Psalm 96B - Sing to the Lord (Part 2)
Chapter 9
Psalm 96, Part 2
Rev. Thomas Shedd
B) Verses 4-6: Reasons to Praise
For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised;
He is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
But the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before Him,
Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. (Psalm 96: 4-6, NASB)
We are to tell of His glory among the nations and His wonderful deeds among the peoples for several reasons.
1) “Because the Lord is great and greatly to be praised;” The greatness of God is beyond our ability to comprehend.
Astronomy is helpful to illustrate the greatness of God. The distances involved in astronomy are unbelievably large.
a) The distance from the earth to the sun is 93,000,000 miles.
b) At the closest point of the orbits between Earth and Mars, it still takes months to get there.
c) A journey to the outer planets would take years.
d) The closest star to us is 4.3 light-years away, meaning that it takes light traveling at 6 trillion miles per hour (186,000,000 miles/second) over four years to arrive there, a distance of more than 25 trillion miles.
e) There are billions of other stars like our sun within our galaxy.
f) The diameter of our galaxy is 100,000 light-years, or 6,000,000,000,000 x 100,000,000 = … a very large number. (6 sextillion miles)
g) Our galaxy is only one of the billions of galaxies in the universe. That is billions with a “b."
[the following Tube videos give some perspectives on the size of the solar system and the universe]
To Scale: The Solar System
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR3Igc3Rhfg
A 3D atlas of the universe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlOjSQeO1Dg
Cosmic Eye [powers of 10 kind of presentation]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Are9dDbW24
Stunning New Universe Fly-Through Really Puts Things Into Perspective
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGnX6GkrOgk
God knows all of the stars by name.
Lift up your eyes on high
And see who has created these stars,
The One who leads forth their host by number,
He calls them all by name;
Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power,
Not one of them is missing. (Isaiah 40: 26)
God rules over the physical universe. God created the physical universe. God existed before the physical universe was created, which today appears to be about 14.8 billion years ago. This timescale is also a taste of the greatness of God.
2) … Because “He is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
But the Lord made the heavens.”
There is no other God. Period. There is God, and then there are the creations of God. God exists as three persons: one God, three persons.
All other “gods” are the creations of people and are idols.
Then God spoke all these words, saying,
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“You shall have no other gods before Me.
“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. (Exodus 20: 1-6, NASB)
God does not want us to worship idols because idols are not real. The gods which they describe are not real. Gods other than The God are imaginary and are not the way reality really is. God does not want us to think wrongly about reality. There is only one way that things are. “My truth” is false unless it describes the way things really are.
Only God made the heavens. No one else. No other power, no other entity, no other spirit. The heavens did not evolve out of nothing on their own. God created the heavens.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1, NASB)
God exists independently of time. God exists multi-dimensionally, and that probably includes a different perspective of time. Time is not absolute anyway but is a function of the frame of reference of the observer.
3) … Because “Splendor and majesty are before Him,
Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.”
God has existed from eternity past. He has had an infinite amount of time to exist and is perfection. When we pass from life through death to life, we will see Him as He is, in all of His glory. To say that we cannot imagine what that will be like is an enormous understatement. We honestly cannot imagine what He is like nor what it would be like to be in His presence.
Science fiction writers are good at imagining what might be possible beyond our human existence on this planet. But even the most creative and imaginative authors cannot begin to describe the majesty which is true of God.
Similarly, theologians write about the nature and character of God. But even the most extensive works on Theology Proper (that division of Systematic Theology which describes who God is and the nature of His works) are incapable of giving us a sense of the splendor and majesty of God. Nor can they adequately describe His strength, beauty, or His dwelling in the eternal Sanctuary where worship exists with Jesus as the High Priest.
Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. (Hebrews 8: 1,2, NASB)
C) Verses 7-9: Restatement of Psalm 29 “Ascribe to the Lord”
Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory of His name;
Bring an offering and come into His courts.
Worship the Lord in holy attire;
Tremble before Him, all the earth. (Psalm 96: 7-9, NASB)
The three statement song “Ascribe to the Lord” occurs at the beginning of Psalm 29 and the superscription ascribes it to David.
A Psalm of David.
Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty,
Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name;
Worship the Lord in holy array. (Psalm 29: 1-2, NASB)
Which came first? Psalm 29 or Psalm 96? There is no way to know, but David wrote both before the ark entered Jerusalem. The modern reader might object to the use of previously written materials, but even today, there is no law against the copyright holder of intellectual property using that property in a variety of ways.
The composer George F. Handel used pre-existing material in the composition of the famous oratorio, “Messiah." He had previously composed melodies for a love duet, which he lifted into the oratorio. There are several instances in Messiah of Handel using already written music.
https://longbeachcameratasingers.org/how-gf-handel-made-history/
So the fact that David used the material again should not make anyone uncomfortable.
