Chapter 96

Psalm to David, when his land was settled. And here again he depicts the salvation of the world and the faith of all peoples in Christ. Ps.96:1. The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice, let the many islands rejoice. He calls the churches “islands,” as being driven by every wind and surrounded by the bitter waves of disasters. Ps.96:2. Clouds and darkness surround Him. This signifies the hidden condescension of the Lord to people when he appeared in the form of a slave. Truth and destiny are the correction of His throne. That was the reason for the remission of sins, that He judged our judgment, which we obviously had with evil and resistant forces. Ps.96:3. Fire will go before Him, because with His Divine power He burned down every evil and resistant action. Ps.96:4. Lightning illuminated His universe. He says that His holy Apostles and Evangelists are “lightning,” and like light they illuminated the heavenly realms. Ps.96:5. The mountains melted like wax from the presence of the Lord. “Mountains” refers to the resistive forces that, like wax, melted from the fire mentioned above. What hardens in the north wind melts in the south wind. Therefore, as the bride says beautifully in the Song of Songs: “Arise, O north, and come, O south, and blow through my garden, and let my fragrances flow” (Song. 4:16). Ps.96:7. Let all who worship idols be ashamed, seeing that those whom ancient times were revered as gods, like wax, melt before the face of the Lord. Worship Him, all His Angels. Give thanks for what He has accomplished for the heavenly places. Ps.97:8. Zion heard and rejoiced. Zion is the Church. What did you hear if not an evangelical sermon? She gave the Church joy. And the daughters of the Jews rejoiced. “Daughters of the Jews” refers to the venerable souls who united with God through confession and rejoiced in their destinies for God’s sake when they saw that those who had been tormented were expelled, and those held in slavery were brought to freedom. Ps.96:10. Those who love the Lord, hate evil. Advice is offered to the redeemed to be free to turn away from every form of wickedness. The Lord protects the souls of His saints. You, having turned away from the evil one, have become saints; and the Lord will after this protect you from the evil one. For the evil one in the proper sense is a sinner. Ps.96:11. Light has risen to the righteous, i.e. the light of the Gospel. “Vozsia” is for the “righteous,” that is, for people who have become righteous through faith. And joy with the right heart. After the word “right,” a punctuation mark must be placed so that the meaning comes out: those who have become right will have joy in their hearts, and the word “ascension” must be attributed to the whole speech. You might be interested in: