Psalm 149 – THE PEOPLE OF GOD
The world is always bestowing honors and rewards.
There are the Peabody Awards, The Emmy Awards, The Nobel Peace Prize, The Country Music Association Awards, The Academy Awards and the Dove Awards. In Sports there’s The Heisman Trophy, The Lombardi Trophy, The Stanley Cup, Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, and many other sports and non-sports awards. Each government and school plus many businesses are always giving out honors and awards as well.
But God has given the Christian honors greater than all of the honors and awards given out by man. God has given us very special honors that nobody deserves. In order to give us these honors, God sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins (Romans 5:6-9). In order to receive these honors, we only need to trust Christ as our Savior (John 3:16). We are awarded eternal life when we trust Christ, and we are given other special honors. One of the biggest honors we have is that we become His children (John 1:12-13). This means that we are honored by being the people of God (1 Peter 2:9, Psalm 100:3).
In Psalm 149 it is the People of God who are called upon to give praise. Of course, when the people of God are mentioned the Book of Psalms, the nation Israel is in view. This is a Psalm for Israel, but it is also a Psalm for us, who are in this age the people of God.
THE PEOPLE OF GOD ARE A DEVOTED PEOPLE – Vss. 1-3
It is the people of God who are to be devoted to their God with praise, thanksgiving and adoration. We are the ones who have the best reasons to praise God.
THE PEOPLE OF GOD ARE ADELIVERED PEOPLE – Vss. 4-5
This Psalm was evidently written in celebration of a particular deliverance that the people of God had received. We as God’s people are constantly being delivered from temptation, trials, and opposition. We as God’s people are also constantly receiving answers to prayer. We are to rejoice in this deliverance.
THE PEOPLE OF GOD ARE A DEPLOYED PEOPLE – Vss. 6-9
I’m thinking of deployment here in the sense of sending out troops to fight. Israel was often used as an instrument of God in judgment. God has deployed the Christian today in a different kind of battle.
We are deployed to fight Satan’s attacks. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, Ephesians 6:10-18
And when the Lord returns to earth to set up His Kingdom, we will be in His army. Jude 1:14-15