"Songs for Weary Shepherds: Joy to the World" Psalm 98:1-9 Sunday Morning Worship Service

Psalm ninety-eight, likely a familiar psalm to you.

Begins a psalm.

Oh, sing to Yahweh a new song, for he has done marvelous things.

His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.

Yahweh has made known his salvation.

He has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.

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.

So make a joyful noise to Yahweh, all the earth.

Break forth into joyous song and sing praises.

Sing praises to Yahweh with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of the melody, with trumpets and the sound of the horn.

Make a joyful noise before the king, Yahweh.

Let the sea roar and all that fills it, the world and those who dwell in it.

Let the rivers clap their hands.

Let the hills sing for joy together before Yahweh, for he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity.

So reads the word of the living God.

Many of you know that this psalm was the inspiration for Isaac Watts' famous Christmas hymn, Joy to the World.

Many of you probably also know that Joy to the World is decidedly not a hymn about Christmas.

And there's a good reason for that.

It is almost certain that Isaac Watts never celebrated Christmas in his life because probably he was outright opposed to Christmas.

He was born in the 1640s, uh 1670s to a family of nonconformist Puritans, and the Puritans absolutely abored Christmas.

They were the original Scrooges.

They outlawed Christmas in England just a few decades before his birth.

And a couple years after that, in the Massachusetts colony, they outlawed, banned any celebration of Christmas.

If you were caught with Yuletide decorations in your home, you'd have to pay five shillings.

The Puritans saw Christmas as an embrace of saturnalia, of popery, of licentiousness.

One Puritan William Perkins said it was spent in, quote, reveling, dicing, carding, masking, mumming, I don't know what that is, and all licentious liberty for the most part, as if it were some heathen feast.

Hugh Latimer said, quote, men dishonor Christ more in the twelve days of Christmas than in all the twelve months beside.

Increase Mather called Christmas, quote, the devil's mass.

So Merry Christmas.

That's the world that Isaac Watts was born into.

That's the family he was born into.

So it is likely joy to the world, not a Christmas song.

But there's another good reason why it's not a Christmas song, and it's because the psalm that it is based off of, Psalm 98, is not a Christmas psalm.

Psalm 98 is not about the first coming of Christ, but about the second coming of Christ, his glorious return.

Of course, the shepherds on a hill nearby keeping watch over their flocks at night, they wouldn't have known the difference.

They wouldn't really have even known to look for two different advents.

As they were wearily humming Psalm 98 to themselves, this business with a manger would have been quite astounding to them.

But that means that we can still sing Psalm 98 today, just like the shepherds do, with a sense of joyful expectation towards a future coming of Christ, in which he will bring his heavenly kingdom and rule in righteousness forever.

So I really do still love to sing joy to the world.

At Christmas time, I hope you do too.

And I love singing Psalm 98.

Now, why do I say that Psalm 98 is a psalm about the second coming, not the first?

There are a couple of hints in the text that we're not dealing with just some sort of historical act of salvation.

Notice in verse 3, he says, all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

That's a significant phrase and seems pretty big.

In verse 4, all of the earth is supposed to be making a joyful noise.

That's also pretty big.

And then you get to verse 7, and the sea is roaring, and the rivers are clapping their hands.

All of creation is in on it.

And then you see in verse 9, before Yahweh, for he comes to judge the earth.

You remember Jesus said in John chapter 12 explicitly, I did not come to judge, but I came to save the world.

John 12 · chapter mention

That was the point of the first coming, was to die and to rise so that sinners could put their faith in him and so be saved.

That was what he was doing at the first coming.

He said, I did not come this time for that.

But Psalm 98 says he's coming to do that, to judge.

There's another reason why this has to be a second coming psalm, and it is the parallels that this psalm has in the rest of Scripture, which are many and very interesting, and I won't drag you through all of them.

One is just a note, Psalm 96, right near it, is sort of its twin psalm.

You'll notice a lot of parallel language there, which would have been sung, 1 Chronicles 16 tells us at the return of the Ark to Jerusalem, but it has sort of eschatological overtones to it.

But mostly Psalm 98 has parallels with the servant songs of Isaiah.

Isaiah 40 to 55.

There's tons and tons of relationships there in the language that's used, probably Psalm 98 written first, and Isaiah's using the language of it.

And Isaiah 40 to 55, these servant songs are almost all about the second coming of Christ.

Almost all about this second advent.

And I'll just show you one part of it.

We could look at a lot, but I'll show you one part just so you get the idea of it.

Isaiah 52, I'll put it on the screen here.

