JESUS PROVIDES SALVATION AND MAKES IT KNOWN

JESUS PROVIDES THE GOD DESIRED SALVATION FOR MEN

"His right hand and His holy arm hath wrought salvation for Him. Jehovah hath made known His salvation" Psa. 98:1, 2

The theme is the same in these last Psalms, that of the reign of Jehovah. This song opens and closes in almost the same words as in Psa. 96. Here the central matter for which praise is offered is the salvation which results from the reign of this God. It moves in three measures; first, the salvation of God's people Israel, and that in righteousness; second, the consequent discovery of His Kingship by all the earth; and third, the gladness of Nature as it expresses the greatness of God. In these words at the beginning of the song two great truths concerning human salvation emerge. The first statement is that salvation is God's work; His right hand, and. His holy arm, hath wrought "salvation for Him." The idea is that salvation was in HIS PURPOSE; He desired it; He willed it. That being so it was imperative that He should provide. Whatever needed to be done, He must do. The singer rejoiced that Jehovah had provided what He desired. Here the heart of truth concerning salvation, in all the Gospel fullness of the term, is revealed. GOD DESIRED THE SALVATION OF MEN. MEN COULD NOT PROVIDE SALVATION. Then He wrought in a mystery of love and holiness and power; and so salvation is made possible. The second statement is that HE HAS MADE KNOWN His salvation. He has REVEALED it to men, and in its victories He makes it known more and more perfectly. Thus this Hebrew singer celebrated a truth the full value of which he hardly recognized. Here we have in the first statement, a declaration concerning those profound activities within the Deity, out of which human salvation is possible; and in the second, a declaration which covers the ground of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. In Phil. 2:5-11, we find the New Testament light on this passage.