Today’s reading is Psalm 96.
The Lord is Creator and Judge. We should be glad. God’s people should be glad. All nations should be glad. But not only that…
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
Psalm 96:11-12a (ESV)
let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
let the field exult, and everything in it!
Be prepared, in two weeks we will be right back to this point. Psalm 98:7-9 ends in almost the exact same way. What is this about? Is it just poetic language? Why would the heavens rejoice or the earth be glad?
Do you recall God’s words to Adam when he capitulated to Eve’s sin in the garden? “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I command you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you…” (Genesis 3:17, ESV). Adam was not cursed alone because of his. The ground, the earth, the land was also cursed. In fact, all creation was cursed. God’s creation of heaven and earth had been very good, but Adam’s sin perverted the entire order of things.
Keep reading Genesis and come to the days of Noah when every intention of the thoughts of the hearts of men was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5). Moses records, “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth” (Genesis 6:11-12, ESV). Perhaps God is merely using metonymy here. Perhaps by figure of speech He says the earth was corrupt meaning only the inhabitants on the earth were corrupt. However, He seems to be saying because of the wickedness of the earth’s inhabitants, the earth itself was defiled and corrupted. Notice additionally passages like Numbers 35:33-34: “You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the LORD dwell in the midst of the people of Israel” (ESV). Consider passages like Deuteronomy 21:23; 24:4 which both demonstrate when the people sinned in the land, they defiled the land. Notice Jeremiah 2:7-8, God rebuked Israel and Judah saying, “And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination. The priests did not say, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who handle the law did not know me; the shepherds transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit” (ESV). Idolatry defiled and corrupted not merely the idolaters but also the land on which they worshiped idols.
In Romans 8:19-25, Paul carries on this concept explaining all creation was subjected to futility in Adam’s sin. Creation is hoping to be set free from the bondage of corruption just as we are. In other words, when God judges the earth, He will set all things aright. The earth, the heavens, in fact all creation, will rejoice because the corruption and defilement we continue to bring upon God’s creation will be judged, condemned, burned up, and set right. In the new heavens and new earth, righteousness will dwell (2 Peter 3:13). The creation will no longer groan under the bondage of our corruption. Whatever the nature of that new heavens and earth ultimately is (and when we argue too much about that, we are likely grasping beyond our reach), God’s justice, righteousness, and holiness will pervade. There will be no groaning, only joy in the presence of God’s vindicated and complete rule and guardianship.
Praise the Lord! Be glad and rejoice. The heavens will, the earth will, let us start now.
Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 96.
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PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family
How does Psalm 96 prompt or improve you hope in God?
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