Today’s Sunday Psalms entry is written by Timothy Tennent.
Psalm 98 (NIV)
1 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 his salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
3 He has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
4 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;
5 make music to the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,
6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—
shout for joy before the Lord, the King.
7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands,
let the mountains sing together for joy;
9 let them sing before the Lord,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples with equity.
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Sing this psalm with the Seedbed Psalter today! Visit the resource here.
CONSIDER THIS
Psalm 98 celebrates the great salvific deeds of the almighty God. “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” (v. 1). In the New Testament Jesus is portrayed at the “right hand of God” (Mark 16:19; Luke 22:69; Acts 2:33; 5:31; 7:55–56; Rom. 8:34; Col. 3:1; Heb. 10:12; 12:2; 1 Pet. 3:22). In the Scriptures, one’s right hand is a reference to one’s strength and might. Jesus is the greatest expression of God’s right hand. Patrick Reardon, in his book Christ in the Psalms, reminds us that salvation is not merely something that is announced to us, but rather something that is “wrought in us.” Reardon goes on to say, “God saves us by the forceful intrusion of His holiness into our history. God’s arm is a metaphor of this irruptive redemptive holiness.”
Psalm 98 celebrates God’s redemptive work for the whole world. In Jesus Christ, the Lord has made his salvation known so that “all the ends of the earth” may see “the salvation of our God” (v. 3).