Some of this familiar to you.

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns.

And you'll notice in bold are the words that are shared between this passage and Psalm 98.

The voice of your watchmen, they lift up their voice.

Together they sing for joy.

For eye to eye they see the return of Yahweh to Zion.

They see God himself coming to Jerusalem.

And verse 9, break forth together into singing.

That word, break forth, is only used in Psalm 98 and in Isaiah.

Break forth together in singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for Yahweh has comforted his people.

He has redeemed Jerusalem.

Yahweh has bared his holy arm.

That phrase, holy arm, only used Psalm 98 and Isaiah 52, 10.

Yahweh has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations.

And then notice this exact same phrase from Psalm 98, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

So in Isaiah's context, he's talking about the return of Jesus coming to save Israel.

And Psalm 98 uses all of the same language to describe the salvation that is being sung about in Psalm 98.

So I think that's why this has to be about the second coming.

Now, what could be confusing about this is that the way that Psalm 98 is written, it sounds like it's talking about something that's in the past, doesn't it?

O sing to Yahweh a new song, for he has done marvelous things, have worked, has made known, has revealed.

So it sounds like he's saying this has already happened.

So if it's still future, why is he talking about it like it's it's happened?

The answer is because Psalm 98, like a number of similar songs in Scripture, is a song from the future.

It is the song that will be sung on that day, transported, as it were, in a time machine, back to our day, so that we could experience just some of the joy, some of the exuberance, some of the explosive worship of that day right now.

That's what Psalm 98 is doing.

What we just sang, what a foretaste of deliverance.

It's a great word to describe what's going on in Psalm 98.

It is tasting the delights of that day today.

In essence, when you sing Psalm 98, you are singing at the second coming of Christ.

You're experiencing right now the splendor of that day, the inauguration of eternity when Jesus returns, or as the Psalm puts it, when he comes.

When he comes.

And this is not that odd for you because you know how this works with Christmas songs.

A lot of Christmas songs work this way, where there's a discussion about the joys and events happening on Christmas Day, and you sing about them through all of December.

You don't just sing them on Christmas Day, you sing them all of December because you're participating in the joy of that day by singing a song about that day before that day.

Does that make sense?

Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus, right down Santa Claus Lane.

All of that, the joy and everything that's going to happen, Santa Claus comes tonight, all of that you sing it beforehand so that you can have a sense of the joy of that day beforehand.

That's the way Psalm 98 works, too.

Isaac Watts, interestingly, wrote a poem with this exact same idea.

He called it the Song of Angels Above, and it's about his longing to sing in heaven and on that day.

And he says this quote, I would begin the music here, and so my soul should rise.

Oh, for some heavenly notes to bear my spirit to the skies.

That's Psalm 98.

It's the notes that bear us forward into the day when Christ will return.

If you had to compare it to a hymn that we sing today, it might be kind of like the hymn that we often sing when we all get to heaven.

Just glorying in how wonderful that day will be.

Sort of like that.

That's kind of what Psalm 98 is doing here in this text.

So, what I want to do with our time this morning, then, is just let the joy of that day wash over us as we walk through this glorious psalm.

I know that for many coming to church even today, you are facing incredible hardships.

And I don't mean for a psalm and a song about joy to be ignorant of that.

The psalmist is not ignorant of that.

This is not the kind of glib, soup, superficial joy of just like put on a brave face and tough it out.

This isn't that.

This is durable joy.

This is real joy, solid joys and lasting pleasures, none but Zion's children know.

That's this joy.

And that is the joy that I want to wash over us as we look at the psalm this morning.

So you'll notice it's in three stanzas.

That's how we'll look at it.

The joy that comes to the world of that day being our joy today, because he comes.

Who is he that comes?

So the first stanza tells us it's the Savior.

The Savior comes.

It begins, notice, with a command.

Oh, sing.

Sing to Yahweh a new song.

Why sing?

Why not like build a building?

Why not paint a painting?

Why sing?

Why is it musical?

Because music has been designed by God to uniquely affect us such that it can not only express what is in our hearts, but it can raise our affections.

And the singing of that day is meant to raise our affections as close as it could be to the joy of the object, Jesus Himself coming and returning.

And so you're supposed to sing fervently, he says, to Yahweh, to God when he comes, because we long to enjoy God more by praising him more fervently.

The singing is a joyful kind of singing.

And notice he says, sing to Yahweh a new song.

That phrase, new song, is only used seven times in the Old Testament, mostly in the Psalms, one time in Isaiah 42.

And every time it is used, it's in concert with God having done something new.

