Psalm 100
Psalm 100
A Psalm of Thanksgiving for All Lands
Psalm 100 is titled, “A Psalm of Thanksgiving.” It is the only psalm in the Psalter that bears this exact title. It is brief, but it is rich in doctrine, worship, and practical theology. It calls all lands to worship the Lord, to serve Him with gladness, to come before His presence with singing, to know that He alone is God, to enter His courts with thanksgiving, and to bless His name because He is good, His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.
This psalm continues the kingdom and worship themes of the surrounding psalms. Psalm 96 called all the earth to sing to the Lord. Psalm 97 declared that the Lord reigns and that the earth should rejoice. Psalm 98 called creation itself to praise the Lord before His coming righteous judgment. Psalm 99 emphasized the holiness of the reigning God. Psalm 100 now gathers those truths into a simple, joyful summons to thankful worship.
The psalm is universal in scope. It is not limited to Israel alone, though Israel stood at the center of God’s covenant revelation. The call goes out to “all lands.” The whole earth is commanded to know the Lord, worship the Lord, serve the Lord, and give thanks to the Lord. This anticipates the day when all nations will bow before the King, and it also establishes the missionary logic of biblical worship. The God who made all men is worthy of worship from all men.
A. The What and Why of Giving Praise
Psalm 100:1-2, What to Do, Praise God
Psalm 100:1-2, “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.”
Psalm 100 begins without delay, “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD all ye lands.” Unlike some of the preceding psalms, it does not first give a detailed declaration of God’s reign or character. It begins with a command. The worshiper is immediately summoned to praise. The command is not limited to Israel, priests, Levites, or temple singers. It is addressed to “all ye lands,” meaning the nations of the earth.
The phrase “joyful noise” carries the idea of a glad shout, like the shout of loyal subjects when their king appears or the cry of victory after deliverance. This is not careless noise. It is royal praise. The Lord is King, and the nations owe Him open, joyful, reverent acknowledgment.
Psalm 95:1-3, “O come let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God and a great King above all gods.”
The joyful noise of Psalm 100 is grounded in the greatness of God. Worship is not supposed to be dreary, dead, or merely formal. The Lord is the happy and blessed God, and His redeemed people should not approach Him as though service to Him is misery. There is a kind of false spirituality that confuses reverence with lifelessness. Scripture teaches reverence, but it also commands joy.
Psalm 100:2 says, “Serve the LORD with gladness.” Service to the Lord is not meant to be a grudging burden. It is a privilege. In its immediate setting, this service likely refers to worship, temple service, and covenant devotion. Yet the principle applies broadly to every act of obedience done unto God. Whether a man is praying, singing, teaching, working, giving, parenting, laboring, or enduring hardship faithfully, the Lord is to be served with gladness.
Deuteronomy 10:12, “And now Israel what doth the LORD thy God require of thee but to fear the LORD thy God to walk in all his ways and to love him and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul.”
Colossians 3:23-24, “And whatsoever ye do do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.”
Glad service does not mean service without difficulty, sacrifice, fatigue, or discipline. It means that the heart understands the privilege of belonging to God. The believer serves because the Lord is worthy, because grace has redeemed him, because obedience is right, and because the service of God is better than slavery to sin.
The opposite of glad service is exposed in Scripture as a serious spiritual problem. Israel was warned that judgment would come because they did not serve the Lord with joyfulness and gladness of heart despite His blessings.
Deuteronomy 28:47-48, “Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee in hunger and in thirst and in nakedness and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck until he have destroyed thee.”
Psalm 100:2 continues, “come before his presence with singing.” Singing is one of the chief ways God’s people express praise. It joins truth, memory, affection, reverence, and confession together. Biblical singing should not be empty emotionalism, but it should also not be cold recitation. The people of God come before His presence with singing because He is worthy of both truth and joy.
