Psalms 96:1-13
Having urged themselves: "let us sing . . . let us worship and bow down" in Psalms 95:1-11, the faithful people of Israel now invite all the world and nature herself to do the same: "sing . . . bless . . . worship the LORD" (vv. 1, 2, 9). The day will come when the pagan peoples will cast away their idols and when the families of the nations will ascribe to the LORD glory and strength (v. 7). The redeemed do not have to wait for the Lord to reign in order to express this homage. "To him be glory and dominion," they can shout even now (Revelation 1:6). For it is not only the coming display of the glories of Christ which can draw forth this praise from them. The majesty, the magnificence, the power and the beauty of the King of all the earth are still invisible, hidden in the heavenly sanctuary (v. 6). But the great and perpetual motive for the believer’s adoration is the love of his Saviour: "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood."
This psalm was composed and sung at the time of the return of the ark, a type of Christ, in the midst of Israel (1 Chronicles 16:23-30). However it is no longer to save the world but to judge it that the Lord will come again (v. 13; cf. John 3:17; John 5:22). He will exercise judgment over the peoples righteously (v. 10), justly and in truth (v. 13; Psalms 45:3-4).