Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say among the nations, The LORD reigns.
All Commentaries on 1 Chronicles 16:31 Go To 1 Chronicles 16
Justin Martyr
AD 165
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 advance as if they had already occurred. Give careful attention to the passages quoted, and you will see that this is the way they must be taken. David uttered the words quoted above fifteen hundred years before Christ, made man, was crucified, and none of those who were crucified before him gave joy to the nations, nor of those crucified after him either. But in our time Jesus Christ, who was crucified and died, rose again and, ascending into heaven, began to reign; and on account of what was proclaimed by the apostles in all nations as coming from him, there is joy for those who look forward to the incorruption that he has promised.
