The Global Anthem Text: Psalm 96:1-6
Introduction: Worship is Warfare
We live in an age where worship has been domesticated. It has been tamed, gelded, and turned into a private, therapeutic experience. For many, worship is about what happens inside of me. It is about my feelings, my experience, my personal connection with God. The songs we sing are often directed inward, telling God how we feel about Him, which is a subtle but important shift from telling God, and the world, who He is. But biblical worship, the kind of worship this psalm demands, is not a quiet, internal affair. It is a public, global, and polemical declaration. It is a declaration of war.
Psalm 96 is a missionary psalm. It is an evangelistic broadside. It is a command performance for the entire planet. This is not a polite suggestion for those who are "into that sort of thing." This is a summons issued from the throne room of the universe. The psalm commands all the earth to sing, to bless, to proclaim, and to recount. This is active, verbal, and loud. And it is directed outward, to the nations, to all the peoples. Why? Because Yahweh is not a tribal deity. He is not the god of the Israelites in the same way that Chemosh was the god of the Moabites. He is the God. The only one. The Creator of the heavens. All other claimants to the title of "god" are nothing, empty idols, frauds.
Therefore, the worship described here is inherently confrontational. To sing this psalm as it is intended is to stand in the public square and declare that every other object of worship, every other source of ultimate allegiance, is a lie. Whether the idol is a carved block of wood in an ancient Canaanite temple or the modern idols of the state, the self, or mammon, this psalm confronts them all and declares them to be nothing. This is why our worship must be robust, joyful, and confident. We are not singing into the void; we are announcing the reign of the true King. And that announcement is the tip of the spear in the conquest of the nations for Christ.
The Text
Sing to Yahweh a new song;
Sing to Yahweh, all the earth.
Sing to Yahweh, bless His name;
Proclaim good news of His salvation from day to day.
Recount His glory among the nations,
His wondrous deeds among all the peoples.
For great is Yahweh and greatly to be praised;
He is more fearsome than all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
But Yahweh made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before Him,
Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
(Psalm 96:1-6 LSB)
The Triple Imperative (v. 1-2a)
The psalm opens with a rapid-fire series of commands, a threefold summons to sing.
"Sing to Yahweh a new song; Sing to Yahweh, all the earth. Sing to Yahweh, bless His name..." (Psalm 96:1-2a)
Notice the repetition. Three times we are commanded to sing. This is not for mere poetic effect; it is for emphasis. God is serious about being praised through song. But what kind of song? A "new song." This doesn't mean we must discard all the old hymns and psalms. The newness here refers to a new quality of praise, a freshness that comes from a new work of God. When God acts in history, when He saves His people, He gives them a new reason to sing. The ultimate "new song" is the one that flows from the ultimate act of salvation, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Every time we sing of our redemption, we are singing this new song.
And who is the choir? "All the earth." This is a global mandate. The song is not to be confined to the courtyards of the Jerusalem temple. It is to be sung in every nation, every tribe, every language. This is a postmillennial vision embedded in the Psalter. The knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, and so will His praise. This is not a call for a few scattered missionaries to sing quietly in hostile lands; it is a prophetic command for the entire globe to become a choir.
The third command links singing with blessing. "Sing to Yahweh, bless His name." To bless God is to speak well of Him, to praise His character and His works. Our singing is not just making a joyful noise; it is a form of benediction. We are declaring His goodness, His worthiness, His blessedness. In our singing, we are speaking the truth about who God is, and this is the foundation of all true worship.
The Daily Proclamation (v. 2b-3)
The psalm then moves from the manner of worship (singing) to the message of that worship.
"...Proclaim good news of His salvation from day to day. Recount His glory among the nations, His wondrous deeds among all the peoples." (Psalm 96:2b-3 LSB)
Here we see that worship and evangelism are two sides of the same coin. The word "proclaim good news" is the language of the gospel. We are to be town criers of salvation. And this is not a once-a-week activity. We are to do it "from day to day." The good news of what God has done is meant for daily broadcast. It is the running headline of history.