God has created something new, He has caused some new act of deliverance.

And because of that, there should be some new songs written about it.

We should create some new hymns and write them because something new has happened and we have to commemorate it with a new song.

We have to do that, he says in verse 1, because, and the rest of verses 1 to 3 is going to explain what it is that he's done.

Because he has done marvelous things.

Marvelous things.

It's a word for wonders or miracles.

Doesn't necessarily mean supernatural acts, but it could, it often does.

Talks about the plagues as miracles or wonders or marvelous things.

Talks about the splitting of the rock so that water would come forward, the toppling of the walls of Jericho.

That's a marvelous thing.

The emphasis of this word is that it's something that we thought would be impossible.

Something that could never have happened.

No way anyone could do that, and then God just does it.

Like coming back to earth, slaying all of his enemies, uniting all of his people as one, overcoming every world religion, and bringing all worship solely to him.

Nobody could do that.

Who could do that?

Only Jesus.

And so he's done a marvelous thing.

This language also, and you're going to see this throughout the rest of verses 1 to 3, is meant to evoke your thinking of the Exodus.

It's used of the Exodus really more than any other event in the Old Testament.

Marvelous things when God brings his people through the Red Sea by parting it, and then when they get to the other side, bringing it back down on the heads of their enemies.

That marvelous thing is evoked by this language.

Similarly, his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.

It's saying, God is the only one who could do this.

He's the only one.

Nobody else could possibly get close to it.

He's the one who would have to do this by his might, by his strength, by his blessing.

And what is it that he does?

He has worked salvation for him.

Three times here salvation, salvation, salvation.

It's a word for rescue, for deliverance, for bringing out of danger.

Here, I think it's speaking about the future salvation of Israel.

That God has promised to rescue Israel, to save the whole nation of Israel.

And so he's done that at his second coming.

And that is also the consummation of our salvation.

And notice he's worked his salvation for him.

There's kind of an inter-trinitarian working here that Jesus has accomplished this and then he delivers the kingdom over to his Father.

It's for him.

The salvation, verse 2, we find out, is fundamentally an act of revelation.

It says Yahweh has made known his salvation.

He has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.

Anytime God does anything incredible in the world, it is, of course, telling us something about him, how powerful and glorious he is.

Leviticus 26, 45 says, the very same language about the Exodus, that God let the nations see what he did so that they would fear him.

Meaning, on this day, this salvation that God has accomplished is going to show up on the front page of every newspaper.

In every language.

Everyone's going to know.

Every television broadcast, every radio broadcast, they're all going to be talking about it.

And then verse 3.

He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel.

Why is it that he did this?

For love.

For love and in truth.

He loved his people, he set his heart on them, and he made promises to save them.

So that's the faithfulness part.

I said I would save you, and I'm going to do it.

Now he's done it.

He's kept his word.

As in the Exodus.

And then, notice the end of verse 3 all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

This phrase, all the ends of the earth, is a unique phrase in the Old Testament.

It almost always refers to the messianic kingdom.

Psalm 2, Psalm 72, 1 Samuel 2, over and over and over again, it's used to describe this global reign of Jesus Christ.

And did you notice our God, the salvation of our God?

This is salvation for his own, for his own people.

Just like in the Exodus.

So why does he bother with all this Exodus language?

Why does he use Exodus language to talk about something that is yet to happen?

And commentators have noted for a while, it's because Christ's second coming and the deliverance then is sort of like a second exodus.

It's like he's delivering his people as he did then, but he's doing it in a new and different way.

And that's true.

That's right.

But you have to push past that.

So why is it?

Why is it that the biblical authors want to describe this future salvation like that past salvation?

And the answer is this it is rejoicing backwards in order to rejoice forward.

Psalm 98 echoes the triumphs of Yahweh's past salvation to help us conceive of the intensity and the kind of the joy and exuberance that we will experience when we worship God on that day.

You want to know what the worship will be like when Jesus comes back?

Well, it's kind of like what happened on the other side of the Red Sea.

You remember Exodus 15?

What did they do?

They sang a song.

That's what we're gonna do.

Joyfully celebrating God and his deliverance.

And again, this is not that strange because you do this with Christmas music.

Christmas music is awfully nostalgic, isn't it?

It often makes you think of Christmas past to get you excited for a Christmas future.

I don't know when Christmas peaked for you.

For me, it was maybe seven or something, since then it's just been socks and belts.

But you think back to a previous Christmas and you sing that song and it brings back the warm memories, and then it makes you excited all over again for it to happen this coming month, right?

