WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE

MONDAY 24 APRIL 2023

The psalm below is a hymn psalm that invites the entire people of the earth and all of creation to participate in singing beautiful melodies and new songs of joy that can explode into an exuberant praise, as we celebrate God's salvation and justice to mankind.

Reference: Psalm 98:2 New International Version (NIV) "The LORD has proclaimed His salvation and revealed His righteousness to the nations."

The (NLT) reads: The LORD has announced His victory and has revealed His righteousness to every nation!

There are two important actions taken by the Almighty God in our referenced Scripture. The first one is: He proclaimed His salvation (which involves Christ's victory on the Cross), and the second, He revealed His righteousness to the world. In a literal sense, the aim of the Psalmist was to celebrate God's victory and justice, but interestingly, there is more to the significance of the wordings than just the celebration.

I will start by expounding the first, which is "The LORD has proclaimed His salvation." Titus 2:11 (NLT) reads, "For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people." How did it happen? Through the victory of Christ on the Cross. Then the next verse, (Titus 2:12 NLT) says, "And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God." What does that imply? The LORD has proclaimed His salvation to mankind!

And the second: He revealed His righteousness to the nations. How? Through His Son's sacrificial death and His victorious resurrection. For this purpose, Romans 3:22-25 (NIV) reads, "This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished..." The notion contained in these very verses is that of Christ's sacrifice of atonement, which dealt with sin and exercised absolute victory over death, thereby revealing God's righteousness to the World.

According to this book of Romans, Paul the apostle explained that all of mankind engaged the sinful nature because of Adam, and for this reason, the carnal man or mankind is an enemy to God; they were separated from God, and all their futile attempts to reach Him in His glory remained a failure. Then something happened. Christ was presented by God as a sin offering. When God set Him up to be the sacrifice by the seat of mercy where sins are atoned through faith, His blood became the demonstration of God's own restorative justice. Now mankind can receive salvation and be made right with God by His free gift of grace through the redemption available only in Christ Jesus. Got it?

At one time, God turned His face from mankind because of His deep repugnance for sin; yet at the fullness of time, He focused the unfathomable richness of His love and mercy on us (even though we were buried under mountains of sin) and made His salvation available by the sufferings of His Son in the flesh. Now by His grace, anyone who believes in Christ Jesus will be pardoned and justified, meaning that the satisfaction of His atoning sacrifice is befitting to divine justice, and hence, the door of salvation is now open to all mankind. That's exactly what it means by LORD proclaiming His salvation to the world, and revealing His righteousness to all nations.

Simply put, the Almighty God has made it clear that He saves and He has shown the nations that He has done what is right for us. His salvation and righteousness are found in Christ Jesus alone. To that effect, Pauline epistle noted, "And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith" (Philippians 3:9 NKJV). To be in Christ is symbolic of receiving God's salvation in Christ, as well as the revelation of God's righteousness in man. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - John 3:16-18; Acts 4:12; John 14:6; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5.

Guided Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for uniting me with Christ, the Anointed One and infusing my spirit with eternal life that is found in Christ. By your grace, I have been saved and I've received the gift of your righteousness through my faith in Christ. I therefore stand as a living testimony to the incredible riches of your grace and kindness, freely given in Christ, in Jesus' Name, Amen!