David Singing in Resurrection Glory
June 15, 2022
David Cloud, Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061
866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org
866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org
“I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.”
- Psalm 144:9,
- Psalm 144:9,
David knew that he would rise from the dead and praise God forever in resurrection glory. He describes this in several psalms.
Ps. 16:8-11 - “I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”
- This is a prophecy of David’s resurrection (“thou wilt not leave my soul in hell”) and of David’s Lord’s resurrection (“neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption”). This is cited as a Messianic Psalm in Ac. 2:25-27; 13:35-37.
- David sees his soul living beyond death. This is the clear teaching of Scripture. Death is a journey, not an end. The soul is conscious, not sleeping. “Hell” is Sheol. It has two meanings. Sometimes sheol means the grave (Ps. 6:5; Ec. 9:10; Isa. 38:18, 19). The common Hebrew word for the grave is not sheol, but geburah. This word is used in such passages as Ge. 35:20; 50:5; Nu. 19:16; 2 Sa. 3:32; 1 Ki. 13:30. Usually, sheol refers to the place where departed spirits go (Ge. 37:35; De. 32:22; Ps. 9:17; 16:10; 55:15; 30:3; Pr. 9:18; 15:24; 23:14; Isa. 5:14; 14:15; Eze. 31:16; 32:21, 27; Jon. 2:2). In the New Testament, sheol is translated by the Greek word hades. This is the word used in Acts 2:27, when Peter quotes from Psalm 16:10. Thus the sheol of the Old Testament is the hades of the New. That it had two compartments seems apparent from the fact that both the saved (David in Ps. 16:10) and the unsaved (all nations that forget God in Ps. 9:17) went to sheol. It appears that Christ described this compartmentalization in the account of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:23. That this is not a parable is obvious in that Christ did not call it a parable and in that He named the names of Abraham and Lazarus, something He never did in His parables. This is an account of two men who died and went into eternity. The unsaved man went to hades and the saved man went to Abraham’s bosom. From hades, the rich man talked to Abraham who told him that there was an impassable gulf between the two places. These are probably the two parts or compartments in sheol or hades. Christ did not go to the place of torment. He went rather to paradise, as He promised the repentant thief on the cross, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Lu. 23:43). This probably refers to Abraham’s bosom. Matthew 12:40 says Christ went into “the heart of the earth.” This is what Paul is referring to in Ephesians 4:9, which says that Christ descended “into the lower parts of the earth.” Apparently this is the location of sheol or hades. When Christ rose from the dead, He announced His victory to the unsaved (1 Pe. 3:18-20), and He took the saved to heaven as trophies of His victory (Eph. 4:8-9). He emptied Abraham’s bosom. It is like a victorious king who rescues the captives and brings the captives and the loot on his victory parade. We see examples of this in Ge. 14:14-16 and 1 Sa. 30:3-34.
- David describes resurrection life in terms of fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. It is “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Ro. 8:21). It is life as a joint-heir with Christ (Ro. 8:17). It is life in the eternal city of God (Re. 21-22).
Ps. 17:15 - “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.”
- David describes his resurrection. He will awake. We learn from New Testament revelation that this does not mean that the dead are sleeping in the grave. Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus in the Mt. of Transfiguration (Mt. 17:3). To awake means to rise from the dead. It refers to the awakening of the body, not the soul. It is the body that dies at death: “the body without the spirit is dead” (Jas. 2:26).
- David describes resurrection life as beholding God’s face in righteousness. The saints will see the face of the incarnate Son of God. They will see it in righteousness, for there is no other way to see God. The sinner must be made in the very righteousness of God, and that is what happens positionally in justification (declared righteous on the basis of Christ’s blood atonement), and it is what will happen practically in the resurrection.
- David describes resurrection life as being made in God’s likeness. The “old man” will be gone; the resurrected saints will be created in God’s holiness. Every resurrected saint will be like Christ. Paul gives more revelation about this. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Ro. 8:29). “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Heb. 2:10-11).
Ps. 49:14-15 - “Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave.”
- David describes resurrection in terms of “the morning.” What a glorious morning it will be! It will be the morning of eternal glory, a morning that will never end.
