#DailyDevotion Hear Repent From Christians Now Or Judgment From Them On The Last Day
Psalm 149 Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, praising Him in the congregation of His devoted ones. 2 Israel should be happy in Him Who made them, and the people of Zion delight in their King. 3They should praise His name with dancing and play on the tambourine and lyre to Him. 4The LORD delights in His people; He glorifies the humble with victory. 5His devoted ones should rejoice in this honor and shout happily on their beds.
As in the previous psalm, the first “praise the Lord” and the last “praise the Lord the Lord” is Yah. The LORD in other places is Yahweh. These are not the same name. They are the same person though. Why should we praise the Lord and sing to the Lord a new song? We note that it is the congregation, His devoted ones of Israel, or the people of Zion; these are those who are called to give praise to the LORD and sing to him a new song. He confesses here it is the LORD who made them and it is the LORD who is the king. This is important when Jesus is crucified and Pontius Pilate places to charge above him Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews. When we say Jesus is King, we do not mean just any earthly king like King Charles, but we mean the Creator of the universe, the One who called Israel out of Egypt.
Ancient Israel not only praised the name of the LORD and played musical instruments to Him but they also danced in their praising the Lord. I don’t know when the early church stopped this, but it seems to me it would certainly be a lot of fun to do so. Perhaps not in a formal worship service, but perhaps on festival days in homes like on Christmas or Easter. I also have no idea what this would look like. Would we just copy the Jews and their dances today? I think not. Perhaps we could capture their spirit in what we do. It certainly shouldn’t be provocative.
I find it interesting here the LORD delights in His people. I don’t think we focus on this a whole lot in the Church. It’s not always gloom and doom and our relationship with our God and Father. He looks at us with our faith in Him and His Son Jesus Christ and takes great delight in that. What does that look like? I don’t know but it’s nice to think about. In His delighting of us He glorifies the humble with victory. That is to say, we who come to Him with all humility and not only confessing our sins but also confessing that everything we have is from Him, by Him, and for Him, this our humility God works our victory in. In this victory we should shout happily and loudly upon our beds even.
6High praise to God should be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands 7to take vengeance on the nations and correct the peoples, 8to bind their kings with chains and their leaders with iron fetters, 9to punish them as it is written. This is an honor which belongs to all His devoted ones. Praise the LORD!
For the ancient Israelites, singing praise to God and having a two-edged sword in their hands made sense as they were executing judgment on the people of Canaan who rejected the word of the LORD through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For us people of God today, the double-edge sword for us is the Word of God. We use this to call the people of the world to repent before the Last Judgment so they can escape it. Yet, if they reject this Word, Paul writes in 1 Cor. 6, “2Or don’t you know these holy people will judge the world? And if you judge the world, aren’t you able to judge trifles? Don’t you know we’ll judge angels?” Calling people to repent isn’t judging them. Warning them of the judgment to come isn’t judging them. But we will judge them with Christ on the Last Day. This is the honor which belongs to all His devoted ones. Those who abuse us with, “Don’t judge me,” will be embarrassed on that day and may plead to us for mercy, but they will receive none. It was our great mercy to call them to repent. It was rejected out of hand. They refused the mercy of God and will get what they deserve. Praise be to Yah!
Heavenly Father, have mercy upon us and constantly call us to repent of our sins, so we may not be judged with the world. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.