Psalms 98

From this psalm Isaac Watts found the inspiration for his popular hymn “Joy to the World,” often classified as a Christmas carol but more accurately identified as a “kingdom hymn.” Watts described Christ’s second advent and not His first, the messianic kingdom and not the manger. The parallels to 96 are obvious, but the psalms are not identical. 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). The psalmist saw in the destruction of ancient Babylon a picture of God’s judgment of end-time Babylon (Rev. 17—18).

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 (see 33:3; 96:1). The picture of God as warrior disturbs those who seem to forget that a holy God cannot compromise with sin. (See 68:1–10; 77:16–19; Ex. 15:1–2.) The cross declares not only that God loves sinners (Rom. 5:8), but also that God hates and opposes sin (Matt. 12:22–30; Col. 2:15). Since God is a spirit (John 4:24), He does not have a body, so the references to His hand and arm are metaphorical (17:7; 18:35; 20:6; 44:3; 60:5; 77:10; Ex. 15:6, 11–12; Isa. 52:10; 59:16; 63:5). 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 appears that the psalm points ahead to the return of Jesus Christ. (See Isa. 52:1–10.)

The command went 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).

The psalmist has written of the Lord as Deliverer and King, and now he presents Him as the Judge who will one day come and 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 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!” The play of the wind on the mountains sounded like a song of praise. (See 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.