Psa 149:1-4 “To Execute Upon Them the Judgment Written” – Part 1

Psa 149:1  Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints. 
Psa 149:2  Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. 
Psa 149:3  Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. 
Psa 149:4  For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation. 

The title of our study is found in the last verse of this Psalm 149 where God describes the honor that will be given to the saints who will be used to show mercy to all of God’s people, a mercy that will unfold through judgement that must first come upon the household of God, and culminates in the lake of fire with “the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God”. God’s elect are being prepared today “to execute upon them the judgment written“.

Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. 

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 

God has concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all, and those who obey not the gospel of God in this age are those who are not being shown that mercy. God’s mercy is God’s goodness that leads us unto repentance and is described as “the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering” that we are not to despise. It is for our sakes that the world is blinded and not given to see the relationship that we have with the cross of Christ, which is the altar that we continue to eat at and that the world has been blinded to being able to see by the god of this world.

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? 

Heb 13:10  We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.

2Co 4:4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 

We praise God today because we can “commit the keeping of their [our] souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator” and know that we are suffering “according to the will of God”. It is God’s will that we suffer and fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ for his body’s sake, which is the church so that we can go unto maturity and rule and reign under Jesus Christ (Col_1:24 , 2Ti_2:12). 

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body‘s sake, which is the church: 

2Ti 2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 

This Psalm is filled with words that describe the praise of God’s saints for the judgement that has come upon us in this age, and the “high praise” to God that we offer to Him for the honour of being sanctified and made to be His workmanship or vessels of honour who are “meet for the master’s use”. God’s purpose for us is to train us up through the chastening grace and faith that we receive as His sons (Heb 12:6, 1Jn 3:1) so that we can “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance”, another way of saying spiritual works in this age that we must be careful to maintain, and God willing we will! (Tit 3:8). 

2Ti 2:21  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. 

2Ti 2:22  Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? 

Mat 3:8  Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

Initially we bring forth those fruits within ourselves as the body of Christ and first fruits of God, but the end result of our growth is to be used to help “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance” in the lives of everyone else who will come up in the second resurrection, to enter into the kingdom of God through the elect who are represented by the pillars in the temple. God will use His “priests of God and of Christ” to bring humanity into the intimate and loving and eternal relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ and His body.

Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. 

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. 

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 

Without judgment in the earth, mankind will not learn righteousness, and even still learning of God’s righteousness does not preclude that someone will continue in it (Joh 8:31-32). That will be very clearly evidenced with anyone who only knows Christ after the flesh or with a fleshly relationship, not yet having God’s holy spirit within them which will be the case during the thousand year reign (Isa 26:9,  Rom 8:9).

Judgment, or the learning of righteousness for the world, will begin with a rulership that will not deviate from God’s word in the least (Mat 5:19). That strict adherence to the law of Christ will set the stage for the destruction of all flesh at the end of the thousand year reign when Satan is loosed for a season and all of the law-keeping of mankind is revealed to have not been accomplished through the righteousness of Christ but via their own wisdom and power (Php 3:9). 

With Christ’s spirit in us today, the least is greater than John the baptist (Luk 7:28), and the earnest relationship (Eph 1:14) we have with Christ now will lead to our entering into the fullness of that relationship in Christ at the first resurrection (Rom 3:10, Joh 17:21). God’s elect are the only ones during the thousand-year reign who can be said to be called “great in the kingdom of heaven” simply because true greatness to God is being able to obey all the commandments of God. That can only be accomplished perfectly through those who have gone on to perfection in the first resurrection (1Jn 1:8, Herod Luk 13:32 , John Luk 7:22, Rev 22:14).

The thousand-year reign of the saints under Christ is a baptism by water given by the saints, and typified by John the baptist’s baptism in his day, but it is the baptism of fire that will change the hearts and minds of mankind (Mat 10:28) so that humanity can bring forth “fruits meet for repentance” being now able to reflect the mind of Christ in all they say and do after they have “suffered a while” as God uses the elect to judge the great unwashed masses to “make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle” you. That is the purpose of the great white throne judgement (1Pe 5:10, Rev 20:11-15).

This Psalm 149 reminds us that we have great reason to rejoice, and again I say rejoice, because the true witness, Jesus Christ, has made His bride ready so that she can “give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready” (Rev 19:7). This honor of being made ready “have all his saints“, and is the reason the idea of praising the Lord is mentioned so often in this Psalm and many other sections of scripture.

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

Psa 149:1  Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints. 

It is within “the congregation of saints” (Luk 17:19-21) that the LORD within us is going to hear “a new song” (2Co 5:17, Mat 13:16, Col 1:27), and that song is one of praise (or boasting)H1984 [H8761] for the sanctification process He is accomplishing through each member of Christ’s body that helps keep the whole body healthy (Eph 4:16). Just prior to being demanded of the Pharisees where the kingdom of God is, Christ said these words in regard to the wholeness that is found within the body of Christ where the kingdom resides in earnest today (Luk 17:19-21).

Luk 17:19  And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole. [What makes us whole is our faith which is manifested through the many members that make us whole or one body, Christ’s body (Luk 17:5-10, Rom 12:1-10, Col 1:24].

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 

Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. [“as he will” – 1Co 12:11]
Rom 12:3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. 
Rom 12:4  For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 
Rom 12:5  So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. 
Rom 12:6  Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; [Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.] 
Rom 12:7  Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; 
Rom 12:8  Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. 
Rom 12:9  Let love be without dissimulation[^G505]. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 
Rom 12:10  Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; [Php 2:3]

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: [Eph 5:26-30]

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 
Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. 

