Living Hope by Phil Wickham

These days, music produced by Christian artists in the Praise & Worship genre may have a catchy tune or ethos suitable for your personal playlist, but biblical content is as scarce as hen’s teeth; so, when a current artist produces something Christ-honoring, it needs to be called out.

“Living Hope” by Phil Wickham


How great the chasm that lay between us
How high the mountain I could not climb
In desperation, I turned to heaven
And spoke Your name into the night
Then through the darkness, Your loving-kindness
Tore through the shadows of my soul
The work is finished, the end is written
Jesus Christ, my living hope


Who could imagine so great a mercy?
What heart could fathom such boundless grace?
The God of ages stepped down from glory
To wear my sin and bear my shame
The cross has spoken, I am forgiven
The King of kings calls me His own
Beautiful Savior, I’m Yours forever
Jesus Christ, my living hope

[Chorus]
Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There’s salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope
Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There’s salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope


Then came the morning that sealed the promise
Your buried body began to breathe
Out of the silence, the Roaring Lion
Declared the grave has no claim on me
Then came the morning that sealed the promise
Your buried body began to breathe
Out of the silence, the Roaring Lion
Declared the grave has no claim on me
Jesus, Yours is the victory, whoa!

[Chorus]

Jesus Christ, my living hope
Oh God, You are my living hope

Hearts Sprinkled; Bodies Washed

In recent years I have changed my position on baptism from something done to show what was spiritually accomplished at an earlier time to being the defining moment for identification with Christ. Why? Simply put, Scripture refers to baptism as the active agent (cf. Rom 6:1–4, Col 2:11–14, 1 Pet 3:21–22 Acts 2:28; 22:16). There are also passages like Titus 3:4–7 that do not reference baptism by name, but clearly bring out what is being done through washing. For years I had been taught to spiritualize this text because of the preconception that baptism is for making your faith public—which it does—but a good lexicon will tell you it refers to a ceremonial religious washing with H₂O. A few months ago, my attention was drawn to another example of washing that I had previously read and spiritualized.

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb 10:19–22)

Access to God had previously been restricted to the priesthood, and only the High Priest could enter the Holiest, and only on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:11–16). Since Jesus, in His high-priestly office, applied His precious blood on the heavenly mercy seat as the full final atonement, all believers, in their vocation as a priesthood, have gained access.

While the people were consecrated corporately as a chosen people through the sprinkling of blood and the Word of God (Exod 24:3–8), priests were consecrated individually (Exod 29:1–37) with their primary duty being the daily service (Exod 29:38–46). Part of the consecration rite involved the following actions:

Bodies washed

And Aaron and his sons you shall bring to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and you shall wash them with water. (Exod 29:4)

Blood sprinkled

And you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar, and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments, on his sons and on the garments of his sons with him; and he and his garments shall be hallowed, and his sons and his sons’ garments with him. (Exod 29:21)

The parallels should be obvious: as the Levitical priests were washed with water and sprinkled with blood, in similar fashion, believers receive the same consecration for priestly service—though with a difference. The Mosaic covenant stipulated that Aaron and his sons were sprinkled with blood so that it spattered on their garments, whereas the author of Hebrews speaks of application on the heart, turning what had been a physical act to one that is spiritual. Since Christ was the last sacrifice, the blood would need to be Divinely applied. One might think that the washing is also solely spiritual in nature, however, the writer is careful to specify that their washing had been with actual water. Had he intended the communicate solely the spiritual, we might have expected “washing with the Holy Spirit” or some such wording. As written, we must conclude that water is used, and that the Holy Spirit is actively involved in the transaction in order to give the full sanctifying and consecrating effect as Cyril of Jerusalem instructs:

For since man is of twofold nature, soul and body, the purification also is twofold, the one incorporeal for the incorporeal part, and the other bodily for the body: the water cleanses the body, and the Spirit seals the soul; that we may draw near unto God, having our heart sprinkled by the Spirit, and our body washed with pure water. When going down, therefore, into the water, think not of the bare element, but look for salvation by the power of the Holy Ghost: for without both you cannot possibly be made perfect. (“On Baptism,” Catechetical Lectures III.4)

The author of Hebrews used this association to the priest in order to build the case that these believers stood in a unique position with a holy vocation that their past life in Judaism could never afford: the recipients had the holy privilege of open access to God’s presence, so they should not lose heart and return to Judaism but persevere in their adversity. To do so, he recounts what has been accomplished in them through working of each Person of the Godhead, demonstrating how each part of the work stands within redemptive history as it was promised to His people and fulfilled in Christ. To turn back now would be paramount to unbelief and God’s wrath, but the writer was confident that they would remember their baptisms and confidently continue in the faith they had received.