That's the same idea here.

You're thinking about what happened in the past in order to celebrate what is going to happen in the future.

When Jesus comes, friends, to bring us finally across the sea of death and pain and sorrow, it will not just be like the Exodus, it will be way better than it.

We won't be delivered to another temporary under-shepherd, but we will always be with the Lord.

The Savior will bring us not only out of one danger into a wilderness, but freed from every fear and thorn.

He will not only redeem us from the penalty of sin, but from sin entirely.

This salvation we sing about will be far better than anything we have ever experienced.

So, I mean, of course it needs a new song.

You gotta write a new song for this thing because what's happening in Psalm 98 is the psalmist trying to wrap his language in the most extravagant way that he possibly can around the exuberant praise of that day.

William Plummer, a commentator, says, quote, where the benefits received are infinite, the praises cannot be extravagant.

Meaning, you and I will never praise God too much for what he does on that day.

In fact, all of the work of our worship for eternity will only be us trying to be less insufficient in our worship to him.

Because our text says he comes.

But it's not only the Savior who comes, it's the ruler who comes.

Look at verse 4.

He says, Make a joyful noise to Yahweh, all the earth.

This worship service here is starting.

To explode with piled up language to intensify and magnify this worship.

Notice the end of verse 6.

He says, Make a joyful noise before the king, Yahweh.

The king here.

He's the ruler of heaven and earth.

The only parallel of this language, the king Yahweh, is in Isaiah chapter 6, verse 5, when Isaiah is literally standing in the throne room of God.

Isaiah 6:5

That's what's happening to the whole earth on that day.

And so he says, all the earth needs to join in the worship.

Because who is God the king of?

Well, he's the king of the whole earth.

He's not just king of Israel, he's the king of everyone.

And so this worship service is expanding from just the nation of Israel now to the whole globe, all people everywhere, now worshiping God by making a joyful noise.

Now that word make a joyful noise, we usually use it when we're talking to someone who can't sing well.

Say, just make a joyful noise.

That's not what this word means.

What it means is shout.

It's usually how it's translated.

Shout.

Make a loud sound.

Because what he's commending here is he's basically saying, let it out.

You've been bottling this up for a while, you've seen the return of the glorious Christ.

Don't hold back.

Let it go.

Shout it out.

Let it bubble forth and erupt from your lips.

Pour it all out.

And then he follows it with these three verbs, break forth joyous song, sing praises.

Literally the word for psalm there.

Just let every possible way of singing and praising God joyfully come out of you.

And then verse 5 sing praises to Yahweh with the lyre.

Now we're getting instrumental.

The lyre here, busting out the stringed instruments, maybe like an electric guitar solo or something.

I don't know.

The lyre actually was the first instrument mentioned in the Bible.

It's usually associated with joyful celebration, with happiness, with mirth.

13 times in the Psalter, we're told to praise God with the lyre.

And it says here, with the lyre and the sound of the melody, meaning there's a beautiful line of notes that accompany this song.

But it's not just the stringed instruments.

Look at verse 6.

The rest of the orchestra's getting in here with trumpets, the sound of the horn.

Now we got a brass section.

The trumpets are these long metal trumpets used usually for heralding a king or for worship in the temple.

This is the only time that they're ever mentioned in the Psalter.

Is it this verse?

The horn is the shofar, a ram's horn, sometimes curved, used for a lot of different purposes.

One of which is when they would have victory in battle.

They would blow the shofar.

And his point here is not only those true instruments.

He's just using those to say, let all of the instruments, the whole orchestra and all the choir, everyone get together and use every musical means to worship the Lord.

Bring it all together to worship Christ.

Why?

Why should we bend every kind of music in service to God?

It says, because it's before the King, because He owns it all.

Because whatever creativity, whatever ingenuity you have, whatever ability you have to produce something of beauty and worth and value, that belongs to God.

He gave it to you and He gave it to you so that you would give it back to Him and worship.

That's why it exists.

The arts, the sciences, the academy, athletics, everything, all of it must be and will be summoned to serve the worship of the one true King on that day.

I mean, I cannot wait to hear how good our choir and orchestra will sound on that day.

Glorified.

I mean, incredible, right?

They're already really good.

Can you imagine DC with glorified voice?

I could shake the earth.

Because our text says He comes, He comes.

It's not only the Savior who comes and the ruler who comes, it's the Maker who comes.

And that's what we find in verses 7 to 9 is the Maker comes.

We find out here even all humanity is an unfit choir for the praise of God.

He says, Let the sea roar, and all that fills it roar.

