The Missionary Psalm: 4 of 4

Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.” Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.-Psalm 96:10-13

Psalm 96 ends with the promise that the LORD is coming and will one day come again. The Psalmist is prophesying Christ’s first and second coming. The original readers read the passage as foreshadowing the first coming of the Messiah, we now read the passage as foreshadowing the second coming. The Psalmist exhorts his readers to say among the nations, “The Lord reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.” All of creation waits with eager anticipation for the Lord’s return. The promise of the Lord’s return should spur us on to proclaim that the Lord reigns for two reasons…

1) We must proclaim that the Lord reigns because He is coming again to judge the Earth and those who do not know Him will spend eternity in Hell: Revelation 19 describes the Lord returning to Earth as a warrior. Jesus Christ will return to judge the nations and He will trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God the Almighty. Today is the day of salvation for the Nations, but, one day the opportunity to respond to the Gospel message will be over and Christ will return and cast all those who do not know Him as Lord and Savior into Hell. Hell is described throughout the Bible as a place of eternal torment and pain, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, completely devoid of hope. One day the Lord will return and cast those who have rejected Him into Hell. The reality of Hell and the immanence of the Lord’s return should spur us to respond as the late preacher Charles Spurgeon responded when he said, “if sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and un-prayed for.” The reality of the LORD’s return should spur us on to greater missionary involvement.

2) We must proclaim that the Lord reigns because He will not return until the whole world has heard about Him: Jesus says in Matthew 24:14, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Jesus promises that He will not return until the whole world has heard about Him. There are 6,900 people groups (2.8 billion people) in the world who have little to no access to the Gospel. In other words, Christ second coming will not happen until these 6,900 people groups (2.8 billion people) have heard about His first coming. Our desire to meet the LORD should spur us on to take the Gospel to these unreached and unengaged people groups. One day a missionary in a remote tribe on the other side of the world will share the Gospel with the very last of the Lord’s elect and in that moment the trumpet will sound, the sky will break open, and we will be caught up into the air to meet the LORD! Our longing for that day spurs us on to greater missionary involvement.

In conclusion, our longing for the Lord’s return should spur us on to greater missionary involvement. Our desire to save people from the depths of Hell should cause us to allocate our resources to take the Gospel to the ends of the Earth. We must give of our time, resources and lives to proclaim to the nations that the Lord reigns!