Psalm 98:1-9
Q.1. How has God made known His salvation to the nations? How did this foreshadow the Gospel? – (Ps.98:1-3)
Whenever Israel trusted in God, His miraculous and powerful intervention on their behalf could not be disputed by the nations, since – The Lord has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God (Ps.98:2-3). These revelations to the nations were taken up by Paul in Romans 15, as he drew attention to the universality of the Gospel – They who had no news of Him shall see, and those who have not heard shall understand (Rom.15:21). To prove this Divine intention, Paul quoted from copious Old Testament sources (c.f. Rom.15:7-13). The Gospel was never to be confined to the nation of Israel. God always planned to include all the nations of the world (c.f. Gal.3:6-9).
Q.2. When will God’s righteous character ultimately be on display? – (Ps.98:4-9)
The Psalmist called on the people to use every means at their disposal, to praise the Lord and declare His righteous reign (Ps.98:4-6). However, we all know that this is not always obvious, or easy to explain in the midst of pain and persecution. The Psalmist pointed us to a future day, when all His creatures will be able to give Him praise with absolute conviction – Before the Lord … When? for He is coming to judge the earth; He will judge the world in righteousness and the people with equity (Ps.98:9).