- David describes resurrection in terms of “dominion.” The saints will have dominion over God’s world. The wicked will be gone. “Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom” (Da. 7:22). “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?” (1 Co. 6:2). “And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father” (Re. 2:26-27).
- David describes resurrection in terms of redemption (“God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave”). The grave is personified as having power over the dead, but God will give victory over it, and the victory is in Christ’s vicarious atonement. Because Christ died in the sinner’s place and shed His blood as the propitiation, the sinner has victory over death. “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction” (Hos. 13:14). “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Co. 15:55-57). “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Re. 5:9).
Ps. 71:20 - “Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.”
- Psalm 71 was written in David’s old age (“now also when I am old and gray-headed,” v. 18).
- In Psalm 71, David prophesies of his resurrection life in eternal glory. David will rise from the dead at Christ’s return and will sing in the millennial kingdom and forever. “Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side. I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel. My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed. My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt” (Ps. 71:20-22).
In Ezekiel’s prophecy of the Millennial Temple, the prince who is mentioned 18 times is David (Eze. 44:3, 45:7, 16, 17, 22; 46:2, 4, 8, 10, 12, 16, 17, 18; 48:21, 22). The prince eats bread before the LORD (Eze. 44:3), the LORD being the Messiah (Eze. 43:4). The prince offers sacrifices “unto the LORD” (Eze. 46:4, 12, 13), again making a clear distinction between the Messiah and the prince. The prince will offer a sin offering “for himself” (Eze. 45:22), which is not something that the sinless Messiah will do.
Both David and his Son are spoken of as kings in the Millennial kingdom. David will be the prince in the kingdom whereas his Son will be King. Compare Ps. 89:18-37; Jer. 30:9; Ho. 3:5. David is a king, but his Son is King of kings. David is a shepherd, but his Son is the Chief Shepherd.
David will be there in his resurrection glory, immortal, without sin. Like Daniel, David will be there shining as the brightness of the firmament (Da. 12:2-3).
David, the prince, will enter the east gate of the inner court and will stand by the post of the gate during the worship, then he will retire by the same way (Eze. 46:1, 2, 8). David, the prince, will accompany the people. It appears that he will lead the worship (Eze. 46:10).
In Psalm 61, David prophesies that he will sing forever in God’s temple. “I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever ... Thou wilt prolong the king’s life: and his years as many generations. He shall abide before God for ever ... So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever” (Ps. 61:4, 6-8).
In Psalm 71, David prophesies that he will praise God with the psaltery and harp. “I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel” (Ps. 71:22).
In Psalm 108, David prophesies of the millennial kingdom and says that he will worship God in the midst of the nations. “Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations” (Ps. 108:2-3). This Psalm refers to the time when God will restore Israel and triumph over Israel’s enemies (Ps. 108:7-11). So in this psalm we see David worshiping in Zion in the midst of the people who gather there from among the nations. This is what Ezekiel also describes.
We see the same thing in Psalm 138. David will sing praise to God “before the gods,” referring to the rulers. He will “worship toward God’s holy temple.” This is the Millennial temple. He will sing praise to God before “all the kings of the earth,” and “they shall sing in the ways of the LORD” (Ps. 138:1-5). This has never happened. David prophetically describes real scenes from the Millennial kingdom. The people of the earth will travel to Jerusalem to the Lord’s house and learn of God’s ways (Isa. 2:1-5; Zec. 8:20-23), and they will see David and hear his Psalms and worship God with him.
David says in Psalm 144:9, “I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.”
If David wrote sweet psalms in his earthly life, how much more will he write sweet psalms in glory! He is an exuberant worshipper of God (2 Sa. 6:14-15). He is the maker of musical instruments for the worship of God (1 Ch. 23:5). In resurrection glory, David will be liberated from the bondage of corruption of this present life into the glorious liberty of the manifest children of God (Ro. 8:21). His intelligence and skill will be increased dramatically. In Christ, the glorified saint will be higher than the angels (Heb. 2:7-9). David will no longer be subject to the sufferings of this present world. There will be no persecutors, no enemies. He will not be distracted and brought down by the corruption of the Adamic nature. Inner struggles and turmoil (Ps. 119:28, 83) will be but a dim memory. His praise of God will be pure and glorious beyond present comprehension. His praise of God will be pure and glorious beyond present comprehension.
