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Declare His Glory Among the Nations (Psalm 96) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking. I am your host and today we are
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opening a text that feels, well, it feels less like a chapter in
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a book and more like a trumpet blast heard around the world.
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It is great to be here and that is really apartment description.
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We are looking at Psalm 96 today, but we are doing so
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through the specific lens of Charles Haddon Spurgeon and his
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commentary The Treasury of David.
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Yeah, Spurgeon gives this section a title that really sets
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the agenda for our deep dive today.
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He calls it a missionary hymn, right?
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And honestly, reading his notes, you get the sense of frantic,
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joyous energy. I mean, he isn't sitting in a
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quiet study. He is standing on a wall,
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shouting to the nation. 'S it is a command.
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Yeah, that is the first thing to grasp for anyone listening.
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This Psalm is not an internal memo for the tribes of Israel.
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It is a broadcast. It frames the theology of the
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Old Testament in a way that surprises modern readers, who,
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you know, often assume the Hebrew Bible is insular or
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exclusive. Before we analyze the lyrics of
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this hymn, we have to look at the liner notes, so to speak.
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Spurgeon provides some very specific historical context
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here. He does.
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He doesn't just attribute it to David, generally he pinpoints
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the actual day it was written. Right.
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He connects it to the narrative in First Chronicles chapter 16.
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This is the moment the Ark of the Covenant is moved.
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It is finally coming to rest in the tent David prepared for it.
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Which is a massive day in Israel's history.
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Oh, absolutely. It is the peak of David's
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liturgical life. You have burnt sacrifices, peace
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offerings, the presence of God settling right in the center of
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the nation. But here is the detail that
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stopped me in my tracks when I was looking through the source
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text. Spurgeon put Psalm 96 side by
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side with the song recorded in First Chronicle 16, and he
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notices A discrepancy. They aren't the same.
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No, they are not. And Spurgeon argues this is not
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some transcription error, right. The original song in Chronicles
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contained his section specifically referring to
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Israel, very nationalistic, very focused on the seed of Abraham.
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But in Psalm 96, that section is just gone, intentionally
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omitted. Spurgeon sees a divine editorial
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choice there. The Holy Spirit, he argues,
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stripped away the local references to make this a song
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for the Gentiles. Wow.
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Yeah, by removing the strictly nationalistic parts, the Psalm
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becomes a universal hymn for the Gospel age.
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That changes the entire texture of the reading.
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I mean, it is no longer about a Hebrew king celebrating a Hebrew
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box. It is a prophecy.
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Spurgeon actually expresses this genuine shock.
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He seems baffled. Really.
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That Jewish readers in his day could read this and still think
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God only cared about their specific ethnicity.
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He calls it blindness in part. He asks essentially, how can you
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read this text which explicitly invites all the families of men
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and still think the covenant is restricted.
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He paints this picture of David not as a tribal Chieftain, but
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as what he calls him, large hearted David.
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Large hearted. I like that phrasing.
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It implies a capacity to love beyond his own borders.
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It implies that David, in that moment of dancing before the
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ark, wasn't just seeing the tent in Jerusalem, He was seeing a
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prophetic vision of the whole earth turning from idols.
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Which actually contextualizes that famous scene where his wife
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McCall criticizes him for dancing.
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Spot on. Spurgeon suggests that if
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Michelle had understood the scope of what Deja was seeing,
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the salvation of the world, she wouldn't have been so petty.
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Yeah, she was. Stuck in the local.
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Right. She was stuck in the local while
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David was looking at the Universal.
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She saw a king making a fool of himself.
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He saw the King of Kings reclaiming the nations.
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So we have the context here, a universal anthem.
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Now let's jump into the lyrics. Verse one starts with a command.
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Oh, sing unto the Lord a new song.
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Spurgeon halts us right at that word new.
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That word new is doing a lot of heavy theological lifting here.
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Why do we need a new song? Because we have a new reality.
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Spurgeon connects this to the idea of a new dispensation.
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The transition from law to grace.
