The final stanza is poetic and in some ways the most unexpected. For in it, in beautiful language, the psalmist calls upon the entire creation to praise God. In the first stanza the appeal is to Israel. In the second stanza the appeal is to the nations of the earth. In this last stanza the call is to creation or, as we would say, the cosmos. The reason for it is that God is coming to "judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity” (v. 9).
The second stanza of Psalm 98 praises God as King, which is why it is included in the block of royal psalms (Psalms 93-100). The first stanza praised God as Savior and called on the people of Israel to sing a new song to him. This stanza views him as king not only of Israel but of the whole earth.
As we read yesterday, the New Testament reveals three kinds of deliverance. We have already looked at the first kind, deliverance from sin.
Each of the three stanzas of this psalm calls on one part of creation to praise God, and in the first stanza this is Israel (vv. 1-3). This is because, "He [God] has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel" (v. 3).
There is a well-known and frequently quoted passage in Ecclesiastes that declares, "There is a time for everything,…a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance" (Eccles. 3:1, 4). The passage is familiar and frequently quoted because it applies to so many experiences of life. The point I want to make here is that it applies to Psalm 98.
