95:1 Come! Let’s sing for joy to the Lord! Let’s shout out praises to our protector who delivers us!
The psalmist is unknown. He asks the congregation to come and sing praises to the Lord. He asks the congregation to shout out praises, because the Lord is the One who is protecting Israel. The Gentile nations of the satanic world system were beasts who wanted to devour Israel. Israel was saved by God’s grace via the Abrahamic Covenant.
95:2 Let’s enter his presence with thanksgiving! Let’s shout out to him in celebration!
The congregation was asked to enter into the presence of God with a thankful attitude. Worship should be a celebration. Many believers today go to church with a sad face. They do not want to be there. They cannot wait for the pastor-teacher to shut up so that they can go eat lunch.
When believers do not want to be in church, then this is a sign of spiritual immaturity. There are two possibilities for this type of reaction. First, the believer may not have enough Bible doctrine to listen to a strong sermon. He may prefer a shallow-teaching church which tickles his ears with entertainment. Second, the believer may be mature, but the pastor is teaching from a shallow level. In this case, the believer either needs to pray for his pastor or change churches. It is a waste of God’s time to spend time in a church which tickles the ears of its congregation.
95:3 For the Lord is a great God, a great king who is superior to all gods.
Jehovah is a great God, because He is the only God. God is a king who is superior to all other gods, because the other gods do not exist. For many centuries, men were worshiping idols. Behind these idols were demons who were posing as gods.
95:4 The depths of the earth are in his hand, and the mountain peaks belong to him.
The pagans believed in nature gods who supposedly ruled over different lands and mountains. The psalmist declared that God was the Creator of the different lands and mountains.
95:5 The sea is his, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land.
There were no such thing as sea gods or land gods. God made the seas as well as the land.
95:6 Come! Let’s bow down and worship! Let’s kneel before the Lord, our creator!
The psalmist asked all of Israel to bow down and worship God as their Creator.
95:7 For he is our God; we are the people of his pasture, the sheep he owns. Today, if only you would obey him!
God is the Great Shepherd. Israel is the sheep. The Antichrist will be the false shepherd who slaughters the sheep.
95:8 He says, “Do not be stubborn like they were at Meribah, like they were that day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors challenged my authority, and tried my patience, even though they had seen my work.
The Great Shepherd asked the sheep not to be stubborn like their ancestors at Meribah and Massah. Meribah means “rebellion.” Massah means “testing.” At both of these locations, the Jews rebelled against God after He brought them water out of the rock. Their sin was after seeing God perform many great miracles, they did not have enough faith to think that God could bring them water out of a rock.
95:10 For forty years I was continually disgusted with that generation, and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray; they do not obey my commands.’
It was disgusting for God to deal with such a rebellious nation. God gets just as disgusted when dealing with rebellious Christians.
95:11 So I made a vow in my anger, ‘They will never enter into the resting place I had set aside for them.’ ”
God promised this evil generation that they would never enter the Promised Land. All of them (except for Joshua and Caleb) would die in the wilderness.
It is important to note that the author of Hebrews will later reference this verse in his epistle. His point was that without faith, the Hebrew individuals will not be able to enter into heaven. The author used this example of history as a typology of salvation by grace.