Psalm 96:1-13 - Book IV: "Sing to the King: The LORD reigns!”

We are continuing our series entitled, “The Five Books of Psalms.” We come today to Book IV of the Psalter. Book IV consists of Psalms 90–106. And today, we will look specifically at Psalm 96, one of the more familiar psalms in that collection. 

And it’s a joyful praise psalm. I know we’ve been depressed the last two Wednesdays with the lament of Psalm 51 and the lament of Psalm 88. Psalm 96 is not a lament! It’s a praise psalm. This is a psalm that elevates the soul as we sing praises to the Lord.

The title of today’s message is “Sing to the King.” Please take your Bibles with me and turn to Psalm 96. 

Several years ago, I read a biography of D.L. Moody, one of my favorite historical characters. And during my reading I came across two figures in Moody’s life that had an incredible impact on his ministry. One of those characters was a musician and song leader named Philip P. Bliss. Bliss wrote my favorite hymn, “Hallelujah, What a Savior,” which Moody used extensively in his evangelistic campaigns. Usually they would sing that song at the end of the service to challenge people to give their life to Christ. And it’s thrilling to think that the same song we sing here at Messiah Bible Church, was used over a hundred years ago to bring thousands of people to Christ. But I’ll let you in on a little secret—we sing it a little different than they did. 

Besides Bliss, another character that caught my attention in that biography was a man named Ira Sankey. Sankey was a talented musician, composer, soloist, and worship leader who travelled with Moody around North America and the United Kingdom to lead the evangelistic campaigns of the late nineteenth century. Sankey was instrumental in leading people to Christ. He partnered with Moody by preparing people’s hearts for the Word of God through music and worship. 

And people estimate that during the course of thirty years of ministry together, Sankey and Moody ministered to upwards of one-hundred million people. One of the things that Sankey showed me is that the pairing of worship and proclamation of God’s Word not only pleases God but also releases the power of the Holy Spirit for life transformation.

Okay, now fast-forward about one-hundred and fifty years to us here today. I’m certainly no D.L. Moody, and I don’t expect Derek to be Ira Sankey. And God hasn’t called us to preach before one-hundred million people. Instead he has called us to preach and lead worship in our church community here in south Texas. And we do that faithfully every week. 

And that might surface a few questions for you today. Why do we worship the Lord here at church? Why do we do that? Why do we sing songs as an expression of that worship? Why do we sing instead of just “saying” stuff? Why do we write and sing “new songs” as an expression of our praise and worship? And what has the Lord done, and what will he do in the future, that kindles inside of us worshipful hearts? Let’s take a look at Psalm 96 to help answer those questions. 

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As we’ve seen already in our series, the book of Psalms is a magnificent part of our Scriptures. In the Psalms, we learn how to lament. We learn how to praise. We learn how to pray. And we learn how to worship. The main character of the book isn’t Moses or David or Abraham; it’s instead the God of the Israelites, Yahweh. 

The psalm in front of us, Psalm 96, is found in Book IV of the Psalter, which is full of exhortations to praise and sing and lift up the name of Yahweh. Interestingly there is little lament in Book IV. And there is little interest in David as king of Israel. Instead, Yahweh is King. 

In fact the farther you get into the book of Psalms, the less you hear about David as king, and the more you hear about Yahweh as King. It’s almost as if the Psalter itself was expecting a true and better son of David who is also son of God to someday be King.

And also, the kingdom is increasingly envisioned not just Israel and her cities, but the entire world. This is clearly elucidated in Psalm 96 as the psalmist makes repeated references to the nations, the peoples, the earth, the families of the peoples, and the whole world. It’s almost as if the psalmist anticipates a true and better Son of David who is also the son of God, Yahweh himself, who rules over the entire world full of Jews and Gentiles both. That’s the theological trajectory of the book of Psalms as you move sequentially through the book. 

