1 Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! For He has done
marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.
4 Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth; Break forth in
song, rejoice, and sing praises.
5 Sing to the LORD with the harp, With the harp and the
sound of a Psalm,
Psalm 98 was the psalm Isaac Watts found the inspiration
for his popular hymn "Joy to the World," that we often sing as a
Christmas carol. But more accurately it really is a "kingdom hymn."
Watts described Christ's second advent and not His first, the Messianic kingdom
and not the manger. Another interesting thing is that Psalm 98 is very similar
to Psalm 96 but not identical. They both begin with “Oh, sing to the LORD a
new song!”
This psalm was written to praise the Lord for a great
victory over Israel's enemies ("salvation," vv. 1-3), perhaps the
victory of the Medes and Persians over Babylon (Dan. 5) that led to the return
of the Jewish exiles to their land (Ezra 1). Some of the vocabulary in the
psalm reflects the language of Isaiah the prophet, who in chapters 40-66 of his
book wrote about the "exodus" of the Jews from Babylon (44:23; 49:13;
51:3; 52:9-10; 59:16; 63:5). But the psalm also speaks of a future judgment
(vv. 7-9).
In verses 1-3, we see the people of Israel singing about
the LORD’s marvelous salvation. The focus in this section is on the Jewish
people and the wonderful new demonstration of God's power they had seen. It was
so great it demanded a new song from His people (Psalm 33:3; 96:1). What God
did for Israel was a witness to the Gentile nations and a vivid demonstration
of His faithfulness to His covenant and His love for His chosen people. But
surely the writer was looking beyond a mere local victory, for he wrote about
the witness of this event to the nations (v. 2), the earth (vv. 3, 4,9), and
the world (vv. 7, 9). It also appears that the psalm points ahead to the return
of Jesus Christ. (See Isaiah 52:1-10.)
In verses 4-6, there is a joyous celebration as the command
goes out to all nations of the earth to shout joyfully in praise to the Lord
for what He had done for Israel, and the emphasis is on the King (v. 6). Again,
we are reminded of what the prophet Isaiah wrote concerning the Jewish
"exodus" from Babylon (Isa. 14:7; 44:23; 49:13; 52:9; 54:1; 55:12).
But the shout was only the beginning, for singing and the playing of
instruments followed. Loud music played and sung with enthusiasm was
characteristics of Jewish worship (2 Chron. 5:11-14; Ezra 3:10-13; Neh.
12:27-43).
In verses 7-9, the psalmist gives us a glorious expectation
of the LORD as Deliverer and King who will come as the Judge to deal with the
world as He once dealt with the kingdom of Babylon. He had seen Israel
delivered from bondage (vv. 1-3) and he had heard the nations of the world
praising the Lord (vv. 4-6). Now he heard all creation eagerly anticipating the
Lord's return, for the second advent of Jesus sets creation free from the
bondage of sin caused by Adam's fall (Rom. 8:18-25).
“The seas roars… the rivers clap their hands….” (v.
7-8a). The lapping of the waves of the sea on the shore sounds to him like a
prayer to the Lord and the flowing of the river like applause in response to
the announcement, "The King is coming!" “Let the hills be joyful
together…” (v. 8b). The play of the wind on the mountains sounded like a song
of praise. (Isa. 55:12.) All nature combined to sing, "Even so come, Lord
Jesus" (Rev. 22:20). There will come a day when all wrongs will be righted
and all sins will be judged, and the Judge will bring justice and equity to the
earth.
Today, we not only sing the “old song” of creation, we sing
a “new song” of redemption, which we will continue to sing for eternity around
the LORD’s throne in heaven!
God bless!
