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Psalm 96:1-13

“O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth. Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people. For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens. Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Give unto the LORD O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts. O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth. Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.”

Introduction

“These are orphan Psalms in the sense when you see a Psalm without an introduction, where it says ‘A Psalm of David’ or a Psalm with a particular purpose. You will notice in Psalm 98, and we’ll get there, it just says “A Psalm.” It’s the only Psalm in the whole Book of Psalms that just says that, A Song, that brief title. But these are Psalms we’re not sure, besides of course the Holy Spirit, of the human hand that went to the page to put these Psalms before us. You’ll see in Psalm 96 where we begin, “O sing unto the LORD”, you look at Psalm 98, it’s “O sing unto the LORD”, Psalm 97, you’ll see there it begins “The LORD reigneth”, Psalm 99, hopefully we’ll get there this evening, “The LORD reigneth”, so there are these constant flow of ideas through these Psalms, from 95 to 100. And certainly 100 you’re probably more familiar with, it’s a Psalm that we hear often. But let’s follow this theme, this idea through these Songs, this evening, sung by ancient Israel.

‘Sing Unto The LORD, Show Forth His Salvation Day To Day’

Psalm 96 says, “O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth.” (verse 1) and you’ll notice in these Psalms how much broader it is than just Israel. God is the God of Israel, but he is the God of humanity, of the whole earth. “O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth. Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day.” (verses 1-2) ‘Show forth his salvation from day to day’ ‘Show forth’ is ‘to publish,’ it means ‘to proclaim,’ and it’s certainly saying to you and I, that we’re to be witnesses, we’re to proclaim his salvation from day to day. [i.e. that means we should be proclaiming the Gospel of salvation. What is that? See http://www.unityinchrist.com/misc/WhatIsTheGospel%20.htm] Interesting, last time I taught this Psalm, I was happening to be listening to the old study, and I had been saved 30 years at that point in time, it was around 2002. Ah, this evening I’ve been saved for 42 years, I’ve been saved longer than I was unsaved at this point in time. And “shew forth his salvation from day to day” I don’t get a chance to do that every single day. [Neither do I, but this website is meant to nourish the Body of Christ, and help it be strengthened in doing that “day to day”, so in that sense, just as Pastor Joe’s ministry does, we are doing it in an indirect but very real sense, by spiritually enabling others. We all have different functions within the Body of Christ, which lend direct or indirect support to the day to day proclamation of the Gospel. Not everybody is a born evangelist, so don’t feel bad if that’s not your thing. If you are a quiet light, this is one of the two essential legs the Gospel walks forward on. see http://www.unityinchrist.com/wwcofg/wearesalt.htm] But 42, it’s actually 41 and a half, will be 42 years in September, but 41 and a half years, about 15,154 days, right around there. And of those 15,154 days, I’ve probably, I haven’t shared, shown forth his salvation every day. But imagine if we would take this challenge seriously. It becomes routine for me to come and speak in front of thousands of people, and people say ‘Oh how can you do that? I’d be so nervous.’ Well, to tell you the truth, it’s more nerve-racking to share one-on-one on the street or in the supermarket, or just to share with one person who may punch you or yell at you or spit at you, you know, that environment that we’re all in, every single day. There isn’t a day that goes by, probably, where we don’t have a chance to tell somebody about the Lord on an individual basis. And it says here ‘We should show forth, proclaim, publish his salvation from day to day.’ It should be a constant part of our lives, because he’s coming. You know, we will never regret, when we stand in glory, having shared the Lord with anyone. If there are regrets there, it will be we will regret we hadn’t told some people along the way, because they’re not present, they’re not there. And I don’t think heaven [the kingdom of heaven] is like that, I don’t think you’ll be bummed out forever because you didn’t tell Aunt Suzie. It says the former things will be remembered no more. So that’s a wonderful part of it. But, it says here, encouraging ancient Israel, and believers in every age, to “sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD all the earth. Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.” (verses 1-3) so everyone is to hear.

We Were Created To Worship, So We All End Up Worshipping Something

The reason, “For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.” (verses 4-5) Paul tells us in Corinthians there may be demonic forces behind that (idols that is). But they’re not gods at all, they’re idols, but the Lord hath made the heavens, he’s different. So we’re either going to worship the LORD, the God that made man, or we’re going to worship man-made gods, one or the other, there’s no other alternatives. And human beings are worshippers, you’re gonna worship. If you don’t worship God, whatever you give the most attention, the most thought, the most of your time to, is what you worship. It may be a Ferrari, if you need to get that off your hands, come see us, if it’s a stumbling block and you need to get rid of it. For some people it’s the Stock Market. They condemn people who go to Atlantic City and gamble, they’ve just found a very sophisticated way to do the same thing, and ‘they’re on that Stock Market, they’re on their own line,’ it’s the same thing. I think we should invest, I think we should be wise, but there are things that consume us, pornography can become one, things that consume our time, consume our thought, money, pleasure, power [facebook], drugs, and all. We’re made to worship, the idea is, we are worshippers. And if we don’t worship the true God, we will worship something, that’s just the way we are. Even those who say ‘There is no God,’ have their own gods. And it says here “For all the gods of the nations are idols.” You know, Isaiah, probably contemporary with some of this writing, is the one who said, ‘You know, use your head, you go into the woods, and you cut down a tree, you throw it on a cart, you drag it back to your house, you cut it up in pieces, you take part of it, you put it in a fire, and you use it for fuel to bake bread, you use another part of it, you make a table, and then you carve out another part of the same tree, the same trunk, and you take it down the street on your cart so the goldsmith can overlay it with gold, it’s your little idol, it’s your little god, and then you have to bring it back to your house, and you have to screw it to the floor so it doesn’t fall over.’ If your god can fall over, you have to ask yourself some questions. And then he said you have to be careful so somebody doesn’t steal it, and that’s a dead giveaway, if somebody can steal your god, you got the wrong god. But Isaiah said, ‘Cut me a break, you’re making a fire with the tree, you’re building a table with the tree, and you’re making a god with the tree? It’s a tree, it’s not a god.’ Isn’t it interesting, though, what some people give themselves to? So he’s laying out that challenge here.