Now, the structure of this psalm is pretty simple. The author of the psalm is not stated and there is no superscription. Psalm 96 is divided into four sections, which I will call stanzas. Stanza 1 is verses 1–3. Stanza 2 is verses 4–6. Stanza 3 is verses 7–10. And Stanza 4 is verses 11–13. Stanza 1 starts out with commands that basically boil down to this—Worship Yahweh. Do it! Worship him! And then Stanza 2 gives a reasoned explanation of why we worship him. 

Then Stanza 3 gives some more commands—Worship Yahweh some more. And then Stanza 4 gives additional reasons for why we should do that. In other words, the first and third parts of this psalm command us to worship the Lord. And then the second and fourth parts of the psalm tell us why we should worship him. 

Let’s start with Stanza 1 and see what the psalmist says.

1 Oh sing to the Lord a new song;

sing to the Lord, all the earth! 

2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name; 

tell of his salvation from day to day,

3 Declare his glory among the nations, 

his marvelous works among all the peoples!

The psalm starts out with rapid fire commands for the reader. Sing! Bless! Tell! Declare! Do these things. It’s as if the psalmist has a sense of urgency with his imperatives. 

Verse 1 is a key statement that is often repeated by songwriters in our day, “sing a new song!” I’m going to talk in a minute about what is meant by “sing a new song” to Yahweh, but let me first deal with the imperative. The psalmist tells us to Sing! So, sing! “I don’t have a good singing voice, Pastor Tony!” So what! If you can’t sing well, make up for it by singing loud.

We have two commands in the first two verses to sing, and these are not isolated occurrences in the book of Psalms. We have repeated statements in this book to sing to the Lord. And the fact that there are musical notations and musical inferences throughout the book indicate that God is serious about music and singing. And he wants us to use those mediums to worship him. He wants us to use instrumentation and vocalization and musicality to worship him. He wants us to use these vocal chords that amazingly can be directed to elevate and make a singing pitch that directs praise towards the Lord. And the Lord wants that. He wants us to sing to him! 

Now what does it meant to sing a new song to the Lord? The implication of the statement is that we should use the medium of song and music to direct our attention to the Lord. And not just any music, mind you, new music. 

And this new music shouldn’t be just any music with any lyrical content. The music that the psalmist has in mind is music about “his salvation.” Do you see that in verse two? 

2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name; 

tell of his salvation from day to day,

We sing… we sing new songs… we sing new songs about God’s salvation. 

This psalmist wants us to worship the Lord with new songs of salvation. Write that down as #1 in your notes.   

1) Worship the King with new songs of salvation (96:1–3)

You might ask, “Why do you have ‘the King’ here instead of the Lord?” I’ll show you why in a moment. But to be honest those two terms are interchangeable. The King is the Lord. And the Lord is the King. More on that in a moment. 

That command to sing a new song may be new to some of you. The Hebrew is as clear as can be. שִׁיר (shir) a שִׁיר (shir) to the Lord. The noun and the verb are homonyms. The psalmist says “song a song” to the Lord. שִׁיר a שִׁיר. More precisely, שִׁירוּ לַיהוָה שִׁיר חָדָשׁ. “Sing a new song.” Don’t just sing a song, but sing a חָדָשׁ (ḥadash) song, a fresh song, a newly minted song to the Lord. 

In my experience there are two mistakes that churches make with regard to music and songs in the activity of worship. Worship is not limited to singing, but singing is an important aspect of worship, as we see in the book of Psalms. The first mistake is that they fail to embrace fresh and current expressions of worship for the Lord. Let me put this another way, more bluntly—some churches only sing old songs. 

Now there is nothing wrong with old songs. I love old songs. One of my favorite hymns is “Be Thou My Vision” which dates back to eighth century Ireland. I love “O Come, O Come, Emanuel.” It’s one of my favorite Christmas songs. I love Rich Mullins’ song “Creed” which is really just the Apostles Creed from seventeen centuries ago. I love Martin Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.”

