TRUE WITNESS (Psalm 96)

One of the greatest missionary psalms in the Bible is Psalm 96. Its one great theme is that God’s people ought to tell everybody how great He is.

It is beautiful to see how these psalms are sometimes coupled together. In the previous psalm, we learned something about true worship. Now we will learn something about true witnesses. The two go together and in this order.

In Psalm 95 we were encouraged to “come.” Now we are not coming; we are going. We are telling everyone else how great our God is. It is only after you learn to truly worship that you can witness. After you have been in His presence, you can make His presence known to others.

That is really what witnessing is; it is praising God to other people. And God’s children should be the happiest witnesses on the planet.

Typically, someone called as a witness in a court of law is not called willingly and is not happy about what he or she has to say. But God’s children should be happy witnesses because the work He has done in our lives is truly wonderful.

Psalm 96 is 13 verses long, and instead of dividing it up into parts, I would suggest that it be considered as one. A single theme is woven throughout.

Verses 1-5: “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.”

Do you see what I mean about it being a missionary psalm? It is the song of salvation. By the way, only those who truly know that their sins are forgiven have this song. It is a song the angels cannot sing and the unregenerate heart does not understand.

If you have put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and had your sins forgiven, you have a new song because you have a new life in Christ.

Did you notice the use of “all” in the opening passage?

Verse 1: “all the earth.”

Verse 3: “all people.”

Verse 4: “above all gods.”

Verse 5: “all the gods of the nations.”

These superlatives lift us to the God of all praise. He is worthy of being known and being made known.

Verse 5 also states, “the Lord made the heavens.” Of course, that is a reference to the Creator, but there is a larger application here. The God who created these heavens wants to be known by everyone who lives under them. Every person on this planet should look up into the sky and know the One who made that sky.

Verse 6: “Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.” Now we are being led from Earth into the holy place.

Verses 7-9: “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.”

Do you see what is happening here? In Psalm 95 it was the psalmist who was worshipping, but here we see his admonition for others to worship with him. That is really what witnessing is. We are not to be simply getting people to accept a creed, sign a card, or come to church. Witnessing is the act of telling about a true and risen Savior who has changed our lives to the point that we worship Him. Since He has a rightful place in our lives, we want others to worship Him as well.

The real goal of witnessing is not getting more people in the building. The real goal is more worshippers.

In the end, everyone will be a worshipper because that is when “every knee should bow” (Philippians 2:10), but whoever waits until then will be too late. God wants and deserves worship now, at this moment.

The people were told in I Chronicles 16:29 to “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” What a wonderful statement. We do not worship the Lord in our tradition, building, or form. True worship is being in the presence of God. As G. Campbell Morgan once said, “The beauty was the result of the holiness, and holiness is a condition of the beauty.” In other words, only God is truly holy and beautiful.

Verses 10-13: “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.”

What a progression of truth. The psalmist began by presenting God as the Creator, worthy of worship, but he ended by saying that the Creator is also the Judge. In other words, the One who has come is coming again. In verse 13 “he cometh” appears twice to emphasize the point.

This is why we witness — because we want everyone to know the Creator God of the universe and come into a relationship with Him before they stand before Him in judgment.

The Bible says in Psalm 107:2, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.” It is time for God’s people to speak up. Everyone else is speaking; there is a great deal of noise in our world among the heathen. We need to tell them that our Lord reigns. That is true worship.

Notice the divine imperatives in this beautiful psalm.

Verse 1: “Sing.”

Verse 2: “Bless” and “shew.”

Verse 3: “Declare.”

Verse 7: “Give.”

Verse 9: “Worship.”

Verse 10: “Say.”

Seven divine things we are told by God to do today so that we can point other people to Him.

We believe that Psalm 96 was written when David, as told in I Chronicles 16, brought the Ark of the Covenant back into its rightful place. There was such joy and rejoicing at that time.

No matter your circumstances, if God is in His rightful place you have reason to rejoice and to witness. Tell someone today. Witness and worship are not something to be kept to ourselves. They are to be shared with others so that even the heathen will come to know our true and great God. He is coming, and now is our time to go tell someone that our God reigns.