Ps. 16:8-11 - “I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”
- This is a prophecy of David’s resurrection (“thou wilt not leave my soul in hell”) and of David’s Lord’s resurrection (“neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption”). This is cited as a Messianic Psalm in Ac. 2:25-27; 13:35-37.
- David sees his soul living beyond death. This is the clear teaching of Scripture. Death is a journey, not an end. The soul is conscious, not sleeping. “Hell” is Sheol. It has two meanings. Sometimes sheol means the grave (Ps. 6:5; Ec. 9:10; Isa. 38:18, 19). The common Hebrew word for the grave is not sheol, but geburah. This word is used in such passages as Ge. 35:20; 50:5; Nu. 19:16; 2 Sa. 3:32; 1 Ki. 13:30. Usually, sheol refers to the place where departed spirits go (Ge. 37:35; De. 32:22; Ps. 9:17; 16:10; 55:15; 30:3; Pr. 9:18; 15:24; 23:14; Isa. 5:14; 14:15; Eze. 31:16; 32:21, 27; Jon. 2:2). In the New Testament, sheol is translated by the Greek word hades. This is the word used in Acts 2:27, when Peter quotes from Psalm 16:10. Thus the sheol of the Old Testament is the hades of the New. That it had two compartments seems apparent from the fact that both the saved (David in Ps. 16:10) and the unsaved (all nations that forget God in Ps. 9:17) went to sheol. It appears that Christ described this compartmentalization in the account of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:23. That this is not a parable is obvious in that Christ did not call it a parable and in that He named the names of Abraham and Lazarus, something He never did in His parables. This is an account of two men who died and went into eternity. The unsaved man went to hades and the saved man went to Abraham’s bosom. From hades, the rich man talked to Abraham who told him that there was an impassable gulf between the two places. These are probably the two parts or compartments in sheol or hades. Christ did not go to the place of torment. He went rather to paradise, as He promised the repentant thief on the cross, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Lu. 23:43). This probably refers to Abraham’s bosom. Matthew 12:40 says Christ went into “the heart of the earth.” This is what Paul is referring to in Ephesians 4:9, which says that Christ descended “into the lower parts of the earth.” Apparently this is the location of sheol or hades. When Christ rose from the dead, He announced His victory to the unsaved (1 Pe. 3:18-20), and He took the saved to heaven as trophies of His victory (Eph. 4:8-9). He emptied Abraham’s bosom. It is like a victorious king who rescues the captives and brings the captives and the loot on his victory parade. We see examples of this in Ge. 14:14-16 and 1 Sa. 30:3-34.
- David describes resurrection life in terms of fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. It is “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Ro. 8:21). It is life as a joint-heir with Christ (Ro. 8:17). It is life in the eternal city of God (Re. 21-22).
Ps. 17:15 - “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.”
- David describes his resurrection. He will awake. We learn from New Testament revelation that this does not mean that the dead are sleeping in the grave. Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus in the Mt. of Transfiguration (Mt. 17:3). To awake means to rise from the dead. It refers to the awakening of the body, not the soul. It is the body that dies at death: “the body without the spirit is dead” (Jas. 2:26).
- David describes resurrection life as beholding God’s face in righteousness. The saints will see the face of the incarnate Son of God. They will see it in righteousness, for there is no other way to see God. The sinner must be made in the very righteousness of God, and that is what happens positionally in justification (declared righteous on the basis of Christ’s blood atonement), and it is what will happen practically in the resurrection.
- David describes resurrection life as being made in God’s likeness. The “old man” will be gone; the resurrected saints will be created in God’s holiness. Every resurrected saint will be like Christ. Paul gives more revelation about this. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Ro. 8:29). “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Heb. 2:10-11).
Ps. 49:14-15 - “Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave.”
- David describes resurrection in terms of “the morning.” What a glorious morning it will be! It will be the morning of eternal glory, a morning that will never end.
- David describes resurrection in terms of “dominion.” The saints will have dominion over God’s world. The wicked will be gone. “Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom” (Da. 7:22). “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?” (1 Co. 6:2). “And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father” (Re. 2:26-27).
