Psalm 149
1 Praise the LORD.
In Hebrew, this is our word Hallelujah!, a word of praise and joy, and that begins and ends this psalm. This second-to-last Psalm of the Bible portrays a spectacular scene: believers from all over the world are praising God. The two halves of the believing church are presented. We often call these the “Church Militant” and the “Church Triumphant.” The militant church, the group of believers who still struggle against sin, against death, and against the devil, is made up of Christians who trust in Jesus Christ here on earth. We await Christ’s return in judgment, and until that day or until the day of our death (whichever comes first) we serve him and with his help we are at war with our own sinful human nature. The triumphant church has no such struggle. Those believers have already entered into heaven, and praise God forevermore.
The Psalm begins in heaven:
Part 1: The Church Triumphant
Sing to the LORD a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the saints.
2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
3 Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music to him with tambourine and harp.
4 For the LORD takes delight in his people;
he crowns the humble with salvation.
5 Let the saints rejoice in this honor
and sing for joy on their beds.
The “new song” is a song that involves praise, dancing, the music of tambourine and harp, and reflects the delight of the Lord and the crowning of humble believers with salvation. This is the victory song of heaven. The “beds” of the saints are probably the sort of reclining couches used by Jesus and his apostles at the Last Supper that were evidently commonplace for meals, and especially for the festival meals of the Old Testament.
For an Old Testament believer, heaven would mean never missing a Sabbath, never getting a sacrifice wrong, never omitting anything required by the Law of Moses, and an end to sacrifices for sin. For an Old Testament believer, the joy of Temple Worship would fill the heart and dominate thoughts of eternal life.
Even an Old Testament believer living between the Testaments turned his thoughts to happiness of heaven:
The spirit of those who fear the Lord will live,
for their hope is in him who saves them.
Those who fear the Lord will not be timid,
or play the coward, for he is their hope.
Happy is the soul that fears the Lord! (Sirach 34:14-17)
Part 2: The Church Militant
6 May the praise of God be in their mouths
and a double-edged sword in their hands,
7 to inflict vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with fetters,
their nobles with shackles of iron,
9 to carry out the sentence written against them.
This is the glory of all his saints.
Praise the LORD. (NIV)
For those of us still in the world, there is still the battle against sin. Some of the terms in this stanza were picked up later in the Bible.
The double-edged sword appears in John’s vision of Jesus in Revelation 1:16 (and Revelation 2:12). There the two-edged sword is the word of God with its two divisions, the law and the gospel. Here, the sword is a reminder of God’s command to drive out the Canaanite nations who were outside God’s family. That command is no longer in place; we now have the sword of God’s word which cuts consciences only and changes hearts to repentance.
The shackles of iron might recall the captivity in Babylon, except that the phrase “shackles of bronze” is used in reference to the Babylonian exile: for Zedekiah (2 Kings 25:7; Jeremiah 39:7 and Jeremiah 52:11), for Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:11), and for for Jehoiakim (2 Chronicles 36:5). Samson was also bound with bronze shackles (Judges 16:20). Only Joseph going to Egypt in Genesis might have had iron shackles (Psalm 105:18). But perhaps more to the point, this passage is about God’s people binding others with shackles, as well as “carrying out the sentence” and “inflicting vengeance.”
Carrying out the sentence was used by Paul as a reference to the courtroom of judgment day: “For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality” (Romans 9:28). Paul went on to warn Israel of their view toward attaining heaven: “What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works” (Romans 9:30-32).
The goal of all Christians must be faithfulness to God, worship of God, and the proclamation of God’s saving message of forgiveness through Christ. We cannot convert an unbeliever by legislation and we cannot win hearts for Christ by sending each other useless chain e-mails about gay marriage in the Salt Water States. To proclaim sin as sin is a fine thing, but the law; the condemnation of sin, does not convert a lost soul. Christians will do nothing but waste the Lord’s time if we attempt to create a Utopian state where everybody looks like a Christian even if they aren’t. Let that be the goal of a Mormon; it cannot be the goal of a Christian.
Think of a house ruined by a storm. If a family’s home is ravaged by a terrible storm, the first thing that they do is make certain that they, the family, are all right. Then, after they have taken care of immediate needs and broken bones and whatever else might be wrong, and only then, will they begin to wade through the wreckage of their house and start to rebuild walls and carpets and replace the TV set. And so it should be with sinners and our brothers and sisters in the world. Our nation has been ravaged by storm after storm of sin, and should we act as if all we care about is that the front porch gets fixed? We should care about the hearts and eternal lifeblood of people.
The rescue of souls is the glory of all his saints. This is the labor of the Church Militant. While we still have time, we support missions at home and missions across the sea. While we still have time, we show our faith in our lives and we make the rough places smooth. While we still have time, we prepare the way of the Lord.
When our time comes to an end, we open our throats to shout “Praise the Lord.”
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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