Rejoicing that God the Judge is coming
Psalm 96
1 O 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 marvellous works among all the peoples.
4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
he is to be revered above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Honour and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
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.
9 Worship the Lord in holy splendour; tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, ‘The Lord is king!
The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved.
He will judge the peoples with equity.’
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
13 before the Lord; for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with his truth.
The psalm opens with a call to praise God. To sing a new song of praise, to declare God’s glory to all people. The psalm writer reminds us that God is greater than all the idols and other “gods” which people might follow. God is to be praised for honour and majesty, strength and beauty are God’s. But the details of why God is to be praised are few. Vs. 2 – God brings salvation. Vs. 3 – God has done marvelous works. But all of this we are used to hearing, this is the kind of talk we expect in church. What is it that moved the psalm writer to write this song?
In vs. 10 we finally get our answer. God is a judge of fairness, whose rulings are equitable. Often when we hear that God is judge we are anxious about what that will mean. It is easy to regard judgement as frightening, as harsh, even draconian. But the tone of the psalm is praise – God coming as judge is celebrated as a good thing.
The psalm celebrates that God the fair and equitable judge is coming. In a world where the judgements we witness seem at times less than righteous, in fact, at times, seem to be unjust – God will bring justice and fairness when God’s reign is fully revealed. In that we can rejoice. In fact, all of creation (see vs. 11, 12 – the heavens and earth and the sea are glad, the fields and the trees exult and sing) will join in the celebration that the righteous judge has come. For creation itself longs for justice to come to the earth.
PRAYER:
Lord God, you are the righteous judge. We rejoice that you are coming to judge the earth with equity and fairness. We join our voices with the creation and the peoples of the earth in praise and celebration that you, the judge, are coming to set up your reign on earth. In Jesus’ name. Amen.