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Precisely. The old songs, the songs of the
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exodus, the songs of the temple, they were magnificent, but they
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were for one nation, one land, one altar.
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Right now, the gospel is proclaiming glad tidings to all
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people, Spurgeon says. The old songs just aren't big
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enough to hold the new joy. He points out that the Angel
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started this trend, too. When Christ was born, they
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didn't sing a Psalm of David, they sang a completely new
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announcement. And his logic is rigorous there.
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If Angels inaugurated the new era with song, we can't just
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mumble along. We have to join in.
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Now notice the exclusivity in the text.
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It is Sing unto the Lord. Spurgeon draws a really sharp
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line here. If you are singing to Jehovah,
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you are stopping your song to everyone else.
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This is where his writing gets incredibly vivid.
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He lists the competition. He says the hymns which chanted
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the praises of Jupiter and Neptune, Vishnu and Siva are
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hushed forever. It is a striking visual, the
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total silencing of the Pantheon. He imagines the rise of the true
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God as an event that literally sucks the air out of Pagan
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worship. He says backen.
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Alien shouts are silenced. And lascivious sonnets are no
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more. We probably I'd have to decode
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that Victorian language a bit for the listener.
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When he says lascivious or mentions the wanton music of
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Ashtaroth, he's describing what ancient worship actually looked
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like. It wasn't just people politely
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bowing down to statues, it was often bound up with temple,
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prostitution, drunkenness, chaotic excess.
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The new song isn't just a different melody, it is a
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different kind of worship entirely.
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It is the difference between a riot and a choir.
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That is a great way to put it. Spurgeon contrasts the fleshy
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noise of idolatry cutting with knives, screaming blood
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sacrifice with the holy heavenly melody of the gospel.
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It is a move from chaos to rational, joyful adoration.
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Then the command widens in the text.
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Sing unto the Lord all the earth.
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Spurgeon uses the Latin phrase here that Americans usually
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associate with money. E Pluribus Unum out of many 1 he
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applies to the Church. He sees this Psalm as the
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reversal of the Tower of Babel. At Babel, languages were
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scattered and humanity was fractured into tribes At Zion.
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In the Gospel, those fractures are healed, separated languages
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blending into one song. That is a massive framework.
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Nationalism is usually about defining who is out.
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The song is about bringing everyone in.
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Spurgeon notes that national jealousies are dead in this
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verse. Think about the 19th century,
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the era of high imperialism and nationalism for Spurgeon to say
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that a Jew is inviting a gentile to sing the same song that
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destroys the US versus them mentality.
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He says no corner of the world is to be discordant.
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Right. If the sun shines on a land,
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that land owes praise to the maker of the sun.
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And now moving into verse 2, there is a technical theological
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point. Spurgeon digs out the text,
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repeats Sing unto the Lord, bless his name, show forth his
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salvation. That is 3 instructions.
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And three mentions of the Lord in verse one and two.
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Spurgeon, being a classic Trinitarian, sees the
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fingerprint of the Trinity there.
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He asks, Is it not unto the three one Lord, that the
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enlightened nations will sing? And this triggers a very
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specific, very sharp polemic against Unitarianism.
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He doesn't pull his punches at all.
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For context, Unitarianism, the belief that God is one person
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denying the deity of Christ and the Holy Spirit, was an
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intellectual force in his day. Spurgeon calls it the religion
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of units. He says it is too cold to warm
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the world. That is a devastating critique.
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He's not just saying it is wrong, he is saying it is
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functionally useless. His argument is thermodynamic.
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Essentially, he believes the sacred fire of adoration only
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burns where the Trinity is believed.
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And beloved, if you strip away the divinity of Christ, you
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strip away the heat of the Gospel, you're left with a
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philosophy, perhaps a moral code, but not a salvation that
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makes the nation sing. Speaking of salvation, the verse
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says show forth his salvation from day-to-day.
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Spursion latches onto that timeline day-to-day.
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It implies that evangelism is a daily rhythm, not a weekly
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event. It is not just for Sundays.
