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Psalm 96: The glory of God

It is cold, damp, dark and a bit depressing.

And so it is good to be reminded that there is glory. 

Psalm 96 speaks of the glory of God

'Declare his glory among the nations ..' (v3)
'Ascribe to the Lord .. glory and strength; ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name'. (vv7-8)



If we allow Him, God opens our eyes and we see that glory:

We see His glory in what He has done: His salvation and wonderful works (v2,3); in the creation of the heavens (v5)

We see His glory in who He is: full of honour, majesty, strength and beauty (v6). Plato was right. There is absolute beauty.

We see His glory in His name: the sacred name 'I am who I am'. It is a name that declares the absolute freedom of God, that He is beyond all limits or boundaries, beyond space, beyond time, bigger than our language and rationality - and yet in revealing to us His name, He enables us to call to Him. (v8)

We see his glory in what He will do: Psalm 96 speaks of how God will come, make an appearance, and then He will judge the peoples with equity, with fairness (vv10,13)


This season of epiphany (which means light shining on us, revelation) is the season when we look at His coming in the Lord Jesus and we see the glory of God. 

And the readings that we have in these Sundays in epiphany speak of that revelation:

- The star, the light that shines over the stable and leads the magi to worship Jesus 'the King of the Jews'

- The baptism of Jesus, when we see the glory and the beauty of the Trinity. 
Not as a Venn diagram, not as a shamrock, not as philosophical problem to be solved, but as three persons. The Father who speaks, the Son who is spoken to, and the Spirit who comes down in bodily form like a dove. 
And the baptism of Jesus reveals to us the first thing that we need to know about God: that at the heart of God is a union, a communion of love: 'This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am so pleased'. (Luke 3:20-22)

- And this morning we heard how Jesus turned water into wine, and so 'revealed his glory'. (John 2:1-11)

Psalm 96 calls on creation to declare the glory of God. It calls the seas to roar, the fields to exult, the trees to sing for joy, in the anticipation of the coming of God from heaven to earth. (vv11-12)

And we, who live after the coming of Jesus, muted and restrained as we are, are invited by Psalm 96 to join in with that praise. 
Indeed as we speak or sing Psalm 96 we do just that. 
As we join in the words of Evening Prayer we do just that. 
The most repeated phrase in this service is the doxology. Four times we say, "Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit."

I think it is a spiritual principle that we share in the glory of that to which we give glory. 

And it is as we learn to declare the glory of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit
As we learn to gaze on Him 'in the beauty of holiness' (v9)
As we learn to surrender our lives and our wills to Him (v8)
As we both celebrate and long for the presence and justice of God (v13) ...
So we begin to share in the glory of God. 

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