Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Ps 149:1 and following. Indeed, we have come to the conclusion of the Psalms, this “book of trial” whose last page will not be turned until the end of our earthly stay. And we find that all the sufferings described in it have resulted in this final result: the praise of God through all that breathes. May this be the case with each of our trials: may it be found “turning to praise, and to glory, and to honor, in the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:3-9).
The book of Psalms began with God blessing man: it ends with man blessing God. We have heard successively the hallelujah sung by the saved residue (Ps 146:1-10), by Jerusalem (Ps 147:1-20), and by Creation (Ps 148:1-14). Psalm 149 is about the new song of Israel and the last judgments preceding the Kingdom. Finally, Psalm 150 answers all the questions concerning praise: Who is to be worshipped; where (verse 1), why (verse 2), how (verses 3 to 5), and by whom (verse 6) worship is to be given to God. All the various expressions of this universal praise merge into perfect harmony. For the hymn is unique: it exalts the powerful acts and infinite greatness of the One who will then have fulfilled all his counsel for his own glory and for the universal blessing.
Car ce psalm, it goes without saying, is still part of the same hymn book for the kingdom. But it is exclusively for Israel. It is clear from many passages that Israel will be used as Jehovah’s “weapon of war” against the coalition nations that will rise against his land (Isaiah 41:15; Jeremiah 51:20; Micah 4:13; Zechariah 9:13; 10:3-4). But the faithful of Israel will go to battle with “tambourines and harps” (Isaiah 30:32), that is, as this psalm expresses, “with the praises of God in their mouths,” however great their happy certainty of triumphing will be, since they have glory with them (versets 5-6).
After the country becomes a country of “open cities, the desolate places will be inhabited again” and “the people will be gathered from among the nations”, we see that another army will rise. But these enemies will perish under the destructive ardor of the power of the Lord, sending stones of hail, plague, fire, and torrential rain; on that day the Lord will be “the Most High on all the earth” (Ps. 83; Ezekiel 38–39).
We have only an incomplete idea of the scale of the fighting in the coming days. But what we do know is that praise will be the end of it, and that it will fill everything. “The valley of judgment” will become “the valley of blessing.” For the valley of Jehoshaphat, which will be the place of the last battle (Joel 3), is this valley of Beraca, or “blessing” (2 Chr. 20), where the crash of the battle was lost in the songs of praise. And the millennial land will be a huge valley of Beraca. Everything will be blessed. The city of man will have become a heap of ruins; the afflicted will have trampled him underfoot. Then the city of God will shine; its walls will be salvation and its doors praise; and the righteous nation will enter it (Isaiah 25-27). The light and joy that are still only sown (Ps. 97) will then be reaped, and “it will be for the Lord a name, a sign forever that will not be entrenched.” About this psalm, a word will be said of the “wars of the Lord” (Nb 21:14): they are of two kinds: there are those that the Lord was entirely alone to lead, and those in which he employed his people.
For the Battle of the Red Sea belongs to the first category. There Jehovah fought only Israel had to remain quiet and see Jehovah’s deliverance. God looked from the pillar of clouds, and disordered the army of Egypt (Exodus 14). It was the same during the dispute with Balaam. Again Jehovah was all alone, except for the people of Israel who then did not know what was happening on the distant mountains of Moab (Numbers 22-24). The scenes of 2 Kings 7 and 19, in the later history of Israel, are similar. The second category includes the battles against Amalek, against the Canaanite, king of Arad, Sihon the Amorean, and Og, king of Basan: jehovah employed his people there (Exodus 17; Numb. 21). Similarly when the people entered the country, the battles fought by Gideon, by Jonathan, by David, the battles of Jericho, Ai, as well as others in general, belong, needless to say, to this category. In one case, Jehovah triumphed for Israel, in the other through Israel.
Each of these two categories of fighting has its own moral and spiritual sense. Thus, the great work of redemption, typified by the deliverance of the people of Israel from Egypt, was carried out entirely by one, as we know. The Lord was alone when He aimed at the cup, and He aimed it to the dregs. To him the glory of the victor, for he was alone in the battle. But there are battles for which we have to compete ourselves. Our business is to fight and nothing can be done without us. Spiritual battles are supported by the believer in his own person, and he is deeply aware of the reality of the struggle. He probably realizes the nothingness of his strength in front of the Enemy, but he knows that he must stay on the battlefield from beginning to end. Certainly, the Lord gives strength, but this force is exercised in and through his redeemed. The Spirit who is in the believer fights against the sin that is also there; in other words, the new man mortifies the limbs that are on earth.
