John Gill Commentary Psalms 97

The Lord reigneth
He has reigned, now reigns, will and must reign until all enemies are made his footstool; (See Gill on Psalms 93:1), (See Gill on Psalms 96:10),

let the earth rejoice :
not the land of Judea only, and the inhabitants of it, to whom the King Messiah came; for there were but few among them that received him, and rejoiced at his coming; but the whole earth, the vast continent, as distinguished from the isles after mentioned, and they that dwell upon it; the Gentiles, who had a concern in his coming, in whom they were to be blessed, to whom they were to be gathered, and in whom they should find a glorious rest; and therefore he is called

the desire of all nations :
the first preaching of the Gospel was occasion and matter of great joy to them; not only the blessings contained in it of peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation by Christ; but the effects of it, delivering them from the dominion of Satan, the god of this world; and from superstition, and idolatry, with which they were enslaved; and the bringing them into the glorious liberty of the children of God:

let the multitude of isles be glad thereof ;
the isles of the sea are many, even many thousands: Columbus, when he first discovered America, sailing by Cuba westward, gave names, as he passed along, to seven hundred islands, leaving three thousand more without names ^F18 : Gejerus reports, from some writers, that an Indian king, in 1553, was converted to the Christian faith, that ruled over eleven thousand islands; and that in Maldivar there are reckoned to be sixteen thousand: well may the text speak of a multitude of them:

or, "let the great islands" such as ours of Great Britain and Ireland; these isles are said to wait for Christ and his doctrine, (Isaiah 42:4) (51:5) (60:9) and therefore must be glad to hear of his coming and kingdom: the Gospel was very early sent to the isles, as to Cyprus, Crete see (Acts 13:4–6) (Titus 1:5) and to our northern isles likewise, who have great reason to be glad at its coming among us, continuance with us, and the success it has had; and that it is yet in the midst of us for further usefulness; and that Christ reigns, and will reign evermore.

FOOTNOTES:

• F18: P. Martyr. Decad. 1. l. 3.

Clouds and darkness are round about him
Either as a garment; so Apollinarius paraphrases it, "near is the King clothed with a cloud and tempest;" and it is usual with the Heathens to represent their deities as surrounded or clothed with a cloud ^F19. Here the allusion is to the tabernacle and temple, when reared up and dedicated (Exodus 40:34, 1 Kings 8:10–12), and to other appearances of God, or Christ, in a cloud (Exodus 19:9, Exodus 19:16, Matthew 17:5).

It may denote the obscurity of his divine nature at his first coming; he appearing in the form of a servant, and in the likeness of sinful flesh, so that few discerned his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father; as also the darkness and blindness of the Jews concerning him, who could not perceive him to be the Messiah; notwithstanding all the characters of him; clouds and darkness were about him to them.

As they were, in a literal sense, when he hung on the cross; the sun withdrew and hid itself, and darkness was upon the face of the earth for three hours; Christ was enveloped in it; and a greater darkness surrounded his soul when his divine Father hid his face from him.

Dark providences attended the first setting up of his kingdom, and the ministration of his Gospel in the world; the apostles, the first preachers of it, were persecuted by their own countrymen the Jews; the whole Gentile world was against them; the Roman empire, emperors, and governors of provinces, opposed them; wherever there was an open door, there were many adversaries, so that things looked very unpromising.

Nevertheless these clouds were dissipated, and the difficulties got over; though this has sometimes been the case since, and will be again, before the kingdom of Christ is in all its glory; he now sits enthroned in heaven, surrounded with clouds and darkness, and unseen to us; whose being and perfections are inscrutable to us, his providences unsearchable, and his ways past finding out; and when he comes a second time, it will be at midnight, and in the clouds of heaven.

righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne ;
the seat, basis, and support of it; he sits on a throne doing right, and by it his throne is established; (See Gill on Psalms 89:14).

FOOTNOTES:

• F19: "Et Venus aethereos inter dea candida nimbos", Virgil. Aeneid. 8. "Venus circumdata nimbo", ib. Aeneid. 12. "Nube candentes humeros amictus augur Apollo", Horat. Carmin. l. 1. Ode 2. so Homer. Il. 5. v. 186.

A fire goes before him ,
&c,] Not the fiery law, which went forth from his right hand on Mount Sinai; but rather his Gospel, which, as it enlightens, warms, comforts, and refreshes his people, searches, torments, and destroys his enemies, and is the savour of death unto death to them; see (Jeremiah 23:29) (2 Corinthians 2:16) (Revelation 11:5) . Some apply this to the gifts of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, signified by cloven tongues of fire; but then no such effect followed as mentioned in the next clause: it seems best to interpret it of his wrath, which, like fire, was poured out to the uttermost on the Jews, for their disbelief and rejection of him; they would not have him to reign over them; they despised his Gospel, and slew his servants; wherefore he sent the Roman armies to them, who destroyed those murderers, and burnt their city, (Matthew 22:7)

this will be also verified in the second coming of Christ, who will descend in flaming fire, and the earth will be burnt up, and all that is therein, (2 Thessalonians 1:7 2 Thessalonians 1:8) (2 Peter 3:10 2 Peter 3:12) , some Jewish writers interpret this of the war of Gog and Magog, in Ezekiel, which they suppose still future; as, when it is, fire will be sent and rained upon them, (Ezekiel 38:22) (39:6) , but may be better applied to the Gog and Magog in (Revelation 20:8Revelation 20:9)

and burneth up his enemies round about ;
so that none can escape: this was true of the Jewish nation, who were burnt up; so that there was not left root nor branch in it, (Malachi 4:1) , and will be true of the wicked, at the general conflagration of the world, upon Christ's second coming; and of the Gog and Magog army, after the resurrection.

His lightnings enlightened the world
Either the doctrines of the Gospel, compared thereunto, because of the swift progress they made, and the large extent of them in the world, in a very little time; by the apostles they were published in all nations, and were the means of enlightening them in the true knowledge of themselves, and of the way of salvation by Christ: hence they are called the "lights of the world", (Matthew 5:14) , as the coming of Christ, in his kingdom and power, by them, is compared to lightning, and so are the arrows of his word, (Matthew 24:27) (Zechariah 9:14) , or else his judgments on the Jewish nation are meant, which were manifest and clear, and obvious to all the world; see (Psalms 18:14) ,

the earth saw, and trembled;
the inhabitants of the earth, of the Gentile world, saw the judgments of God upon the Jews, and were astonished at them; see (Deuteronomy 29:24) , it is usual for lightnings and earthquakes to go together; see (Revelation 11:19) (16:15) .

The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord
Kimchi interprets the "hills" of the kings of the wicked; and it was verified in Herod and his nobles, and the citizens of Jerusalem, who, when they heard of the coming of the Messiah, of the birth of the King of the Jews, were exceedingly moved and troubled; their hearts melted like wax within them, (Matthew 2:1–3).

So when he appeared, in the power of his Gospel, in the Gentile world, and went forth in the ministration of it, conquering, and to conquer, all fled before him; every mountain and island were moved out of their places; and the kings of the earth, and great men, ran to the rocks to hide them from his face, which they could not bear, (Revelation 6:14–17). And the like events, and more terrible, will they be, when he comes to destroy antichrist, and especially to judge the world, (Revelation 16:19Revelation 16:20) (Revelation 20:11Revelation 20:12).

at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth ;
as Christ is; he is Lord of all, the Prince of the kings of the earth, (Acts 10:36) (Revelation 1:5) (11:4), and as he will show himself to be at the great day; and that is the reason why the proud and lofty, comparable to hills and mountains, shall melt at his presence.