Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say among the nations, The LORD reigns.
Read Chapter 16
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
“O sing unto the Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord, all the earth.” If all the earth sings a new song, it is thus building while it sings; the very act of singing is building, but only if it sings not the old song. The lust of the flesh sings the old song; the love of God sings the new. Hear why it is a new song: the Lord says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.” The whole earth then sings a new song: there the house of God is built. All the earth is the house of God. If all the earth is the house of God, he who clings not to all the earth is a ruin, not a house; that old ruin whose shadow that ancient temple represented. For there what was old was destroyed, that what was new might be built up. - "Expositions of the Psalms 96.2"
In another prophecy the prophetic Spirit, testifying through the same David that after being crucified, Christ would reign, said, “O sing to the Lord, all the earth, and proclaim his salvation from day to day; for great is the Lord and highly to be praised, terrible beyond all the gods. For all the gods of the nations are images of demons, but God made the heavens. Glory and praise are before him, and strength and pride in the place of his sanctification. Give glory to the Lord, the Father of the ages. Receive favor, and go in before his face, and worship in his holy courts. Let all the earth fear before him and be set upright and not shaken. Let them exult among the nations; the Lord has reigned from the tree.” Now when the prophetic Spirit speaks of things to come as already having happened, as is illustrated in the passages quoted, I will explain this too so that those who come on it will have no excuse for not understanding. Things he fully knows are to happen he speaks of in advan...
