I enjoy watching parades. Parades are given for various reasons. Many countries have parades on their nation’s holiday, such as here in the U.S. many communities have a parade on July 4th, our nation’s Independence Day. In Chicago, where I live, there is always a big parade on St. Patrick’s Day. New York City has arguably had the most parades in our country, many in honor of heroes, whether war heroes or those who have done spectacular deeds, such as Charles Lindbergh who first crossed the Atlantic in an airplane, or the astronauts who first walked on the moon. These heroes are given a “ticker-tape parade” along a downtown Manhattan street, where streams of ticker-tape and confetti are thrown out of the tall skyscrapers to honor these heroes, while shouts of joy and praise come from the crowds. I have only seen such events in news footage, but I can imagine it is an amazing event. There is an event coming that far surpasses any other event in history, and would be worthy of the grandest ticker-tape parade ever, and that is the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth! Our psalm for today pictures this coming event.
Psalm 98 is a psalm of joy and victory. The psalmist pictures the whole world, both people and nature, praising the Lord just like a crowd along a parade route cheers for the returning hero. They are praising the Lord God because He is victorious over evil and over His enemies (vs. 1), and even more so, they are praising Him when He returns to judge the earth (vs. 9). All those who have accepted the Lord Jesus as Savior and follow Him will be victorious with Him, and will take part in this grand celebration.
The future return of the Lord Jesus to earth will be a time of great joy and celebration to those who love Him. Both people (vs. 1-6) and all of nature (vs. 7-9) will join in the celebration. When the heroes of parades first come into sight along the parade route, a great cheer erupts. This is what we see happening in verse 4. There will be great rejoicing by God’s people when Jesus returns and they catch their first glimpse of Him! It will be an eruption of praise which cannot be contained. We don’t usually picture harps in a parade of great honor any more, but they were used a lot in times past. We can picture today having music in great volume (vs. 5-6).
Jesus will begin His millennial reign upon earth following His victory over all nations, and over all those who oppose Him and His people, born-again Christians (vs. 1). When Jesus returns, He will fulfill verse 9, and bring justice to the whole world (Acts 10:42-43). This world is crying out for justice to be served as we see so much crime and violence happening, so many times when the poor and weak, the “little people”, are being trampled upon by the powerful and cruel who seem to be getting away with their actions. Jesus will set all that right, and those who do not follow God’s Word will be judged.
The Kingdom that Jesus will set up after His glorious return and victory over His enemies will be one of mercy and faithfulness (vs. 3). Those who enter His kingdom are those who received salvation through the Blood of Jesus. God’s rule will be one that is completely just as well as completely merciful. He is both perfectly loving and perfectly just. God is merciful when He punishes, yet He overlooks no sin when He loves.
Not only will mankind rejoice when Jesus returns, but all of creation will, as well. All of nature has been held captive by Satan since the fall of Adam, and has been groaning and been under great ordeal and tribulation since then (Romans 8:22). With the fall of Adam, nature fell as well. We see that through the many natural disasters that happen, which were not part of God’s original plan in the Garden of Eden. Nature will rejoice with the return of its Creator!
You may wonder when this will happen, and think it might not be for a long, long time. You may think that you have time, and can continue living any way you want. However, as three little words in verse 9 indicate, “He is coming”! We don’t know when. It could be at any time, just like a thief in the night (I Thessalonians 5:2; II Peter 3:10). Be ready now, so that when Jesus returns you can join in that day of rejoicing, singing and shouting the victory!
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