the absolute perfection of the judgment of God as affirmed in verse 10. He judges according to his righteousness, revealed to us in the moral law and in its multi-faceted applications throughout history as recorded in Scripture. He does not violate this standard in any instance for it is applied according to his faithfulness. Charles H. Spurgeon, ever making relevant social application from biblical principles, notes:
No nation shall be favoured there, and none be made to suffer through prejudice. The black man shall be tried by the same law as his white master, the aboriginal shall have justice executed for him against his civilized exterminator, the crushed and hunted Bushman shall have space to appeal against the Boer who slaughtered his tribe, and the South Sea Islander shall gain attention to his piteous plaint against the treacherous wretch who kidnapped him from home.
C. This certainly will be a part of the unveiling of God’s absolute justice and righteousness.
Then we shall learn how for Bethsaida and Chorazin judgment is more severe than for Sodom and Gomorrah, how Nineveh will rise up in judgment against Jerusalem, and how all will give account for every idle word spoken. Finally, all will see clearly what they refused to see here, that there in “none righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:10). The incarnate and glorified man, Jesus, will alone be judged as righteous and those who are embraced in him and his completed work finally will hear that same verdict—“Not guilty; Righteous”—and sing forever the new song in the inexhaustible, strong beauty of heaven in the presence of the three-personed Lord.
Poem
What prompts our new exalted song,
A song that all the earth will sing,
That gives one voice to every tribe,
That makes the seas and forest ring?
This song—transcendent—celebrates
All truth and pow’r and righteousness,
The fear of God-for He is just-
Expresses His pure blessedness.
The nations tremble as they sing,
Repent of sin as they rejoice.
His greatness and His goodness stir
The resonance of every voice.
God’s glory is His majesty,
His holy beauty crowns His name.
His strength holds everything in place,
While tongues ignite a holy flame.
When shall He come to judge the world?
His righteousness shall show His worth,
Imputed to His chosen ones
From every nation of the earth.
As every eye sees holiness
All mouths admit just condemnation
Fueling the intensity of
Songs of praise for His salvation.