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He lists the methods, songs, sermons, baptism, the Holy
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Supper, books, speech. He highlights that salvation
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implies way more than just creation or Providence, because
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it is the greatest work. It requires the most constant
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proclamation, he says. The gospel is ever new,
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suitable, and sure, we're going to stop talking about it because
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we ever get to the bottom of it. That leads us perfectly into the
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second segment of our discussion, verses 3 through 5.
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This is where the missionary part of the missionary hymn gets
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explicit. Verse 3 says, Declare His glory
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among the heathen. This is the core mandate.
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But what I find fascinating is how Spurgeon uses this verse to
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critique his own culture. He tunes the mirror right back
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on the British Empire. I was surprised by the political
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edge here he talks about England's blood and treasure.
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He observes that England would spend any amount of money and
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sacrifice any number of soldiers to maintain her prestige among
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Barbarians. He's talking about colonial
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wars, trade routes, the defense of the flag.
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England was very anxious to be respected as a military and
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economic force. But then he asks really
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uncomfortable question, When will she be equally anxious to
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maintain the honor of her religion?
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It is a stark contrast between national vanity and spiritual
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zeal. We will send an army to protect
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a shipment of tea or opium, but will we send missionaries to
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declare the glory of God? And he goes even darker with his
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critique. He looks at the actual behavior
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of the quote UN quote Christians who go to these foreign lands.
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This is a point that really resonates historically.
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He notes that the name of Jesus was often dishonored among the
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heathen by the vices and cruelties of those calling
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themselves Christians. He is talking about sailors,
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merchants, soldiers, people who came from Christian England but
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acted completely contrary to the faith when they got overseas.
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So the bad behavior of the colonial nations acts as a
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barrier to the actual gospel message.
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Spot on. Spurgeon calls for a living,
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self denying church to counteract that bad witness.
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He wants the gospel proclaims as with a trumpet, to drown out the
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horrible reputation earned by hypocrites.
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And he is very specific about who needs to hear this message.
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He uses language of his time, but the radical inclusivity of
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the gospel message is undeniable.
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He mentions dying tribes and growing families alike.
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He specifically says Red Indians as well as Anglo Saxons.
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Red Indians being the Native Americans.
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Yes. Remember, in the 19th century
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there was a prevailing social Darwinist sentiment that certain
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races were dying out and perhaps weren't worth the effort of
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civilizing or evangelizing. Spurgeon rejects that entirely.
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He says none too degraded, none too cultured.
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That levels the playing field completely.
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The gospel isn't just charity for the degraded, and it isn't
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unnecessary for the cultured, right?
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The Oxford professor needs it just as much as the tribal
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hunter. Both are in desperate need of
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the glory of God. Why?
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Well because of who God is. Verse 4 says for the Lord is
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great and greatly to be praised. Spurgeon draws a massive
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contrast here between Jehovah and the petty deities of the
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heathen. Petty in what way?
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Like, emotionally petty. Petty in scope.
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The Pagan gods were local administrators.
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You had a God of this river, a God of that mountain, a God of
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the harvest. They had limited jurisdiction.
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Jehovah is infinite in mind and act.
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He isn't some tribal mascot presiding over one department of
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nature. And because he is infinite, the
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praise must be proportionate. That is the logic.
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An infinite God deserves infinite praise, Spurgeon says.
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We cannot praise him too much, too often, too zealously, too
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carefully. He hates the idea of little
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worship for a great God. The text also says he is to be
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feared above all gods. Now fear is a tricky word for a
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lot of people. How does Spurgeon distinguish
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this from the terror A Pagan might feel toward a demon?
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He distinguishes between dread and holy fear.
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The fear of idols is superstition.
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It is the terror that a capricious spirit will hurt you
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if you don't leave out a bowl of milk.
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Right. But the fear of Jehovah is pure
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religion. Spurgeon has his beautiful
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phrase. Fear is the blush upon the face
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of holiness. The blush upon the face of
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holiness, that is incredibly poetic.
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It suggests that holy fear isn't about running away or cowering.
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It is a heightened sense of awe that enhances the beauty of the
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relationship. It is the feeling you get when
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you stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon.
