"A Psalm.
Oh sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvellous things!
His right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
2 The Lord has made known his salvation;
he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.
3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
4 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
break forth into joyous song and sing praises!
5 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
with the lyre and the sound of melody!
6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn
make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord!
7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
the world and those who dwell in it!
8 Let the rivers clap their hands;
let the hills sing for joy together
9 before the Lord, for he comes
to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with equity."
Psalm 98
What was said at the end of the previous Note bears a Christian interpretation, and this is its importance and relevance for us. There is a Christian fulfilment of the Psalmist's message and vision. In the Christian gospel there is also this twofold thrust: on the one hand, we have the victory of God in the death and resurrection of Christ - and of this, we can certainly use the phrases in 1-3, and invest them with a glorious new meaning. On the other hand, in the Christian gospel there is also the promise of the consummation of that victory in the coming at the end of Christ in glory. And, as in the Psalm, the first is the pledge and guarantee of the second. The implication of this is tremendous, for it means that the victory of Christ is really a victory, and as Christians we can be true optimists in the world, for evil no longer can have the last word in the human situation. We can face life with a great new confidence, in the consciousness that God can make evil work for good for His people (cf Romans 8:28ff). The rather trite phrase 'every cloud has its silver lining', which on the merely human level can be misleading and even false, bears witness to something that is basically true for the believer; for at the heart of the universe, and embedded at its core, God has placed a victory, the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and this victory has virtue to influence and condition every human situation, and if the Psalmist can so rejoice here, how much more ought we to do so!