CHAPTER 96

POSSIBLY WRITTEN BY DAVID: A NEW SONG OF PRAISE TO THE LORD

¹O Sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the Earth. (The setting of this song seems to be at the beginning of the Millennial Reign. Israel, having sung the previous Psalm, now invites the nations to join her in a new song. Psalm 97 will be that song. This new song belongs to the day when the kingdoms of the world shall become the Kingdom of Jehovah and of His Christ [Rev. 11:15; 12:10].)

²Sing unto the LORD, bless His Name, show forth His Salvation from day to day. (The doctrine of this Psalm is that the Advent of the Messiah into the world will make it a Paradise, and that His Rule alone can eliminate dissension, war, misery, and injustice, and furthermore will establish society in an enduring brotherhood His Salvation.)

³Declare His Glory among the heathen, His Wonders among all people. (Men may test the reality and credibility of this Prophecy by surrendering their sinful hearts to the Government of Immanuel. They will then experience love, peace, and a moral power that their hearts were strangers to, previous to conversion.

Much of the world is presently steeped in demonic Islam, Hinduism, spiritism, and other works of darkness; however, during the great Kingdom Age to come, the whole world will finally know of His Glory.)

⁴For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: He is to be feared above all gods. (Satans great contest with God has always been to make himself God instead of Jehovah. He has sought to do this through demon spirits, idol worship, false religions, etc. Paul addressed himself to this in II Cor., Chpt. 11.)

⁵For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens (idols, in the Hebrew, is elilim, and means nothings, vanities, emptiness, things of nought; regrettably, the far greater majority of the world serves these nothings instead of the Lord Who created all things).

⁶Honour and majesty are before Him: strength and beauty are in His Sanctuary. (The emphasis is on the pronoun His. There are many other sanctuaries at present in the world, but they are false. As just stated, they are nothings. The only strength and beauty in the world are in His Sanctuary, which now refers to born-again Believers serving as the Temple of the Holy Spirit [I Cor. 3:16].)

⁷Give unto the LORD, O you kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength. (The nations of the world are invited to share in this strength and beauty. They are invited to give the LORD the glory due His Name, instead of wasting it on idols.)

⁸Give unto the LORD the glory due unto His Name: bring an offering, and come into His Courts. (The latter half of this Verse, concerning the bringing of Offerings, refers to the Prophecies of Zechariah. In the coming Kingdom Age, the nations of the world will come to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles [Zech. 14:1619].)

⁹O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before Him, all the Earth. (In the coming Kingdom Age, everything will be holiness, even the bells of the horses [Zech. 14:20].)

¹⁰Say among the heathen that the LORD reigns: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: He shall judge the people righteously. (For the first time, the world in its entirety will know government that is not corrupt, because the LORD reigns.)

¹¹Let the heavens rejoice, and let the Earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. (When Jesus Christ reigns over the entirety of planet Earth in the glorious Kingdom Age, then the heavens can rejoice and the Earth can be glad. The sea will roar, not with anger, but with praises unto the Lord.)

¹²Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice (for the first time since Lucifers original Fall, Planet Earth will be in union with God, because Jesus Christ reigns)

¹³Before the LORD: for He comes, for He comes to judge the Earth: He shall judge the world with Righteousness, and the people with His Truth. (This is the judgment of the nations during the coming Kingdom Age [Mat. 25:3146].)