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Second Sunday in Advent

“Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come into His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom you desire. Behold, He is coming,” says the Lord Almighty. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can withstand His appearance? For He enters like a refiner’s fire and as soap in one’s wash. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver and gold. He will purify the sons of Levi and pour them out as purified gold and silver, and they will bring an offering to the Lord in righteousness.” (Malachi 3:1–3 LXX)

“I for my part shall come,” He is saying, “whom you look to as punisher of sins. There will be present also the angel who ministers to the agreements I have often made with you. When you seek him, you will find him punishing the transgression of your agreements with me.” While the prophet said this as a consequence of what preceded, it is not surprising that the same verse was cited at the coming of blessed John the Baptist, the statement being fulfilled in actual fact by the coming of blessed John as predetermined forerunner and minister, and by the emergence of Christ the Lord, who came at the same time as he and was testified to by him and in whom the salvation of all people was destined to be achieved.

Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on Malachi 3.1

The Greatest Commandment

Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?” Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. ‘And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. “And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28–31)

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“So, all I need to do is love God and neighbor? Just as long is it doesn’t cost me anything.”
— Prototypical Response

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When looking at Jesus’ response, I cannot help but be reminded that the scribe, being associated with the Pharisees as a scholar of the Mosaic Law, would have known every commandment, statute, etc. that God had instituted for His people, as well as a complete body of knowledge codifying how a Jew would carry out each requirement. The doing of the Law within the framework of the added codes became the standard by which one could objectively demonstrate their level of devotion. The only problem is that the devotion was to themselves and their own self-righteousness.

Love is antithetical to self: it is sacrifice. And loving with all we are means sacrificing all. Who can do this? As we look to Jesus, we see the epitome of love for God and man. Notice how He speaks to His Father:

I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.… I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. (John 17:4, 6)

And also to His disciples:

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. (John 15:12–13)

The next day, our Lord Jesus followed up His words of love for God and man with action as He willingly gave His life on the tree. This is how love manifests itself—while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). It is this love that we are to demonstrate.

By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. (1 Jn 3:16–18)

Some may balk thinking that laying down one’s life is too difficult: how could a person do that without reservation? Yet that is exactly what God does in us because of Christ. Are we able to love God and neighbor the way He desires? Yes and no. In our own power, we are completely unable to love beyond what may be natural affections to those closest to us. However, it is because He first loved us that we are able to love Him and one another fully. Trusting in the finished work of Christ on the cross, that ultimate sacrifice for us, we are enabled and empowered to love as God has loved us as we look to the final day.

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. (1 Jn 4:17–19)

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the First Sunday in Advent

Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. (1 Thess 3:11–13)

[Paul] shows that love produces advantage to themselves, not to those who are loved. I wish, he says, that this love may abound, that there may be no blemish. ... Let us mourn and weep for those who have injured us. Let us not be angry with them. For truly they are worthy of tears, for the punishment and condemnation to which they make themselves liable. I know, how you now weep, how you rejoice, both admiring Paul, and amazed at Joseph, and pronouncing them blessed. But if any one has an enemy, let him now take him into recollection, let him bring him to his mind, that whilst his heart is yet warm with the remembrance of the Saints, he may be enabled to dissolve the stubbornness of wrath, and to soften what is harsh and callous. I know, that after your departure hence, after that I have ceased speaking, if anything of warmth and fervor should remain, it will not be so great, as it now is whilst you are hearing me. If therefore any one, if any one has become cold, let him dissolve the frost. For the remembrance of injuries is truly frost and ice. But let us invoke the Sun of Righteousness, let us entreat Him to send His beams upon us, and there will no longer be thick ice, but water to drink.

If the fire of the Sun of Righteousness has touched our souls, it will leave nothing frozen, nothing hard, nothing burning, nothing unfruitful. It will bring out all things ripe, all things sweet, all things abounding with much pleasure. If we love one another, that beam also will come. Allow me, I beseech you, to say these things with earnestness. Cause me to hear, that by these words we have produced some effect; that someone has gone and thrown both his arms about his enemy, has embraced him, has twined himself around him, has warmly kissed him, has wept. And though the other be a wild beast, a stone, or whatever he be, he will be made gentle by such affectionate kindness. For on what account is he your enemy? Has he insulted you? yet he has not injured you at all. But do you for the sake of money allow your brother to be at enmity with you? Do not so, I beseech you. Let us do away all. It is our season. Let us use it to good purpose. Let us cut asunder the cords of our sins. Before we go away to judgment, let us not ourselves judge one another. “Let not the sun” (it is said) “go down upon your wrath” (Eph 4:26). Let no one put it off. These procrastinations produce delays. If you have deferred it today, you blush the more, and if you add tomorrow, the shame is greater, and if a third day, yet worse. Let us not then put ourselves to shame, but let us forgive, that we may be forgiven. And if we be forgiven, we shall obtain all blessings, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

John Chrysostom, Homilies on 1 Thessalonians 3.13

Which Way Are We Oriented?

