Shout for Joy to the Lord, All the Earth
Psalm 100v1
25th July 2025
Psalm 100 begins with the words, "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth". Isn't that a wonderful vision, that all the earth will one day shout for joy to the Lord? So it should! As Psalm 24v1 tells us, "The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it", and God deserves praise and worship from everyone He's created. But in all human history, all the earth has never worshipped God. So why has the Holy Spirit inspired the psalmist to write this?
I don't think the divine Author of this psalm, or its human author, just think that all the earth worshipping God is kind of a nice idea. It's not just a vain hope. It's not a pipedream. As Charles Spurgeon says in his commentary, "Never will the world be in its proper condition till with one unanimous shout it adores the only God. O ye nations, how long will ye blindly reject him? Your golden age will never arrive till ye with all your hearts revere him."
Spurgeon also says in his commentary that "This Psalm teaches that… there will be a joyful state of the whole world". Some Christians disagree with this but I believe that one day all the earth will indeed worship the Lord with gladness. That day seems a long way off at the moment. Anti-Christian forces are active, anti-Christian people are at the forefront of our universities and broadcasters. The church is persecuted in many parts of the world. Some Christian leaders bring the Gospel into disrepute. But Jesus is Lord! He's Lord of all the earth. He's Lord of all humanity. He's Lord of history. His kingdom is coming all the time. The world-wide church is growing. God's will will be done. He will, one day, be worshipped all around the globe. There are many scriptures that confirm this. Here are a few:
In Numbers 14v21, God promises, "… as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord."
Isaiah 9v7, speaking about Jesus, promises, "Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end."
Isaiah 11v9 and Habakkuk 2:14 both promise, "The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."
Psalm 22v27-28 says, "All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations."
God says to Jesus in Isaiah 48v6, "I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth."
These verses aren't just talking about the Gospel being preached in every nation. They're not just talking about one or two people being saved in each nation. They envisage every nation as a whole turning to Christ.
Some people think prophesies like these will only be fulfilled after the second coming of Jesus, but I think that's a mistake. When Jesus returns there'll be a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21v1). Prophesies like these will be fulfilled on this earth. This is the earth the Psalmist is writing about.
Is this too much to hope for? Does God not want to be worshipped all over this earth? Or is He incapable of making it happen? I don't think so! To quote Charles Spurgeon again, "It would be easy to show that at our present rate of progress the kingdoms of this world never could become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. Indeed, many in the Church are giving up the idea of it except on the occasion of the advent of Christ, which, as it chimes in with our own idleness, is likely to be a popular doctrine. I myself believe that King Jesus will reign, and the idols be utterly abolished; but I expect the same power which turned the world upside down once will still continue to do it. The Holy Ghost would never suffer the imputation to rest upon His holy name that He was not able to convert the world."
Amen! Is this not a very exciting, motivating prospect?
Not everybody will be saved. There will always be some people who rebel against God and His Christ, but I believe that the Gospel will be victorious, not only in individual lives, but in all the earth. I believe that "all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord" because the Bible says so. The world will one day be predominantly Christian. In the words of the 19th-century hymn by Arthur Campbell Ainger:
God is working his purpose out, as year succeeds to year;
God is working his purpose out, and the time is drawing near;
nearer and nearer draws the time, the time that shall surely be:
when the earth shall be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the
sea.
Doesn't this inspire us to keep going, keep praying, keep telling our friends and neighbours about Jesus, to bring up our children in the Christian faith, to support the church, to give to missionaries, to put God and His kingdom first in our priorities, all the time, to be more passionate about the glory of God than about our own comfort? Let us do all we can to advance God's great project, His long-term mission to evangelise the world. That'll mean different activity for each one of us; our gifts and our callings are different, but we can all help. We can all put our shoulders to the wheel one way or another.
Catch the vision. Look for ways you can serve God and His kingdom. Ask for advice from Christians you trust. Pray that God will lead you into areas of fruitful service.
Jesus told us in Matthew 28v19, "… go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…"
All nations!