Psalm 149

Introduction

We’re almost at the end of the psalms. And, as I’ve said before, the final five psalms are all psalms of praise to God; and each one of these psalms of praise begins and ends with ‘Hallelujah!’ or ‘Praise the Lord.’ Praise the Lord: the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God who has bound himself to his people with a promise to be our God and to save us from our sin and misery in this world and to give us eternal life in the next.

Verses 1 to 4

After the opening ‘Hallelujah!’, the psalmist calls on God’s people to sing to the Lord a new song. We’ve come across the idea of a new song before in the psalms. A new song of praise is required to celebrate a new victory. So, after the Lord destroyed Pharaoh’s army in the days of Moses, Moses and the Israelites sang a new song of praise to God to celebrate what he had done for them, when he hurled the horse and its rider into the sea. And whenever God saved his people like that, a new song of praise was needed to celebrate that victory.

In the next line of the psalm, the psalmist calls for praise to be sung in the assembly of the saints. So, he wants all of God’s people to gather together to praise the Lord our God. That’s what we do on Sundays and that’s what the church in glory is doing right now, because in Revelation 7 we read about that great multitude of people from every nation and tribe and people and language, who assemble before the throne of God and before the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. And they’re united in praise to God and to the Lamb. And that’s what we’ll do for ever and for ever in the new heavens and earth: we’ll assemble with all of God’s people to worship him for ever.

In verse 3 the psalmist tells the people of Israel — who are also known as the people of Zion — to rejoice in their Maker and to be glad in their King. God is their Maker, not only in the sense that he made all things in the beginning, but also in the sense that he made them to be his people. Of all the nations fo the earth, he chose them to be his special people. He created them to be his church on earth. And while he gave them kings like David and Solomon to rule over them, they were really only ruling over them on his behalf, because he is the true King of his people. He is the one who rules over them and who protects them. So, God is their Maker, because he made them his people. And he is their King, who rules over them and protects them. And since this is true, they should rejoice in him and be glad because of him. And God is our Maker, because he has brought us into his kingdom by enabling us to trust in his Son. And he now rules over us by his Son and he promises to keep us from all evil.

The psalmist then tells God’s people to praise the Lord with dancing and to make music to him with tambourine and harp. This too recalls the time when the Lord rescued his people from Egypt in the days of Moses. After Moses and the people sang their new song to the Lord, Miriam took a tambourine in her hand and sang to the Lord; and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing.

And so, after that great victory, when the Lord destroyed Pharaoh’s army and set his people free from their captivity, the people responded with enthusiastic praise. Or think of how crowds of people stand up and shout for joy whenever their team scores. The psalmist wants God’s people to praise the Lord with the same enthusiasm and intensity and fervour.

And why should we praise the Lord with enthusiasm? The psalmist tells us in verse 4: for the Lord — who is our Maker and King — takes delight in his people. Or as the ESV puts it, he takes pleasure in his people. Parents take pleasure in their children whenever their children do well: when they see their children excel on the sports-field; or when they win that prize for their exams; or whenever they do well in the workplace when they’re older. If their children mess up and bring shame on the family, it’s a different matter. But when their children do well, parents take pleasure in them and they can’t stop talking about them.

And God is our Heavenly Father and we are his children. But why would he take pleasure in us when we mess up all the time? Why would he take pleasure in us when we sin against him continually in thought and word and deed? It’s because we’re united with Christ and Christ’s perfect righteousness or his perfect goodness is covering us. And so, when God looks on us, he sees the perfect goodness of his Son. And he delights in that.

So, he takes pleasure in us because we are in Christ by faith and God takes pleasures in him. As our Confession of Faith says, ‘the good works done by us are defiled and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection that they cannot meet the searching standard of God’s judgment. Nevertheless, since the persons of believers are accepted through Christ, their good works are also accepted in him. It is not that they are in this life completely without blame and beyond reproof in God’s sight, but that God, looking on them in his Son, is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincerely done, although accompanied by many weaknesses and imperfections.’ So, everything we do is spoiled by our sin, but God accepts us and he accepts what we do because of Christ. He delights in us because of Christ.

