05.12.06
The Psalms (3): Hymn to a Wonder Working God
Psalm 98:1-9
Are we living in a gloomy society? Are you a gloomy person? I sometimes think that Scotland didn’t exist, the share price in the company which produces Prozac would plummet. Scots are by nature gloomy and depressive people – the glass is always half empty. But tonight, I want to look at God’s remedy to our gloom – Psalm 98.
I want to begin looking at examples of different themes in the Psalms by looking at the first category of Psalm; that is ‘The Hymn’ – a joyfully exuberant song of praise to the Lord. There are no negative moments in these psalms – everything is upbeat. And yet, in his upbeat moments, the psalmist does not forget God – and that’s so unlike us at times because when the going is tough we tend to remember God and find prayer precious, but when the going is good, we tend to forget God altogether. Not so the Psalmist – but in the good times and the bad, God is the praise of his lips.
A hymn is fairly easily recognised by the presence of a simple word ‘for’ in the first line – see vs. 1 – “O sing to Yahweh a new song, for…” That word ‘for’ is another way of saying ‘because’ – the Psalmist is full of praise, but it is a reasonable praise –there are reasons why he is praising God and now he’s going to go on to tell us what they are. Praise is intimately tied up with reasons – you must know why you are praising God. And that’s why, as an aside, it is so important for us to have an intelligent faith in the Lord Jesus Christ – to know what we believe and to know what Jesus has done for us in His life, death and resurrection – because our knowledge will lead us to praise.
Anyway, back to the text – what I want to do tonight is to understand the reasons behind the call of the Psalmist to praise the Lord with a new song. And basically, it boils down to who God is – the reasons why the Psalmist is praising God with a song which is ever new is because God has revealed Himself to the Psalmist in three different ways – three ways which show different aspects of who God is and for which He deserves all the praise and glory. In vs. 1-3 God reveals Himself as Saviour; in vs. 4-6 He reveals Himself as King and in vs. 7-9 He reveals Himself as Judge.
[A] Saviour (vs. 1-3)
One of the foolish ways in which ignorant men twist the Bible is to make out that the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New. They see the God of the Old Testament as being a hard, uncaring judge whereas the God of the New is a soft, loving father. But that’s just not a correct way of understanding Scripture – for example, what do these critics make of the God we find here in Psalm 98:1-3 – A God who is hard when He needs to be, but only so that He can express the greatness of His love in winning salvation for His people! I want to see three things here:
1. God Has Done Marvellous Things (vs. 1) – notice, first of all, the parallelism here in vs. 1 (remember parallelism where loosely speaking, one thing is said in two different ways) – “O sing to Yahweh a new song, for…” first, “He has done marvellous things” and then “O sing to Yahweh a new song, for …” second, “His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him.” The marvellous things which the Lord has done are explained and unfolded as being His right hand and holy arm working salvation for Him. Salvation here is another word for ‘deliverance’ or ‘victory’ – the people of God were under threat from a foreign oppressor and God, in an unmistakably visible way, worked in order to deliver His people from their enemies. God has worked in power against His enemies, in such a way as to leave them and His own people in no doubt that it was He who won the day for them. God needs no help to win battles against earthly armies – He can act according to His own power and always wins the day for His people. Now we don’t know what particular event this deliverance is pointing to – we don’t know what event the psalmist had in mind as he wrote these words; whether it was the Exodus from Egypt, or the victory of Gideon over the Midianites, or one of David’s many victories. Commentators agree that this is a deliberate move on the Psalmist’s part – by not naming a specific event to which the things he is describing relate, he is leaving us open to use these words to praise God for all the ways in which He delivers and saves us. That’s why many commentators suppose that this was a psalm sung especially at the time when the army returned from battle and as the Israelites rightly attributed the army’s victory to God. And so, we are able, for example, to use these words to praise God for the way in which, through Jesus Christ, we have been delivered from death and sin. We can sing a new song to the Lord for the way in which through the Lord Jesus Christ, the cross has become the weapon of God’s victory over our enemies. And what seals this interpretation is that the very word salvation, as used in vs. 1, contains the name of Jesus – or ‘yeshua’. Jesus is our deliverer, our Saviour, our Victor and we sing this psalm to praise Him.
2. God is Motivated by Love for His People (vs. 3a) – this section also tells us why God has worked salvation for us – it tells us what prompted, or moved God, to extend His right hand and holy arm and do marvellous things. In vs. 3a we are told that “He has remembered His steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel.” God’s acts of salvation for His people are motivated by His steadfast love and faithfulness to His people. God saves us because He loves us. The pair ‘steadfast love’ and ‘faithfulness’ are often found together in the Psalms and represent for us God’s determination to keep His promises to His people. He has promised to be their God, and nothing will get in the way of His sovereign love towards His people. If that means He has to destroy the armies of their enemies, He will; if that means He has to send His son to die on a cross to destroy death and sin, He will. He loves His people so much that He is willing to pay the most costly price to save and deliver them. So when you sing these verses which talk of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness, remember how much He has loved us that He should send His one and only son to do a marvellous thing and work salvation upon the cross for us.
