Many of us have had some pretty good parents. I was blessed with a situation where until I graduated from Bible institute I had parents that provided for my needs — food, clothing, shelter, medical care and more (Notice I put food first. From that, you can get a glimpse of how my mind works.) Before I continue, I would like to say I am very painfully aware that there are many who are, or have not been, so blessed in that manner.
Now, when one surrenders to Christ, things, foundationally in the spiritual realm, are even far better because one becomes a child of the King of the universe. That, in itself, should be sufficient for any true disciple to be continually praising the Lord.
That point is brought out in Psalm 149:1-6 where we will see three main reasons for a child of the King to rejoice.
I. Who God Is To Us 1-2
1 Praise ye YHWH. Sing unto YHWH a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.
2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
Let us start with verse 2 since it gives us the first main reason to rejoice. As you can see, it is twofold: God is our Maker and our King if we are truly in Christ.
The thought of God our Maker should be considered predominately in the spiritual sense. Especially if one is a true disciple they will actively acknowledge that Christ is the Author and Finisher of their faithfulness (Hebrews 12:2). I know it says “faith” in many translations but the actual Greek word used in the cited verse can be translated, and probably should be in this case, as faithfulness.
Christ being King is a fact that is missed by many. That is exactly what He is and anyone that names the Name of Christ should act upon with loving obedience. We did not vote Him in as president or pope. Christ is King and it is best for us to willingly subject ourselves to Him.
Note that the psalm begins with the command to praise YHWH. It is really not an option. This command to praise YHWH occurs many more times in the Holy Bible. The fact that God is our Maker and King should be ample reason for us to unashamedly praise Him, for He is indeed worthy.
It is also reason to sing, and while any worship song would be fine, the verse speaks of a “new song.” Interestingly enough, “new song” occurs nine times in the Holy Scriptures, being found in three books, viz., Psalms, Isaiah and The Revelation. To me, nine speaks of the nine gifts (1 Corinthians 12:4-11) and the nine fruits (Galatians 5:22-23) of the Holy Spirit.
II. What He Does For Us 3-4
3 Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.
4 For YHWH takes pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
Notice the praise of God continues with physical expression — dance, and musical instruments. While being quiet can be an expression of reverence, obeying the Holy Scriptures with obvious praise to God is also reverent.
There is good reason for it since He takes pleasure in His children, even though we still strive against sin and aim for perfection.
The last portion of verse four looks like I could build another whole sermon (message) upon. I see the tremendous love of God in the words, “He will…” He wants to, he desires to.
And His desire is to beautify His true children. Following after sin makes us spiritually, and oftentimes socially and sometimes physically, ugly. Sometimes the devil convinces people they are ugly and worthless. But, because of the immense love of God, when one surrenders to Christ, the Holy Spirit can activate the life of Christ within so we become a new creation in Him formed after the image of the Son (Romans 8:29). This process is more quickly activated if we are meek, humble, resigned to the will of God in our life. This results in salvation, being saved from ourselves, sin, our sin nature, the wrath of God, and more.
III. What He Does, And Will Do, With Them 5-6
5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;
The spiritual beautification process molds us into His wonderful glory. We can also look ahead on that point toward our resurrection when we will have a body like Christ’s and enjoy numerous blessings.
To sing aloud upon our beds speaks to the fact that He can give us songs in the night (Job 35:10), those times when things seem to be so dark. With the way the U.S.A. is currently going, many of us are and will seek Him for songs in the night.
Our open highly exalted praise of God despite what we face will no doubt will be one of the distinguishing marks of His disciples as humanity enters the night “when no man can work.” Hopefully it will cause some to be very curious and therefor be an opportunity to bring them to Christ.
That twoedged sword that is to be in our hands should remind us of the Word of God. The combination of the high praise of God in our mouth and the His sword of the Word which speaks of His redeeming blood in our hands reminds me of Revelation 12:11, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
It is good to keep in mind the Gospel of Christ can cut in both ways. Indeed, by the Holy Spirit it will convict the sinner of their need of Christ, but at the same time it will convict His disciples of their continued need of Him.
If we would continue in this Psalm we would see that we will at some future point beyond the end of the Church Age share in the vengeance of our God. However, for this message, at out time, I stopped at verse six. Is it correct for me or any minister to stop like that? Yes, because Christ did the same thing to bring out specific points of a prophecy that met the current time He was ministering in while the balance of that prophecy would occur for another time period.
I am referring to the time when Christ was given the scroll of Isaiah and selected Isaiah 61:1-2a to read. He actually stopped at the first phrase of verse 2, “to proclaim the acceptable year of YHWH.” He did not read the remainder of verse 2 and all of 3, for that was for a time to come.
That is a time that may come in your lifetime. It is very possible because Israel “came back on the map” in 1948. I hope those who read this are ready either for that or to face God if they would die. You can have the peace of God right now that will give you songs in the night if you repent of sin and surrender completely to Christ, giving your entire life to Him, and making Him your King.
Notes:
God willing by April 12, 2013 (hopefully much sooner), you should be able to hear the actual message (sermon) by selecting a link at http://www.sapphirestreams.com/life/audioM.html#M241 .
Unless otherwise noted all Holy Scripture is from the 1769 Authorized Version with spelling of some words updated for our time in addition to changing LORD to YHWH as it rightly should be when the text so indicates.
Not responsible for lead picture after date of publication. Not responsible for any advertisements appearing with this article nor am I necessarily in agreement with any of them. The statements of this paragraph hold true not only for this article, but for everything I have placed on the Internet.
Great reasons to rejoice