“Worship The LORD In The Beauty Of Holiness”---‘In The Beauty Of His Sanctuary’

“Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.” (verse 6) Verses 7 and 8 here you’ll notice the word “give” three times, again, this word means to “attribute” or “to ascribe” or “to give credit to,” the idea is “Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts.” (verses 7-8) So, ‘Ascribe unto the LORD the glory due his name. Give unto the LORD what he is deserving,’ and we should do that without fear. You know, it’s interesting, I had the privilege the other night to hear Ben Carson speak, and he was really challenging, you know, if we could get him here I’d really love to do that. Just a brilliant man. And at one point he was talking about speaking at a university, and it turned into a big deal, and somebody challenged him, and said ‘You’re not allowed to do that, and you don’t have the right to do it,’ and he said, “Certainly I have the right to do that,” and it turned into a big thing, and he said, “Well, what are you doing tomorrow?” and they said ‘Why?’ and he said, “I’m going to the Supreme Court tomorrow, come with me and we’ll find out if I have the right to do this.” And the next day he said he was there and said to Sandra Day O’Connor, “This is what I did, do I have the right to…?” And she said, “Certainly, you have the Constitutional right to do that, it’s in the Bill of Rights.” And he says, “People treat us and tell us like we don’t have the right to speak up, we don’t have the right to speak about our Faith, we don’t have the right to speak about the things that we believe,” and he said, “We need to get over that.” We’re the last generation, we need to speak up, we need to publish this Salvation from day to day, we’re the ones God has chosen to live in right now. And if you’re anything like me, and you are, you got two eyeballs, you got a nose, you got two ears, most of you hair, the idea is, you’re made of the same stuff I’m made of, and I find myself saying ‘Lord, fill me with your Spirit, give me boldness, Lord, stir my heart, the days that we’re living in, I don’t want to be intimidated.’ You know, the Taliban are not ruling over us, I’m gonna speak up, I’m going to tell the truth, I don’t want to be intimidated. If they’re gonna get mad, they’re gonna get mad about something else later in the day anyway. And he says here, “Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts. O worship the LORD in beauty and holiness: fear before him, all the earth.” (verses 7-9) Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. Kathy and I have come through some churches in these forty-two years, in these 15,000 days since we’ve been saved. You know, some of them were kind of very legalistic, and you know, all the women couldn’t wear make-up. And every barn looks good with a fresh coat of paint, I’m sorry, you couldn’t wear make-up, you couldn’t, everybody had plain dresses. It says worship the Lord, not in the legalism of holiness, don’t worship the Lord in the bummer of holiness, don’t worship the Lord in ‘This is a drag’ of this holiness thing. It says “worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness” there’s something beautiful about it. Gathering here, you know, just the way we are, and that he receives us the way we are, and that holiness is just separateness, we’re separate from the world. You know, sometimes, we don’t look a whole lot different, but our goals are different, what we’re longing for is different, the place that we know we’re going to end up is different, there’s a beauty to the holiness that the LORD has bestowed upon us. And it says we should worship him in the beauty of his sanctuary, great time to come together, to sing his praises. Again, I just, I can think back before those 42 years, back in my teens, and I never thought of church, there was just no attraction. But to come together, to look forward to gathering, to look forward to praying together, to studying together, to singing together, how wonderful. Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness, we never find that until we’re saved.

‘Say Among The Nations That The LORD Reigns, Let The Earth Be Glad’---This Is Talking About The Millennial Kingdom Of God

