Psalms 100:2

Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. SERVE THE LORD WITH GLADNESS - (.) There, where rebels are concerned, the expression is, "Serve the Lord with fear;" here, where willing subjects are invited it is, "Serve the Lord with gladness" "Serve," therefore, means, not merely worship, but submit yourselves to Him as your King, as opposed to rebelling and 'setting themselves against Him' (Psalms 2:1). Compare "serve" in the same sense, ....

Verse Psalms 100:2. _SERVE THE LORD WITH GLADNESS_] It is your privilege and duty to be happy in your religious worship. The religion of the true God is intended to remove human misery, and to make mankind happy. He whom the religion of Christ has not made happy does not understand that religion, or does not make a proper use of it....

SERVE THE LORD WITH GLADNESS - That is, In your worship, and in all your acts of obedience. Let there be joy in this service. Let it not be with the fear of slaves; not as a matter of compulsion and force; not with reluctance, moroseness, or gloom. Let it be a cheerful, happy service; let it be freely rendered, let it be an occasion of joy to the soul. The service of God is a source of the highest joy that man knows. COME BEFORE HIS PRESENCE WITH SINGING - As expressive of joy. So the birds sing; so nature rejoices; so should man - intelligent, redeemed, immortal man, be joyful....

EXPOSITION THE hundredth psalm has for its title, "A Psalm of praise," or "of thanksgiving," and to this description it well answers. There is not a single mournful note in the composition. God is praised from the beginning to the end, and all the earth is called upon to join in blessing and thanking him. It has been suggested that it was probably written to be chanted by a festive procession as it approached and entered the temple (see Psalms 100:4). The whole runs on without any break or division. PSALMS 100:1 MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE UNTO THE LORD (comp. Psalms 95:1,...

SERVE THE LORD WITH GLADNESS,.... Not with a slavish fear, under a spirit of bondage, as the Jews under the legal dispensation; not in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of the Spirit: with spiritual joy and freedom of soul, as under the spirit of adoption; readily, willingly, cheerfully; without sinister and selfish ends and views; as their Lord and Master; taking delight in his person, and pleasure in his service; rejoicing in him, without having any confidence in the flesh: COME BEFORE HIS PRESENCE WITH SINGING; to the throne of his grace with thankfulness for mercies received, as well as to implore others; and into his house, and at his ordinances, beginning public worship with singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; see Psalms 95:2....

May the Spirit of God, by whose inspiration David penned these Psalms, bless them to us as we read them! This is entitled «a Psalm of Praise.» Note here that this is the only Psalm which bears that title; there are others which have titles very much like it, but this one is singled out from all the rest to be, in a very special sense, «a Psalm of Praise.» Martin Luther was very fond of it, and it has even been said that he composed the tune which are have just sung, and which is commonly called «the Old Hundredth»; though others attribute it to a German named Franc. Psalms 100:1. _Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands._ Do you notice the missionary spirit here? The Jews looked upon God as the God of Israel, and they had but very faint desires for the conversion of other nations; but the Holy Ghost speaks more by David than David himself may have known: Make

Psalms 100 Nothing but Praise It is Israel's voice in praise which we hear in this brief Psalm, which so fittingly concludes this series of great millennial Psalms. They exhort that all the earth should make a joyful noise unto the Lord, to serve Him and come before Him with singing. The third verse tells us that they are the speakers. All are to enter His gates with thanksgiving and come into His courts with praise. How often is this Psalm used in a spiritualized way, making the gates and the courts some church building. But we worship in spirit and in truth and not in an earthly house. The gates and courts have reference to that future temple, which will be a house of prayer for all nations....

C. A PROCESSIONAL HYMN (see Psalms 100:4). The Ps. invites the Israelites to be joyful, declares Yahweh is the only God and the Maker of all, and that He is specially the God of Israel. PSALMS 100:2. SERVE: offer sacrifice to (see Isaiah 19:21; Isaiah 19:23). Psalms 100:3. we are his: this suits the context better, but He hath made us, _i.e._ made us what we are, viz. the people of redemption, is also a possible reading....

THE LORD. Jehovah's self. Hebrew. _Jehovah._ with _eth_. PRESENCE. See note on Psalms 95:2....

DISCOURSE: 666 GENTILES CALLED TO GLORIFY GOD Psalms 100:1. _Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves: we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations._ IN discoursing upon short and insulated passages, we have scope for discussion upon whatever topic may come before us; but, in taking a whole psalm for our subject, we can do little more than mark the _spirit_ of it, together with its _general import_. In truth, the psalm before us, which is entitled “A psalm of praise,” requires no particular discussi