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You're terrified and captivated at the exact same time.
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Then in verse 5 we get to the ontology, the nature of
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existence of these other gods, for all the gods of the nations
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are idols. Spurgeon digs into the Hebrew.
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Here the word is allelium. And allelium translates to.
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Nothings non entities. So they aren't just evil gods,
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they are zeros. Precisely.
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Spurgeon references St. Paul, who said an idol is
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nothing. They are vanities.
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They have no actual existence. Which makes the fear of them
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even more tragic. You are terrified of a 0.
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And he contrasts these nothings with the Lord who made the
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heavens. This is the argument from
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creation. The reality of the Godhead is
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proved by his works. Spurgeon points to the matchless
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piece of architecture that is the sky.
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The logic is simple but devastating.
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The idol gods made nothing. In fact they are nothing.
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But Jehovah made the heavens. Therefore, who should be
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worshipped? The one who made all things.
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It cuts through the mess of religious pluralism.
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You don't worship a concept, you worship the Creator.
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Since he made all, he should be worshipped by all.
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This brings us to the third segment of the outline, verses 6
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through 9. We are moving now into the
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sanctuary, into the mechanics of this worship.
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Verse 6 says honor and majesty are before Him.
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Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
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Spurgeon loves this pairing, strength and beauty.
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He notes that in human experience, these two often
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don't mix well. We see rugged strength, like a
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fortress, or a weightlifter that lacks elegance.
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Or we see beauty, a flower, a delicate painting that
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completely lacks strength. But in God.
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They are perfectly combined. He has the omnipotence to create
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worlds and destroy armies, but he also has the perfection of
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moral beauty. He is mighty and lovely.
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Spurgeon warns against human mimicry.
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Here he talks about pompous pageants.
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He calls them tricks of state. Kings and emperors try to
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project honor and majesty with robes, gold, and parades.
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It is mere pretense. Spurgeon sees that as theater.
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The real regalia of God is not velvet or costly robes.
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Real sovereignty resides only with Jehovah.
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It is holiness, justice, wisdom and grace.
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That is what true majesty looks like.
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Then in verses 7 and 8 we have the command to give unto the
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Lord. It is repeated 3 times.
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Which mirrors the Sing unto the Lord from the beginning of the
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Psalm. It is a rhythmic repeating call.
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And the target audience is kindreds of the people.
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Which implies families are clans.
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Spurgeon sees this as a call for family worship.
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He quotes a motto from a London City company.
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All worship be to God only. He believes the clans of the
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earth should come together to adore God.
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The phrase used is give unto the Lord the glory due unto his
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name. That word due implies a debt.
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It is an economic term we owe God glory.
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Spurgeon asked the listener a question here.
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Can all the nations of the earth put together discharge this
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debt? And the answer is obviously no.
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We cannot pay God what he's actually worth.
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But Spurgeon says we must make an honest endeavor.
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We can't pay the debt, but we shouldn't stop paying.
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So we bring an offering. Verse 8 says bring an offering
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and come into his courts. Spurgeon clarifies that since
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the atonement has been made by Christ, we don't bring bloody
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sacrifices, we don't drag a goat to church.
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We bring an unbloody sacrifice, a thank offering.
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Right. He references the ancient
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command. None of you shall appear before
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me empty. It is the idea that worship
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involves giving. It is not just passive
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listening. It involves A contribution to
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his cause, a yielding of ourselves.
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To Him who gives us all, we ought gladly to give our
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grateful tithe. And then verse nine, one of the
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most famous phrases in the Psalter.
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Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
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Spurgeon is very careful here. He wants to make sure we don't
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confuse beauty of holiness with beauty of architecture or beauty
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of apparel. So it is not about the stained
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glass, the incense or the fancy vestments.
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God does not regard those things.
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The beauty He cares about is moral and spiritual.
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Spurgeon has this striking image.
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Purity is the white linen of the Lord's choristers.
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The choir robes are made of purity.
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It is about the heart. A slovenly, sinful, superficial
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worship is ugly to God, no matter how magnificent the
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cathedral is. Holiness is the royal apparel.