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 

Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

Psa 149:2  Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. 

It is the “Israel” of God who is rejoicing “in him that made him” (Eph 2:10) and the “children of Zion” who are “joyful in their King” (Rev 15:3). 

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. 

Rev 15:3  And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.

Israel and Zion are the symbols that represent God’s elect who are joyful to know that the mind of Christ our King is abiding in us via the holy spirit of God (Col 1:27).

Gal 6:16  And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S. 

1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Revelation 4:8-11 witnesses to the truth that one day all of mankind will know God can do what He wants with that which is His own starting with the “four beasts” that each has “six wings” (24 wings), and that He makes His strength perfect first through the elect who are those kings and priest who “cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power” (Eph 1:11, Rom 9:21). 

Rev 4:8  And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: [“But blessed are your eyes“] and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
Rev 4:9  And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, 
Rev 4:10  The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 
Rev 4:11  Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created 

Psa 149:3  Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. 

Praising God “in the dance“ and singing praise unto him with “timbrel and harp” are statements that signify that our relationship with Christ will produce harmony in the body of Christ as we are led by the holy spirit and grow in our understanding of this dance of tried faith which God has called the elect to be the first to learn.  We lay down our life trusting in His faithfulness and in His will to be accomplished in our life by His power, learning to say with Christ “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luk 22:42). The reverberation of a “timbrel and harp” are symbols of this beautiful witness that sounds forth from the body of Christ. 

Jer 31:4  Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.

Jer 31:13  Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. 

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 
Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 

Isa 52:7  How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! 

Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Psa 149:4  For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify^{H6286 [H8762]} the meek with salvation.

God is beautifying “the meek with salvation” first, and “the LORD taketh pleasure in his people” through that process of bruising us (1Jn 4:17) knowing that He can and will bring us to ultimately rejoice for the suffering which we endure for His body’s sake, words that were uttered in type and shadow via Moses found in Hebrews 11:26-27. 

Isa 53:10  Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 

Deu 24:20  When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs^{H6286 [H8762]} again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. [(Gal 6:10) there is the inward stranger, fatherless and widow in our midst, and the outward as well, and we do good unto all men knowing we are doing this unto Christ, unto those who are beloved for the gospels sake (Rom 11:28).

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: 

Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. 
Heb 11:27  By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. 

Moses’ meekness typifies who the bride of Christ will become (Num 12:3, 1Pe 3:4, Zep 2:3, Mat 5:5, Gal 6:1, Col 3:12, Jas 3:13, 1Pe 3:15) and can only come about as a result of the trials that the LORD enables us to endure as Moses did for our sakes to show us that pattern (2Co_4:15). His death at 120 years (Deu 34:7) signifies that progression of trials [tribulation 40, times three 40+40+40] that are needed in our life as we learn that the LORD’S spirit “shall not always strive with man” but will for the symbolic 120 (Gen 6:3). In the morning, or as we die daily, the Lord’s strength will be made perfect through our weakness so we can endure until the end and be saved by putting off our flesh, which is a lifelong process and why 40 is mentioned three times (Mat 23:12).

2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

Deu 34:7  And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. 

Gen 6:3  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 

Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

In order for God’s elect “To execute upon them the judgment written“, we are going to need to grow in the fruit of the spirit called “meekness” (Gal 5:22-23), knowing that the judgment upon us in this age is for that very reason so that we can be always ready “to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear“. All the fruits of God’s holy spirit are matured through Christ who gives that increase that can only manifest or be made perfect through God’s judgments unfolding in our lives.

1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 

Meekness is not weakness, but is rather another critical part of the foundation God is forming within the bride of Christ through His spirit, so we can boldly proclaim the true gospel at any moment to anyone who asks “you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (Eph 6:19). The word fear in the statement “meekness and fear” reminds us through this section of scriptures who it is we are to fear and who it is we are not to fear.

Luk 12:5  But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. 

Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. 
Heb 11:27  By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. 
Heb 11:28  Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.

The rest of that chapter in Hebrews 11 discusses the acts of faith that typify the certainty of our deliverance through Christ who reconciled us to God by His death and is saving us with His life within us which gives us the power to overcome any and all fear of what men can do to our flesh. 

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 
1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Rom 5:10  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 

Mat 10:28  And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 

Next week, Lord willing, we will look at the last five verses of Psalm 149 that speak of the great joy that will be ours as a result of the Lord judging us in this age, which judgement is typified by Jacob wrestling with a man through the night (Gen 32:24). 

There will be joy in the morning (Psa 30:5) and “high praises” for the workmanship of God that will prepare His bride “To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people“. It is because of that judgment being accomplished in our life today, and promised to come to an end (1Pe 4:17, Rev 15:8, Php 1:6), that the saints can “be joyful in glory“. 

The glory in which we have joy is being given the ability to obey God and overcome in this life and glorify Him with that obedience just as Christ did (Heb 5:8, 1Jn 4:17). That overcoming process we’ve been looking at in this study is brought about by the judgment God is bringing upon the church today, and we “give honour to him” (Rev 19:7) because we know that it is the Lord who is working this great work within us today both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Php 2:13) which is to bruise us for a very glorious purpose of then exalting us into positions of honor in the first resurrection because of the suffering we endured through Christ until the end of our life (1Pe 4:17, etc).

1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? 

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. 

2Ti 2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 

Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Next week’s verses:

Psa 149:5  Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. 
Psa 149:6  Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; 
Psa 149:7  To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; 
Psa 149:8  To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; 
Psa 149:9  To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.