joy in God’s judgment

Let the rivers clap their hands;

let the hills sing for joy together

before the Lord, for he comes

to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with righteousness,

and the peoples with equity.

Psalm 98:8-9

This is not your typical call to rejoice in worship. Psalm 98 is joyous and loud. It calls all the people of all the earth to make joyful noise to the Lord. It opens with a rejoicing earth singing a new song of praise to God as all the people in the earth rejoice in the steadfast love and the salvation they have seen come from God. The first three verses give us a picture of a global praise service, and it is, of course, all realized fully in Jesus.

Then the orchestra kicks in with the second stanza in verses four through six. The strings are strummed and trumpets blow, carrying on the melody of praise and blasting even more joyful noise as the Lord is celebrated as the true King of this world. The joy just keeps building.

Finally, the natural world itself is called upon in verses seven through nine to add to the symphony with more joyful praise. The roaring ocean waves, the noise of all the beasts of all the earth, the rivers and the hills all add their joyous sounds as the King descends to rule a jubilant earth and dispense His judgment and justice. And this is the crescendoing point to all the joyful noise: God is going to judge the earth. His judgment is worthy of our praise because finally all will be made right as it should, and that makes the whole earth extremely glad!