“fear before him, all the earth.” (verse 9b) “Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.” (verse 10) Just tell ‘em, don’t be afraid. “Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth” you see the “eth”, he is the One who is presently reigning, “the world also shall be established, that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.” What a day that will be, won’t it? [This is a Kingdom Psalm, looking forward to the Millennial Kingdom of God, when “the LORD reigneth, judging the people righteously.” We don’t see the world’s political leaders judging the people righteously nowadays, today, do we now. These verses point to the Millennial Kingdom of God, when Jesus Christ will be reigning the people righteously.] You look at the news today and you see some of the stuff that drives me batty. Now look, the fact that he’s going to judge, sets up for us verses 11, 12, and then the first three words of verse 13. The part of verse 13, “before the LORD.” is really part of verse 12. Verse 13 should start with the word “For.” So, our context here he says ‘he’s going to establish his reign, he’s gonna reign over the earth, he’s going to judge the nations, the people, and he’s going to do that righteously.’ So, in light of that it says, “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the LORD.” (verses 11-12) “For” and he tells you why, “For he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.” (verse 13) And you look at this, you think of Romans chapter 8, where it talks about the earnest expectation of the Creation, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. You know, what is there in Creation, we don’t even know, human beings, it tells us, that our bodies, Philippians chapter 3, shall be fashioned like unto his glorious body. Our bodies shall be fashioned like unto his glorious body. His glorious body, we know he said to Thomas, come here, feel me, touch me, feel me, doth a spirit hath flesh and bone. He didn’t say ‘flesh and blood,’ flesh and bone. Blood was no longer, it tells us in Leviticus now that the life is in the blood. That’s why the blood is drained out, to pay the price of sin. In the resurrection the life is not in the blood, it’s a Spirit-drive system. [Calvary Chapel’s have this peculiar belief that Jesus is now flesh and bone, not flesh and blood. But the Bible says God, including Jesus is a Spirit, a consuming fire, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. Zechariah 14 shows Jesus coming back as a Spirit-Being, melting all flesh that comes up against him, with the brilliance of the light that is shining forth from him. We’ll see for sure in the resurrection to immortality, but I don’t necessarily hold to this ‘flesh and bone’ theological theory.] He rose from the dead, he wasn’t bound by the material, he stepped in and out of the room, passing through walls. What are our resurrected bodies going to be like? Just imagine. [I have always suspected that the spirit realm, if it could be compared to the physical, is more solid than matter. The angels, ministering spirits of fire, are more solid than physical matter. One angel, with his sword, slew 185,000 battle-hardened Assyrian soldiers in one night, just outside of Jerusalem, where Hezekiah and Isaiah were dwelling. This angel was not some immaterial phantom.] I know this, when I get up in the morning, it says this, in the last Psalm, Psalm 149 it says, “Let the saints be joyful in glory, let them sing aloud upon their beds.” That’s in glory. You know, I’ve told Katherine, this is what I want for my birthday, I want you to leave me alone [chuckles] for an entire day, I want to wake up on the day I was born, lay in bed all day, not get out, go to sleep that night, and not get up till the next day, I want a whole day off [good luck, Pastor Joe, good luck!]. Now we’ll probably get that out of our system real early in the kingdom of heaven, but there’s going to be beds there. So this, when I get there, I’m not gonna snap, crackle, pop and sound like a bowl of rice Crispies like when I get up now, enough to push my face to the middle of my head again, just imagine wonderfully the picture that it gives to us in that time, the new body, the earth, the Creation [remade], our bodies fashioned like unto his glorious body. And then the Creation itself, is waiting for that [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/mkg1.htm], the manifestation of the sons of God. And it says it’s with anticipation, it’s interesting, the Greek is a number of words, it says “with outstretched head,” “earnest expectation.” It’s like we’re looking around the corner, waiting for something to come. It says the Creation is actually doing that. There’s actually an anticipation in the Creation, of the day when Christ comes and liberates it again, and there’s a manifestation of the sons of God. So what is Creation going to be like? We know the lion and the lamb are going to lay down together, the sucking ox and wolf, since children are going to play in the hole of the cobra [asp]. Imagine that, children playing in the hole of the cobra, peace in the earth, kids grabbing a lion by the beard, I mean, you can take your kid to the zoo and it’ll just be a big park without bars and cages. Just imagine what Creation is going to be like. Here, it says, “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar,” what will it sound like in the kingdom age? There’s some resonance, there’s some sound that it makes that’s relative to his glory, “and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the LORD.” (verses 11-12) how do you figure that “let the field be joyful”? It says in Isaiah the trees of the field shall clap their hands. What does that sound like? Leaves now, they all blow in one direction, maybe they were really designed to be a little bigger, and during the kingdom age, they’re all going to be clapping, “let the trees of the field clap their hands” just imagine. Creation itself rejoicing before the LORD, here’s what it says, “For he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.” (verse 13) Listen to what it says “He is coming, he is coming.” Putin is not gonna take over the world, the Iranians are not gonna take over the world. The American military is not gonna take over the world [at the behest of American big business, as it did in Latin America], he’s going to take over the world. It’s his. It says, “For he cometh,” and it says it a second time, “he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.” (verse 13) “he shall judge the world with righteousness,” imagine what that will be like. “now the people with his truth.” Now very interesting, if you look down in verse 9 of Psalm 98, you have the same phrase there, “For he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.” (verse 9, Psalm 98) it says there, “with equity”, with uprightness, fairness. So, he’s coming, he’s going to judge the world “in his truth” and “with equity.” Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see a world like that? where there’s actually equity amongst the people of the world? I mean, it’s coming, it’s gonna happen.”

Psalm 97:1-12

“The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about. His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled. The hills 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 people see his glory. Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods. Zion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O LORD. For thou, LORD, art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods. Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for righteousness, and gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.”

