Psalm 98: Salvation Made Known
Notes
Transcript
I’m going to make a somewhat bold statement:
Joy to the World is not a good Christmas song.
It’s an incredible hymn. And I love that we sing it at Christmas. But it’s not about the birth of Jesus…
It’s not even based upon a text that we read at Christmas.
Now you may be thinking “What is pastor going on about it says “let earth receive her king”?! Correct, and what happened to the King in his incarnation. He entered into the world to be a king who would be…
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
In his first coming Jesus was not received as King. He was nailed to a cross for proclaiming to be king - given a crown of thorns on a fake charge of blasphemy, his clothes were gambled over, he was scoffed and spit upon.
But he demonstrated his kingly authority through his death - he laid his life down - it was not taken from him. Then he took it back up again. On his own kingly authority he rose from the dead. Then he ascended into heaven and sat down on his throne. Through his death, resurrection, ascension and session (or reign) he has demonstrated that he is King of Kings.
“Joy to the World” is not about the birth of Christ, but the second coming of Christ and his global reign.
It’s about when Christ returns and we see the king…
17 Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty; they will see a land that stretches afar.
The Joy that we sing of in this hymn is not because Christ was born, but because he is King, and because he is coming again. But there’s no joy for those who are not in Christ.
Christmas ought to lead us to look back at the first coming of Christ, but also lead us to look forward to the second coming of Christ.
Now you might be wondering why this is relevant to our sermon today - or why I’m talking about Christmas in July - the hymn is based upon Psalm 98. Additionally, the hymn was not titled “Joy to the World” by Isaac Watts - but rather “The Messiah’s Coming and Kingdom.” Watts wrote it as a poem, and it was later placed to music - and as it common for hymns the first line was later adopted as the title.
So when Watts read “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!” in verse 4 he wrote “Joy to the world the Lord is come. Let earth receive her king.”
And this song maintains the themes of this Psalm well.
In the hymn, we see references to heaven and earth singing of the joy the Lord has brought as demonstrated by the Lord coming, but Psalm 98 and the Watts hymn are more focus on God as King than the celebration of a baby in a manger. For this reason, I value “Joy to the World” even more during Christmastime. It focuses our attention not only on a baby in a manger, but a King who reigns - and the responsibility of the Christian to proclaim Christ has come to bring joy, to make his blessings flow as far as the curse is found.
So Joy to the World is not a Christmas hymn, but it might also be the perfect Christmas hymn. It ought to draw our attention away from the idea of a cute baby and instead to a reigning king. it reminds us not only that he came, but why he came, what he has accomplished, and what we look forward to.
Isaac Watts appropriately looked at this Psalm and saw Jesus in it. As another kingly Psalm in our look at the Psalter this summer - Watts appropriately looked at this and joyfully proclaimed that Jesus is King. This is a Psalm that puts God on display as savior, king and judge.
In verses 1 through 3 we see the Psalmist celebrate God’s Salvation.
In verses 4 through 6, the Psalmist celebrates God’s Reign.
And in verses 7 through 9 we see the Psalmists celebrate God’s Judgment.
So we will look at the text through the sections of The Savior, The King and the Judge.
All three of these themes have been present throughout many of the Psalms that we have look at this summer. In a sense, it serves as a sort of summary Psalm before Psalm 99 where we get to the final Kingly Psalm where God is celebrated as the Great High and Holy King.
The Savior
The Savior
All The Earth Should Sing a Song of God’s Salvation.
The Psalmist begins by singing that God has saved his people with his right hand and holy arm. This is a somewhat familiar phrase in the Scriptures. God’s mighty arm of salvation. Now God is Spirit so this is not speaking of a literal right arm, but using language that our simple human minds can understand.
1 Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. 2 The Lord has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. 3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Sing to the Lord a new song…
In light of God’s salvation, in light of what God has just done, sing to the Lord a new song. Sign to the Lord for his has done marvelous things. It is a song in response to what God has done. Worship as a result of what God has done in time and space.
This Psalm has no specific historical event that we can connected it with, however, we see that in the Psalm it is a response to something that God has done in history. Some have sought to link this Psalm with Exodus 15, which we read earlier today, others have sought to connect it with Isaiah 52 and the return from Babylonian Exile. While there are some similarities with those texts we should be hesitant to make a connection when it is not there. Rather than connecting them - lets instead note what they have in common, all three are celebrations of God as a Divine Warrior who has been victorious over his enemies.
One significant connection between Exodus 15 and our psalm for this morning is the declaration that Moses makes upon leaving Egypt. The Lord is a Warrior, Moses sings, and then he celebrates God’s right hand shattering the enemy. And Moses similarly to this Psalm sings that the Lord:
2 The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
The Lord is victorious and he has brought salvation. Or as our Psalm states it:
The Lord has made known his salvation.
Salvation in the context of this Psalm most likely referred to military conquest. The Lord delivered them from their enemies. Same as Ex 15. Consider how that follows from last week’s Psalm… as the Lord moves fire goes before him and burns his adversaries all around. His lightning strikes illuminate the world, the earth sees this and trembles, and the mountains melt like wax. Terrifying imagery - and a bold battle cry for God’s people. And now here the celebrate the victory that God has given them.
While there certainly is an aspect to this Psalm intended to find its fulfillment in how God has saved his people in the past, we see an ever greater source of salvation in Christ Jesus.
We were dead in our trespasses and sins. enemies of God who deserved his wrath for our divine treason. But Jesus provides salvation, greater than any military, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
And this salvation has been extended to all who call upon the name of the Lord.
