Behold His Faithfulness

Another place we see God’s faithfulness is in the story of Christ’s birth. Here’s how Luke’s Gospel presents God’s covenant-keeping love to his people through a man named Simeon:

There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, looking forward to Israel’s consolation, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he saw the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, he entered the temple. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him up in his arms, praised God, and said,

Now, Master, you can dismiss your servant in peace, as you promised. For my eyes have seen your salvation. You have prepared it in the presence of all peoples—a light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory to your people Israel. (Luke 2:25-32)

God’s promises of a coming Messiah started centuries before Simeon, stretching all the way back to the beginning of the Bible when sin, suffering, and death first entered the world. In Genesis 3:15 God promised that he would send a seed from the woman who would crush the head of Satan. In Genesis 12:1-3 God foretold how the seed of Abraham would bring blessing to all the peoples of the earth. He would be a prophet like Moses, according to Deuteronomy 18:15. According to 2 Samuel 7:16, he would be a king from the line of David, and his throne would last forever. Isaiah explained that he would be born of a virgin (Isa 7:14) and that he would be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6).

These promises were a perpetual source of comfort and consolation in the midst of massive suffering among God’s people, whether it was during slavery in Egypt or when foreign nations eventually plundered them, destroyed the temple, and scattered them into exile. Yet, amid exile, God promised his people a shepherd from the line of David (Ezek 37:24-27). So even after God’s people returned from exile, they were still waiting for the Messiah. Again God promised, “Look, your King is coming to you; he is righteous and victorious. . . . He will proclaim peace to the nations” (Zech 9:9-10). All the way to the last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament, God promised, “The sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings” (Mal 4:2). Then there was silence—for four hundred years.

Imagine generation after generation asking, “Where do we look for help? What’s wrong?” Then, after centuries of silence, Simeon, who Luke says was “righteous and devout,” a man who had longed and looked for Israel’s consolation (Luke 2:25), walked into the temple trusting the promise of God on a day that seemed like every other day. But this day was different. The glory of God was in the temple; the consolation of Israel had come. Simeon had waited all his life; creation had waited for centuries. And now the Christ, the promised Messiah, was right in front of him. This was, and is, the greatest news in all the world: God has not forgotten his people! God has kept his promise—to bring salvation to you and me! This is why, according to Psalm 98, we respond by singing “a new song to the Lord,” for “he has remembered his love and faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen our God’s victory” (vv. 1,3).

Why God’s Faithfulness Matters

After seeing what God’s faithfulness means, the psalmist gives us at least three reasons God’s faithfulness matters for our lives.

You Can Have Peace from Your Past

Psalm 98 starts by looking back, then it looks to the present, and finally it looks to the future. Regardless of whether the psalmist is looking back to slavery in Egypt or slavery in exile, he’s talking about the Lord’s deliverance and salvation. How much more, on this side of the coming of Christ and his death on the cross for our sins, should we sing this “new song”?

God has saved us not just from slavery in Egypt or exile but from our sin! Despite our unfaithfulness to him, he has remained faithful to us. He has not forgotten us. He has kept his promises to us—to love us, to care for us, to keep us, to preserve us, to save us from our sin. In Jeremiah 31:34 God promises to all who trust in Jesus, “I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.” Oh, Christian, let this soak in: God has saved you not only from the penalty and power of sin but also from the remembrance of it in your life altogether. He chooses not to remember any of it!

You Can Have Joy in the Present

In light of God’s faithfulness, the psalmist exhorts the whole earth to “shout for joy” to the Lord (v. 4) and to “shout triumphantly in the presence of the Lord, our King” (v. 6). The language in these verses is loud, with “trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn” accompanying shouts and singing. In a world of sin and suffering, because of the faithfulness of God, we have a loud, triumphant song to sing.

Even in the midst of struggle, we know God has not, and will not, forget us. He will keep every single one of his promises to us—promises to strengthen us in the middle of our weakness, to give us wisdom in the middle of confusion, peace in the midst of turmoil, rest in the midst of stress, calm in the midst of anxiety, courage in the face of fear, and ultimately, hope in the face of despair. God has promised us every single one of these things, and he always keeps his promises, no matter how hard this world gets.

You Can Have Hope for the Future

The last part of this psalm is a call for all creation to celebrate the coming of the Lord. The righteousness of God will reign over the world, and everything in the world will be made right. This psalm is about something much bigger than deliverance from slavery in Egypt or from exile. It’s about something much bigger than even the initial coming of Christ. This is why Isaac Watts wrote his hymn “Joy to the World.” He wasn’t painting a picture of the birth of Christ; he was painting a picture of the return of Christ. He wrote about the day when heaven and nature are fully united in song before Christ the King.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found,

Far as the curse is found,

Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace

And makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness,

And wonders of His love,

And wonders of His love,

And wonders, wonders, of His love. (Watts, “Joy to the World”)

Watts wrote this hymn in anticipation of the day when Christ will rule the world with truth and grace, and we will perfectly enjoy the glories of his righteousness and the wonders of his love. Obviously, all of these things are possible because of the first coming of Christ—his life, death, and resurrection—but we’re still waiting for the day when sin and suffering will be no more. We have put our hope in the faithfulness of God.

Reflect and Discuss