The LORD’s 2^nd Coming

“Psalm 97, it begins the way Psalm 99 does, “The LORD reigneth” the “eth” means “he is presently reigning.” It may not look like it, it may look like everything’s out of control. The Psalmist says ‘We can sing tonight, because in fact the LORD reigneth, he’s reigning.’ “let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.” (verse 1) “the isles” that’s you and I, the continents, “be glad thereof.” “Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.” (verses 2-3) We’re told in Revelation chapter 1, it says ‘Behold, he cometh with clouds, every eye shall see him, they also which pierced him, and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him, even so come Lord Jesus.’ [Comment: Looking at the wording of this Psalm, comparing it to certain prophecies in Revelation, Daniel and Joel, this is clearly a 2^nd coming of the Messiah Psalm, not a Kingdom Psalm, as such, even though Jesus’ 2^nd coming helps usher in the Kingdom of God as a direct result. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming_4.htm] We’re told in 2^nd Thessalonians 2:8 “Then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” [cf. see also Zechariah 14:3, 12]. It says ‘he’s coming to judge the world,’ and it says, ‘that we have been raised to wait for his Son from heaven,’ the very purpose, ‘whom he raised from the dead, which delivered us from the wrath to come.’ So here we are, we’re waiting, we’ve been delivered, we have anticipation, the kingdoms and kings of the earth shall mourn because of him. It says when he comes, the very brilliance of his coming, which is unimaginable to us, he dwells in unapproachable light, we’ve seen him walk among us, take the children on his lap, open the eyes of the blind, but when he comes, he’s coming in GLORY, GREAT POWER, it tells us in Mark 13:26, verses like that. And just the brilliance of his coming is going to incinerate the False Prophet [as well as a lot of the Beast Power’s army that is in Jerusalem and Judea, the Israeli nation, cf. Zechariah 14:1-15]. He’s going to destroy the enemy, just with the brilliance of his coming. [Light in the center of a star, any star, is at the Gamma ray level of intensity. Gamma ray intensity of light is sufficient to melt flesh, vaporize it. The light emitted by Jesus at full-strength has got to be above Gamma ray level, from the description of Zechariah 14:12, see http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophets/Zechariah/Zechariah4.htm and scroll to Zechariah 14]. They’re just going to sizzle as he comes. So it says “Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.” (verse 3) Look what it says here, not just a place, but righteousness and judgment, justice, righteousness and justice, it says, that’s where his throne dwells, it’s the habitation of his throne, in righteousness and justice. “Fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.” (verse 4) the New Testament concurs. “His lightnings enlighten the world: the earth saw, and trembled.” (verse 4) all of the other lights of the world are going to refuse to shine, at his brilliance of his coming, “the earth saw, and trembled. The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD of the whole earth. The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.” (verses 4b-6) ‘every eye shall see him, the tribes of the earth shall mourn because of him,’ John says. “Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves in idols; worship him, all ye gods.” (verse 7) What a day, you know, that’s the ultimate rude awakening. And look, if you’re serving graven images, you go to the end of the Book of Revelation, chapter 17 and 18, it’s all about Babylon, Babylon, the fall of Babylon, the capital of idolatry, they’re worshipping the Beast and the image of the Beast, it says “Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves in idols; worship him, all ye gods.” (verse 7) “Zion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O LORD.” (verse 8) very interesting phrase in the Hebrew, it’s called a prophetic past tense. You know, when he comes, the tragedy will be, we’re told in Zechariah, Joel, other places, that one out of every three Jews is going to survive and be preserved. Sadly, for the nation of Israel, there are some terrible times that are still coming. [Comment: Terrible times are coming on us in the US, and the English speaking peoples, as well as for the whole world. OT Bible prophecy indicates that one tenth of the world’s population will survive WWIII, the great tribulation, and that also mirrors military studies for a future world war with today’s modern weaponry. So if there are 7 billion people alive today, and the tribulation happened now, 700,000,000 people would survive worldwide.] But it says when he comes, it says “the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O LORD” and it sees it in a prophetic view here, as though it’s already taken place, a very interesting structure called the prophetic past tense. It says “the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O LORD.” He sees it as having already having happened.

“Ye That Love The LORD, Hate Evil”