So it is now for us. And in days yet to come, the God of Israel will resume His work for and with Israel at once. As with the rod of another Moses, and the sword of another Joshua, he will again write the whole story of exodus and Canaan. Again he will bandage Judah for himself and fill his bow with Ephraim (Zech. 9:13). This is what the last verses of this psalm beautifully proclaim.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
The Lord delights His people:
- New man, a new song is on his lips
Ps 33:3 Sing him a new hymn! Make your instruments and voices sound! Ps 40:4 He put in my mouth a new hymn, A Praise to Our God; Many saw it, and had fear, and they entrusted themselves in the Lord. Ps 144:9 O God! I will sing you a new hymn, I will celebrate you on the ten-stringed lute. Ps 149.1 Praise. From David. I will exalt you, O my God, my king! And I will bless your name forever and in perpetuity. Isa 42:10 Sing to the Lord a new hymn, Sing his praises at the ends of the earth, You who sail on the sea and you who populate it, Islands and inhabitants of the islands! Rev 14:3 And they sang a new hymn before the throne, and before the four living beings and the old men. And no one could learn the hymn, except the one hundred and forty-four thousand, which had been redeemed from the earth. Rev 15:3 And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the lamb, saying: Your works are great and admirable, Lord God Almighty! Your ways are just and true, king of the nations!
- Dance for God
Ex 15:20 Mary, the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women came after her, with tambourines and dancing. 2 Sam 6:14 David danced with all his might before the Lord, and he was surrounded by a linen ephed. Ps 149.3 Let them praise his name with dances, Let them celebrate him with the tambourine and the harp! Ps 150.4 Rent it with the tambourine and with dances! Rent it with the string instruments and the torch!
- People of God, general references
-Possession cherished as a treasure Ex 19:5 Now, if you listen to my voice, and if you keep my covenant, you will belong to me among all peoples, for the whole earth is mine;
-Chosen by the Lord Dt 14:2 For you are a holy people to Jehovah, your God; and Jehovah, your God, has chosen you, that you may be a people who belonged to him among all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
-Led as a flock Ps 78:52 He made His people leave like sheep, He led them like a flock into the wilderness.
Prepared for service Luke 1:17 he will walk before God with the spirit and power of Elijah, to bring the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the rebels to the wisdom of the righteous, in order to prepare for the Lord a well-disposed people.
-Characterized by the zeal Tt 2:14 which has given itself for us, in order to redeem us from all iniquity, and to make a people that belongs to it, purified by it and zealous for good works.
“The law is written on his heart Hb 8:10 But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel, After these days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds, I will write them in their hearts; And I will be their God, and they will be my people. 1 Pet 2:9 You, on the contrary, are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, an acquired people, that you may proclaim the virtues of him who called you from darkness to his admirable light, Rev 21:3, and I heard from the throne a loud voice that said: Behold the tabernacle of God with men! He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them.
- Divine royalty, general references
Ex 15:18 Jehovah will reign eternally and forever. 2 Ch 20:6 And he said, Jehovah, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven, and is it not you who dominates over all the kingdoms of the nations? Is it not you who has strength and power in hand, and to whom no one can resist? Ps 24:10 Who then is this king of glory? -The Lord of hosts: This is the king of glory! -Pause. 1 Tim 1:17 To the king of the ages, immortal, invisible, only God, be honor and glory, in the ages of the ages! Amen! Rev 19:6 And I heard as a voice of a large crowd, as a sound of great waters, and as a sound of loud thunders, saying: Hallelujah! For the Lord our Almighty God has entered into His kingdom.
From all the above, we note thatPs 149 invites Israel to praise. We have constantly seen the ancient creation and Israel going together. The Psalm then presents the reasons for celebrating it: the Lord takes pleasure in his people: but we learn which ones belong to this place: “He adorns the debonair she creation and the Church), and forming the sphere of the Psalms. However, here one sings in the congregation of saints. Israel’s relationship is twofold: Jehovah has trained him for his praise; he is his king in Zion of salvation”; then the saints rejoice in glory. But if God’s praises are in their mouths, the sword of earthly judgment and vengeance is in their hand to carry out this judgment on nations and peoples, to bind the powerful who once oppressed them. That is the judgment that was written. This glory is for all his saints. The people presented here are, therefore, in an obvious way, the debonairs of Israel, now delivered, with the Lord Jesus, king in Zion, and carrying out judgment on those who had oppressed them. This is truly, in the words of the Psalm, “the judgment that was written”; this confirms the aspect in which the last two books are envisaged. The millennium itself is not described: the Psalms introduce us to it; but by the way they relate Christ, as we see in the gospels, with the residue of Israel in the last days, they shed the brightest light on the gospels themselves. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow ” the faithful celebrate the joy that awaits him in the House of the Lord.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.