There is a scriptural example of when this psalm was sung. It is found in I Chronicles 16. I do not know whether the psalms used in I Chronicles 16 were written first and David commands Asaph to use them in worship or they were used in worship and then adapted into psalms.
Let me share the circumstances with you. David is king. He is a powerful, victorious king. The Lord establishes David’s kingdom and exalts him before the people. David took more wives and had more children. He battled the Philistines and defeated them. David built more houses for himself in Jerusalem. Then he gathers all of the leaders of war from all of the tribes of Israel and they decide that it is good to bring the ark of the Lord into their midst. As they were doing so, Uzzah stuck out his hand to catch the ark because it was falling from the ox cart and he touched the ark. God was angry and killed Uzzah for his disobedience. God had commanded that only the Levites were to deal with the ark. David was afraid of God that day and decided to leave the ark with Obed-edom the Gittite. It stayed in his house for 3 months and Obed-edom prospered while the Lord’s presence was with him.
David again decides that he wants the ark of the Lord in the midst of the people. The ark represented the presence of the Lord. So David pitches a tent for the ark of God. He gives the command that only the Levites may carry the ark because that is what the Lord had commanded. He gathers all of Israel. The Levites all consecrate themselves according to the law. The Levites carry the ark according to the commandments of the Lord and God does not kill anyone. The ark arrives safely. David gives the command that music is to be played and that all were to raise sounds of joy. David dressed up for the occasion. All of Israel rejoiced. David danced before the Lord and his wife Michal (Saul’s daughter) despised him. She remained barren for her bad attitude.
They brought the ark of God into the tent that David had prepared and brought burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. David then blessed the people and gave them each a loaf of bread, meat, and raisins. There was a party going on. David appointed some of the Levites to invoke, thank, and praise the Lord. Asaph (the chief Levite) and his brothers were to sing thanksgivings to the LORD.
In I Chronicles, we see a celebration among God’s people because God’s presence and blessing was among them.
This morning as we cover Psalm 96 we are going to see the same thing. This Psalm has 3 major sections and from these sections I will give you 1 point for the Christian and 1 for the non-Christian.
Let’s again read Verses 1-6
The Jews had a God. He was and is the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. They could and did worship this only God. They worshipped Him publicly. They worshipped Him because they understood some of His power and majesty. They knew Him as the Creator. They understood that His glory and works are displayed everywhere. They understood that God was the one who had rescued them from their enemies and had preserved them through generations and much turmoil. They understood that they were a special people and were indeed the examples of right worship to the world around them. Their worship included proclaiming among themselves the wonders of God and they knew many of His wonders. For generations they had passed down the stories of God’s graciousness to them and God’s wrath on His enemies. He is great. He is to be feared. He made the heavens as just one display of His power. Splendor and majesty are before Him. Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
But this psalm expands their worship to the outsider as well. This psalm points out that God is so great that His glory and His marvelous works must be told to the entire earth. It must be told to all people everywhere. It must be told to those who worship idols. This is not simply a declaration to get people’s attention. It is not simply the Israelites bragging that their God is better than your god. It is to be a display that is done with such excellence that those who worship other gods would understand the error of their ways and put away their worthless idols. Those who worship other gods would compare what their idol does to what the LORD GOD has done and is doing and they would instantly come to grips with the ignorance of their worship of idols. This is not just a declaration of God, but an invitation to all the earth to join them in worship of the only God who deserves it.
What about us?
Today you and I are saved. Each day this is a new cry of joy. Each day that He has preserved you and me and delivered us allows us to sing a new song. Each day that we live this out is a day of eternity. For if we are saved, then we are indeed saved forever and if saved forever, then today we are being preserved by grace through faith as part of that eternity. While you and I are singing of His salvation from day to day, we are to declare His glory and His marvelous works. We are to do this in front of the body of Christ and in front of the world. To live out our lives in front of the body is simply to join with the Church in what should be going on all of the time anyway. We are simply part of a crowd. Just like Israel, each Christian is part of a chosen nation whose very existence is an act of the only living, true God. We are to declare His glory and His marvelous works. We know that He is great and greatly to be praised. We already fear Him and we truly understand that all idols are worthless. When we gather together to worship, we should gaze in awe at the splendor and majesty we have been invited into and we should enjoy and be encouraged by the strength and beauty that are in His sanctuary. Our lives should declare what God has already declared about Himself.
#2 is for the non-Christian, but Christians listen up. I am about to place great pressure on us.
The Christian life will declare our God. Our lives will bring clarity to your confused and blind thoughts about God. Our lives will show the worthlessness of your idols. You will watch us suffer, struggle, rejoice, persevere, hope, testify, pray, comfort one another, discipline and uphold one another. You will watch us praise and magnify our God. We will do all this in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior. He is the source of our strength. Once you understand that your idols are worthless and that no one is able to deliver and fulfill but God Almighty, then you should fear God, throw down your idols, and join us in worship by faith through Jesus Christ.
Read Verses 7-9
Ascribe means to give. This is not left up to you whether you want to or not. This is a command given by God. It is a directive given to everyone. This is king talk. Everyone that the LORD rules over is to give to the LORD what is due Him and He rules over everyone and everything. He is due glory and strength! He is due an offering! He is due worship! To enter His presence without full acknowledgement of His holiness and to enter His courts without trembling would be an insult! It does not matter whether the LORD is your king or not, the command is emphatically given and is to be obeyed. The King of all universes has demanded it.