“For thou, LORD, art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods. Ye that love the LORD, hate evil:” (verse 10a) isn’t it interesting? “ye that love the LORD, hate evil.” What’s difficult about that? You know what’s difficult about it? We don’t use that word anymore, it’s taboo. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you watched the news, and on the news, they said ‘Washington passed a law today that is evil.’ It would be wonderful to hear that, you know. Or ‘These people in that circumstance, what they did today was evil.’ or ‘Don’t let your children watch this show, it is evil.’ Wouldn’t it be wonderful just to hear that? We need to get that back in our vocabulary again, we’ve lost it. Everything’s relative now, we don’t, ‘Oh, you can’t say that,’ oh really? Is it ok to mow down people in a mall? ‘Oh no, that’s wrong,’ ‘Well why is that wrong? If there’s no God, why is that wrong?’ ‘Well who are you to decide, maybe that’s wonderful, maybe that makes the person with the gun happy, and he should have the right to mow down people.’ ‘No, that’s evil.’ ‘Now, I’m glad to hear you say that.’ You see, the problem is, there can’t be evil unless there’s good. There can’t be good and evil unless there’s a God, there has to be a moral standard. The agnostic and particularly the atheist can’t stand the idea of anything being evil, because it speaks of ultimate good. [Not surprisingly, one of my adoptive daughters was telling me “there’s no such thing as evil.” I was flabbergasted, because I’m a history nut, and most of world history is a story about wars, famines and pestilence, most caused by evil governments and people. But she, not surprisingly, is an atheist, and that is where that comes from. I didn’t realize, but that’s part of the atheist mantra.] Man how we need to teach our kids that there are things that are evil. We have to be able to say that. It’s malevolent, it’s dark, it’s evil, it isn’t static, there’s a force behind it, there’s an influence behind it [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/Satan/satan.htm]. In the New Testament there are two words for evil, there’s cacaus, which is just something that is evil in and of itself, just content just to be miserable all on its own. And there’s porneos which is an evil that’s not content unless it’s dragging someone to hell with it. That’s an evil that’s not content unless it’s influencing. Paul talks about this present porneos, age, this present evil age, and he says ‘This is an age, the influence of the world, because there’s the prince of the power of the air behind it.’ It is not content unless it’s dragging people to destruction with it. “Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.” (verse 10) It would be wonderful to have that much clarity in the world we live in, instead of a fog in our heads. Well there’s another one of those words, the “w” word there, “the wicked.” And isn’t it interesting, look at verse 11, and the Hebrew even says this, it’s very interesting, “Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.” What in the world does that mean? I think you need to sit by yourself with that for awhile, because I don’t know. The Hebrew actually says that, “Light is sown” you know, in the Bible, when the Word of God is sown, it’s like seed, it brings forth. And it’s saying here that light and gladness are sown, that God is making an investment, there’s something happening. That he is sowing, even in the dark world we live in, where there is this evil and wickedness, God is sowing light within us [possibly the principle of Matthew 5:14-16? See http://www.unityinchrist.com/wwcofg/wearesalt.htm], ‘His Word is a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path.’ Isn’t it interesting, he’s sowing light within us, there’s going to be a harvest, it’s going to bring forth. Light, how beautiful, is sown for the righteous, and gladness, the idea, is sown for the upright of heart. “Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.” (verse 12) Holiness, his separateness, he’s separate from everyone, just you go through the day, you wake up in the morning, you watch the news, you see insanity, and you sit back and say ‘Thank you, Lord, you are separate from all of this. Thank you Lord, your kingdom is separate from all of this, thank you Lord, you reign over all of this, thank you Lord, you know the difference between evil and wickedness and uprightness, and gladness of heart, thank you Lord that you saved me. Thank you Lord that my destiny is holy, it’s different, separate from all other destinies…’”

Psalm 98:1-9

A Psalm

“O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvelous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory. The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD, the King. Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.”

“O Sing Unto The LORD A New Song”---What Does That Mean?

“Psalm 98, wonderfully, it just says “A Song”, only Psalm in all of the Psalms with that title, A Song. Very interesting. And it begins like Psalm 96, “O sing unto the LORD” we have the same thing in Psalm 96. And again, “a new song”, the reason, “for he hath done marvelous things”. “O sing unto the LORD a new song;” ‘you know, it’s interesting, I know some of the folks, when they come, because, it’s going to say a little further down, that we should rejoice with a loud noise. Now I know some of you, ‘They have drums up there,’ when you first come, there’s a lot to get past here, I realize that [i.e. coming from another church background, their format for praise & worship can throw some folks], my dress code [which btw, is Calvary Chapel’s dress code], and it stumbles a lot of people. It keeps the Pharisees away, it’s wonderful, you know, ‘There’s drums in that church…’ But the Bible says ‘Praise the LORD with a loud noise.’ That’s a good thing, ‘Well, God’s not hard of hearing,’ well he’s not nervous either. But I love the fact it says, to ‘praise him’, this is the second time in these Kingdom Psalms, ‘with a new song, a new song,’ because I know, I love it when we sing some of the old hymns, and I know, some of you seniors, you love it. And you sing some of those old hymns, and the lyrical content theologically is profound, it’s astounding. And sometimes if you know the story behind the hymn writers, it’s even more amazing [such as with the writer of Amazing Grace]. But the truth is, through the history of God’s people, whenever there is a fresh Pentecost, and a fresh moving of God’s Spirit, there are new songs. You know the Welsh are famous for singing. You know they say that the English love the Gospel because they can talk about it. The Welsh love the Gospel because they can sing about it. The Irish love the Gospel because they can fight about it [I guessed that one right, before he said it!], and the Scots love the Gospel because it’s free. You know, they talk about that in Europe. The Welsh are famous for singing. Well they weren’t until 1902, 1903, all the songs born out of the revival in Wales have made the Welsh, just, they are famous for song, but those things were born out of a revival. John Booth of the Salvation Army, those songs, he started using trumpets and trombones and drums on the street corner, and a lot of religious people, Christians, freaked out, ‘Are you kidding,’ it was so carnal to them, it was like Heavy Metal to them. That was heavy metal, as a matter of fact, carrying those instruments around. It was Martin Luther that said ‘Why should the Devil have all the good music?’ And he took the bar music, the famous melodies of the day, and put Christian lyrics to them, the shame of it, it was 3-4. So there have been, with the moving of God’s Spirit, and new eras, there have always been new songs that have been born. And you know, this is the Kingdom Age that’s coming, and we have all of these 150 Psalms we’re studying through, they’re wonderful, sometimes I wonder how many of those are we going to be singing during the Kingdom Age, and a lot of the Old Testament saints are going to be raised to enter into the Kingdom Age [including King David, who will be given his old job again, of being King over the 12 tribes of Israel, cf. Ezekiel 37:21-22, 24]. I wonder if any of them are going to be saying, ‘Come on, let’s sing one of the oldies, let’s sing one of David’s songs,’ because they knew these. But it seems then there’s going to be a whole new blossoming of worship and of songs. We read that in two of the Psalms this evening, a new song, Psalm 96, ‘sing unto the LORD a new song,’ here we have it here again, ‘sing’ 98, ‘sing unto the LORD a new song,’ here’s the reason, “for he hath done marvelous things:” what’s your definition of marvelous? Anybody, marvelous? Do you have anything marvelous in your life [still waiting for those prayers to be answered]? Wonderful, marvelous, ah ideas of marvelous? I ran into somebody the other night, and I remember I did her mom’s funeral, and the mom had recorded, for her own funeral, kind of her own message. And we were sitting at the funeral, and all of a sudden we hear “Now I know you’re all sitting there, and I have something to say to you, that’s important for you to listen, and I know Pastor Joe’s doing the funeral, it must be marvelous,’ and I’m thinking ‘What a strange [definition of marvelous],’ she was so happy, you know. And I’m thinking ‘If you were happy when you recorded that, you must REALLY be happy now, standing in glory.’ [which btw, won’t be until the resurrection to immortality at Jesus 2^nd coming, but her next conscious moment will be at that moment in time at the resurrection to immortality, as some view the salvation sequence of events.] By the way, you should think about that, if the Lord tarries and you start getting there, you know, do your own prerecorded, freak out your relatives that way, I’m telling you [laughter]. But you know, look, you have to have a good spirit, you can’t say ‘And uncle Harry, let me tell you what I’m going to say about you in front of everybody,’ no, we don’t want any of that. Because we could tell stories about you, too, if we’re going to do that. “O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvelous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.” (verse 1) [Comment: verse 1b points to the victory Jesus wins in Zechariah 14:1-15, at the moment of the 2^nd coming and shortly thereafter.]

