This psalm is a psalm of prophecy; it is about God’s promise of redemption beginning in the Garden of Eden recorded in Genesis 3. Of course, this psalm was written hundreds of years before Christ came.
“Sing a new song to the Lord, for He has done wonderful deeds. His right hand has won a mighty victory; His holy arm has shown His saving power. The Lord has announced His righteousness to every nation!” But how has God revealed Himself to every nation? There has been throughout history a belief that God would visit mankind. For example, in his book, Our Oriental Heritage, Will Durant referred to Mahatma Gandhi when he wrote, “The Jains (of India) may yet name him as one of their Jinas, another incarnation of the great spirit that periodically is made flesh to redeem the world.” (p 421-422).
Nation after nation for thousands of years have looked to spiritual leaders, warriors, or politicians to lead them to a meaningful life, but only Christ has made a real difference. The magi of the East were looking for God’s redemption and saw it in a star in the heavens. (Matthew 2) Perhaps many others saw this remarkable sign and believed but were unable to follow the star. This was God showing His great love for humans by becoming one of us, yielding Himself to suffer the pains of crucifixion and having the Father turn away His face as He (Christ) became sin for us.
It was by faith the writer of this psalm found redemption with God. Hebrews 11 gives us a description of Old Testament saints who by faith looked forward to the promised Messiah. It is by faith that we look back at Calvary to claim our redemption and teach our children to trust in Christ. We may also claim the promise God gave through Paul to the Philippian jailor, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved along with everyone in your household!” (Acts 16:31)
It was up to the Apostles and the early church to evangelize their generation. God passes that task to each generation of the church. We must be like the early church and fall to our knees praying for the empowering Holy Spirit to move in our lives, in our communities, and around the world bringing a great awakening among the lost and a great revival within the church that we all may rejoice in His salvation.