Ask the average churchgoer who is being most honored each Sunday morning, and I dare say, one will get a response very close to this opening line of a Joshua Hedger blog post:

It’s a worship service at church, so of course it celebrates Jesus… right? Or does it?

That is the question, but what is the answer?

I have been in enough American Evangelical services to tell you they follow the same basic format: singing with varying accompaniment and a 45-minute sermon. The only differences are in general attire and stage presence. Yes, I used the word stage purposefully. Forty years ago, whomever led singing did so with the intent of ensuring the congregants and accompanist were open to the same hymn, singing in the same tune, key, and rhythm. Now, the worship leader is a performer engaging the attendees with rhetoric, song, and occasional theatrics intended to stir the soul. The congregants feed off of the energy and respond inciting more passion from the leader building a rush akin to merry-go-round riders pumping each other more and more for the excitement of the ride.

Some will object to this characterization, pointing out that the soul should be stirred when in the Lord’s presence with His people. I agree, however, contemporary church-growth and worship methodology places experience above truth as the goal for meeting. Why else would someone sing “Missouri River” songs? You know the kind: a mile wide (full of biblical-sounding phrases) and an inch deep (effusive emoting with no content). If I want to sing about someone to be close to and have arms put around me, I’ll play Michael Bublé love songs rather than Hillsong or Bethel Music.

Preachers handle the Word of God with varying success. I applaud those who are able to consistently deliver Law and Gospel in a way that delivers Jesus as the only satisfaction for my sin. However, there are others who develop a well-organized talk laced with engaging object lessons but continually end up delivering a self-help plan or a Jesus who just wants to make you feel better. In between the extremes are preachers who are able to accurately explain the Scriptures yet leave the listener with no sense of how Christ is present or what He is doing. Instead of Christ crucified, the message is style, effective delivery, and application drawing attention to the preacher rather than the Savior.

Who is actually celebrated in the above congregations? With the entire program geared to elicit a response, we must conclude that it must be the celebrants themselves. Yes, God and Jesus are mentioned using Scripture, but every aspect has been an outgrowth of the same theology of worship: I, in my own way, will tell God how I feel about Him, and those around me are welcome to join. But is that a legitimate theology of worship? Charles Finney thought so as he promoted outward measures to elicit responses in order to stir the hearts of sinners as they sat on the anxious bench. While novel at the time, 180 years later this basic form has become a Sunday morning staple. But the question remains: is it correct?

Which way are we to be oriented?

The New Westminster Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship defines worship as “the general idea of offering to God adoration and service; the concept can be extended to include offering prayers to God including petition and intercession, and it can also refer to obedient listening to God speaking.” This definition is accurate in that it is derived from the lexical definition of the Greek (to prostrate or kiss the hand toward) and neatly fits the worship described in the beginning paragraphs of this post, but comes short of a full understanding.

The center of our attention and celebration determines our orientation, and ultimately, our practice. During a podcast interview (The Gottesdiendst Crowd, Episode 1), Pastor Burnell Eckardt offered a poignant observation of Old Testament worship:

The priests, the Levites—those who worshiped—entered the worship of God, they entered the temple, they entered the Holy Place with a clear understanding that God was in charge, that they were not, that this was the worship of God, that they were facing Him.

The Lord gave Moses detailed instructions in Exodus and Leviticus for proper worship. An examination shows that the first purpose for gathering was not to give God something (i.e. praise and adoration) but to receive something—atonement. Whether the daily sacrifice or the Day of Atonement, before anything else occurred, blood was shed for my sin. Only then would a proper response begin. Additionally, as the people then heard God’s Word, they responded as they recounted His faithfulness. Note the sequence: receive, then respond. Our Sunday mornings should have a similar dialogical form: receive Christ through absolution, through the reading of His Word, through baptism, through the Lord’s Supper, then responding accordingly and appropriately to each.

How do we get properly oriented?