What if the three statement exhortation “Ascribe” was already a known worship song in his time? It could be that David simply refers to a lyric that was previously known to the people of God.
David would also be free to change the lyrics to suit his purposes.
In the current worship environment today, there has been a revival of using a well-known hymn and adding new material. The Chris Tomlin song, “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)” is an example of this kind of writing. Tomlin kept the melody and lyrics of the original hymn written centuries earlier, changed the hymn's feel to a more contemporary style, and added new material at the end of the verse of the hymn.
The three-part exhortation to “ascribe to the Lord," means to give a public declaration to God. The worship of the people of God is precisely this. When churches gather together, they are publicly declaring the nature, character, and works of God: “glory and strength."
The Hebrew word translated “ascribe” is “yahav," qal stem, imperative, plural, and occurs three times in a row. Generally, the verb means “to give," and here it is used as an imperative exhortation. Thus the sharper English word “ascribe” is used in NASB to translate the Hebrew word.
NIV - Ascribe (3x’s)
KJV - Give (3 x’s)
NLT - Chooses to ignore the structure of the three exhortations by using a different verb for the third exhortation: “recognize … recognize … give”
D) Verse 10: Restatement of Psalm 93:1 and 97:1 “The Lord reigns”
Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns;
Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved;
He will judge the peoples with equity.” (Psalm 96: 10)
Again, there is a similarity of these words with those in Psalm 93 and Psalm 97.
The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty;
The Lord has clothed and girded Himself with strength;
Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved. (Psalm 93: 1)
The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice;
Let the many islands be glad. (Psalm 97:1)
The statement of praise in verse 10 of Psalm 96 affirms the King's rule over His kingdom and of His position and authority as Judge.
E) Verses 11-13 The creation rejoices at the coming of the Lord as the judge.
Verse 10 states that the Lord is King and Judge. Verses 11-13 develop those themes.
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
Let the sea roar, and all it contains;
Let the field exult, and all that is in it.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy
Before the Lord, for He is coming,
For He is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
And the peoples in His faithfulness. (Psalm 96: 11-13, NASB)
Seven nouns in synonymous parallelism are to exult in the nature and character of God as King and Judge.
Heavens
Earth
Sea
all contained in the sea
Field
all contained in the field
Trees
In other words, every part of the creation exalts the Lord. Jesus echoed this in saying that “the stones will cry out."
But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!”(Luke 19:40, NASB)
The Judge will come. There is no question of “if” the judge will come, only of “when” the judge will come. Judges judge - the purpose of a judge is to make judgments. It is their job; it is why they exist. They are to mete out justice, to reward good, and to punish evil. Law exists to explain what is right and allowable and what is evil and not permissible. That is the purpose of the law - to clarify to those under the law what are acceptable behaviors and what are not acceptable behaviors. For unacceptable behaviors, there are punishments. The severity of offending behavior determines the appropriate level of penalty. The penalty for speeding is not the same as the penalty for murder.
Interestingly, perhaps the most well-known verse in the New Testament, John 3:16, describes the love of God expressed in the giving of His Son.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NASB)
Immediately following is a discussion of the judgment of God.
“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” (John 3: 17-21, NASB)
[There is disagreement over whether these words are the words of Jesus, quoted by John the Apostle and author of the gospel, (NASB decided to put these words in red type, thus attributing them to Jesus), or of John, as his commentary on the discussion between Jesus and Nicodemus which precedes it. (NIV puts the closing quotation marks to the words of Jesus at verse 15, thus indicating that verses 16 to 21 are the thoughts of John, not the words of Jesus.) Under the Holy Spirit's inspiration, the Scriptures are the God-breathed, inspired Word of God, so it doesn’t matter who said these words, either Jesus Himself or John, His apostle - they are the word of God for us.]
In the coming of the Son, there is both the demonstration of love and the demonstration of justice. Both are good, and both are attributes of God. God is love, and God is just. There is no conflict between these two attributes. In God’s love, He is always just, and in God’s justice, He is always loving. He is both perfectly loving and perfectly just.
Therefore those trusting in God should look forward with expectancy toward the time when God will judge because it will be the perfect expression of this aspect of His nature and character.
Those who have chosen to accept God's offer for the forgiveness of sin through the substitutionary atonement of Jesus do not have to fear that judgment.
The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
For He Himself knows our frame;
He is mindful that we are but dust. (Psalm 103: 8-14, NASB)
Hallelujah! Sing to the Lord! There is so much for which we sing our praise to Him!