“The LORD Hath Made Known His Salvation”

“The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.” (verse 2) Are you reading that verse with me? “The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.” ‘What about the guy on the island?’ you ever hear people ask that question? ‘What about the guy on the island?’ Like everybody’s worried about this guy, I wonder who he is, he had to have got saved a long time ago, because everybody prays for him, who is this guy on the island anyway? That’s just a loop-hole, everybody’s looking for a loop-hole. You present the Gospel to them, and they think ‘Well do I have to listen to this? What about the guy on the island?’ It doesn’t matter about the guy on the island, now it matters about you, you heard the truth, are you gonna spit it out, or are you gonna eat it? What are you going to do with the truth? Forget about the guy on the island, he’s well taken care of. It says it right here. [I have the feeling this is written in the prophetic past tense, as an event that is yet to occur, when the Gospel will be known to all after the 2^nd coming of Christ. Let’s put this in context with the period of time the Psalm is written about, which is 2^nd coming/Kingdom Age.] “The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.” (verse 2) You know, Paul tells us in 1^st Corinthians 5, look, ‘If a brother in Christ is a fornicator, and he calls himself a brother, don’t hang around with him, don’t eat with him, don’t fellowship with him, or an extortioner, or a thief, or a robber and so forth.’ He says, ‘I’m not saying unbelieving fornicators, if somebody’s an unbeliever and they’re a fornicator or an extortioner,’ he said ‘To get away from them you’d have to leave the planet.’ Paul says that. He says ‘I’m saying it for somebody who calls themselves a brother who is living in continual sin, don’t fellowship with them, because you’re endorsing it.’ The problem there is this, that person, if they’re a believer, the vertical has been ruined in their life. And the only support they’re gathering, they’re garnering, is on the horizontal. And the Lord says ‘I love that person more than you do, he has lost track of the vertical, so as long as you fellowship with him, you give him some semblance of sanity on the horizontal. I want you to cut yourself off from him, and leave him to me on the horizontal, because I’m the only one who can restore the vertical and I know what to do with him.’ And it isn’t cruel and it isn’t mean, it’s the way that the Lord can use you to make that person look up again. That’s what he wants to do, certainly. [Pastor Joe has gotten off on a tangent here, and when he does this, I kind of wonder if he’s addressing a specific problem within his own congregation. This verse is obviously given in a prophetic past tense, as yet to occur in the future, at the 2^nd coming of Christ, Yeshua haMeschiach.] So it says there, just let me read it to you, because I can’t recite it in King James. It says, “Now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, covetous, idolater or railer, drunkard or extortioner, with such an one not even to eat. For what have I to do to judge them that also are without. Do not ye judge them that are within. But them that are without, God judges.” ‘What about the guy on the island?’ There he is in 1^st Corinthians chapter 5, ‘those that are without, God takes care of them.’ It says here that “The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.” His righteousness, he’s made known his salvation, but his very righteousness, Romans chapter 1 talks about revealed, in the sight of the heathen, “He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.” (verse 3) Then again, you have a prophetic past tense there in a wonderful way. [This entire Psalm is to be taken in the prophetic past tense.]

Another Call For Praise & Worship

“Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD the King.” (verses 4-6) I don’t want you to be sad if we don’t find any keyboards there, evidently. “Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together before the LORD;” (verses 7-8) that will be something, won’t it, “let the floods clap their hands.” And here we have the ending just as in Psalm 96, “for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.” (verse 9) “equity,” with fairness. In Psalm 96 he’s going to judge the people with truth, with his truth, here he’s going to judge them with equity, what an interesting picture, a government that rules over the whole earth, where the entire world is judged with truth and with fairness. That will be the day, won’t it? When we look at what’s happening around us now.