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And the physical reaction to this holiness?
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Fear before him all the earth. Spurgeon translates fear as
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tremble. Yes, he notes that if men truly
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discern the majesty of the eternal, they would quake, and
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he shares a historical anecdote about the Quakers to illustrate
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this. Men of the world ridiculed the
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Quakers for trembling. Right.
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The name Quaker was originally an insult.
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People mock them for their physical reaction to the Spirit,
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but Spurgeon defends the concept.
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He says had they been able to discern the majesty of the
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eternal, they would have quaked also.
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He argues for a sacred trembling which is consistent with joy.
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It is that mixture of awe and delight.
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Again, like John on Patmos, seeing the glorified Christ and
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falling at his feet is dead. Real worship isn't casual, it
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shakes you. That brings us to the 4th
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segment of our deep dive, verse 10.
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Say among the heathen, that the Lord reigneth.
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Spurgeon calls this the Gladys News.
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Why is a reigning God the Gladys News to the heathen?
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Because it means Jehovah and the person of his Son has assumed
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the throne, and the nature of his reign is not irksome.
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It's not a tyranny. His yoke is easy.
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It is a rain of blessing. There is a curious textual note
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Spurgeon includes here regarding the early Church Fathers and
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Justin Martyr. This is really fascinating bit
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of textual history. Justin Martyr accused the Jews
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of erasing a phrase from this verse.
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He claimed the old Latin version and original text read the Lord
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Raideth from the tree. Implying a rain from the cross.
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Spot on. It'll be a huge prophetic
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reference to the crucifixion, that Christ's throne was the
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cross. However, Spurgeon, being the
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careful scholar he is, notes that this phrase is not in the
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original Hebrew or the Septuagint.
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So he doesn't accept it as scripture.
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No. He dismisses it as a later
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edition or a variant, but he mentions it to show how the
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early Christian saw Christ in the song.
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They understood the reign of God to be inextricably linked to the
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work of Christ on the cross. Now, following the announcement
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of this reign, the text says, the world also shall be
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established that it shall not be moved.
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Spurgeon takes us in two very different directions.
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First, social stability. Right.
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Society is safe only where God is king.
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A settled government is essential to prosperity.
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He argues that the reign of truth and righteousness is what
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stabilizes a nation. Iniquity causes dynasties to
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fall. Equity makes the throne stand.
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But then, and this is where I had to pause and reread the
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source, he pivots to geology. Yes, he brings in Edward
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Hitchcock, the author of The Religion of Geology.
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This is 19th century science meeting theology.
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He talks about the incandescent state of the earth's interior.
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Spurgeon was very well read. He uses Hitchcock to discuss the
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idea that beneath our feet there are oceans of liquid fire.
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The earth is volatile. Hitchcock discusses the
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expansive energy sufficient to rend the globe into fragments.
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Basically, we are floating on a bomb.
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And yet we are stable. That is the argument.
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Despite the volatile interior, God has balanced the elements.
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He has made the surface secure and uniform for human dwelling.
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So the physical stability of the crust of the Earth is a miracle
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in itself. For Spurgeon, it acts as a
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metaphor. Just as God keeps the physical
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world from collapsing into its own fiery core, the moral reign
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of Christ stabilizes the world against the chaos of sin.
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That is a massive image. The world shall not be moved
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because God is holding it together physically and morally.
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Precisely. And the verse ends with He shall
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judge the people righteously. Which is the best method for
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establishing society? Righteous judgement.
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Moving on to the final segment, verses 11 through 13, we have
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this explosion of cosmic joy. Let the heavens rejoice, and let
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the earth be glad. Spurgeon describes Creation as a
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book with two covers, the heavens and the Earth, and says
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both covers should be emblazoned with joy.
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He focuses on the sea next. Let the sea roar, and the
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fullness thereof. He notes a real shift in tone
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here. Usually, in the ancient mind,
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the sea is scary. It is associated with danger.
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Shipwrecks. Widows weeping on the shore.
