Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

When God makes a vow it is irreversible. Of the few ‘oaths’ he has made, most are in regards to his promise of salvation towards those who believe and obey him. Here he repeats in the psalm what he said to the Israelites in the Book of Numbers after their refusal to enter the land: “But as surely as I live, and as surely as the earth is filled with the Lord’s glory, not one of these people will ever enter that land…again and again they tested me by refusing to listen.” (Num 14:21, 22) The Israelites problem was a wandering, wayward heart that was not steadfast in their love for God. Praise and worship is a ‘heart enhancement’ exercise, a way of continually focusing the human affections upon the divine love. The ‘place of rest’ that was promised to the faithful in the Old Testament is now replaced by Jesus Christ, ‘the person of rest’. As we come to him, he promises us peace in this life and eternal ‘rest’ in heaven. The Book of Hebrews explains the meaning of the words of this psalm showing us the impor- tance of daily faith, worship, love and obedience as the process of entering his rest: • We must practice courage and confidence- “And we are God’s household, if we keep up our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ. That is why the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today you must listen to his voice…” (Heb. 3:6, 7) • We must remain faithful and trusting- “For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. But never forget the warning: ’Today you must listen to his voice.’” (Heb. 3:14, 15) • We must believe him- “For only we who believe can enter his place of rest. As for those who did- n’t believe, God said, ‘In my anger I made a vow: “they will never enter my place of rest,”’” (Heb. 4:3) • We must daily listen and obey- “So God set another time for entering his place of rest, and that time is today….’Today you must listen to his voice.’” (Heb. 4:7) The Holy Spirit has issued his ‘Venite’ inviting us to praise, worship, listen to and obey the Lord. Our response should be as the writer to the Hebrews has explained: “Let us do our best to enter that place of rest.” (Heb. 4:11)

1 Boyce 2 Spence 3 Spurgeon 4 Keil & Delitzsch 5 Spurgeon

PSALM 96: SING A NEW SONG Music and World Missions

Psalm 96 is the song that opens the doors wide for the Gentiles to come and praise the God of Is- rael. It describes the intense praise and evangelism that will be taking place among the nations by the people of God at the end of the age. As Delitzsch says; ‘..the religion of Yahweh is destined for mankind at large.’ Yahweh’s name is mentioned 11 times in the poem. ‘The writer, divinely inspired, saw beyond the horizons of his own age, and beyond the limits of his own nation 1 .’ The coming of Christ as King and judge of all the earth is prophesied in the last verse of the song. It is a companion to Psalm 95 that ends with unbelieving Israel being ‘cut-off’ and now the good news is taken to the Gentile nations. The psalm first appears in 1 Chronicles as a part of a medley of psalms (105, 96, 106) that David prepared for the return of the Ark to Jerusalem and the dedication of his ‘Tent of Worship’ on Mount Zion. “That day David gave to Asaph and his fellow Levites this song of thanksgiving to the Lord:…”(1 Chron. 16:7) Parts of Psalm 96 are left out and some verses are repositioned in the 1 Chronicles ver- sion. The version in the Book of Psalms was rewritten for the services of the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem after the Jews returned from Babylon 2 . The main difference is the addition of the first and last verses: “Sing a new song unto the Lord.” (1) “He will judge the world with righteousness…” (13) This shows the validity of rewriting older songs to fit a more modern audience. It can be outlined in three natural sec- tions all beginning with directives to worship the Lord although Spurgeon prefers no division as it is ‘a garment of praise with out seam, woven from top throughout 3 .’

I LET THE WHOLE EARTH SING - 1-6 Command to God’s People II LET ALL THE EARTH TREMBLE - 7-10 Command to the Nations III LET THE HEAVENS BE GLAD - 11-13 Command to the Heavens 236