Ephesians 5:19-20, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
The New Testament confirms the same principle. Singing is not filler in worship. It is a means by which the word of Christ dwells richly among God’s people. The church sings doctrine. The church sings thanksgiving. The church sings confession. The church sings hope. The church sings because the Lord has saved His people and is worthy of praise.
Psalm 100:3, Why to Do It, He Is Our Creator and Shepherd
Psalm 100:3, “Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us and not we ourselves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.”
Psalm 100:3 gives the foundation for the praise commanded in verses 1-2. Worship must be intelligent. It must be grounded in knowledge. The psalm says, “Know ye that the LORD he is God.” The nations are not merely told to feel something. They are commanded to know something. Yahweh is God. He alone is God. The covenant God of Israel is the Creator and rightful Lord of all lands.
This confronts idolatry directly. The nations must recognize that their false gods are not God. Their idols did not create them. Their myths did not save them. Their philosophies did not give them life. The Lord alone is God.
Isaiah 45:5-6, “I am the LORD and there is none else there is no God beside me: I girded thee though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me. I am the LORD and there is none else.”
1 Corinthians 8:4, “As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols we know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is none other God but one.”
The psalm then gives the reason for God’s rightful claim over mankind, “it is he that hath made us and not we ourselves.” Creation establishes ownership. God made us, therefore we belong to Him. Man is not self created, self owned, or self defining. He is a creature made by God and accountable to God.
This sentence strikes at the heart of human pride. Fallen man wants autonomy. He wants to define himself, own himself, rule himself, and answer only to himself. Psalm 100 destroys that illusion. “It is he that hath made us and not we ourselves.” Man did not call himself into existence. He did not design his own nature. He did not create his own soul. He did not establish the moral order of the universe. He belongs to the One who made him.
Genesis 1:26-27, “And God said Let us make man in our image after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image in the image of God created he him male and female created he them.”
Psalm 139:13-14, “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well.”
Because God made man, man owes Him worship, obedience, gratitude, and service. The claim of self ownership is rebellion against the Creator. Even the phrase “self made man” is spiritually dangerous when it becomes prideful. No man made himself. Whatever gifts, strength, intelligence, opportunity, discipline, family, health, or success a man possesses ultimately comes under the providence of God.
For the believer under the New Covenant, there is an additional reason for praise. God not only made us by creation, He remade us by regeneration. The Christian is both created by God and made a new creature in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are passed away behold all things are become new.”
Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
Psalm 100:3 continues, “we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.” This speaks of covenant relationship and shepherd care. In the immediate Old Testament context, Israel was the covenant people of God. The Lord chose them, redeemed them, led them, fed them, disciplined them, and dwelt among them.
Deuteronomy 7:6-8, “For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set his love upon you nor choose you because ye were more in number than any people for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
In the New Testament, believing Gentiles are brought into blessing through Christ, while God’s covenant faithfulness toward Israel is not erased. The church consists of those redeemed by Christ and made His people. The Lord is the Shepherd of His flock.
John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”
John 10:27-29, “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.”
1 Peter 2:9-10, “But ye are a chosen generation a royal priesthood an holy nation a peculiar people that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”
To be “the sheep of his pasture” means God cares for His people personally and faithfully. Sheep are dependent creatures. They need provision, protection, guidance, correction, and care. The Lord provides all of this for His people.
Psalm 23:1-3, “The LORD is my shepherd I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.”
Psalm 100:3 therefore gives three major reasons to praise, the Lord is God, the Lord made us, and the Lord shepherds His people. Worship rests on theology. Thanksgiving rests on truth.
B. The What and Why of Giving Thanks
Psalm 100:4, What to Do, Come to His House with Thanks and Praise
Psalm 100:4, “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him and bless his name.”
Psalm 100:4 moves from the general command to worship to the picture of entering the gates and courts of the Lord’s house. “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise.” The language points to public worship, corporate worship, and the privilege of approaching God in the place He appointed.
