Praise God’s Salvation and Judgment

Psalms 149:1-9 

1 Praise the LORD!
Sing to the LORD a new song,
And His praise in the assembly of saints.

2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.

3 Let them praise His name with the dance;
Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.

4 For the LORD takes pleasure in His people;
He will beautify the humble with salvation.

5 Let the saints be joyful in glory;
Let them sing aloud on their beds.

6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
And a two-edged sword in their hand,

7 To execute vengeance on the nations,
And punishments on the peoples;

8 To bind their kings with chains,
And their nobles with fetters of iron;

9 To execute on them the written judgment—
This honor have all His saints.

Praise the LORD!

We should sing this song of praise for God’s judgment and salvation.  This new song looks to His grace to save us, not by the works of doing to earn life (Romans 10:5-6, 9-10, 13, Galatians 3:10-11), but by trusting and relying wholly on God’s work of merciful goodness and grace by true faith.  This new song is realized in the New Covenant which is in and through the blood of Christ’s atoning sacrifice which opens the way through the veil to the presence of God in the holy of holies (Hebrews 10:19-21), where we live in His righteousness and holiness.  We praise Him together in the assembly of saints made perfect in Christ (John 17:23, Hebrews 12:23-24).  Yes, because of these works of God, we join in with Israel with giving and experiencing joy in our Maker and King, the sovereign potentate who rules our souls.  Praise can be found and expressed through dance, song, and joyfully played instruments, no matter the foibles of the culture, just as king David danced with joyful praise before God and yet was despised (2 Samuel 6:14, 16, 21-22) in His humble and undignified worship in the eyes of one set against the Lord and His chosen one.  Yes, the LORD does find pleasure in His people and makes us beautiful by adorning the humble and meek (Psalm 37:11, Matthew 5:5) with His salvation, because we trust in Him and His work in Christ alone by faith alone to the glory of God alone.  In this glory we enter into, we are joyful and sometimes sing even as we lie down to sleep at the day’s ending.  His high praise fills our words as we wield the two-edged sword of His word to bring this good and praiseworthy news to others  (Hebrews 4:12), which cuts the heart to show man’s sinful state apart from the righteousness in Christ alone (Philippians 3:9-10, Galatians 2:21) and His work alone which we have trust in as the work of salvation (John 6:28-29).  This word either convicts to change, or condemns the unrepentant who reject Him and that word which we wield as a sword to separate wheat and chaff.  God’s just vengeance is the other side of the sword of unmerited grace.  The saints called out in Christ into the assembly of the called and chosen have the honor of bearing witness to God’s words and work of judgment and salvation.  We therefore praise our Lord for the grace that has saved us from judgment through faith and not our works to earn this standing (Ephesians 2:8-9).  Amen!