3. All the Nations Have Seen what God has Done (vs. 2, 3b) – notice the emphasis the psalmist places on the fact that the nations have seen the great and marvellous things God has done for His people in the past. See in vs. 2 the literary device which is called by some a pivot parallelism – “Yahweh has made His salvation known in the eyes of the nations” and then “in the eyes of the nations He has revealed His righteousness” – see the pivot role the words, “in the eyes of the nations” play in vs. 2? Every work of salvation God has done has been seen by the nations. Again, at the end of vs. 3 we read, “all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.” The Egyptians weren’t defeated in secret; the wall of Jericho came tumbling down before the eyes of all men; the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified on a hill and was made a public spectacle. God so acted to work salvation for His people to publicly show that it was He who was working not just so His people may praise Him, but so that His enemies may see and repent.
So what we are seeing in this first point is that God is the Saviour who in the past has done marvellous things for His people – and therefore His people are to praise Him whilst the nations are merely to look on in admiration.
[B] King (vs. 4-6)
Although this world seems to be in a chaotic mess, what with poisons, environmental catastrophe and political anarchy, we rest assured that there is a King seated upon the throne of the universe – and because of that, the psalmist calls on the whole earth to break forth with a shout of joy and sing praise. This section covers two areas:
1. God is the Joy of the Nations (vs. 4, 5) – the first words in vs. 4 are highly significant in the language of the Old Testament – “shout for joy” is used in two different ways: first, it is used to describe the shout for joy an army puts up after a victorious battle over its enemies – for example 1 Samuel 17:52 for Israel’s victory over the Philistines and Judges 7:21 for Gideon’s defeat of the Midianites. Secondly, it is used to describe the shout of joy which goes up from the people at the coronation of a king – for example, 1 Samuel 10:24 for the loud cry which went up from the people of Israel when Saul was crowned King. Again, the whole emphasis on musical instruments, particularly the horn is significant – in 1 Kings 1:39 trumpets and horns are blown to mark the crowning of King Solomon. God is the King of the Universe – and all the earth is to raise it voice and shout for joy. Every human being is to rejoice because there is upon the throne of heaven One who is in sovereign control of all things and this one is light and love, not darkness and malice, or stoicism and distance. And yet, we do not see the whole world praising its King – we see billions bowing down to different kings, whether they be the kings of secularism, or the kings of false religion – the world stands guilty before God of the sin of not worshipping and obeying its king. And yet, the obligation to joyfully worship this world’s sovereign King remains. That was an obligation the hymn writer Isaac Watts knew full well as he wrote his paraphrase of this section of Psalm 98 which we know as a Christmas Carol, “Joy to the world; the Lord is come; Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare him room, And heaven and nature sing.”
2. God is the King of the Nations (vs. 6) – in the film, the Lord of the Rings, the King of Gondor Aragorn only really becomes King at the end of the film at his coronation ceremony – all’s well that ends well as the good guys defeat the bad guys and the hero is crowned king. But that’s not the way it is in reality – God is King of the whole show, not just at the end – and there is never a risk of his defeat by the bad guys. From the beginning of the universe to its very end, the bad guys are never able to do anything other than God wants them to do. But what has this to do with us as Christian believers? Well, it revolves around two key verses in the Bible – the first is in Zechariah 9:9 where, looking forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the prophet writes, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud (literally: shout for joy) O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Here, Zechariah sees by God’s Holy Spirit the Lord Jesus Christ entering Jerusalem in triumphant procession the day before His crucifixion. Zechariah uses coronation type language to describe how Jesus was mounted on a throne above His people – not a throne of gold, but a throne of wood; not a throne of glory, but a throne of shame. Jesus Christ is the King of the Nations of whom we sing when we take Psalm 98 on our lips. But then we have another key verse, Matthew 28:18 where the risen Jesus Christ says to us all, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” The Lord Jesus Christ is the prime-minister and king of heaven on whose shoulders the sovereignty of the universe rests from moment to moment. Nothing happens, no bad thing, no good thing, without the sovereign say-so of King Jesus – the King with nail-marks in His hands and thorn marks on His forehead.
And the nations are being called to give praise adoration to King Jesus – earthly king are being called to cast their crowns before Him; scientists are being called to conduct their science for the glory of King Jesus; musicians are being called to sing to the praise of King Jesus; homemakers are being called to make their homes ring with the praises of King Jesus. The second verse of Isaac Watt’s memorable hymn says, “Joy to the earth, the Saviour reigns; Let men their songs employ; While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains, Repeat the sounding joy.”