And what is the content of this proclamation? Two things: His glory and His wondrous deeds. We are to "recount His glory among the nations." God's glory is the weight of His being, the manifestation of His infinite perfections. To declare His glory is to tell the nations what He is like: holy, just, merciful, wise, and sovereign. And we are to tell of "His wondrous deeds among all the peoples." This means telling the story. We are to be historians of redemption. We recount the exodus, the cross, the empty tomb. We tell what God has done. Christian witness is not about sharing our personal feelings or abstract philosophies; it is about bearing witness to historical events. God acted, and we are to tell everyone what He did.
The Great Contrast (v. 4-5)
Now the psalmist provides the reason, the theological foundation, for this global summons to praise. Why should all the earth worship Yahweh and not some other deity?
"For great is Yahweh and greatly to be praised; He is more fearsome than all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But Yahweh made the heavens." (Psalm 96:4-5 LSB)
The argument is one of radical contrast. First, Yahweh is great. His greatness demands great praise. He is also "more fearsome than all gods." This word "fearsome" means He is to be revered, held in awe. He is the one who inspires ultimate dread and ultimate wonder. All other so-called gods are pale in comparison.
Verse 5 delivers the knockout blow. "For all the gods of the peoples are idols." The Hebrew word for idols here is elilim, which is a play on the word for gods, elohim. It basically means "nothings" or "zeros." They are empty vanities. They have no power, no substance. They are figments of rebellious human imagination. The apostle Paul tells us that behind these idols are demons, real spiritual entities who wrongfully receive worship. But the idols themselves are nothing. They are a fraud.
And the proof? "But Yahweh made the heavens." This is the ultimate trump card. This is the Creator/creature distinction in its starkest form. The gods of the nations are part of the created order, if they are anything at all. They are localized, finite, and ultimately powerless. But Yahweh is the one who stands outside of creation and brought it all into being by His Word. He made the very sky that the pagans worship the sun and moon in. He is not in the system; He created the system. This is the fundamental, non-negotiable truth that undergirds all reality. To worship anything or anyone else is therefore the height of insanity.
The King in His Court (v. 6)
The final verse of our section describes the atmosphere of God's presence, the character of His dwelling place.
"Splendor and majesty are before Him, Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary." (Psalm 96:6 LSB)
This is a picture of the royal court of the great King. "Splendor and majesty" are kingly attributes. They speak of His magnificent glory and His royal dignity. They are "before Him," meaning they are the constant environment of His presence. To come before God is to come before an awesome and glorious monarch.
And in His sanctuary, we find "strength and beauty." His sanctuary, in the first instance, was the temple in Jerusalem. But ultimately, it is wherever God dwells with His people. The church is now His sanctuary. And what characterizes this place? Strength and beauty. Not strength alone, which can be brutish. And not beauty alone, which can be effeminate and weak. But the two together, in perfect harmony. God's power is a beautiful power. His beauty is a strong beauty. This is the character of true worship. It should be robust and strong, grounded in the truth of a mighty God. And it should be beautiful, ordered, and lovely, reflecting the aesthetic of our creative God. We should not have to choose between sound doctrine and beautiful liturgy, between theological strength and aesthetic loveliness. In the sanctuary of the living God, they are found together.
Conclusion: From Jerusalem to the World
This psalm is a command to turn the volume up. It is a summons for the people of God to stop whispering the gospel in a corner and to start singing it from the rooftops. The song of salvation that began in Jerusalem is destined to become the anthem of the entire world.
Our worship services are not, therefore, holy huddles where we escape from the world. They are training grounds. They are armories. Here we are equipped with the song, the message, and the reason for our mission. We gather to be reminded that our God made the heavens, that all other gods are nothing, and that His salvation is a story that must be told. We gather to get the tune right so that we can sing it out there.
And as we sing, as we proclaim, as we recount His glory, we are participating in the fulfillment of this very psalm. We are extending the borders of His sanctuary. Every time a sinner repents and believes, a new voice joins the global choir. Every time a false idol is toppled in a human heart or in a nation's laws, the strength and beauty of His rule are displayed. This is our task. To sing this new song, to tell this old story, until every nation on earth acknowledges that Yahweh, He is God, and until the whole creation joins in the chorus.