Rejoicing in our salvation

Psalm 98 is anonymous, so it could’ve been written in any number of contexts.

It could’ve been written following the Israelites deliverance from Egypt, or perhaps it was written by David after his reign was firmly established.

Or it could’ve been written after the exile to Babylon when God brought his people back to the promised land.

We simply do not know, but as I read it, I see in it the joy of salvation.

The psalmist starts out by singing,

Sing to the Lord a new song (Psalm 98:1).

Recently, I’ve been picking up my guitar again and have been playing some of the songs I played back when I was in university, and when I first moved to Japan.  It’s nice to go retro at times.

But at the same time, I love it when we have new songs at church.  As great as the old songs are, they can get stale if sung too much.

We stop thinking about what we’re singing, and we start just doing karaoke, instead of singing prayers to God.

But with the new songs, we have to think about what we’re singing and can remember anew all that God has done for us.

And that’s what the psalmist does with this new song.  He sings,

For he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.

The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations.

He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.  (Psalm 98:1-3)

This passage reminds me of what Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 59.

The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice.

He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him (Isaiah 59:15-16).

God saw the evil in this world, and that there was no one to deal with it.  And so he himself did something.

When we weren’t even looking to be saved, blinded by our sin as we were, God worked his salvation.  As Paul wrote,

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  (Romans 5:8)

Now salvation has come not just to the Jews, but to all who would believe.  As the psalmist put it,

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.  (3)

He then cries out,

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—shout for joy before the Lord, the King.  (4-6)

The psalmist concludes the psalm by calling for creation itself to praise the Lord for the salvation that is to come.

It is good to rejoice in our salvation.  We should do it.  But let us also remember the final words of the psalmist.

For he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.  (9)

We can rejoice in the judgment to come because we who believe in Jesus as our Savior are no longer condemned.

But are all those we know and love as ready for judgment as we are?

Let us rejoice in our salvation.  But let us also be sure to share our joy and hope with those around us, that they may know the joy of salvation too.