A summons from the restored nation of Israel to all the nations of the earth to worship the Lord within His courts.
(vv. 1-2) Jehovah has taken His place in Zion, and sits between the cherubim (Psa. 99). All the earth is summoned to serve Jehovah with joy, and to come before His presence with exultation. The godly remnant had indeed “served” in circumstances of sorrow; now all can serve with joy. When surrounded with enemies the godly came into His presence with trepidation, now all can come with exultation.
(vs. 3) Restored Israel, speaking from their experience of Jehovah’s loving-kindness, can bear witness to all the earth. They can say to the nations, “Know that Jehovah is God.” He “hath made us”; all that we are we owe to Him, and not unto ourselves. In conscious relationship they can say, “We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” It is not only that He has created us and that we are His creatures, but He has made us to be His people.
(vs. 4) As of old so also in the millennial day, His house is a house of prayer for all nations. Hence all are invited to pass through His gates into His courts, there to give thanks unto Him, and bless His name. The house of prayer becomes a house of praise.
(vs. 5) Restored Israel recognizes that all the blessing they have been brought into is the outcome of the everlasting mercy and unchanging faithfulness of Jehovah. Through all their long history of failure, the mercy (or “loving-kindness”) of Jehovah never ceased. It “endures forever” (JND). It had been the hope of the godly in the darkest day. Realizing that God’s loving-kindness endures forever, they knew that finally the nation would come into blessing. At the same time God’s faithfulness is as enduring as His mercy: therefore it follows that, while mercy brings them into final blessing, faithfulness must pass them through the great tribulation on the way to the blessing. God shows mercy because of man’s need and His own love: God acts in faithfulness because of man’s sin and His own holiness.