O sing to the LORD a new song. Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts. Say among the nations, "The LORD is king!." 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 is coming. – Selected portions of Psalm 96.
The anthem, “Praise Ye the Lord of Hosts” from the “Christmas Oratorio” by Camille Saint-Saens is based on the ninety-sixth psalm. That psalm is one of a series from the ninety-fifth to the one hundredth that celebrate the kingship of Yahweh. In modern English translations of the Hebrew Scriptures, we find God referred to as LORD, replacing the Hebrew YHWH. When the missing vowels are added, the name becomes Yahweh. In this particular psalm, the name of Yahweh is invoked eleven times in thirteen verses. The psalmist seems to be overwhelmed with God's majesty.
The importance of the anthem as well as this psalm for us during the season of Advent is the last phrase, which refers to his coming. I don't know when this psalm was written, but the idea of God's coming to his people definitely comes out of antiquity.
As a small child, one of my favorite stories from Egermeier's Bible Story Book was that of God walking with Adam and Eve in the garden in the cool of the day. In that Idyllic setting, his coming to his creation seemed very natural. However, throughout history, Yahweh often seemed remote from the people. He had periodic meetings with priests and prophets, who in turn passed on that presence by proxy to the people. But even Moses was not allowed to see Yahweh's face.
Jesus' coming changed all that. He brought the Father's presence to us in a new way. We can now approach the throne of grace boldly. We have no need of a high priest to intercede on our behalf. Jesus prayed to God as “Abba” or “Papa.”
The advent season is a time when we celebrate God's breakthrough to all creation, when he sent us his Messiah. In turn we open our hearts to the presence of the living Christ. We invite him to dwell with us. Finally, we look to the time when God will again walk with us in the garden in the cool of the day.
Prayer: King of the universe, we bow before your great majesty. We bring you offerings of the best we have to give, including our very lives. We thank you for sending Jesus to us. He broke down that wall of partition between the Creator and his creation. We thank you for coming to us in a new way. In the words of Paul, “Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” Lord, we long to know you fully even as you already know us. Come Quickly then Lord Jesus. Amen.