The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice

Psalm 97-98 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

97 The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice;
Let the many islands be glad.
² Clouds and thick darkness surround Him;
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.
³ Fire goes before Him
And burns up His adversaries round about.
⁴ His lightnings lit up the world;
The earth saw and trembled.
⁵ The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
⁶ The heavens declare His righteousness,
And all the peoples have seen His glory.

⁷ Let all those be ashamed who serve graven images,
Who boast themselves of idols; Worship Him, all you gods.
⁸ Zion heard this and was glad,
And the daughters of Judah have rejoiced
Because of Your judgments, O Lord.
⁹ For You are the Lord Most High over all the earth;
You are exalted far above all gods.

¹⁰ Hate evil, you who love the Lord,
Who preserves the souls of His godly ones;
He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
¹¹ Light is sown like seed for the righteous
And gladness for the upright in heart.
¹² Be glad in the Lord, you righteous ones,
And give thanks to His holy name.

98 O sing to the Lord a new song,
For He has done wonderful things,
His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.
² The Lord has made known His salvation;
He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.
³ He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

⁴ Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;
Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises.
⁵ Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
With the lyre and the sound of melody.
⁶ With trumpets and the sound of the horn
Shout joyfully before the King, the Lord.

⁷ Let the sea roar and all it contains,
The world and those who dwell in it.
⁸ Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy
⁹ Before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth;
He will judge the world with righteousness
And the peoples with equity.

In Psalm 89:14 the psalmist says:  Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You.  In today’s text it says:  The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; Let the many islands be glad. Clouds and thick darkness surround Him;
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. Fire goes before Him And burns up His adversaries round about.    That righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne is that His authority and sovereignty are established on both that He is righteous and He is just. But how could both loving kindness; truth and also a fire that burns up His adversaries go before Him?  It is because God is righteous and just that God destroys His adversaries.  Nothing and no one can hurt God. He is omnipotent; all powerful. In love, for the sake of truth He destroys those who would harm the ones He loves. The burning is a purification, removing the chaff from the wheat and the dross from the silver. So the fire is the fire of His love, leaving only truth.

The psalmist says:  His lightnings lit up the world; The earth saw and trembled.  The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens declare His righteousness, And all the peoples have seen His glory.   Light dispels darkness. The earth sees and trembles at the light, because as Jesus says in John 3:19-21:  “Men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

The psalmist says:  Hate evil, you who love the Lord, Who preserves the souls of His godly ones; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
Light is sown like seed for the righteous And gladness for the upright in heart.  Be glad in the Lord, you righteous ones, And give thanks to His holy name.  1 John 4:19 says:  We love, because He first loved us.  So, we love God because of the love He showed to and for us. For that reason, because: God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life, (John 3:16) we should hate evil. It was evil and sin that Jesus suffered and died to deliver us from. We are to be glad in the Lord for His light. James 4:4 says:  You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.  Hate evil, you who love the Lord.

The psalmist says:  O sing to the Lord a new song, For He has done wonderful things, His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.  The Lord has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.  He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.   The victory of the Lord, the salvation that all the world has seen is more than a victory over earthly enemies. It is that the righteousness of God is revealed to the nations. He has made known the way of salvation for all: That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9-10)   O sing to the Lord a new song, For He has done wonderful things.

The psalmist says: Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises.  Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, With the lyre and the sound of melody.  With trumpets and the sound of the horn
Shout joyfully before the King, the Lord.  Let the sea roar and all it contains,
The world and those who dwell in it.  Let the rivers clap their hands, Let the mountains sing together for joy  Before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth; He will judge the world with righteousness And the peoples with equity.   God’s judgment is not something that needs to be feared, because He judges in righteousness and with equity. If we were judged according to our own works it would not be fair because some would have the advantage of better circumstances than others, but God judges fairly in love. All are judged by the love of God that gave His Son to pay the price to redeem the world from sin. So it is not just we, the people of God who rejoice and shout joyfully. It is the whole earth. All of creation is also redeemed and restored from the curse of sin. The sea, the rivers, the mountains. The world and all that dwell in it rejoice at the salvation, redemption and restoration of God and Christ. In Revelation 21:5 the Lord says:  “Behold, I am making all things new.”   All of creation is renewed through the salvation of the Lord; through His loving and righteous judgment against evil.   

Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises.  Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, With the lyre and the sound of melody.  With trumpets and the sound of the horn
Shout joyfully before the King, the Lord.  Let the sea roar and all it contains,
The world and those who dwell in it.  Let the rivers clap their hands, Let the mountains sing together for joy  Before the Lord.   Amen.