This
psalm is to the same purport with the two foregoing psalms; it is a prophecy
of the kingdom of the Messiah, the settling of it up in the world, and the
bringing of the Gentiles into it. The Chaldee entitles it a prophetic psalm.
It sets forth, I. The glory of the Redeemer, ver. 1-3. II. The joy of the
redeemed, ver. 4-9. If we in a right manner give to Christ this glory, and
upon right grounds take to ourselves this joy, in singing this psalm, we
sing it with understanding. If those who saw Christ's triumph thus, much
more reason have we to do so who see these things accomplished and share in
the better things provided for us, Heb. xi. 40.
A psalm.
1
O sing unto the LORD
a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy
arm, hath gotten him the victory. 2 The LORD
hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly showed in
the sight of the heathen. 3 He hath remembered his mercy and his
truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the
salvation of our God.
We are here called upon
again to sing unto the Lord a new song, as before, Ps. xcvi. 1.
"Sing a most excellent song, the best song you have." Let the song
of Christ's love be like Solomon's on that subject, a song of songs.
A song of praise for redeeming love is a new song, such a song as had
not been sung before; for this is a mystery which was hidden from ages and
generations. Converts sing a new song, very different from what they
had sung; they change their wonder and change their joy, and therefore
change their note. If the grace of God put a new heart into our breasts, it
will therewith put a new song into our mouths. In the new Jerusalem there
will be new songs sung, that will be new to eternity, and never wax old. Let
this new song be sung to the praise of God, in consideration of these four
things:--
I. The wonders he has
wrought: He has done marvellous things, v. 1. Note, The work
of our salvation by Christ is a work of wonder. If we take a view of all the
steps of it from the contrivance of it, and the counsels of God concerning
it before all time, to the consummation of it, and its everlasting
consequences when time shall be no more, we shall say, God has in it done
marvellous things; it is all his doing and it is marvellous in our
eyes. The more it is known the more it will be admired.
II. The conquests he has
won: His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him the victory. Our
Redeemer has surmounted all the difficulties that lay in the way of our
redemption, has broken through them all, and was not discouraged by the
services or sufferings appointed him. He has subdued all the enemies that
opposed it, has gotten the victory over Satan, disarmed him, and cast him
out of his strong-holds, has spoiled principalities and powers (Col.
ii. 15), has taken the prey from the mighty (Isa. xlix. 24), and
given death his death's wound. He has gotten a clear and complete victory,
not only for himself, but for us also, for we through him are more than
conquerors. He got this victory by his own power; there was none to help,
none to uphold, none that durst venture into the service; but his right
hand and his holy arm, which are always stretched out with good success,
because they are never stretched out but in a good cause, these have gotten
him the victory, have brought him relief or deliverance. God's
power and faithfulness, called here his right hand and his holy arm,
brought relief to the Lord Jesus, in raising him from the dead, and exalting
him personally to the right hand of God; so Dr. Hammond.
III. The discoveries he
has made to the world of the work of redemption. What he has wrought for us
he has revealed to us, and both by his Son; the gospel-revelation is that on
which the gospel-kingdom is founded--the word which God sent, Acts x.
36. The opening of the sealed book is that which is to be celebrated
with songs of praise (Rev. v. 8), because by it was brought to light the
mystery which had long been hid in God. Observe, 1. The subject of this
discovery--his salvation and his righteousness, v. 3. Righteousness
and salvation are often put together; as Isa. lxi. 10; xlvi. 13; li. 5, 6,
8. Salvation denotes the redemption itself, and righteousness the way in
which it was wrought, by the righteousness of Christ. Or the salvation
includes all our gospel-privileges and the righteousness all our
gospel-duties; both are made known, for God has joined them together, and we
must not separate them. Or righteousness is here put for the way of our
justification by Christ, which is revealed in the gospel to be by faith,
Rom. i. 17. 2. The plainness of this discovery. He has openly shown it, not
in types and figures as under the law, but it is written as with a sunbeam,
that he that runs may read it. Ministers are appointed to preach it with all
plainness of speech. 3. The extent of this discovery. It is made in the
sight of the heathen, and not of the Jews only: All the ends of the earth
have seen the salvation of our God; for to the Gentiles was the word of
salvation sent.
IV. The accomplishment of
the prophecies and promises of the Old Testament, in this (v. 3): He
has remembered his mercy and his truth towards the house of Israel. God
had mercy in store for the seed of Abraham, and had given them many and
great assurances of the kindness he designed them in the latter days; and it
was in pursuance of all those that he raised up his Son Jesus to be not only
a light to lighten the Gentiles, but the glory of his people
Israel; for he sent him, in the first place, to bless them. God
is said, in sending Christ, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers,
and to remember the holy covenant, Luke i. 72. It was in consideration
of that, and not of their merit.
4
Make a joyful noise unto the LORD,
all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.