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But here. Here it thunders the name of the
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Lord. It is no longer a troubled sea
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wailing over tragedy. It is a sound of triumph.
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He quotes the poet Robert Montgomery, that paragon of
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elemental powers whose waves are arguments which prove a God.
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Waves is arguments. I like that.
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Then the field and the trees join in nature's anthem.
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Let the field be joyful. Then shall all the trees of the
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wood rejoice. Spurgeon points out the
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agricultural piece here. If the field is joyful, it means
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the farmer is safe. Peace allows owners to plow and
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sow without fear of invaders trampling the crop.
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It is a picture of a world where war has ceased.
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And the trees. He has a specific historical
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contrast there too. He does.
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In the ancient world and in Pagan societies, Groves were
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often places of horrid orgies and savage robbers.
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The dark woods were dangerous places.
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But in this vision. They are sanctified to devotion.
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The dark woods become a cathedral of praise.
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And what is the cause of all this rejoicing?
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Verse 13 gives the reason. For He cometh.
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For He cometh. The repetition indicates
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certainty and proximity. He is definitely coming and he
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is coming soon, Spurgeon says. His foot is on the threshold.
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This is the second advent. The king is returning, but the
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text says he cometh to judge the earth.
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Now usually the idea of a judge arriving makes people nervous,
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but here the trees are clapping their hands.
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Why? Because of the nature of his
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judgment, Spurgeon explains that he comes to rule with
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discretion. He doesn't come to tax or
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control by force. Like a human king, he comes to
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put things right. He comes to preside as a
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magistrate to see justice carried out.
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Spurgeon calls it the greatest size.
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And this is where Spurgeon gets incredibly specific about who
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gets justice. And again, for a Victorian
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Englishman, his examples are striking.
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We should just report what the text says here impartially.
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He emphasizes that no nation is favored in this judgement.
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He writes the black man shall be tried by the same law as his
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white master. That is a radical statement of
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equality before the law of. God and He lists specific
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victims who will finally get a hearing.
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The text mentions the crushed and haunted Bushmen appealing
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against the Boer. He's referring to the historical
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conflicts in South Africa, and he mentions the South Sea
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Islander complaining against the treacherous Wretch who kidnapped
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him. He is talking about the slave
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trade, right? And colonial exploitation.
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He is Spurgeon sees the Second Coming not just as a religious
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event, but as the ultimate rectification of historical
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injustice. The oppressor will answer.
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The kidnapped will be heard. That is why the earth rejoices,
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because finally there is a true judgement given without fear or
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favor. Exactly.
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It is the end of corruption. Spurgeon closes this section
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with a quote from John Howe. Yes, Howe asks.
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Essentially, Shall we not partake in this common dutiful
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joy? If the sea is roaring praise and
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the trees are rejoicing and the oppressed are finding justice?
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Well, we cut ourselves off from this happy, obsequious throng.
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It is a call to join the party. It is the universe is
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celebrating the reign of Christ. Why should we stand on the
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sidelines? This brings us to the end of our
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deep dive. We have progressed from the new
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song of the Gentiles, through the missionary mandate to
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silence the nothings of idolatry, into the beauty of
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holiness, and finally to the stability of the earth and the
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joy of the coming judge. It is a massive sweep of history
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from the first coming to the second coming, all wrapped up in
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one song. It really is.
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Spurgeon's insight brings out so much color in these verses.
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He helps us see that this isn't just poetry, it is prophecy and
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it is a command. As we wrap up, I want to leave
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you, the listener, with that final provocative thought from
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Spurgeon. He asks a question that I think
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you should all carry with you this week.
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He asks. Since the whole universe has to
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be clothed with smiles, why should we be the only ones with
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faces covered in clouds? That hits home.
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If the rocks and the trees and the stars are ready to sing,
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what right do you have to be gloomy?
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We have the new song. We should be the loudest singers
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in the choir. Absolutely.
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Yeah. So to you listening out there,
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the Lord reigneth. The world is established.
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Join the adoring, loyal chorus. Amen to that.
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Thank you for listening to Reformed Thinking.
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Until next time.