Declare His Glory Among the Nations

Psalm 96:

¹Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! Sing to the LORD, all the earth.

²Sing to the LORD, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.

³Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.

⁴For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.

⁵For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens.

⁶Honour and majesty are before Him; Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. ⁷Give to the LORD, O families of the peoples, Give to the LORD glory and strength.

⁸Give to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come into His courts.

⁹Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth.

¹⁰Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns; The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously."

¹¹Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;

¹²Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice

¹³before the LORD. For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth.

How blessed we are to know God! How blessed we are to have been saved by Christ! To be part of the elect of God! To be able to look forward with eager expectation to the Day of the Lord!

However there are others that do not have these vast privileges. There are millions of people who have not received the news that Christ has come. There are whole nations of people who cannot even make the first step towards acknowledging Christ.

We have a task to change that. We have been commanded to “proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.”

Our attitude towards these nations involves a threefold responsibility. Firstly we are to “proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.” Among the nations and among all peoples. Leave none out. Declare to them the message of the kingship of God over the nations: “Say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns!’”

Secondly we are commanded to summon the nations to ascribe glory to God and sing praises to Him, together with the people of God. “Give to the LORD, O families of the peoples, Give to the LORD glory and strength.” (Verse 7). Don’t only tell unbelievers about the greatness of God, petition them to join with you in praising Him! Call them to worship with you!

Thirdly and finally we must warn them that the reason they must do this is that judgement is coming on all the nations. “He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth.” (Verse 13).

This is a task we can take delight in. It may be extremely hard, but it is extremely rewarding! There are two reasons for me saying this. Firstly we are inspired by our love for God and thankfulness for what he’s done for us that we cannot help but proclaim His marvellous works. We declare our delight with God’s grace just as we declare our delight when the Eagles win the footy. Or when we are given a brand new bike. Or get promoted to manager. Except ten times as much. We are exhilarated to know Him and sing to Him and thus cry out for the world to sing with us.

The second reason we find this task enjoyable is that we are made for this. We are designed to glorify God. This glorification of God among all nations is the consummation of all believers’ reason for living.

Finally I draw your attention to the first two verses: “Sing to the LORD, all the earth!” Why would the psalmist begin psalm about outreach with a command to sing to the Lord a new song? Because you can’t summon the nations to sing if you’re not singing yourself. The heavens and earth are being called to rejoice, and singing is the consummation of gladness and rejoicing.

Show your gladness to the nations with singing not only of the Lord but also to the Lord.