And, as the psalmist also says, he crowns the humble with salvation. That is to say, he crowns with salvation his humble people, who are relying on his grace and mercy and not on their own goodness. He gives grace to the humble, but he opposes the proud.

And so, this is why we should praise God both now and for ever: he does not treat us as our sins deserve; he does not repay us according to our iniquity. Instead he treats us according to his grace and mercy. He accepts us and delights in us because of Christ our Saviour.

Verses 5 to 9

In verse 5 he tells God’s people to rejoice in this honour. That is, we should rejoice because of the glory and honour God has given to us. And he tells God’s people to sing to God on their beds. The psalmist might once again be thinking about the time when they were slaves in Egypt. At that time, they had to work hard and no doubt they didn’t feel like praising God when they eventually lay down at night. But now that God has rescued them, and their slavery is over, they should remember to praise God who enables them to lie down in peace at night and to rest their bodies.

Or by mentioning their beds, the psalmist may be making the point that we should praise God day and night. We should rejoice before God during the day, but also at night and before we go to sleep.

And in verse 6 he says that he wants the praise of God to be in their mouths. So, he wants them to praise God with their voices. But then, he also wants a two-edged sword to be in their hands. So, they’re to have praise in their mouths and a sword in their hands to execute vengeance on the nations; and to bind their kings and nobles; and to carry out the sentence written about them.

The psalm therefore takes a surprising turn at the end, but I think what the psalmist writes here recalls once again what happened in the days of Moses and afterwards. After the Lord rescued his people from Egypt, he brought them into the wilderness, where they faced the Amalekites, who attacked them. And God’s people had to defend themselves at that time. And then the Lord led them into the Promised Land, where the Lord commanded them to attack the Canaanites and to destroy them completely. And you might remember that this was not a case of ethnic cleansing, but of judgment, because the Lord was using the Israelites to punish the Canaanites for their wickedness. Those, like Rehab, who gave up their sins and joined the Israelites, were spared, but those who remained unrepentant were destroyed.

And so, in the words of the psalmist, they inflicted vengeance on the nations and they punished them. They did this on God’s behalf, because they were the sword in his hand to judge them. And they bound up their kings and nobles and they carried out the sentence which God had written against them, because the Lord commanded te Israelites to punish the nations in this way.

In those days, the Israelites were to have praise in their mouths and a sword in their hands, because they were to carry out God’s judgment on the nations and they were to praise God for every victory he gave to them. This was the glory or the honour which God gave to his people in those days, because they did not deserve any of this, because they too were sinners who deserved to be condemned and punished. But God delighted in them because of Christ the Saviour and chose them and rescued them and he kept them and he gave them the Promised Land. And so, hallelujah! Praise the Lord for his grace and mercy towards his people.

Conclusion

When we read these things, we need to remember that ever since the Lord died and was raised and commanded his apostles to go into all the world, the kingdom of God spreads not by the sword, but by persuasion; and the church is commanded not to kill the nations but to convert them to faith in Christ. For this, we have the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. It is a sharp, two-edged sword, which is able to pierce the conscience of sinners so that they humble themselves before the Lord and ask for his mercy. But when we use the sword of the Spirit, we’re to do so with gentleness and love and not with hatred.

At the same time, we’re to put to death whatever is sinful in us. We’re to fight with all our might against every sinful thought and desire in our own hearts; and we’re to resist every temptation from without. And when the Lord enables us to stand firm in the faith and to overcome our sinful desires, we’re to praise his name for his gracious help, because without his help, none of us could stand.

And we’re to gather together in the assembly of the saints on Sundays to praise the Lord for his kindness to us in Christ and for saving us from our sin and misery in this life and for assuring us of eternal life in the new heavens and earth, where we’ll praise him for ever and for ever.