Psalm 95
Israel Invited to Worship Jehovah and Enter His Rest
Israel Invited to Worship Jehovah and Enter His Rest
Psalm 95. This is another orphan Psalm, and the theme is a call to Israel to worship Jehovah, and not tempt the Lord as they had done in the wilderness. Prophetically, this Psalm gives us the faithful remnant preaching the gospel of the kingdom to their fellow Jews. The Spirit of God applies vv.7-11 in the epistle to the Hebrews to call the Jews forth from Judaism to worship Christ. The faithful remnant will apply these same words to their brethren, the tribes of Israel, to return to Jehovah their God. Some will obey this call, and enter the kingdom. Others will harden their hearts like their fathers of old, and be destroyed.1
PSALM 95
1 Come, let us sing aloud to Jehovah, let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation;
2 Let us come before his face with thanksgiving; let us shout aloud unto him with psalms.
3 For Jehovah is a great GOD, and a great king above all gods.
4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also:
5 The sea is his, and he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.
vv.1-5 The Call to Praise Jehovah for His Greatness. The Psalm opens with a call for Israel to praise Jehovah. His supremacy over all gods, and His creatorial power over the earth, are exclaimed. We have a similar message in Rev. 14:6-7 with the “everlasting gospel”; “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” It would seem that this message will go fourth by human messengers, but it will be helped by the angels. It is the final offer to the earth to worship the true God before the hour of judgment falls.
6 Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before Jehovah our Maker.
7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. “To-day if ye hear his voice,
8 Harden not your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah, in the wilderness;
9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
10 Forty years was I grieved with the generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways;
11 So that I swore in mine anger, that they should not enter into my rest.” [quoted Heb. 3:7-11]
vv.6-11 The Call to Worship and Submit; a Warning. The call continues, beckoning Israel to worship their God, and “kneel before Jehovah our Maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand”. They are being called to take their place as Jehovah’s sheep (Psa. 23). This is the ground of relationship realized. The way has been opened now for Israel to enter into Jehovah’s rest; i.e. the Sabbath rest of the Millennium. Jehovah’s old anger is now gone. The cross has opened a way. Old sins will not bar them from entering the kingdom; but a fresh repetition of the same sin will. Unbelief, that old besetting sin, must be avoided. These words (vv.7-11) are quoted in Hebrews 3 in application to the Jews who had made a profession of Christianity, to warn them not to return to dead Judaism in unbelief. Likewise, Israel in the future must have a tender heart toward the word preached to them, and submit.
- From Psalms 95 to 100 we have the progress of the introduction of the Only-begotten into the world most distinctly brought out; but here, all through, seen as Jehovah coming from heaven in judgment, and at length taking His place between the cherubim, and calling up the world to worship Him there. It puts the setting up of Israel in blessing by power, in contrast with their old failure when first delivered. – Darby, J.N. Synopsis of the Books of the Bible.