Worship The Lord In The Splendor Of His Holiness

October 2010 – Grace & Truth Magazine
PSALM 96Worship The Lord In The Splendor Of His Holiness

Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, praise His name; proclaim His salvation day after day. Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and glory are in His sanctuary.
Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; bring an offering and come into His courts. Worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness; tremble before Him, all the earth. Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns.” The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;He will judge the peoples with equity.
Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy. They will sing before the LORD, for He comes, He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His truth.

On Psalm 96
by John Calvin (1509-1564)

This psalm contains an exhortation to praise God, an exhortation directed not only to the Jews, but to all nations. We must infer from this, that it has reference to the kingdom of Christ. God’s name could not be called upon in any other part of the world than Judea, until it had been revealed; and the heathen nations were at that time necessarily altogether incapacitated for any such exercise. Yet it is evident that the Holy Spirit stirred up the saints who were under the Law to celebrate the divine praises, till the period should arrive when Christ, by the spread of the gospel, should fill the whole earth with His glory.