Another one of those just explosive words, it means thunder, an explosive loud sound.

Notice he says, the sea and the world, that's land and sea, so he's covering the whole thing everywhere on the earth.

And he says, all that fills it, and those who dwell in it.

So it's not just the sea and the world, but it's it's now all of the creatures in it, not just the non-senent parts, but also the moving and teeming parts of it.

All the whales, the fish, that whole undersea band from Little Mermaid, they're getting in it.

All those animals on the pride lands there in Lion King, they're involved.

They're bound down to Jesus.

They're worshiping Jesus, all of creation, every leaf, every mountain, every hill, every valley, every river, every sunset, every sunrise, every galaxy, every molecule will be bent towards the worship and praise of King Jesus.

Because their maker has come to reign.

It's not just the one who rules people, it's the one who rules everything because he made everything.

Paul notes this in Romans chapter 8, verse 19: the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

I mean, they are just waiting to get in on this thing.

They've been holding back until now.

You remember Jesus when he enters at the triumphal entry, people are worshiping him.

And the Pharisees say, Teacher, hey, hey, tell your disciples, tone it down.

Do you remember what he says?

He says, I tell you, if they were silent, even the rocks would cry out.

On this day, the rocks won't be able to hold it any longer.

They will cry out.

All of creation is going to erupt with praise to God.

Even verse 8, the rivers.

The rivers clap their hands.

This is the only verse in the Bible that talks about rivers worshiping.

I don't know exactly what that looks like, but it sounds awesome.

The hills are singing for joy together.

There's a sense of unity and wonder, all of the earth in one united song to Christ.

Why?

Verse 9, before Yahweh, for he comes.

God finally comes to dwell forever with his creation.

Oh, the glory of that phrase.

To do what?

To judge the earth.

To judge the earth.

This language of judging the earth, it is inclusive of acts of salvation.

We tend to think when we hear judge, just condemnation.

It includes that as well.

But it also includes salvation.

When the Jews heard God coming to judge the earth, they heard God saving us and destroying our enemies.

They heard sheep and goats.

And that's what's described here.

Jesus will come not only with his bride at his side, but a sword in his mouth.

He will judge the nations.

And there's a sense of governance here.

He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity.

He will be the first government on earth that's not corrupt in any way.

Jesus will rule perfectly, a king who rules so perfectly that if we could, everyone would vote for him.

But that's not how he got in office.

He installs himself.

The one who made it all is now ruling over it all, receiving the praise of all for all eternity.

Can't you just hear it now?

Can't you just taste some of the joy of that day?

I wonder, though, what the content of that song is.

The words of that new song.

What are they?

Thankfully, the Bible actually tells us.

You can turn to Revelation chapter 5.

Revelation 5 · chapter mention

Revelation chapter 5, verse 6.

Revelation 5:6

At the end of all things, as Jesus prepares to come back to his earth, we find this scene in heaven.

And between the throne and the four living creatures, and among the elders I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.

This is Jesus saying, I'm going to now inherit the earth.

I'm the only one who can.

And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding, what do you know, a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

And then listen to this.

And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals.

For you were slain, and by your blood you ransom people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priest to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.

And then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who is slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them, saying, To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever.

And the four living creatures said, Amen, and the elders fell down and worshipped.

I don't know what song the shepherds were singing that night on a hill near Bethland.

But I do know what song those shepherds will sing.

And we'll be right there with them.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, you have put a new song in our mouth, and for that we are grateful.

You have delivered us through the shed blood of Christ, and one day you will finally deliver us from every ill and evil.

And so it is for that glorious salvation in Jesus Christ that we give you every praise.

Father, I know that there are many here in our congregation, even right now, who are carrying heavy burdens.

I pray that this sight of this glorious worship service on that day would explode in their hearts and give them tremendous comfort and joy.

That you would pull us forward to that day and help us to live, as it were, on the brink of eternity.

And we pray all of this, with the Apostle John saying, Come, Lord Jesus.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

And now, for a parting word for Pastor Jesse Johnson.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, or if you want to learn more about what it means to follow Christ, please visit our church website, ibc.church.

If you want more information about the Master Seminary or our location here in Washington, DC, please go to tms.edu.

Now, if you're not a member of a local church and you live in the Washington, D.C.

area, we'd love to have you worship with us here at Emmanuel.

I hope to personally meet you this Sunday after our service.

But no matter where you live, it's our hope that everyone who uses this resource is involved in their own local church.

Now may God bless you this week as you seek Jesus constantly, serve the Lord faithfully, and share the gospel boldly.