And the imperative in Psalm 96:1 (see also Pss 33:3; 98:1) doesn’t say, “Don’t sing old songs.” It says, “Sing to the Lord a new song” (96:1). And it’s an important responsibility of the church to match contemporary expressions of music, instrumentation, and vocalizing with the worship of the Lord… and to create in each generation new songs for the Lord. I’m glad that Fannie Crosbie, Charles Wesley, and Isaac Watts didn’t just sit on their hands and sing old songs in their churches. I’m so glad that they wrote new songs for us to sing. And we need to do likewise in our generation.  

And this has an evangelistic function within the church. Notice the emphasis on “all the earth” in verse 1, and “among the nations” and “among the peoples” in verse 3. What are the people doing among the nations? They are praising God. They are singing songs to Yahweh. They are telling of his salvation from day to day. I told Derek once in regard to our worship set, “I want people to hear the gospel in the songs that we sing before I ever get behind the pulpit.” People can get saved before I even preach!

The other mistake that churches make is that they only sing new songs. And they fail to embrace the rich treasure trove of old songs that have been passed down to us. I think that’s a mistake. 

Additionally, sometimes those new songs don’t emphasize the salvation we have in Christ. Let me say it this way—some churches sing “new songs” that don’t emphasize the gospel. That’s a mistake too. 

And sometimes those new songs are woefully inadequate theologically. This will be my get off my lawn moment for today. Bear with me. I don’t like songs that are emotionally frothy without substance. That’s not an improvement. Instead of solid theology, sometimes those songs express goofy expressions of puppy love without an emphasis on the cross. I like songs that access the emotions of the singer… I do. We are to worship the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. But I don’t like emotionalism.  

One thing that I’m leery of with a lot of contemporary Christian music is a bizarre man-centeredness instead of God-centeredness. If a song repeats continually first person pronouns (I, me, my, myself), than I’d rather not sing that at church. If a worship set goes on and on without any mention of salvation, than I grow leery. If expressions of worship are strictly testimonial, “God did this for me, God loves me so much,” than I am leery. I have nothing against songs that are testimonial, but I desire at every worship service to sing songs that are ascriptive towards God. Songs that are vertical! 

Our songs need to emphasize that “God is awesome!” They need to say things like, “God, you are worthy!” and “God, you are holy!” and “God is the author of our salvation.” Praise God! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

Now we are moving away from the use of music in worship, and we are dealing more theologically with another aspect of worship. Look at verse 3 again with me.

3 Declare his glory among the nations, 

his marvelous works among all the peoples!

Hopefully you can feel the parallelism in that verse. “Glory” is parallel with “marvelous works.” “The nations” is parallel with “the peoples” in the next line. That’s good Hebrew poetry. That’s artistry right there. 

The activity of “declaring” God’s glory is a global responsibility. The Hebrew word סָפַר (safar) means “to tell, proclaim, recount, inform.” The OT Israelites were called to evangelize other nations with the goodness of God’s glory. They were to declare it before the world. In the OT era, the Israelites were called to display the glory of God in the nation of Israel. They were to be a light unto the Gentiles (Isa 49:6). They were God’s people, and they declared his glory among the nations. And all the nations of the earth were blessed through Abraham and Abraham’s sons (Gen 12:3).  

In the NT era, God’s glory and God’s marvelous works (including the work of salvation—verse 2) is found in God’s Son. Jesus’s death was not localized or limited to Jerusalem and the Jewish people… or to the continent of Europe or North America for that matter. The gospel of Jesus Christ is global, and God desires us to take it globally. 

Practically speaking, our primarily location for “declaring” God’s glory is here in San Antonio. It is perfectly appropriate for you to read this passage and say, “I’m being obedient to this command by sharing my faith with the people of south Texas. I’m singing and declaring God’s glory here.” That is a reasonable and sacrificial act of worship. 

But in addition to that calling, we as a church have opportunities to reach other nations and other people groups around North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and elsewhere. We have mission trips. We support the work of missions in other parts of the world. We are obedient to Jesus’s Great Commission, “Go into all the world and make disciples” (Matt 28:18). We can do that too. We are actively doing that too as Christ’s church.  