God has made us who we are through Christ. We have been equipped by God through Christ to do all of what is demanded here by God. We should want to give God the glory. We know that He is our strength. Our desperation has been exposed and His grace is sufficient. We know through His Word the glory due His name. He has revealed Himself to us. Because of the work of Christ, we are not only free to enter His courts, but we have become an acceptable offering of worship. His Spirit constantly woos us to give Him glory and to live in holiness. We have been given faith. We are clean. We rejoice in His presence. We should love to enter God’s awesome presence.
Hebrews 10:19-23 “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”
Romans 12:1-2 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Our lives are not bound to this earthly lifetime. We are people of great hope and expectation. Our love for God is to grow. The more we know Him, the more natural our praise, trust, and worship should be. The more we understand God’s regular demonstration of love towards us, the more we are enabled to love and glorify Him. But this is not done only for this lifetime. We are looking forward to a day when we will be in His courts for eternity. The righteousness that has been imputed to us through Christ will have its final work and we will be righteous and blameless forevermore. Ascribe to God what is due Him and do it with great joy.
Philippians 1:9-11 “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Right now, you insult God. You dare to give His glory to yourself and others or even other things. You dare enter His courts while paying homage to worthless idols and with lives that are ruled by a different king. You do not fear Him. You do not tremble before Him. You think that you do not owe Him anything and you actually ignore His mandates. You are not holy. Therefore His wrath is stored up against you for your destruction.
But you are not unlike any of us. We who are saved started out just like you. We were under the wrath of God and the mercy of God was extended to us. Here in this Psalm, you are invited to join us in worship of the Almighty God. God gave us faith through His grace and we repented and believed. If you sincerely cry out to God from your wicked heart, then God will save you too. The blood of Christ will cleanse you from your sins and the wrath of God will depart from you. You will become acceptable in the presence of God Himself just like us.
You see, Jesus Christ lived a perfect life and then died an undeserved death. In His death, He took on the wrath of God which is the punishment for sin. He rose again on the 3rd day and is alive. By a relationship of faith in Jesus, you can be rescued like us. You can join us for eternity in the worship of God Almighty.
Verses 10-13
The LORD tells us through the psalmist what we should declare among all people. THE LORD REIGNS! All things and people are under His control and authority. There is proof. The world remains in its place and does what it is supposed to. It rotates, it gives forth plant life, it stays in orbit, the tides ebb and flow, etc. Another proof that God reigns is that God will judge the people of the world. Only the one who is in charge has such a right.
But why are the heavens glad and why does the earth rejoice? Why does the sea roar and the field exult? Why will the trees sing for joy before the LORD? The reason given to us is that the LORD judges. What does the judgment of God have to do with the earth and all that is in it? Let me explain. The earth is under a curse. It is not this way because it did anything wrong. It was created with excellence by God Almighty who then declared all that was created as good. When Adam and Eve sinned, the earth was then cursed by God because of Adam’s sin.
Genesis 3:14-19 “And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
All of creation rejoices in the coming of the LORD. The creator is coming. The sustainer is on His way. Even the inanimate gives praise and glory to the one who is due it. The celebration is because the LORD is coming and He comes with purpose. He is coming to judge. He will judge the world in righteousness. The earth wants the rightness of God restored.
Romans 8:19-22 “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”
But the earth was not the only thing that was cursed. Adam and Eve and all of mankind were also cursed because of sin against a holy God. All of mankind will be judged as well when the LORD comes. He will judge the peoples in His faithfulness. He will judge without bias according to His standards which are without flaw. Just like with the earth, things will be made right.
The entire earth looks forward to the return of its Creator. This is not some apathetic waiting. Creation eagerly longs for the return of our Christ. It longs to be returned to normal and the curse to be permanently lifted. God, the ultimate Judge, will judge the world and all people. He will judge in righteousness and in faithfulness. There is no greater display of His faithfulness than Jesus Christ the righteous. It is through the work of Christ that righteousness will be restored. The very hope of our salvation looks forward to the day when the curse of death is finally destroyed and sin is abolished forevermore.
Romans 8:22-25 “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Our inward man groans for the curse to be lifted. Our new creation is sick of this old man body. We want the new body that is promised. We know that when Christ returns, not only will our souls be redeemed, but our bodies will be redeemed as well. There will not even be any residue of the sin that so easily besets us. For Judgment will have come and His name is JESUS. He is our hope. He is our righteousness. Want a taste of our hope?
Romans 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Revelation 21:1-7 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
Obeying the command of God, I say to you THE LORD REIGNS. If you do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ, then you do not have the hope that I just described to the Christian. As a matter of fact, you are most certainly under a curse. The same curse that was placed on Adam and all of mankind is still in effect. If you are cursed, then the judgment of God that is coming will mean your destruction. You are without faith.
Galatians 3:10-14 “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
The only appropriate response for the unbeliever is to repent, put away your idols, and cry out to the only true God for mercy. He will give you a relationship with Jesus.