1. O sing unto the Lord
a new song; for he hath done marvelous things. We had a new song before (Psalm 96) because the Lord was
coming, but now we have another new song because he has come, and seen and
conquered. Jesus, our King, has lived a marvelous life, died a marvelous death,
risen by a marvelous resurrection, and ascended marvelously into heaven. By his
divine power he has sent forth the Holy Spirit doing marvels, and by that
sacred energy his disciples have also wrought marvelous things and astonished
all the earth. Idols have fallen, superstitions have withered, systems of error
have fled, and empires of cruelty have perished. For all this he deserves the
highest praise. His acts have proved his Deity: Jesus is Jehovah, and therefore
we sing unto him as the Lord. His
right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory; not by the aid
of others, but by his own unweaponed hand his marvelous conquests have been
achieved. Sin, death, and hell fell beneath his solitary prowess, and the idols
and the errors of mankind have been overthrown and smitten by his hand alone.
The victories of Jesus among us are all the more wonderful because they are
accomplished by means to all appearance most inadequate; they are due not to
physical but to moral power—the energy of goodness, justice, truth; in a word,
to the power of his holy arm. His holy influence has been the sole cause
of success. Jesus never stoops to use policy, or brute force; his unsullied
perfections secure to him a real and lasting victory over all the powers of
evil.
2. The Lord
hath made known his salvation—by
the coming of Jesus and by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, by whose power
the gospel was preached among the Gentiles. The Lord is to be praised not only
for effecting human salvation, but also for making it known, for we would never
have discovered it for ourselves. In every case it is a divine revelation to
the mind and heart. In God’s own light his light is seen. He must reveal his
Son in us, or we shall be unable to discern him. His righteousness hath he
openly showed in the sight of the heathen. This word righteousness
is the favorite word of the apostle of the Gentiles; he loves to dwell on the
Lord’s method of making people righteous, and vindicating his own justice by
the atoning blood. What was hidden in the types is “openly showed” in the
Gospel.
3. He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the
house of Israel. To them Jesus came in the flesh,
and to them was the Gospel first preached; and though they counted themselves
unworthy of eternal life, yet the covenant was not broken, for the true
Israelites were called into fellowship and still remain so. All the ends of
the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Not to Abraham’s physical
descendants alone, but to the elect among all nations, has grace been given;
therefore, let the whole church of God sing unto him a new song. It was no
small blessing, or little miracle, that throughout all lands the Gospel should
be published in so short a time, with such singular success and such abiding
results. Pentecost deserves a new song as well as the Passion and the
Resurrection; let our hearts exult as we remember it. Our God,
our own forever blessed God, has been honored by those who once bowed down
before dumb idols; his salvation has not only been heard of but seen among all
people; it has been experienced as well as explained; his Son is the actual
Redeemer of a multitude out of all nations.
4–6. In these
three verses we are taught how to praise the Lord.
4. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth.
Every tongue must applaud, and that with the vigor which joy of the heart alone
can arouse to action. If ever people shout for joy it should be when the Lord
comes among them in the proclamation of his Gospel reign. Make a loud noise,
and rejoice, and sing praise; or “Burst forth, and sing, and play.” Let
every form of exultation be used, every kind of music pressed into the service.
There is no fear of our being too hearty in magnifying the God of our
salvation; only we must take care that the song comes from the heart, otherwise
the music is nothing but a noise in his ears, whether it be caused by human
throats, or organ pipes, or far-resounding trumpets. Loud let our hearts ring
out the honors of our conquering Saviour; with all our might let us extol the
Lord who has vanquished all our enemies, and led our captivity captive. He will
do this best who is most in love with Jesus.
5. Sing unto the Lord
with the harp. Skill in music should not be
desecrated to the world’s evil mirth; it should aid the private devotions of
the saint. God’s praises should be performed in the best possible manner, but
their sweetness mainly lies in spiritual qualities. The concords of faith and
repentance, the harmonies of obedience and love are true music in the ear of
the Most High. With the harp. The repetition of the word is highly
poetical, and shows that the daintiest expressions of poetry are none too rich
for the praise of God. All repetitions are not vain repetitions; in sacred song
there should be graceful repeats; they render the sense emphatic, and help to
fire the soul; even preachers go not amiss when they dwell on a word and sound
it out again and again, till dull ears feel its emphasis. And the voice of a
psalm, or with “a musical voice,” as distinguished from common speech.
Our voice has in it many modulations; there is the voice of conversation, the
voice of complaint, the voice of pleading, the voice of command, and there
ought to be with each of us the voice of a psalm.
6. With trumpets and sound of comet make a joyful noise. God’s worship should be heartily loud. The far resounding
trump and horn well symbolize the power which should be put forth in praise. Before
the Lord, the King. On
coronation days, and when beloved monarchs ride abroad, the people shout and
the trumpets sound till the walls ring again. Let but the reigning power of
Jesus be felt in the soul and we shall cast aside that shill mutter, downed by
the pealing organ, which is now so commonly the substitute for earnest
congregational singing.
7. Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. Even its thunders will not be too grand for such a theme.
Handel, in some of his sublime choruses, would have been glad of its aid to
express his lofty conceptions. The world, and they that dwell therein.
The land should be in harmony with the ocean. Its mountains and plains, cities
and villages, should prolong the voice of jubilee which welcomes the Lord of
all. Nothing can be more sublime than this verse; yet no song is equal to the
majesty of the theme when Jehovah, the King, is to be extolled.
8. Let the floods clap their hands. The rolling rivers, the tidal estuaries, the roaring
cataracts, are here summoned to pay their homage, and to clap their hands, as
men do when they greet their sovereign with acclamation. Let the hills be
joyful together, or in concert with the floods. Silent as are the mighty
mountains, let them forget themselves, and burst forth into a sublime
uproariousness of mirth.
9. Before the Lord;
for he cometh to judge the earth.
Stiller music such as made the stars twinkle with their soft kind eyes suited
his first coming at Bethlehem, but his second advent calls for trumpets, for he
is a judge; and for all earth’s acclamations, for he has put on his royal
splendor. The rule of Christ is the joy of nature. All things bless his throne,
yea, and the very coming of it. With righteousness shall he judge the world,
and the people with equity. This is the joy of it. If ever there was a
thing to rejoice in upon this poor earth, it is the coming of such a deliverer,
the ascension to the universal throne of such a governor.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