Thanksgiving is the proper posture of approach. The worshiper does not come before God as though God owes him. He comes grateful. He remembers mercy. He remembers forgiveness. He remembers preservation. He remembers provision. He remembers covenant faithfulness. He remembers that he has no right to stand before God apart from grace.
Psalm 95:2, “Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.”
Psalm 116:12-13, “What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the LORD.”
The psalm teaches that thanksgiving is not merely private. There is a special corporate dimension to thanksgiving. God’s people are to gather and give thanks together. Private prayer is necessary, but it does not replace public worship. The congregation should be a thankful people.
The verse continues, “be thankful unto him and bless his name.” Thanks and praise merge together. To be thankful unto Him is to recognize His goodness toward us. To bless His name is to speak well of His revealed character. His name represents who He is, His holiness, mercy, truth, goodness, power, faithfulness, and covenant love.
Under the Old Covenant, the worshiper entered the gates and courts of the temple. Under the New Covenant, the believer has an even greater privilege. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, the way into the holiest has been opened. The believer approaches God not by animal sacrifice, priestly mediation, or temple ritual, but through the finished work of Christ.
Hebrews 10:19-22, “Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus By a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh And having an high priest over the house of God Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
This does not make worship less reverent. It makes it more glorious. The believer’s access to God was purchased by blood. Therefore, thanksgiving should be deeper, not shallower. Praise should be more serious, not less.
Psalm 100:4 is also a correction to consumer minded worship. The worshiper is not told to enter His gates with complaints, preferences, entertainment demands, or self centered expectations. He is told to enter with thanksgiving and praise. Worship begins with God, not man.
Psalm 100:5, Why to Do It, God Is Good and Merciful
Psalm 100:5, “For the LORD is good his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations.”
Psalm 100 ends with the reason for thanksgiving and praise, “For the LORD is good.” This is a simple statement, but it is one of the deepest truths in Scripture. God is good in Himself. His goodness is not measured by whether man understands His providence or approves His ways. God is good in His nature, His works, His plans, His grace, His discipline, His judgments, His promises, and His salvation.
Psalm 34:8, “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”
Nahum 1:7, “The LORD is good a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him.”
The gods of the nations were often selfish, unstable, cruel, immoral, or unpredictable. The God of the Bible is not like that. He is good. He is not merely powerful. He is good. He is not merely sovereign. He is good. He is not merely judge. He is good. His goodness is the comfort of His people and the foundation of their thanksgiving.
The psalm continues, “his mercy is everlasting.” God’s mercy is not temporary, weak, reluctant, or easily exhausted. His mercy endures forever. The believer lives every day as a receiver of mercy and therefore must be a giver of thanks.
Lamentations 3:22-23, “It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
Psalm 136:1, “O give thanks unto the LORD for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”
Everlasting mercy does not mean God ignores sin. It means His covenant love and gracious compassion toward His people do not fail. In the fullest revelation of Scripture, mercy is grounded in the atoning work of Christ. God can be merciful to sinners because justice was satisfied at the cross.
Ephesians 2:4-7, “But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us Even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ by grace ye are saved And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”
Psalm 100:5 concludes, “and his truth endureth to all generations.” God’s truth is His faithfulness, reliability, covenant loyalty, and revealed word. Generations rise and fall. Cultures change. Nations decay. Human opinions shift. But the truth of the Lord endures.
Isaiah 40:8, “The grass withereth the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”
Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away.”
This is why every generation must be taught the truth of God. The faith is not reinvented each generation. It is received, guarded, proclaimed, and passed down. The Lord’s truth endures, and His people must stand in it.
Psalm 100 therefore provides a complete theology of thankful worship. The whole earth is summoned to praise. The Lord must be served with gladness. His people come before His presence with singing. Worship must be grounded in the knowledge that the Lord alone is God, that He made us, that we belong to Him, and that He shepherds His people. The worshiper enters His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise because the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.