- David describes resurrection in terms of redemption (“God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave”). The grave is personified as having power over the dead, but God will give victory over it, and the victory is in Christ’s vicarious atonement. Because Christ died in the sinner’s place and shed His blood as the propitiation, the sinner has victory over death. “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction” (Hos. 13:14). “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Co. 15:55-57). “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Re. 5:9).
Ps. 71:20 - “Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.”
- Psalm 71 was written in David’s old age (“now also when I am old and gray-headed,” v. 18).
- In Psalm 71, David prophesies of his resurrection life in eternal glory. David will rise from the dead at Christ’s return and will sing in the millennial kingdom and forever. “Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side. I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel. My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed. My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt” (Ps. 71:20-22).
In Ezekiel’s prophecy of the Millennial Temple, the prince who is mentioned 18 times is David (Eze. 44:3, 45:7, 16, 17, 22; 46:2, 4, 8, 10, 12, 16, 17, 18; 48:21, 22). The prince eats bread before the LORD (Eze. 44:3), the LORD being the Messiah (Eze. 43:4). The prince offers sacrifices “unto the LORD” (Eze. 46:4, 12, 13), again making a clear distinction between the Messiah and the prince. The prince will offer a sin offering “for himself” (Eze. 45:22), which is not something that the sinless Messiah will do.
Both David and his Son are spoken of as kings in the Millennial kingdom. David will be the prince in the kingdom whereas his Son will be King. Compare Ps. 89:18-37; Jer. 30:9; Ho. 3:5. David is a king, but his Son is King of kings. David is a shepherd, but his Son is the Chief Shepherd.
David will be there in his resurrection glory, immortal, without sin. Like Daniel, David will be there shining as the brightness of the firmament (Da. 12:2-3).
David, the prince, will enter the east gate of the inner court and will stand by the post of the gate during the worship, then he will retire by the same way (Eze. 46:1, 2, 8). David, the prince, will accompany the people. It appears that he will lead the worship (Eze. 46:10).
In Psalm 61, David prophesies that he will sing forever in God’s temple. “I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever ... Thou wilt prolong the king’s life: and his years as many generations. He shall abide before God for ever ... So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever” (Ps. 61:4, 6-8).
In Psalm 71, David prophesies that he will praise God with the psaltery and harp. “I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel” (Ps. 71:22).
In Psalm 108, David prophesies of the millennial kingdom and says that he will worship God in the midst of the nations. “Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations” (Ps. 108:2-3). This Psalm refers to the time when God will restore Israel and triumph over Israel’s enemies (Ps. 108:7-11). So in this psalm we see David worshiping in Zion in the midst of the people who gather there from among the nations. This is what Ezekiel also describes.
We see the same thing in Psalm 138. David will sing praise to God “before the gods,” referring to the rulers. He will “worship toward God’s holy temple.” This is the Millennial temple. He will sing praise to God before “all the kings of the earth,” and “they shall sing in the ways of the LORD” (Ps. 138:1-5). This has never happened. David prophetically describes real scenes from the Millennial kingdom. The people of the earth will travel to Jerusalem to the Lord’s house and learn of God’s ways (Isa. 2:1-5; Zec. 8:20-23), and they will see David and hear his Psalms and worship God with him.
David says in Psalm 144:9, “I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.”
If David wrote sweet psalms in his earthly life, how much more will he write sweet psalms in glory! He is an exuberant worshipper of God (2 Sa. 6:14-15). He is the maker of musical instruments for the worship of God (1 Ch. 23:5). In resurrection glory, David will be liberated from the bondage of corruption of this present life into the glorious liberty of the manifest children of God (Ro. 8:21). His intelligence and skill will be increased dramatically. In Christ, the glorified saint will be higher than the angels (Heb. 2:7-9). David will no longer be subject to the sufferings of this present world. There will be no persecutors, no enemies. He will not be distracted and brought down by the corruption of the Adamic nature. Inner struggles and turmoil (Ps. 119:28, 83) will be but a dim memory. His praise of God will be pure and glorious beyond present comprehension. His praise of God will be pure and glorious beyond present comprehension.
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