"Oh sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvellous works among all the peoples!
4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Splendour and majesty are before him;
strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering, and come into his courts!
9 Worship the Lord in the splendour of holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth!
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!
Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.”
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12 let the field exult, and everything in it!
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
13 before the Lord, for he comes,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness,
and the peoples in his faithfulness."
Psalm 96
David (in 1 Chronicles 16) recognises he has a message for the world, and this is reflected in the Psalm, in 3, 7, 10. This is the discernment that being in the will of God gives to a man, it gives him vision. One thinks of Isaiah 6, where we see that after the revelation of God and the cleansing that came to him, Isaiah heard the voice of God saying, 'Whom shall I send...?' Men's eyes are opened, and they begin to see the far horizons. This is surely how it was with David on this occasion. Also, it is clear from 1 Chronicles 16:12, 'Remember His marvellous works that He has done...', that God's deeds are Israel's message to the world, and this is implicit also in the Psalm. We can also look at it in this way: it is very true to say that the Lord had become King in David's own life. The Psalm is sometimes called a coronation anthem, an enthronement Psalm. Well, there has been a coronation in David's life at this point. This is the heart of everything. It is this that creates a situation in which the mighty works of God can be meaningfully and significantly told forth and proclaimed. It is this that opens the heart, awakens the vision and gives the joy and burden for the souls of men.
Finally, as Kidner says, 'The build up of repeated words and phrases (e.g. 'sing...', 'ascribe...', 'he comes...') gives the Psalm an insistent vigour (see 93:1) and contributes to the air of almost irrepressible excitement at the prospect of God's coming'. What could convey more tellingly the truth that coronation creates expectation of things happening, of days of the Son of Man, days of the right hand of the Most High!