Psalm 98:3 – All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God

November 23, 2024

Psalms 98:3 NKJV

He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel: One of God’s marvelous things is His unending mercy and faithfulness to the covenant people of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is strange to think that some believe God has forgotten His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God: God’s work was centered in the house of Israel, but the ends of the earth were never to be forgotten. From the very beginning of His covenant plan with Abraham, all the families of the earth were in view (Genesis 12:3). (Guzik)

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“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 Israel were called into fellowship and still remain so. The mercy which endureth forever, and the fidelity which cannot forget a promise, secure to the chosen seed the salvation long ago guaranteed by the covenant of grace.

“All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.” Not to Abraham’s seed alone after the flesh, 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. (Spurgeon)

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He hath remembered his mercy – Compare the notes at Luke 1:54-55 (note), Luke 1:72 (note), where this passage in the Psalms was not improbably referred to by Mary and Zacharias. The idea is, that God had called to mind his promise of mercy to his people; that he had not suffered it to pass out of his recollection; that he had kept his word.

And his truth – He has kept his promise; he has shown that he is a God of truth.

Toward the house of Israel – Toward his people.

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God – This appears to have been quoted from Isaiah 52:10. See the notes at that passage. The resemblance in the language is so strong as to make it probable that the psalm was composed after the times of Isaiah, and not improbably to be used (as remarked above) in the dedication of the temple after the captivity. The whole psalm would be appropriate to celebrate that deliverance; while, at the same time, like the language in Isaiah, it would be adapted to celebrate a higher deliverance – under the Messiah – of which that was an emblem.

(Barnes)

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He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel,…. His mercy promised them, in raising up a Saviour to them, one that should be the glory of them; and his truth, in fulfilling that and every other promise concerning him; see Luke 1:72,

all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God; either Christ himself, who is the salvation or Saviour of God’s appointing, providing, and sending; or the salvation which he has wrought out, the Gospel declaring it; which has been sent throughout the world; and many in all parts of it, even in the most distant parts of it, in the very ends of it, have been made to see the nature, want, worth, and value of it; not every individual person in the world, but some in the several parts, and in the remote corners of it, whither the Gospel has been or will be sent; see Isaiah 52:10. (Gill)

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The accomplishment of the prophecies and promises of the Old Testament, in this (v. 3): He has remembered his mercy and his truth towards the house of Israel. God had mercy in store for the seed of Abraham, and had given them many and great assurances of the kindness he designed them in the latter days; and it was in pursuance of all those that he raised up his Son Jesus to be not only a light to lighten the Gentiles, but the glory of his people Israel; for he sent him, in the first place, to bless them. God is said, in sending Christ, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember the holy covenant, Lu. 1:72. It was in consideration of that, and not of their merit. (Henry)

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Geneva Bible 1560

Psalms 98:3

3 He hath d remembred his mercie & his truth toward the house of Israél: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

d God was moved by none other means to gather his Church of the Jews and Gentiles, but because he would perform his promise.

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He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.