The solution to the dilemma is singular yet two-fold: orient both our personal and corporate lives in the liturgy of the Church. Placing ourselves willingly under a form designed to celebrate God above all impedes the desire we might have to take liberties and turn attention to ourselves. Luke Childs has described it this way:

A regular day and time of worship forces one out of oneself and into something greater – yes I have needs, but the needs of others are often greater and are always infinitely more important. The rhythms of daily prayer, where we begin by confessing our sins, meditate on the Scriptures, and end with prayer for all the needs of the world and church, keep me constantly a part of the great cloud of witnesses in Christ. A liturgical style of worship, meaning a set pattern of written prayers and readings to guide us, remind me that I am not the centre of the universe – God is. The prayers written by some of the most saintly Christian men to have ever existed fill me with hope in the darkest of times. The Scriptures we read on a given day are Scriptures I might never have chosen to reach for given that freedom, often encouraging, but often challenging to the core.

We reorient ourselves by willing being molded to a standard and plan outside ourselves. Instead of celebrating ourselves (whether intentional or not), and celebrate our Lord who alone is worthy.

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Last Sunday of the Year

Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning—lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch! (Mark 13:28-37)

Let no one, however, suspect that, in speaking as we do, we belong to those who are indeed called Christians, but who set aside the doctrine of the resurrection as it is taught in Scripture. For these persons cannot, so far as their principles apply, at all establish that the stalk or tree which springs up comes from the grain of wheat, or anything else (which was cast into the ground); whereas we, who believe that that which is “sown” is not “quickened” unless it die, and that there is sown not that body that shall be (for God gives it a body as it pleases Him, raising it in incorruption after it is sown in corruption; and after it is sown in dishonor, raising it in glory; and after it is sown in weakness, raising it in power; and after it is sown a natural body, raising it a spiritual),—we preserve both the doctrine of the Church of Christ and the grandeur of the divine promise, proving also the possibility of its accomplishment not by mere assertion, but by arguments; knowing that although heaven and earth, and the things that are in them, may pass away, yet His words regarding each individual thing, being, as parts of a whole, or species of a genus, the utterances of Him who was God the Word, who was in the beginning with God, shall by no means pass away. For we desire to listen to Him who said: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.”

Origen, Against Celsus 5.22

Oh, what judicial sentences for gods to pronounce, as men’s recompense after death! They are more mendacious than any human judgments; they are contemptible as punishments, disgusting as rewards; such as the worst of men could never fear, nor the best desire; such indeed, as criminals will aspire to, rather than saints,—the former, that they may escape more speedily the world’s stern sentence,—the latter that they may more tardily incur it. How well, (forsooth), O you simplistic moralists do you teach us, and how usefully do you advise us, that after death rewards and punishments fall with lighter weight! whereas, if any judgment awaits souls at all, it ought rather to be supposed that it will be heavier at the conclusion of life than in the conduct thereof, since nothing is more complete than that which comes at the very last—nothing, moreover, is more complete than that which is especially divine. Accordingly, God’s judgment will be more full and complete, because it will be pronounced at the very last, in an eternal irrevocable sentence, both of punishment and of consolation, (on men whose) souls are not to transmigrate into beasts, but are to return into their own proper bodies. And all this once for all, and on “that day, too, of which the Father only knows;” in order that by her trembling expectation faith may make full trial of her anxious sincerity, keeping her gaze ever fixed on that day, in her perpetual ignorance of it, daily fearing that for which she yet daily hopes.

Tertullian, On the Soul 33

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Preserve me, O God, because I hope in You.
I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord,
You have no need of my good things.”
To the saints on His earth,
In them He magnified all His will.
Their diseases were multiplied;
They hastened after these things;
I will not join in their assemblies of blood,
Nor will I remember their names with my lips.
The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You are He who who restores my inheritance to me.
Portions fell to me among the best,
And my inheritance is the very finest.
I will bless the Lord who caused me to understand;
Moreover, until night my reins also instruct me.
I saw the Lord always before me;
Because He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
Therefore my heart was glad,
And my tongue rejoiced exceedingly;
My flesh also shall dwell in hope.
For You will not abandon my soul to Hades
Nor allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
You made known to me the ways of life;
You will fill me with gladness in Your presence;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:1–11)

Who has ever given Him anything, since “from Him, and through Him and in Him” are all things? The fount of life is that highest Good that bestows the substance of life on all, because it has life abiding in itself. It receives from no one as though it were needy; it lavishes goods on all and borrows from others nothing for itself, for it has no need of us. It says, too, in the person of humankind: “You do not need my goods.” What is more lovely than to approach Him and cling to Him? What pleasure can be greater? What else can he desire who sees and tastes freely of this fount of living water? what realms? what powers? what riches? when He sees how pitiable are the conditions of kings, how changeable the status of their power, how short the span of this life, in how great bondage even sovereigns must live, since they live at the will of others and not their own.