5 Sing unto the LORD
with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. 6 With
trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD,
the King. 7 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the
world, and they that dwell therein. 8 Let the floods clap their
hands: let the hills be joyful together 9 Before the LORD;
for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the
world, and the people with equity.
The setting up of the
kingdom of Christ is here represented as a matter of joy and praise.
I. Let all the children of
men rejoice in it, for they all have, or may have, benefit by it. Again and
again we are here called upon by all ways and means possible to express our
joy in it and give God praise for it: Make a joyful noise, as before,
Ps. xcv. 1, 2. Make a loud noise, as those that are affected with
those glad tidings and are desirous to affect others with them. Rejoice
and sing praise, sing Hosannas (Matt. xxi. 9), sing Hallelujahs,
Rev. xix. 6. Let him be welcomed to the throne, as new kings are, with
acclamations of joy and loud shouts, till the earth ring again, as when
Solomon was proclaimed, 1 Kings i. 40. And let the shouts of the crowd be
accompanied with the singers and players on instruments (Ps. lxxvii.
7; lxvi. 25), as is usual in such solemnities. 1. Let sacred songs attend
the new King: "Sing praise, sing with the voice of a psalm.
Express your joy; thus proclaim it, thus excite it yet more, and thus
propagate it among others." 2. Let these be assisted with sacred music,
not only with the soft and gentle melody of the harp, but since it is
a victorious King whose glory is to be celebrated, who goes forth conquering
and to conquer, let him be proclaimed with the martial sound of the trumpet
and cornet, v. 6. Let all this joy be directed to God, and
expressed in a solemn religious manner: Make a joyful noise to the Lord,
v. 4. Sing to the Lord, (v. 5); do it before the
Lord, the King, v. 6. Carnal mirth is an enemy to this holy joy.
When David danced before the ark he pleaded that it was before the Lord;
and the piety and devotion of the intention not only vindicated what he did,
but commended it. We must rejoice before the Lord whenever we draw
near to him (Deut. xii. 12), before the Lord Jesus, and before him,
not only as the Saviour, but as the King, the King of kings, the church's
King, and our King.
II. Let the inferior
creatures rejoice in it, v. 7-9. This is to the same purport with
what we had before (Ps. xcvi. 11-13): Let the sea roar, and let that
be called, not as it used to be, a dreadful noise, but a joyful
noise; for the coming of Christ, and the salvation wrought out by him,
have quite altered the property of the troubles and terrors of this world,
so that when the floods lift up their voice, lift up their waves, we
must not construe that to be the sea roaring against us, but rather
rejoicing with us. Let the floods express their joy, as men do when
they clap their hands; and let the hills, that trembled for fear
before God when he came down to give the law at Mount Sinai, dance for joy
before him when his gospel is preached and that word of the Lord goes forth
from Zion in a still small voice: Let the hills be joyful together before
the Lord. This intimates that the kingdom of Christ would be a blessing
to the whole creation; but that, as the inferior creatures declare the glory
of the Creator (Ps. xix. 1), so they declare the glory of the Redeemer, for
by him all things not only subsist in their being, but consist in their
order. It intimates likewise that the children of men would be wanting in
paying their due respects to the Redeemer, and therefore that he must look
for his honour from the sea and the floods, which would shame the stupidity
and ingratitude of mankind. And perhaps respect is here had to the new
heavens and the new earth, which we yet, according to his
promise, look for (2 Pet. iii. 13), and this second mention of his coming
(after the like, Ps. xcvi.) may principally refer to his second coming, when
all these things shall be so dissolved as to be refined; then shall he come
to judge the world with righteousness. In the prospect of that day
all that are sanctified do rejoice, and even the sea, and the floods, and
the hills, would rejoice if they could. One would think that Virgil had
these psalms in his eye, as well as the oracles of the Cumean Sibyl, in his
fourth eclogue, where he either ignorantly or basely applies to Asinius
Pollio the ancient prophecies, which at that time were expected to be
fulfilled; for he lived in the reign of Augustus Cæsar, a little before our
Saviour's birth. He owns they looked for the birth of a child from heaven
that should be a great blessing to the world, and restore the golden age:--
|
Jam
nova progenies cœlo demittitur alto--
A new race descends from the lofty sky;
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and that should take away sin:--
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Te
duce, si qua manent sceleris vestigia nostri,
Irrita perpetua solvent formidine terras--
Thy influence shall efface every stain of corruption,
And free the world from alarm.
|
Many other things he says
of this long-looked-for child, which Ludovicus Vives, in his notes on that
eclogue, thinks applicable to Christ; and he concludes, as the psalmist
here, with a prospect of the rejoicing of the whole creation herein:--
|
Aspice,
venturo lætentur ut omnia sæclo--
See how this promis'd age makes all rejoice.
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And, if all rejoice, why should not we?
Contents
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