“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 Lord has made known His salvation; His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations. 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.” Psalm 98:1-3.
The above has been retained for context. We will concern ourselves here with the balance of Psalm 98:4-9.
“Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises. Sing to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of a psalm, with trumpets and the sound of a horn; shout joyfully before the Lord, the King.” Psalm 98:4-6.
When the Lord Jesus returns to earth to end the seven years of misery known as the tribulation, a period in which it is proven that men are incapable of ruling this world apart from God, there will be great rejoicing.
“Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth…” there will be a spontaneous worldwide celebration, just as it must have been after the end of World Wars I and II.
The first one was called the war to end all wars, but it was only the beginning of the end of man’s incompetent and murderous reign.
“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom [world war]. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” Matthew 24:7-8.
However, Scripture says this of the government of the Lord Jesus Christ:
“Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” Isaiah 9:7.
“Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end…” At the end of the thousand year rule of Christ on earth Satan will be loosed from his prison and will cause a rebellion among those born during the millennium that had rejected Christ’s rule in their hearts, see Revelation chapter 20.
But the rebellion will be ended shortly and the reign of Christ will flow into eternity. This is the meaning of the words, “…of His government and peace there will be no end.”
“…shout joyfully before the Lord, the King.” Psalm 98:6b.
“Let the sea roar, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell in it; let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills be joyful together before the Lord…” Psalm 98:7-8.
Not only will man be at peace with man, but man will be at peace with nature. The seas which would have become as the blood of a dead man (Revelation 16:3-4) will be returned to their pristine natural state; perhaps even salt free; there will be no more dying of thirst at sea.
“…the world and those who dwell in it” and “…let the hills be joyful” the earth will become stable under the feet of mankind after the devastation of tribulation earthquakes (Revelation 17-21). Weather patterns will benefit mankind, not destroy, as they do even now.
Other passages describe peace within the animal kingdom. No longer will it be kill or be killed, eat or be eaten, but the lion will actually eat straw like an ox. Think of boating down a river like the Amazon and fishing, without the mosquitoes, suffocating heat or humidity. Think about inner tubing down such a river without worrying about crocodiles, alligators, piranha, or anacondas!
“…for He is coming to judge the earth. With righteousness He shall judge the world, and the peoples with equity.” Psalm 98:9.
This verse is very similar to the one in Psalm 96 which changes the word equity to truth.
“For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with His truth.” Psalm 96:13.
The idea of the word equity in Psalm 98:9 is one of evenness, or uprightness.
No longer will it be argued in a court of law, “But your honor this person is pooor and the defendant is rich. Rich because he abused the pooor; the pooor must be compensated.”
Guilt or innocence will not be decided by who has the lawyer who can baffle the judge with malarkey most convincingly. Rich or poor means nothing to God, only truth and guilt or innocence.
Truth is faithfulness to what is right. Think of standing before God the Son and lying about your case. Surely you shall be found guilty.
This is what the rebellion at the end of the millennium is all about; men and women will be born into a perfect world and still love sin and the thrill of hiding in the dark and victimizing others.
But Jesus will be the light of the world leaving them nowhere to hide, so they will suffer until their champion Satan is released from prison. Scripture tells us this about Christ’s rule:
“His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist.” Isaiah 11:3-5.
At the battle of Armageddon and while setting up His kingdom it will be necessary to strike with the rod of His mouth and to slay the wicked, for they will not enter His kingdom; and Christ will rule with a rod of iron.
The righteous will not feel that rod because they will do nothing worthy of it; only those who choose sin will. This rod of iron is an inflexible adherence to truth and equity in all of His judgments.
“I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man [Jesus Christ], coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days [God the Father], and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.” Daniel 7:13-14.
“The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John 3:35-36.
Psalm 98:4-9 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 2-22-15, updated on 1-30-23.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.