To a certain extent God has allowed the nations to come to us here in San Antonio. Whatever the case, we, as God’s people, showcase God’s glory. We declare it. We tell people of his mighty works. We tell people about the work that he has done through the Israelites of the OT. And we tell people about the culmination of that work in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who came to save Jews and Gentiles from their sins. 

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Let’s move on. Write that down as #2 in your notes. Worship the King with new songs of salvation. But also, 

2) Worship the King because of his eternal greatness (96:4–6)

Look at verse 4.

4 For 

The psalmist is answering the question why here. Why worship? Why write these new song? Because… for… this is the Hebrew word כִּי (ki) which is used causally here. 

4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; 

he is to be feared above all gods. 

5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, 

but the Lord made the heavens. 

6 Splendor and majesty are before him; 

strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

That first statement, “great is the Lord” may seem like the understatement of the century. But there is no way to fully express God’s greatness in human language. We can only do the best we can with adjectives like great, praiseworthy, fearful, splendid, and majestic. Our words woefully fall short of perfectly worshipping the Lord. But words are all we’ve got. Let’s do the best we can with what we’ve got. That’s what the psalmist is doing here.  

I remember a while back there was this movement to take back the word “awesome.” Every time someone would say, “that’s awesome,” there would be that annoying friend who would say, “Nothing is awesome, except God.” Okay, yeah, that’s true. But you’re fighting an uphill battle with that one. I use the term “love” for my wife and for God, but I also use the term “love” for ice-cream and college football. I’m not equating those things or my “love” for those things. Words don’t always get the job done. Words unfortunately fail us when we try to use them to describe God. 

But here is the great thing. Despite our limitations with language, God still accepts our imperfect expressions of adoration. The psalmist here couples creative expressions with common expressions in his declaration of worship. “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.” Amen! Who’s going to argue against that? 

By the way, “greatly to be praised” is all one word in Hebrew. It’s a word derived from הָלַל (halal), which we get the word Hallelujah from. It’s one word that could be translated “praiseworthy.” In other words, Yahweh is infinitely praiseworthy. 

The reference to “other gods” in verse 5 is a reference to the idols and pagan deities found in the other religions of the Ancient Near East. 

5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, 

That’s not something that you’ll hear said at the UN! That’s not a popular statement in our morally pluralistic and relativistic world. This psalmist is throwing shade on every other religious system in the world other than the Yahweh-worship of the Israelites.  

And good for him. In regard to the global call of evangelism, the Israelites were to lift up the name of the Lord above the names of all the other foreign gods and false gods of the world… gods like Baal and Dagon and Asherah and Marduk and Ishtar and Molech and Chemosh and Ra. Those gods are worthless idols! They are “fakes.” The fact that they are made by human hands and subsequently worshipped is a joke. It’s laughable. The prophet Isaiah makes fun of people who carve out idols from wood with their hands and then worship them (see Isa 44:9–20). 

In fact there’s some Hebrew wordplay here to accentuate this. The psalmist writes all the אֱלֹהִים (elohim) are אֱלִילִ֑ים (elilim). We might paraphrase it this way in English—“Those ‘mighty’ deities are ‘mighty useless.’”

In contrast to these gods, the Lord Yahweh made the heavens. The two terms here used for God are the words (1) אֱלֹהִים, meaning “God” or “gods” and (2) Yahweh. אֱלֹהִים is a generic word for deity. It can be used to refer to Yahweh as the true God, or it can be used to refer to false gods (similar to the English word “God/god” which can be capitalized or uncapitalized). 

But Yahweh is the name of the God who created the universe. He is the capital-G God of the Universe who saved the Israelites from Egypt. He appointed David as king over Israel. In English, we represent the Name Yahweh with “the lord” in small caps. The NT further reveals the identity of Yahweh as a triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three distinct persons! One magnificent God! 

