Introduction
Psalm 98, which is similar to Psalm 96, is a psalm of praise to God the King. It can be divided into three parts. In verses 1 to 3, the psalmist calls on God’s people to praise the Lord. In verses 4 to 6, the psalmist calls on all the people of the earth to praise the Lord. And in verses 7 to 9, the psalmist calls on creation to praise the Lord. Everyone and everything should praise the Lord, because he’s the great king who is coming to judge the earth and to put right all that has gone wrong.
Verses 1 to 3
Let’s turn to verses 1 to 3 where the psalmist calls on God’s people to praise the Lord.
It begins with a command to sing a new song. A new song is needed to celebrate a new victory. So, God has acted on behalf of his people to save them. There’s no indication in the text of what event the psalmist has in mind, but we can think of the kind of thing we’ve been reading about on Sunday mornings when the Assyrians threatened Jerusalem, but the Lord fought on behalf of his people and caused their enemies to retreat. Or we can think of the earlier time when the Lord rescued his people from the Egyptians and brought them through the Red Sea. And we can think of the time, many years later, when the Lord rescued his people from exile in Babylon and brought them back to the Promised Land. The psalmist is thinking of a time when God saved his people from their enemies or from disaster and he now commands them to sing a new song to celebrate this new victory.
He refers to the marvellous things which God has done for them. Marvellous things are things which make the people who hear of them marvel. So, God has done something extraordinary for them, something which has filled them with wonder and awe. So, think of how they must have wondered at God’s power when he opened a way for them through the Red Sea. Or think of how they must have wondered at God’s power when they heard how the angel of the Lord put to death 185,000 Assyrians in one night! Or think of how they must have wondered at God’s power when he caused the Babylonian king to let them return home.
The psalmist also mentions God’s right hand and holy arm. God’s right hand and arm signify his power. And since God is holy, then his power is holy too. He uses his power for a holy and good purpose, which is to accomplish salvation for his people. So, sing to the Lord a new song, because he’s done marvellous things for his people by using his mighty and holy power to save his people.
And in verse 2 the psalmist says that the Lord has made known and revealed his salvation and righteousness to the nations. So, the nations have heard what God has done. Think of the time when Joshua sent spies into Jericho and they discovered from Rahab that the people of Jericho were afraid because they’d heard what God had done at the Red Sea and how he had also rescued his people from Sihon and Og, two kings who fought against Israel. So, according to the psalmist, the nations have heard what God has done. God has made known to them his salvation and his righteousness.
When he refers to God’s salvation, he means what God has done to save his people. When he refers to God’s righteousness, he means that God has done what is right. It was right for God to save his people, because he had bound himself to them with a promise to be their God and to take care of them. And by saving his people, God made it known to the nations that he’s a God who does what is right and who saves. Are their gods like that? Do their god do what is right? Can their gods save? No, their gods cannot do that, because their gods are nothing, whereas the Lord is the one true and living God who saves.
In verse 3 the psalmist says that the Lord has remembered his love and faithfulness. The Hebrew word translated love refers to God’s covenant love, his never-ending love, his steadfast love for his people. And so, the psalmist is referring to God’s faithful, never-ending love for his people. He says that God remembered it. Of course, God never forgets. But when God’s people fall short and when they disobey him, when they rebel, whenever they provoke him, he remembers his commitment to them so that instead of destroying them or abandoning them, he comes to their aid.
And all the ends of the earth has seen it. People in distant lands have heard that this is what Israel’s God is like. He’s a God who saves and who deals with his people, not according to their iniquity, but according to his steadfast love and faithfulness.
And because of God’s commitment to his people, he sent his Only Begotten Son into the world to save us from our sin and misery and to give us everlasting life in his presence. And so, we should give thanks to him for the marvellous things he has done for us by his Son and for his willingness to forgive us for our sins and shortcomings because of Christ.
Verses 4 to 6
In verses 4 to 6, the psalmist calls on all the earth to shout for joy to the Lord. When he refers to all the earth, he means all the people on the earth. Since they’e heard what God has done for his people, they should shout for joy and praise him too. They should burst into jubilant song and praise him with musical instruments.
And he repeats the command in verse 6 to shout for joy before the Lord. Their praise of him should not be half-hearted, but whole-hearted. They should put all of their heart and soul and strength into it. They should raise the roof with their praise, because the Lord, Israel’s God, is the King. He’s the King over all the earth. Whatever gods they were worshipping are not King over all the earth. Baal is not King. Dagon is not King. Marduk is not King. None of those ancient gods is King, because those gods are only idols which can do nothing. And once the nations hear about the Lord, Israel’s God, and what he has done and what he is like, they should give up worshipping their idols and worship the Lord with all of their hearts, because he alone is King.
The good news of what God has done for sinners is now being proclaimed throughout the world and people everywhere are commanded to turn away from whatever else they are trusting in and to turn to the one, true and living God and to Jesus Christ his Son. They should trust in him for salvation and they should worship him with all of their hearts.
Verses 7 to 9
We come now to verses 7 to 9 where the psalmist calls on creation to praise the Lord.
He asks the sea and everything in it and the world and all creatures who live in it to resound with praise to God. It’s as if he’s calling on lions and elephants to let out a roar in praise of the Lord. Dolphins are to leap into the air and splash the water in praise of God. And he wants the rivers to clap their hands and the mountains to sing. Rivers, of course, don’t have hands to clap and mountains can’t sing, but he’s treating them as if they were people and he’s asking them to join their voices with everything else in all creation to praise the Lord.
And why does he want them to praise the Lord? It’s because the Lord is coming. He’s coming to judge the earth — all who live in it. He’s coming to judge the earth with righteousness and equity. And when he says the Lord will judge the world in righteousness and equity, he means that God’s judgment of the earth will be fair and just. It will be right. God will condemn the guilty and he’ll acquit the righteous and he’ll put right all that has gone wrong.
Of course, none of us is righteous by ourselves. None of us — by ourselves — deserves to be acquitted and set free from condemnation. But the good news of the gospel is that we are declared righteous in God’s sight through faith in his Son, who was condemned and punished in our place and who shares his perfect obedience with all who believe.
Because of Christ, God regards his believing people as if we’ve done everything right even though we may have done everything wrong. And since God regards us as if we’ve done everything right, then he will acquit us on the day of judgment and set us free from condemnation. He will declare us not guilty and righteous in his sight.
And he’ll bring us into a renewed earth, where God will put right everything that has gone wrong. Sin’s corrupting influence will be removed from God’s creation and God’s world will flourish like never before and the creatures in the sea will leap for joy and the animals on the earth will roar their praise and the rivers and mountains will be set free from the curse which fell on creation after the fall in the beginning. When God comes to judge the earth, he will put right all that has gone wrong and he’ll enable his people to live in a renewed and restored creation which will be perfectly in tune with God’s will for it.
And as we turn to prayer, we should pray that people around the world will hear about God’s salvation so that they will give up their idols and all the things they rely on and turn to the one true and living God through Jesus Christ his Son and worship him who reigns forever.
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