Psalm 99:1-9

“The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved. The LORD is great in Zion; and he is high above all the people. Let them praise thy great and terrible name; for it is holy. The king’s strength also loveth judgment; thou dost establish equity, thou executeth judgment and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy. Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name; they called upon the LORD, and he answered them. He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar: they kept his testimonies, and the ordinance that he gave them. Thou answeredst them, O LORD our God: thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions. Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the LORD our God is holy.”

A Picture Of The LORD In His Sovereignty

What Are Cherubim?

“Psalm 99, “The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.” (verse 1) like Psalm 97. Look at 97, “The LORD reigneth, let the earth rejoice”, so this is a very sober picture here, “The LORD reigneth” he’s the One whose reigning, “let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved. The LORD is great in Zion; and he is high above all the people.” all the nations, “Let them praise thy great and terrible name; for it is holy.” (verses 1-3) So what an interesting picture of the LORD in his power, in his sovereignty here. And it has him again in that place, sitting between the cherubims, very interesting picture, goes all the way back to Eden. Look, there are cherubim, just in case you’re wondering, the cherubim are not angels, they are angelic creatures, they’re not angels. They have four faces, the face of a man, the face of an ox, the face of an eagle, and the face of a lion. We’re not certain of the number of wings [Ezekiel indicates 4, seek Ezekiel 1:5-14, quite scary and interesting], they have wings. And we find the cherub first in the Garden of Eden, when God, it says he drives Adam and Eve out, they don’t want to leave, they have to be driven out [and if you see one of those creatures, it will drive you away, you’re gonna run for your life, if you don’t drop of a heart-attack first], and he places at the east of Eden, in the way to the Tree of Life, a cherubim with a flaming sword, to guard the way to the Tree of Life. And it would seem it was there, that’s the place that Adam will go to worship, and to sacrifice. So we find the cherubim there. We find them as God sets up the Tabernacle on the veil, between the holy place and the Holy of Holies, they’re embroidered there. We find them again in the Temple of Solomon, they’re embroidered on the Temple there, between the holy place and the Holy of Holies. When you study the camps of Israel, Ephraim and Judah and so forth [two of the 12 tribes of Israel], the four faces on the four flags were the faces, were the face of a man, the face of an ox, the face of an eagle, and the face of a lion. You have, like the cherubim, the angels of God encamped around the very camp of Israel. The early Church knew well that in the four evangelists [Gospel writers] were reflected, Matthew gives us the lion of the tribe of Judah. Ninety-nine times he says “this happened that it might be fulfilled” and he gives us the Jewish Messiah. Mark gives us Christ, the ox, the beast of burden, he said the Son of man, in Mark’s Gospel, has not come to be served, but to serve and to lay down his life for ransom for many. Luke is the one whose astounded with the humanity of Christ, he gives us the genealogy all the way back to the Garden of Eden. He’s amazed with Jesus the man, and then he leaves us with a promise of human beings being filled with the Holy Spirit. So he gives us a picture of Christ the man. And then John gives us the picture of the Deity of Christ, the eagle. So, you know, you see in the Roman ruins, different places, sometimes, the ictus, Jesus Christ the Son of God, Saviour with ictus in it. But you see in other places just the four faces of the cherubim are carved. And sometimes that marked the secret meeting places of Christians, because they understood it gave them a picture of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, four. And then we find them again in the Book of Revelation, certainly. They are around the throne of God, they are the ones that fall down and say [shout] ‘Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God Almighty, Who is Who Was and Who is to come!...so these are the cherubim. We meet them dramatically in Ezekiel chapter 1, Ezekiel chapter 10, that’s important because Von Donnagan tries to tell us that the wheel within a wheel and all of that stuff in Ezekiel 1 are flying saucers, he should have read nine more chapters, he would have got to chapter 10 where it said no, these are the cherubim, and then in chapter 28 it tells us Lucifer himself was the anointed cherub that led worship in the presence of God before he fell. So he’s not an angel, he’s of the order of the cherubim, he’s a cherub. Isaiah chapter 6 gives us a picture of the seraphim, and it seems they’re different, we know they at least have six wings, with two they cover their face, with two they fly, with two they cover their feet, seraphim means “the burning ones,” and they seem to be over the throne of God. It’s hard to be dogmatic about this. But they’re different than the cherubim, and they’re different from angels [I think all these are different classes of angels, angelic beings]. Among angels you have Michael, who is the archangel, there’s only one archangel, in all the Bible, in all existence, there’s only one angel that always has the definite article, that is Michael, the archangel. And he specifically is in charge of the territory of Israel, and no doubt, when dispensations change, in Ezekiel, the Lord descends with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, isn’t that interesting, and the Trumpet of God, why’s Michael involved with the Rapture (cf. 1^st Corinthians 15:49-54), that’s because when the Church goes up, God’s economy changes back to the nation of Israel again, that he oversees it. [Comment: Differing parts of the Body of Christ have this Rapture occurring at different time-sequences of Revelation, some place it at the blowing of the 7^th Trumpet of Revelation, others, Calvary Chapel’s in particular place the Rapture before the coming of the great tribulation. We’ll see at the 2^nd coming whose correct. see http://www.unityinchrist.com/Prophets_Prophecy.html] Gabriel, he’s an angel, we’re not sure of the order or his rank, but he’s in charge of birth announcements, evidently. So, here we have a picture of the LORD in his glory, seated between the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant, on the cover there, and the Shikinah glory was there.

