Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb19980125.htm

PSALMS: DIARIES OF GODLY OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS
Psalm Ninety-Eight - Handling The Burden Of Facing Relentless, Worldwide Injustices
(Psalm 98:1-9)
  1. Introduction
    1. There is much in this earthly life that God's people have to face that is downright evil and unjust! Whether we look at the international, national, state, county, town, street, home, church, school or even personal scene, that which is unfair, unjust and seemingly unco ntrollably so can weigh down the believer's heart!
    2. In view of the upright man's tendency to become despondent over this rampant, unchecked wickedness, the Psalmist anticipates the coming reign of God on the earth with a message of hope over the issue.
  2. Handling The Burden Of Facing Relentless, Worldwide Injustices, Psalm 98:1-9.
    1. The psalm closes with a call for the listener to sing before Jahweh as He comes to judge the world, 98:9a.
    2. The reason the call is made is built on the hope that He will judge with righteousness and equity, 98:9b.
    3. In order to appreciate just how the psalmist could arrive at such a joyful CONFIDENCE in this coming deliverance from injustices all around him, we note the author's reasoning in the psalm's preceding verses:
      1. The psalmist began with a call to sing praise to Jahweh because of what he had already done, 98:1-3:
        1. The psalmist's call to praise Jahweh in verse one is based upon his claim that Jahweh had already performed wondrous things in working salvation, Ps. 98:1.
        2. Specifically, he noted how God has revealed to the nations great things in remembering to fulfill His loyal love and faithfulness to the people of Israel, Ps. 98:2-3.
      2. We can itemize these in many ways in Israel's history as follows:
        1. When Abraham and Sarah sought to solve their personal problems themselves, threatening to offset God's Abrahamic Covenant by having Sarah produce a child by another man on two different occasions, God intervened to keep Sarah pure and protect His covenant, cf. Gen. 12:9-20; 20:1-18.
        2. God superseded the efforts of Joseph's brothers to kill him in keeping the Abrahamic Covenant in tact by causing a famine in the Ancient Near East and elevating Joseph to rule, Gen. 50:15-20.
        3. God preserved Jacob's seed by keeping His covenant when Israel languished in Egypt, Ex. 2:23-25.
        4. Then He used huge, internationally-renowned miracles to rescue them from Pharaoh and transplant them into the land of Canaan, cf. Joshua 2:1-4, 9-11; 3:1-17.
        5. When Israel sinned, God delivered Her into the Babylonian Exile only later to redeem her as a nation from Babylon's clutches with her national identify in tact, cf. 2 Chron. 36:14-23.
        6. We could name any number of additional acts of God to preserve this nation or its patriarchs so that the nation could come into existence that are wonderful works of God before us, the world's nations!
      3. Accordingly, based upon these evidences of God's work in the past, works that the world has witnessed or known from Scripture, the psalmist triumphantly urged joyful anticipation of future divine balancing of the unbalanced scales of worldwide problems, Ps.98:4-9:
        1. He challenged us the hearers to shout for joy to Jahweh, all of us in the world, Ps. 98:4.
        2. We are to do so with music, elevating our joy to its highest form of expression, Ps. 98:5-6.
        3. He called upon the notable elements in creation, the sea and its contents, the world and its contents, the rivers and mountains all to praise the Lord, Ps. 98:7-8.
        4. The joy comes from the triumphant CONFIDENCE that AS God has wonderfully kept His promises to the preserving of Israel amidst damaging challenges of injustices to the contrary, we can count on God to wrest from evil institutions controls so as to see equity and righteousness applied in judgment in Christ's coming as worldwide Judge, Ps. 98:9!
Lesson: When facing discouragement or fear due to the powers that dominate our lives with unfair, unjust pressures, GOD expects us to RECALL His wonderful works in Israel's history wherein He COUNTERED such evil to PRESERVE the nation and FULFILL H is promises! That equips us with the hope to BELIEVE God's coming conquest over evil, and to REJOICE in faith to that end!

Application: If bothered about a specific unjust oppression we face, we can find in Scripture where God HANDLED that matter in Israel's history as an encouragement that He will YET do it AGAIN when He judges the world. Note this theme in Revelatio n 12:15-16 in light of Ex. 14:23-31!