Psalms

This Psalm was written to celebrate a great victory over Israel's enemies.  But this is also a Psalm of praise as we wait for a coming day.  There will be a day when all the nations come against Israel.  On that day, the Lord will come and rescue His people.  That will be the beginning of the Lord bringing His kingdom to earth.

Psalm 98 was the inspiration for Isaac Watts to write the hymn "Joy to the World."  He wrote this hymn in 1719 to anticipate the second coming of Christ.  Yet, it was adapted to music and used to celebrate the first coming of Jesus, as a babe in the manger.

A Psalm.

¹ 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 Psalmist writes this as a local event.  God gave a great victory to Israel and saved His people.  His righteousness was revealed to the nations - all the neighbor countries to Israel.  This is the local application but if we lift our eyes a little to look a little further we see the prophetic application of these words.

A great victory will be won that is worthy of a new song.  His holy arm and His right hand tell us the victory was His alone.  He will do marvelous things that the world can say that Christ alone should be exalted.  It will be clear to all men that unless the Lord intervened, Israel would have been wiped away.

² The LORD has made known His salvation;
His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations.

All the nations is an idiom of all the world.  Nothing has been hidden.  The hope of Jesus Christ has been revealed to all the peoples of all the nations.  In this time, all the nations will rise up against God's land.  Once again, He will make His salvation known when He supernaturally saves Israel from its enemies.  He will be revealed in the sight of the nations.  They will be found without excuse.

 
³ 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.
God will establish His kingdom.  As much turmoil and judgment as we've seen in God's dealings with Israel, they are still His people.  God's mercy and faithfulness for the house of Israel will be seen by all men. 

⁴ Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth;
Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.
⁵ Sing to the LORD with the harp,
With the harp and the sound of a psalm,
⁶ With trumpets and the sound of a horn;
Shout joyfully before the LORD, the King.
Shouting joyfully is the welcome given to a new king.  And He will be the King over all the earth.  Breaking forth is an eruption of praise.  The harp, trumpet and horn were all used in temple worship. 

⁷ Let the sea roar, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell in it;
⁸ Let the rivers clap their hands;
Let the hills be joyful together
⁹ before the LORD,
For He is coming to judge the earth.
With righteousness He shall judge the world,
And the peoples with equity.

All of nature groans for redemption, all has suffered from the affects of sin.  All the earth will rejoice in the coming of the King.  The sea will roar, the river clap its hands, the hills and the people all will come before and under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  He is coming and He will be the just judge of all the earth.  He will judge in righteousness and equity.