1. Praise Yahweh!
Sing to Yahweh a new song,
His praise in the congregation of saints.
2. Let Israel rejoice in the one who made him.
Let the sons of Zion be glad in their king.
3. Let them praise His name with dancing.
With tambourine and harp let them hymn to Him,
4. Because Yahweh takes pleasure in His people.
He will adorn the afflicted ones with salvation.
5. Let the saints be joyful in glory.
Let them shout aloud on their beds.
6. Let the exaltings of God be in their throat,
And a sword of edges in their hand,
7. To accomplish vengeance on the nations,
Punishments on the peoples,
8. To bind their kings with chains,
And their glorious ones with fetters of iron,
9. To accomplish on them the judgment written.
It is an honor for all His saints.
Praise Yahweh!
Psalm 149 has two parts. In verses 1–5 the psalm calls the people of Israel to praise their king for the salvation with which He has adorned them. In verses 6–9 it calls them to go forth to the nations with this praise of God, wielding a sword with which to avenge God on His enemies. So there are two parts to their response to salvation: direct praise of God and acting on His behalf against the nations.
This corresponds precisely (and not by accident) with the New Testament believer’s response to the work of grace in him. He praises the God of His salvation, and goes to make war with (or bear witness to) the nations of the power of God and the work He is doing in the world.
His weapon is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Eph. 6:17). It is a sharp two-edged sword “piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). It is the sword of Christ Himself. For “out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations, and He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” (Rev. 19:15).
This Word of God triumphs over all to whom it comes, either for salvation or for judgment. It will not return to Him void (Isa. 55:11). “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Cor. 2:14–16).
Psalm 149 celebrates first the triumph of the gospel unto salvation among God’s people (the church) and then its triumph over the nations of the world. It binds kings and nobles with unbreakable fetters and executes the very judgment that is written in it.
This is an honor for all the saints. Their proclamation of the gospel is mighty by the power of Christ working through them. It will establish the kingdom of God and overthrow the kingdoms of men. It will not establish an earthly kingdom (as the post-millennialists believe) but the kingdom of heaven. Christianity may never again prevail on earth, but it will prevail in the end, and the gospel is the means by which God accomplishes it. The weapons of our warfare pull down strongholds, cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. They bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and punish all disobedience (2 Cor. 10:4–5).
Psalm 149 is one of many missionary psalms. It celebrates not only the work of salvation which the gospel accomplishes but also the work of judgment, an aspect of the gospel’s work which we often neglect.