"For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth.
He shall judge the world with righteousness,..."
Psalm 96 begins with telling us three times to “sing…,
sing…, sing to the LORD…” (vv.1-2). We are told to “sing, proclaim and
declare His salvation, His glory, and His wonders among all peoples.” (vv.
2-3). We do this because “the LORD is
great and greatly to be praised…” (v.4). Then we encouraged to “give…,
give…, give to the LORD the glory and worship Him in the beauty of holiness” (7-9).
Now in verses 10-13, we are told to rejoice because the
King is coming to reign over all the earth! "The Lord reigns" in
verse 10 can also be translated, "The Lord has become King". John’s
vision in Revelation 11:15-17 gives us description of the fulfilment of this
prophecy: “... And there were loud voices in
heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of
our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" And the
twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and
worshiped God, saying: "We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One
who is and who was and who is to come, Because You have taken Your great power
and reigned.”
This is referring to the day Jesus will sit on David's
throne and rule over the nations. The angel Gabriel prophesied about this to
the virgin Mary when he revealed to her that she would give birth to the
Messiah. Luke 1:31-33: “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring
forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be
called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His
father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His
kingdom there will be no end." The
Apostle John saw a vision of this event when Jesus comes as King of kings and
LORD of lords in Revelation 19:11-16.
Three times in Psalm 96:10 and 13 we are told that, “He
will judge the peoples, the earth, and the world with righteousness”. Only
then will there be true justice on the earth. Isaiah prophesied about this one-thousand-year
reign of Christ in Isaiah 9:6-7; 32:1, 16; and 42:1-4.
Today, creation is in bondage to corruption and futility
because of Adam's sin, but when the children of God are fully redeemed at
Christ's return, creation will also be set free. The Apostle Paul wrote about
this in Romans 8:18-23: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in
us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing
of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly,
but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also
will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of
the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with
birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the
firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly
waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.”
No wonder the psalmist described the joy of heaven and
earth, the seas and the dry land, and even the trees of the earth as they
welcome their Creator, and then there will be justice on the earth (Psalm 7:6-8;
9:7-8; 98:7-9; Isaiah 55:12). This is what the psalmist is describing in Psalm
96:10-13. “The LORD is coming, He is coming…” It is if the psalmist sees this and says, "The
whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God
coming into their own" (Rom. 8:19, Phillips).
My friend, it is clear to me in prophecy that the coming of
Christ is just around the corner. He comes first to rapture His Bride, the Church
and then seven years later He will come to judge, rule, and reign with
Righteousness! We definitely will be rejoicing on that day, but we can also rejoice
today in anticipation of that glorious day!
God bless!