And, when we sing this psalm in church, what are we doing? Bearing in mind that these are coronation verses – verses which talk of the enthronement of the King – and remember that these verses, even by the use of the word ‘shout for joy’ and the references in Zechariah 9:9 and Matthew 28:18, we are primarily talking of the Kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ – what are we achieving as we sing Psalm 98? The logical conclusion is that we are shouting for joy at the enthronement of King Jesus as Sovereign Lord of heaven and earth. The picture is of all peoples shouting loudly for joy as they crown their King with their praises and as He is crowned King of the universe. Do you have this perspective on this psalm, so that when you sing it you don’t sing it as a dirge and a lament? How joyful are you to know that Jesus is King of the Universe? How can we sing this psalm with a long face? When we sing this psalm we do our King a dis-service if we do not sing it with joy and thankfulness in our hearts and on our faces. It would be better not to sing it than to sing it with sadness and lament. Jesus is King, could there be any more joyful a message than that!
So what we are seeing in this second point is that the Lord is the King who in the present is in sovereign control of all things – and therefore, not just His people, but every human being is to praise, worship, enthrone and proclaim Him their King.
[C] Judge (vs. 7-9)
God’s judgement is often seen by Christians as a negative and vindictive thing – the dark side of God to be hidden from public consumption as much as possible. We say things like, “God is a God of love, but He is also a God of judgement” as if love and judgement are two opposite things – love is a wonderful thing about God, judgement is a terrible thing about Him. But in fact, God is a God of love therefore He is also a God of judgment – judgement is primarily not about punishing the wicked, but about vindicating the righteous – judgment is primarily about doing away with sin and the corrosive influence of sin. What kind of God of love would leave His people oppressed and persecuted forever? What kind of God of love would leave His people suffering the scars of sin forever? Love and judgment are two sides of the same coin – they aren’t opposites, they run naturally with each other. God is the Judge, and for that we give Him praise and thanks. And the teaching of these verses is that God is coming as Judge – a coming still in the future, a coming we looked at this morning where the Lord Jesus will descend from heaven and wrap up time and history. But here in these last few verses of this hymn, what does the judgement of God mean?
1. Universal Joy (vs. 7-8) – the cosmos, the created universe, the seas, the rivers, the mountains, everything that lives in the oceans – all things rejoice at the coming of the Judge. Now why does the inanimate, non-living universe rejoice at the coming of the Judge? Is it not because of what this judge will do? Remember at the beginning of creation how, when Adam and Eve sinned, God cursed the ground – He cursed the earth and made it difficult to Adam to grow anything from it. Paul tells us in Romans 8 that the Creation - the seas, rivers and mountains, groans in frustration waiting for something – waiting for God to come and put an end to sin once and for all – for God to judge and reverse the curse. God will come and there will be a new heavens and a new earth, no more subjected to frustration – no more droughts, no more volcanoes, tsunamis, earthquakes or natural disasters. The earth will be as it was made to be – fertile and benevolent, growing trees with fruit pleasing to the eye and good for food. And see the language in which the cosmos will worship its Lord – it will clap its hands and shout for joy. We have already seen that this word “shout for joy” is the language of kingship; and when we look in 2 Kings 11:12 at a Jewish coronation ceremony we read that when the crown was placed on the new King’s head the gathered crowds “clapped their hands” and said, “Long live the King!” So again, we have the language of the Creation waiting in expectation for the coming of their King of Judgement – a Judge who will put an end to the curse of sin upon the Created Order.
2. Universal Righteousness (vs. 9) – in opposition to the rulers of this present age, rulers who rule according to their own whims and desires, this Judge will rule with righteousness and uprightness. No longer will people have to put up with the childishness of their rulers; rather, they will enjoy the blessings of the rule of God. This verse talks of the future when Jesus returns and institutes His new Kingdom – a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells and in which sin is a thing of the past.
So what we are seeing in this last point is that the Lord is the judge who is coming to exercise judgement over the nations – and therefore, not just His own people, and not just the nations, but the whole cosmos, the whole universe, is to bow down and worship with praise and adoration because His coming will mark the end of evil and the dawn of righteousness.
But so far, we have said comparatively little about the Lord Jesus Christ - what do we have to do to make this a ‘Christian’ psalm? How can we use it to praise and worship the Lord Jesus Christ?
In Ephesians 6:12 we are told that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” We have here a foe which, whilst we cannot see, we fight and war against none the less. But we are to remember, as we take Psalm 98 into the equation to first, praise the Lord Jesus Christ for the way in which, in the past, He has died upon the cross to save us from these spiritual forces of evil; secondly, to praise the Lord Jesus Christ for the way in which, in the present, He is King and has His foot placed squarely on the neck of the serpent so that the devil can do no more to us than Jesus allows him to; thirdly, to praise the Lord Jesus Christ for the way in which, in the future, He is coming to put an end to the Devil and his forces once and for all and to free us to serve Him in purity and holiness. This psalm is our battle cry as we fight against our own carnal desires, the temptations of the world around us and the devil’s wiles. This psalm gives us the assurance that God is King, not the devil, and that Jesus Christ is coming again. This psalm is our haka, as the New Zealanders do before a big rugby game, telling our enemies that we are the Lord’s and that the Lord is the Victor.
No wonder then, to take us full circle back to the beginning, that the Psalmist says, “O Sing a new Song to Yahweh.” And my question in closing for you all is this: have you a new song to sing to the Lord? AMEN