Ambrose, Letter 29

Since He had said approaching His Passion, “My soul is sorrowful to the point of death,” it was right for Him to use these words to recall the Resurrection, teaching that in place of that discouragement He will be in unceasing joy, having become immune to suffering, to change, to death, even in His human nature. As God, you see, this was always the case, and of course even in His human nature once formed in the womb it was easy to provide Him with this. But He allowed the nature He had assumed to travel through the sufferings so as by these means to loose the sway of sin, put a stop to the tyranny of the Devil, undo the power of death, and proved all people with the basis of a new life. So as man He assumes both incorruption and immortality.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms 16.8

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.” (Mark 12:41–44)

We have been entrusted with the administration and use of temporal wealth for the common good, not with the everlasting ownership of private property. If you accept the fact that ownership on earth is only for a time, you can earn eternal possessions in heaven. Call to mind the widow who forgot herself in her concern for the poor and, thinking only of the life to come, gave away all her means of subsistence, as the Judge Himself bears witness. Others, He says, have given of their superfluous wealth; but she, possessed of only two small coins and more needy perhaps than many of the poor—though in spiritual riches she surpassed all the wealthy—she thought only of the world to come, and had such a longing for heavenly treasure that she gave away, all at once, whatever she had that was derived from the earth and destined to return there. Let us then invest with the Lord what He has given us, for we have nothing that does not come from Him: we are dependent upon Him for our very existence.

Paulinus of Nola, Letters 34

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to All Saints' Sunday

Alleluia.

Sing to the Lord a new song,
His praise in the assembly of His holy ones.
Let Israel be glad in Him who made him,
And let the children of Zion greatly rejoice in their King.
Let them praise His name with dance;
With tambourine and harp let them sing to Him;
For the Lord is pleased with His people,
And He shall exalt the gentle with salvation.

The holy ones shall boast in glory,
And they shall greatly rejoice on their beds;
The high praise of God shall be in their mouth
And a two-edged sword in their hand,
To deal retribution to the nations,
Reproving among the peoples,
To shackle their kings with chains
And their nobles with fetters of iron,
To fulfill among them the written judgment:
This glory have all His holy ones. (Psalm 149:1-9)

What greater strength is there than to bestow such great power on His saints that by His gift they gain victories over their enemies? But when he says: The saints shall rejoice in glory: they shall be joyful in their beds, they now attain the happy status which embraces the joys of the saints and the power of those who believe in Christ. But let us now observe how the saints’ rejoicing is described. Glory denotes repeated praise consisting of good deeds; the just rejoice in it in their beds, that is, in the depths of their hearts. As Paul puts it: For our glory is this: the testimony of our conscience; for they rejoice in the region accessible only to the knowledge of Him who deigned to bestow it. They rejoice particularly since they weigh the fact that they have a Lord whose goodness finds expression in bestowing pardon on the guilty, grace on sinners, enduring glory on the undeserving. By contrast the foolish person in this world departs from himself, rejoices in people’s gossip, and imagines that he deserves the praise with which lying words exalt him. So the saints have a doctrine of glorying, and put limits to their joy, ascribing to Him all the blessings which He bestows. If there is no limit put on happiness, there is no joy, but destruction.

We must observe how beautiful, how useful these differing expressions are. Earlier he said that the saints rejoice in their beds; now he says that the Lord’s rejoicings are set in their throats, the sense being that they never cease to praise whether in thought or in tongue Him from whom they obtain eternal gifts. He also moves on to explain the power that they wield, with the words: And two-edged swords in their hands. The two-edged sword is the word of the Lord Savior, of which Christ Himself says in the gospel: I have come not to send peace to the earth, but a sword. It is two-edged because it contains the two Testaments. First it separated Jews from Gentiles; subsequently it segregated and cut off only the Christians from the enticements of the whole world. There is one sword, but two ways of cutting which He grants to the chosen peoples at various selected moments of time. So the prophet says that these swords are in their hands, in other words, in the power of the saints; as Scripture has it: The word of the Lord came to the hand of Haggai the prophet. So the blessed ones will assume this power and pass judgment in company with the Lord; as Scripture says: You shall sit on twelve seats, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. For note what follows: To execute vengeance upon the nations, chastisements among the people. This truly takes place when they shall judge in company with the Lord.

Cassiodorus, Commentary on the Psalms 149.5–7