This is the God who created the heavens. His acts are legendary. They are recorded in Genesis. They were written down and recorded by the Israelites of the OT. Yahweh is the God who has the splendor and majesty of all his creation. The heavens, the stars, the galaxies, the supernatural beings, the earth, and all the creatures were made by him and glorify him. He has power over them, and he has all authority to snuff them out in a moment. 

In addition to God’s glory being manifest on a large scale, it is also localized in the sanctuary. In a general way we can describe the entirety of creation as God’s “sanctuary” (or his “holy abode”). He created it and it supplies evidence of his majesty. 

Isaiah 66:1 says that the heavens are God’s throne and the earth is his footstool. But God also chooses to localize his glory in smaller settings. We see this in the OT with the tabernacle and the temple. God, who is everywhere all of the time, actually chooses to manifest some particular aspect of his presence among the people of Israel. 

In the NT era, we see this with Jesus, Emmanuel (“God with us”). We also see this with God the Holy Spirit. God has chosen to reside in the hearts of men and women, who have embraced Jesus Christ as their Savior. His Spirit indwells us. 

6 Splendor and majesty are before him; 

strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

We can say, along with the Apostle Paul, that our bodies are sanctuaries. They are the temples of the Holy Spirit, in which God chooses to manifest his glory (1 Cor 6:19–20). If you’re wondering why God brings such strong conviction when you sin or pollute your body, it is because God has chosen to sanctuary with you. Sin is contrary to his holy nature, and he opposes it. Because…

strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

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Write this down as #3 in your notes. Let’s look at stanza 3. The psalmist isn’t done with commands. Now he’s going to command us to…

3) Worship the King with sacrificial actions (96:7–9)

This psalm is like a two act play. In the second act the themes of the first one will repeat with similar structure and reasoning. In Stanza 3 he tells us to do some stuff. And then in Stanza 4 he tells us why. Just like Stanzas 1 and 2 above. 

What does he tell us to do? Well, this. Look at verse 7.

7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, 

ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!

8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;

bring an offering, and come into his courts!

The sacrificial actions include ascribing glory to the Lord. Some of you may wonder what the word “ascribe” means in English. Well the Hebrew word is more naturally translated “give.” It’s the Hebrew word that Jacob used when he told his uncle Laban, “Give me my wife” (Gen 29:21) after he had worked seven years for her. If we substitute the word “give” for “ascribe” than the verses read like this.  

7 [Give] to the Lord, O families of the peoples, 

[Give] to the Lord glory and strength!

8 [Give] to the Lord the glory due his name;

bring an offering, and come into his courts!

But that’s a little confusing because we don’t give the Lord “glory” and “strength.” The Lord is infinitely glorious and infinitely strong. Instead, we recognize, as an act of worship, that God has glory and strength. We recognize that the Lord is worthy of the glory due his name. 

This act of “recognizing” or “ascribing” or “giving” is a sacrificial act. In verse 7, the psalmist is telling us to give glory and strength to the Lord. In other words, we deflect glory and attention from ourselves or anyone else, and we direct it to the Lord. We can even take of our strength and offer it as a sacrifice to God. This is an act of worship.  

When I lived in Chicago, I worked at Soldierfied as an accountant. And let me tell you, that place was a house of worship. Every Sunday people came to worship and ascribe glory to the Chicago Bears, which was ironic because as far a football teams go, the Bears weren’t that glorious. 

But while working there I also worked several concerts at that venue. One of the most memorable was “The Rolling Stones.” I remember vividly walking around the stadium and collecting cash from the vendors as part of my job, and I saw through the corner of my eye a geriatric Mick Jagger strutting around on stage like a peacock. And he was singing this song that I recognized, but I didn’t know the words. But everyone in that stadium—40,000 to 50,000 people—knew every word to that song. And they had their hands up. And they were worshipping Mick Jacker. And they were worshipping the Rolling Stones. And they were ascribing glory to them. That was a worship service. 

And…

all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,

That’s the kind of energy and worship we should be bringing to the Lord at church. And our God is the true God of the Universe worthy of our worship. 