‘You Answered Them, You Are A God That Forgives’

“The LORD is great in Zion; and he is high above all the people. Let them praise thy great and terrible name; for it is holy.” (verses 2-3) Down in the end of verse 5 he’s going to tell us again, “for he is holy” it’s the same Hebrew phrase, “for it is holy.” So here ‘we should praise his great and awesome name, for it is holy, it’s distinct from every other name, it is holy.’ “The king’s strength also loveth judgment; thou dost establish equity, thou executeth judgment and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool, for he is holy.” (verses 4-5) It’s speaking of the footstool, if you translate it “for he is holy”, it’s speaking of the LORD, but the idea is holiness again, you have the same idea there, his name is terrible, it is holy in verse 3, his footstool is holy. He says “Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name; they called upon the LORD, and he answered them.” (verse 6) Isn’t it interesting, by the way, they all were intercessors. There’s more than one place where Samuel’s mentioned like this. We don’t have a lot of data about Samuel. But he was no doubt one of the most profound prophets that ever lived, because he’s mentioned in these kind of contexts with Moses. Moses and Samuel, if you can imagine that. These three men, Moses prayed, he interceded for Israel, he said ‘God, take my life, if you’re gonna take them,’ I love you guys, but I’ve never prayed that, you can pray for me, I’m that shallow, ‘Lord, save them, and save me, please.’ Aaron, there are places where we have his intercession. Samuel, on his knees before the nation of Israel before the LORD during the ministry of their greatest king, entering into that with David. They called upon the LORD, he answered them, they poured out their heart on behalf of others. “He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar: they kept his testimonies, and the ordinance that he gave them. Thou answeredst them, O LORD God: thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.” (verses 7-8) Incredible verse, verse 8, what it says is this, you know, God answered them, they were just human. Moses lost his temper, Aaron did the Golden Calf thing, you read through, and representative of the whole nation, it says ‘You answered them O LORD, you are a God that forgives,’ is the idea, “thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.” Literally, “on their wrong-doings,” their inventions, what they did they shouldn’t have done. He says, ‘God even with them, LORD you’re a great God, you answered them, you’re a God that forgave them, you forgave Moses, Aaron, you forgave them, though you took vengeance, you dealt with their wrong-doings.’ God doesn’t overlook, God is gracious, it’s a remarkable verse. “Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the LORD our God is holy.” (verse 9) The reason again, third time, “for the LORD our God is holy.” So he forgives. He deals with our inventions. If you think you’ve come up with something new, that nobody else has ever come up with, you’re wrong. I hear people say that, ‘Well when the Bible was written, they didn’t know I would be doing this.’ You ain’t invented anything new that isn’t common to all mankind. The Bible knows exactly what you were gonna do, and it says ‘The LORD is a forgiving God, but he deals with your inventions.’ He knows how to deal with, so even if you’re here this evening, he loves us, he’s a forgiving God, but he isn’t a God that overlooks our sin. He wants to deal with us. And to me, wonderfully, here’s how gracious he is, and again, he identified himself again as a God of Jacob. Not just the God of Israel, Israel means governed by God, but he’s also the God of Jacob, the conniver, the heel-catcher. And again, one of my favorite verses in the Bible, when Jacob was left alone, there wrestled a man with him, and I find in my life that God is a gentleman, he has no desire to humiliate me in front of other people. He will wait till I’m alone, and he will wrestle with me, and challenge me, and speak to me, and love me. But he sees me in the righteousness of his Son, but wonderfully, he’s a God that forgives, but he’s a God that deals with our inventions too. And what a wonderful day when the Kingdom comes, it says then this corruption will put on incorruption, this mortal will put on immortality, we’ll not hang our heads anymore, that the sinful world will be gone, the Devil will be gone (cf. Revelation 20:1-3), the flesh will be gone. Right now the world, the flesh and the Devil have a hold on us. If you extract one of those, if it was just the world and the Devil, with no flesh, there’s no deal going down. If it’s just the world and the flesh, no Devil, we’re in good shape. But the day is coming when there’s no [sinful] world, no flesh, no Devil. Because you know, sometimes we think ‘I mess up everything. I have messed up every single thing in my life, I’ve messed up my family, I’ve messed up my health, I’ve messed up my sister and my brother, I mess up anything I get near, I ruin it, and I know I’m going to be in the Kingdom of heaven fifteen minutes, and I’m gonna look at some girl the wrong way, and some angel is going to say ‘You! You, look at that, you’re outa here!’ No, it’s not gonna happen. This corruption is going to put on incorruption, and this mortal is going to put on immortality, we’re gonna look in the face of our Saviour, and we’re not gonna hang our head in shame. That sinful nature is gonna be gone, it’s gonna be gone…but it’s gonna be gone. Won’t that be wonderful? You won’t have violated his, our will, we’re gonna say ‘Lord, take it away, forgive my sins, remove this from me,’ That’s our prayer, and he does it. He does it. So we’ll be standing in the kingdom of heaven, no longer with the potential to sin. And it will not have been a violation of our will, because we will have asked for those very conditions to be real in our lives, and they will go on forever, and for ever, and for ever, and for ever, and for ever. Won’t it be great to be 30 for ever? Let’s stand, let’s pray, we’ll have the musicians come…[transcript of a connective expository sermon given on Psalm 96:1-13, Psalm 97:1-12, Psalm 98:1-9 and Psalm 99:1-9, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]