Saturday, August 12, 2017
Psalm 98 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. The Lord has made known His salvation; His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations. He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises. Sing to the Lord with the harp, With the harp and the sound of a psalm, With trumpets and the sound of a horn; Shout joyfully before the Lord, the King. Let the sea roar, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell in it; Let the rivers clap their hands; Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord, For He is coming to judge the earth. With righteousness He shall judge the world, And the peoples with equity.
SING TO THE LORD A NEW SONG!
The world can already see the glorious power of God in the roaring of the sea, in the might of the rivers, in the majesty of the mountains, and in the orderly expanse of the sky and the stars. Anyone who's honest with his own conscience knows that someone put all of this together, and so must come to the conclusion that there is a Creator. But it's only when that natural knowledge of God is coupled with the revealed knowledge of God's plan of salvation found in His Word that this natural knowledge can be converted into the saving knowledge of faith, for "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17). Only with saving faith does man look at the creation and recognize that the powerful Being who put all of this together, coupled His power and wisdom together with His mercy and compassion for the explicit purpose of saving every sinner from death and punishment.
It is only with that saving faith that the sinner can truly give all glory to God in shouts and songs, indeed in everything that he does in his daily life, and even at the end of life on this earth. Our text says, "He is coming to judge the earth. With righteousness He shall judge the world, And the peoples with equity." And it's only with that saving faith that the sinner can face God's coming judgment, not with terror and submission, but with joy. When the believer hears the last verse of our text, he or she rejoices, for God judges the world not according to the righteousness of His Law but according to the righteousness of Christ Jesus, judging everyone not based on status or position, ethnicity or gender, but with equity, judging all people based on one thing: Faith in Christ which He freely offers to all people through the revelation of His Gospel. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." That's the message that makes us break forth in a new song, a song that truly echoes in eternity.