And worship is also the emphasis of verse 8, where we are told to bring an offering (you could translate this “gift” instead of “offering”), and come into his courts. In the OT world, this act of worship took on different forms. It could be a financial gift. It could be tithes and offerings. It could be an animal sacrifice. 

We bring financial gifts to the Lord as well. The Israelites brought grain and food offerings to worship Yahweh, and provide for his priests, the Levites. We give to the Lord’s work by giving to his church to provide for the church staff and pay for facilities and other ministerial experiences. That giving should be sacrificial giving, according to Paul in 2 Corinthians 9:7. It should be cheerful. It should be sacrificial. And it is beneficial to the church community. 

But we also give sacrificially of our time and energy too. A gift of time and energy is given every Sunday when we forsake our personal desires to fish or shop or sleep or watch football to come and study God’s Word and sing praises to him and minister to others in the church. We bring a sacrifice of praise to the Lord (Heb 13:5). 

And we bring an offering to God, when we sacrifice time and strength in children’s ministry or youth ministry or small groups or sharing the truths of the gospel with someone who needs to hear it. This is something that brings pleasure to Yahweh. It is worship expressed in sacrificial actions. 

Also, as part of the sacrificial actions of the worshipper, the psalmist says in verse 9. 

9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; 

tremble before him, all the earth!

Here the believer worships God “in the splendor of his holiness” and trembles! These actions are linked with the previous verses where God is described as “feared” above all gods (96:4). Also the psalmist said that “splendor and majesty are before him” (96:6). 

One way to translate verse 9 is noted in the ESV footnote. A possibility here is “in holy attire” instead of “in the splendor of holiness.” What does that mean? What would the psalmist be intimating here if he meant “in holy attire?” It probably harks back to the Levitical sacrifices of the OT and the garments of the priests. But surely it means more than that. Hophni and Phineas had the holy attire of the priests, but they weren’t clothed with holy actions. They didn’t “worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness” (see 1 Sam 1–4).

How do we apply this expectation in our day? Should I wear a holy ephod on Sunday morning when I preach? Do your clothes need to be sanctified when you come to church on Sunday? I don’t think so. 

We should apply this exhortation by honoring God with a sacrificial and holy lifestyle. Your covering should be righteousness and godliness. Paul says in the book of Romans, “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. Do 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” (12:1–2). Pursuing a holy life that is godly and not worldly is one meaningful way to worship the Lord. 

These are acceptable forms of worship for Yahweh. He is pleased by them. The end of verse 9 tells us to tremble before Yahweh. Trembling is an action that accompanies fear, but trembling also expresses admiration, awe, and reverence. I remember seeing footage once of what was called “Beatlemania.” The Beatles came to America in what was called the “British Invasion.” And there were all these teenage women who would visibly shake and tremble in the presence of John, Paul, George, and Ringo. They were trembling, not because they were afraid, but because they were in awe of musicians! That was, as you know, silly and inappropriate. 

But the worship of God should be accompanied by reverence and fear. It is appropriate, before God to fear him and tremble before him. This is a response to his glory and his majesty. His goodness overwhelms us, and we feel small before him. 

This will be our experience when we see God the Son in all his glory when he returns. He will be utterly fear-inducing. And we won’t tremble because we are afraid he will destroy us. No, we’re on his side. We need not fear that. We will tremble because of the awesome display of his might. Like we might tremble on the battlefield at the display of tanks and guns fighting on our behalf.   

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And speaking of Christ’s return. Write this down as #4. The psalmist tells us… 

4) Worship the King because of his future reign (96:10–13)

Let’s bring this home because this is where this psalm gets exciting. Look at verse 10. This is the climactic verse of this psalm.

10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!

The Hebrew here is יְהוָה מָלָךְ. And that verb מָלָךְ is cognate with the Hebrew word for “king” (מֶלֶךְ [melek]). So one of the ways that you can translate this verse is “The Lord is King!” Or “The Lord reigns as King.” Not David. David was a good king, but he’s not the king you want reigning forever. 