Where this Psalm speaks of the nations having seen the salvation of God, it was initially a reference to the public defeat of Israel’s adversaries - now we look back at this text as a declaration that the Gospel has come to the gentiles. Gentiles is a word that means nations. The Lord’s salvation has been made known to the nations through Jesus Christ.
And when Christ returns all the earth will see the King - every tribe tongue and nation will proclaim Christ as King, and every tongue confess and every knee will bow.
Worship the Lord for his salvation.
The King
The King
4 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises! 5 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody! 6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord!
All The Earth Should Make a Joyful Noise to the King for he has Conquered (vv. 4-6)
The second section focuses on the praise that the King is worthy of.
Bringing song before the Lord and making melody because he is worthy. Celebrate him for what he has done, he has saved, he has conquered, but also because as King he is worthy of worship.
Singing is not the only way that we worship God. Our whole lives ought to be lived in a manner that brings praise and glory to God.
However, singing is one facet that is highlighted here.
When we consider fanfare being made for the King, our minds should rightfully think of the Triumphal Entry of Jesus. As he enters into Jerusalem and the streets and lined with people shouting - “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David! Hosanna in the highest!”
But that is preview of what to expect… following the Triumphal Entry the same ones who shouted Hosanna would a few days later shout crucify him. And then they did. But the King was not defeated by death - rather he defeated death - when he rose from the dead - and the creation sang, the earth trembled. But also consider what the Scriptures tell us about the second coming of Christ. As we read last week in Revelation 19: Trumpets will blast, loud voices will come from Heaven, the waters will road, mighty peals of thunder - and songs of Praise will pour out before the Lord.
The joyful noise of praise to the Lord that is described here in Psalm 98 is a preview of the fanfare that will partner the return of Christ.
“Joy to the world the Lord is come, let earth receive her king.”
The King is Coming and the heaven and nature will sing that the savior reigns.
And when he comes, he will come to judge the living and the dead.
The Judge
The Judge
7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who dwell in it! 8 Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together 9 before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.
All The Earth, from the waters to the hills to the peoples, should sing for joy of the Lord’s Righteous Judgment. (vv 7-9).
In this final section of this Psalm we see a connection between two unlikely concepts: Judgment and joy. It is seldom the case that those two things are linked together by most people. Even in our modern 21st Century Evangelical world we prefer to ignore God’s wrath. We celebrate that God is love, and we ignore that God is a wrathful judge. The preachers who speak too much of God’s wrath, and sometimes even just if they speak of it at all, tend to get a bad reputation for doing so. They are all hellfire and brimstone, they say. But if we cannot say what the Scriptures say then we are in trouble. And the Psalm here speaks of all the creation singing for joy for God will judge the earth. In verse 7, the seas and their inhabitants are roaring, the rivers are providing the percussion section by clapping, as the hills come over and bring the melody as they sing for joy. All of creation commanded to sing before the Lord as he comes for judgment.
The New Testament points us to Jesus as the judge of the living and the dead.
42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.
1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:
There is this phrase that some people like to repeat. “Only God can judge me.” Which frankly should scare you. But those using this phrase will often say this to shrug off what anyone else thinks of them. There certainly is a time and a place for those within the church to make judgments. The church is commanded to protect the sheep from wolves - that requires judgment.
God will judge you, and that’s not comforting for anyone outside of Christ.
God will be glorified in his judgment of sinners, as he is glorified for his salvation of sinners. God can be celebrated as savior because he is a righteous judge. If God doesn’t judge sinners, then what are we being saved from?
We can joyously sing of God’s judgment because we know that there is no wrath left for the Christian - because Jesus has paid it all.
Application:
The Psalmist rejoices because God has won the victory for them, he has delivered them from their enemies… we rejoice because God has delivered us from his wrath. He has delivered us from himself - he delivers us from being his enemies.
So when you sing to God, sing loudly, sing bodly. Rejoice that God is Savior, King and Judge. Worship God for he is worthy. Worship the King for he bore the wrath of the Father on our behalf to satisfy the righteous wrath that we deserve for our sins.
Similar to what we saw in Psalm 96, this Psalm once again calls for God’s deeds to be made known among the nations. Tell of the good news. Proclaim that victory that Jesus has had over the grave. Make it known among the nations.
Sing boldly, sing joyfully, for God has made his salvation known in Jesus Christ. The enemies of God are brought near and made friends through
Proclaim that message to others. Declare his glory among the nations. If you understand and delight in the wonderful works that God has done, and who he is, tell others.
Conclusion:
The Psalms have shown us this glorious picture of God as Savior, King and Judge. For God’s enemies, those who love their sin, and are dead in their trespasses and sins.
Even if you’re not convinced about my comments concerning Joy to the World not being a Christmas song - we can still have Christmas in July. As we celebrate that Jesus the King has come, he has died to provide the perfect sacrifice for our sins, he rose again - and he will return.
Every one who has sinned, deserves the righteous wrath of God for their sins. For the sinner there is an eternity of pain and suffering awaiting them. When you die or Jesus returns you will face his wrath. Your good deeds are not good enough to our weigh your bad. Your church attendance is not enough to outweigh your sin. There is no reason for joy for the sinner who is in the hands of an angry God.
Only Jesus is enough to satisfy that wrath.
For those who have placed their faith in Jesus - who seek to follow him, and glorify him with their lives - who trust in his death to be the sufficient price for their sins, and trust that he is Lord and savior - and that he rose from the dead - there is an eternity free of suffering and pain - an eternity of joy. Salvation has been made known in Jesus Christ. That is a reason for Joy and a reason to sing.
He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove
the glories of his righteousness
and wonders of his love,
and wonders of his love,
and wonders, wonders of his love.