And this psalmist is telling the nation of Israel to tell the other nations, “The Lord is King!”

10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!

Yes, the world is established, it shall never be moved;

He will judge the peoples with equity.”

There will come a day when the God of the Universe will judge the entire world. The OT saints knew about it. The NT saints knew about it. They were waiting for that day. We are still waiting for that day. Even though Jesus has come already, we are waiting for his return. We are still waiting for the day when the rightful King of this world will take his throne and rule forever.

And when that day comes, look at verse 11. Here’s some prophecy.

11 Let the heavens be glad,

and let the earth rejoice;

let the sea roar, and all that fills it;

12 let the field exult, and everything in it!

Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy

This is like an ecological revival right here. Nature is celebrating. In Romans 8, Paul writes that “the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” The creation groans now. But at Christ’s return, it’ll rejoice.

13 before the Lord, for he comes,

for he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness,

and the peoples in his faithfulness.

That right there is the OT equivalent of “Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus” (1 Cor 16:22; see also Rev 22:20). What the psalmist of the OT was longing for, we still long for. We long for the day when God makes all things new. We long for justice. Notice the number of times that the word “judge” is used in these final verses. We long for a true and better judge who gives proper judgment. We long for the one who will put an end to injustice.  

We long for the day when God puts everything right. The day when God judges all evildoing. The day when the true King of the Universe takes his throne and we worship him for eternity. 

And we don’t have to wait until then to start worship him. We can do that now. We can get a head start on that. And we do. We worship King Jesus. We sing to the King, the Messiah. And we worship the King for so many reasons. And one of those reasons is because of his future reign… because of what’s coming. 

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As we close, let me connect the dots for you. You might say, “When will this happen, Pastor Tony? When is this all going to transpire? I can’t wait for this.”

Well, here’s the final culmination of everything. Here’s the end of the end. Watch this! This is so good. This is Revelation 21:1–4: “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. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 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. He 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.” 

As I understand it eschatologically, this is after the rapture, after the seven years of tribulation, after the millennial reign of Christ, and after the final rebellion when Satan and the rejectors of Christ are sentenced forever to the Lake of Fire. This is the end of the end of the end, when what theologians call the eternal state takes place. And in that eternal state in the New Jerusalem with the new heavens and new earth, all former things will pass away. 

So, no more tears. No more heartache. No more emotional pain. No more physical pain. No more anxiety. No more dread. No more fretfulness. No more murder. No more deceit. No more six o’clock news full of violent crime. No more injustice.    

No more “I’m sorry I hurt you.” No more conflict. No more apologies. No more messy breakups. No more interventions with a family member who is stuck in a pattern of sin. No more alcoholism. No more addiction. No more sexual perversion. No more killing of innocent people.  

No more cancer. No more surgery. No more heart disease. No more doctors. No more dentists. No more root canals. No more gastroenterologists. No more hardships. No more unemployment. No more financial stress. No more temptation. No more “my kids are driving me crazy.” No more lying. No more adultery. No more idolatry. No more infidelity. 

And when I see you there, in eternity… and when I ask you, “How’s it going today?” You will never ever, ever, say, “I’m having a rough day.” “I’m struggling, today.” “I’m not doing too well, Tony!” You will never say that! You will never complain about the government again. 

I’ll ask you how you are doing, and you’ll say, “Everything is awesome all the time. It’s better than I ever imagined before. Every day just gets better and better and I couldn’t be happier.” And you’ll ask me in eternity, “How are you doing, Tony?”  And I’ll say, “I’m doing awesome. I couldn’t be better. Every day is amazing from start to finish. And King Jesus is ruling on his throne.” 

And there will be no more crying. No more dying. No more mourning. No more suffering. And King Jesus will rule over us perfectly and unerringly forever and ever. That’s what’s coming. And we can worship that Jesus even now in anticipation of his future reign.